Complaint History & Business Rating for Fred Allen Builders

Debra H. says: Never finished the job took money does not known basic geometry his crew cannot make an angled cut or for that matter a straightcut works with no building standards and finally a liar and cheat!!

Armond P. says: Read the review of October 4th 2014 this story is my story along with 9 other people I’ve found in New Jersey who hired Fred Allen Builders Aka Fred Zapollo
This man is a Criminal Thief . He takes deposits to start portions of the contracts but does not pay the Workers so they walk off the job leaving the Part that you paid for incomplete for months on end . You won’t know that right away because they start the siding and start the roofing but then start something else like the Sheetrock before the siding is even up then he requires you to pay at Start of sheetrocking & doesn’t pay them after the1st day so Sheetrock doesn’t get finished then he starts the electric which requires a deposit but then only pay the first installment of the electric & then the electrician comes back to do second installment & fred doesn’t show up to pay him so the electrician leaves & never comes back then your house starts to fall apart leaks &sinking floors , he leaves all the trash on your property whereevwr they work there is trash he refuses to get a dumpster says that’s only on TV .takes over a year to Still not complete the job leaving yard destroyed from trash on top of grass and piles of dirt from holes they dug on top of grass and no gutters leaving Rutts & holes everywhere , then the grass can’t grow ,there is trash & holes &the entire yard surrounding the building is not re-graded because the job is just never finished and it’s so bad my landscaper of 10 years wants to trestify in court because in order for him to fix my yard now after a year of damage and trash he doesn’t want to charge me the true cost of $5600 to fix my yard & fred turns around and says grading wasn’t part of the contract when it doesn’t need to be in the contract if they had taken their trash & completed the additions at all but in a timely manner then the grading which would have been simple raking of ground up to the house would have been easy & part of what they were doing to complete the job but no instead we were forced to pay for 3 12 yard dumpsters to remove all of his trash,debri,&damaged property. He left everything undone & will say it was 85% complete just like he did to the man who wrote the review in 2014.
Fred has all the Money required per his contracts . Has not shown up in 90 days,left our property with everything started, nothing finished and no materials to complete the job. so far it has cost us $13,000 to finish the work $1000 in dumpsters ,$5600 in fixing damages and yard .the flooding he caused has cost us $2500 for a sump-pump and air blower into the basement , waterproofing to the foundation of my home , mold &remediation are all another $3700 We have spent almost $25,000.
Fixing what fred was hired to do . He believes he is right he will say he is 85% complete, that there was money to finish and that we asked for things not on our contract. he will say contractors don’t want to work at our house they don’t like us , he will say so many things we have 139 correspondence with him since June 2017 it is now May 2018 and he still has not complete . So if there was enough money to finish my job then why did I have to pay to put in my own land beams, Break through the wall to make new addition meet old house ? , why did I pay to have siding, gutters and soffits installed, & more materials to complete siding soffits gutters , why did my basement crawl space flood 15 times , why did I have to hire concrete workers to erect a block of wall to attach bilco doors to , and why did I have to buy a bilco door (FYI paid for to fred in October 2017) ? Why did I have to pay for the Sheetrockers to tape and spackle and attach old house to new house , & pay the electrician to complete the rough and final tie in? why did I have to find my own HVAC man to redirect the HVAC into the new room & then tap off the wires you had installed for the Mini Split HVAC unit that never arrived to this day (FYI paid for within contract at 20% down at signing of contract ) why did I have to pay for my own Entry Step installation? Why did I have to pay to have the floors leveled , and then pay for tile installation of the new additions & hardwood installation of the other section of new additions , ? Why did I pay for the baseboards & window trims in all but 5 windows , ? If my contracts were 85% complete then your saying that you contracted 2 additions At 34k & 24k
& both contracts were simply just to have you build a shell , that’s what you left me with Fred Allen Zapollo . I know you will read this & if you reply to me the same way you did to the guy in 2014 I will use it against you in court along with everything else. I gave you every opportunity to avoid going to jail . This is Theft you took my money for service & goods with no intention of providing either . You knew you were not coming back to complete that’s why you harassed me to get that other $1700. So arrogant u will find the 1 thing not true in this & respond only to that ! Criminal

Michael R. says: Fred Allen Builders LLC (aka Fred Zapollo) is a pathological lair and thief. He operates (not very well) a "rob peter to pay paul" contractor business and is constantly in the hole. He will lie repeatedly to you, tell you his workers are going to be there and no one shows up. He takes your money upfront for "start of work" payments and does not actually start the work for months thereafter if at all. His subcontractors will only perform work for him if paid cash at the time the work is done because he has stiffed them in the past. He framed my master bedroom addition in March 2016 and has not been back since then claiming all kinds of excuses and illnesses. He owes me $19200 for incomplete work, materials paid for and not delivered and, services invoiced and paid for that were not performed. He is a fraud , liar and thief. He lies so much and so often that he cannot even keep up with the what he last told you and further believes his own lies! Fred Allen Builders LLC is a nightmare from hell contractor who screw people out of their hard earned money and always thinks he is right and everyone else is responsible for his failures. Buyer beware and stay the hell aware from this guy or you will regret the experience forever.

Patty C. says: Fred is a thief and a liar! He does just enough work to get your money and than he stops showing up for the job, stops taking your calls, and does not finish the job.