False promises and a huge loss of funds

<div>We were looking for a reputable contractor and we thought that we found one when Dial a contractor put us into contact with the CEO of H20 group pty Ltd. He came to us with a great presentation and a long list of all inclusive value adds such an architect, interior design services, an engineer and a 3D visual of our renovation. It all sounded pretty amazing and the great news was that he was able to execute everything that we wanted within our budget. Long story short, we were encouraged to sign a contract with their company and a 30% of the total build cost was requested. It all sounded pretty reasonable. He even went as far as saying that they use their money to build and then you refund them because they have wealthy investors in Nigeria. We were also promised that our building plans would be expedited and it would be approved within 30 days as they had "contacts" at the council. Our plans took about 3 months to be approved and the build was forecasted to take 20 weeks. 7 months later, little to no work was done, the deadline passed and in that period, we were asked to pay top up deposits. Not being in the construction industry, I was not aware that the value of the work done thus far did not equate to the payments that they were requesting. 3 or 4 payments later, we were R500 000 deep into the project which was almost half of the quoted amount and only about 10% of the project was completed. We were constantly given false promises and lame excuses for the delay. When I would make a fuss, he would send a few guys to work for a few hours and then take them to another site and then I wouldnt see anyone for days or up to a whole week. I decided to cancel the contract. It was almost a year after it all began, I had a house that we couldn't live in and there was no light at the end of the tunnel because the workers showing up wasn't consisted and at times they would be here but had no materials so nothing got done anyway. After cancelling the contract, a quantity surveyor advised that only about R100 000 of the work was done however, **** maintained that he didn't owe me any money as they did work to the value of R500 000. We had to bring in a new construction company to redo some of the badly done work and they advised that it would be impossible to complete the build for the amount quoted as Dustin under quoted me by at least 50%. I got a second opinion who echoed the fact that my build was grossly under quoted most likely to get the contract and it would be impossible to complete the build according to the appproved plan within my budget. Not only did I lose all the money paid to H20 for work not completed, I had to pay another contruction company a large amount of money to finish my renovation. Please be aware when selecting a contruction company to do your renovation and don't pay money in advance. Get more than one quote and don't go for the cheapest most appealing quote. Make sure the company has an active website. Ask for client references and and look for reviews.</div>