Warning, warning - stay far away from Peterson Home Improvement

My wife and I wanted our basement finished to have some extra space for all of our daughter's toys, to have somewhere to get away, to have an extra bedroom since we would be losing one upstairs once Lauren moves to a big-girl room, and to have a "man cave". Okay, the last one was for me, not for my wife. We hired Peterson Home Improvement, of Worthington, OH, to make our dream a reality. Welcome to our nightmare.

The project was estimated to take 4-5 weeks. We are now in the 9th week and if we can get anyone on-site to do some work it would still probably take another 2 weeks to finish. That's right, "if" we can get anyone on-site to come and do work. For the past 3 weeks, the workers have been at our house for a total of 3 hours.

Peterson Home Improvement is out of money. One framing crew has quit working with Scott Peterson. He owed them more than $7000 for past jobs. They stopped working on our project, because that was the only way they could force Scott Peterson to pay them. He bounced 2 checks to them, and finally gave them a check that did not bounce the next week. They came back on-site and worked for awhile, until they needed some supplies. They could not continue working until Scott Peterson could purchase some supplies. Unfortunately, it appears Peterson Home Improvement has bad credit with all home supply stores nowadays and the workers, rightfully so, have stopped purchasing supplies themselves in hopes of being reimbursed.

We ran into similar problems with the drywall crew. They would stop work early on most days. Turns out, they too needed supplies and again, they did not want to purchase supplies themselves, because they too were having a hard time getting payment out of Peterson Home Improvement.

Once again, same problem with the Scott's painter. He needed the primer, but Scott has not bought it. He went out and bought it himself, came on a Sunday, Father's Day specifically, and did all of the priming. The primer was put on very quickly, and only one coat was on. It could definitely use a second coat.

Through all of this work, the owner of Peterson Home Improvement has lied to us multiple times. He claimed during one work stoppage that he could not reach the framing crew and that maybe they had gone out drinking the night before. He was slandering his own crew, when it turns out they were not coming to work because they had not been paid for the past 2 jobs. Nice guy! Not! That was when he bounced 2 checks to them too.

The project manager has left the company. The framing crew has hired an attorney. The owner of the company has had to reschedule the last several meetings I have setup to sit down with him to determine when our project will be finished. It could be that Peterson Home Improvement will file bankruptcy. Regardless, if you are considering a home construction project, you have been advised to stay far, far away from Peterson Home Improvement.

I have written to Angie's List to give them this feedback so hopefully they will update their ratings to reflect how poorly run the project and company is nowadays. I will be writing to the Better Business Bureau in hopes of getting a resolution on our project too.

Stay away from Peterson Home Improvement. Do not wish this company on even your worst enemies.

Which is more green?

I find myself more and more over the past couple of months thinking about my lifestyle and how my family is using our resources in terms of "being green". This isn't something I thought about 10 years ago. Sure, I have taken advantage of the awesome recycling options where I live in Dublin, Ohio, but within the past 2 years I have started consciously trying to make better choices. The problem is I don't always know which is better and it is easy to get stuck working through all of the calculations and unknowns trying to come up with a formula for why I should do (a) instead of (b). Some examples:

1. Is it better to run the air conditioner in the car to feel cool, or rather is it better to put the windows down and let the breeze (somewhat) cool you off? At first glance it would seem that AC off would be the greener choice, but consider that windows down would mean more drag, using potentially more fuel. Might depend on speed you are traveling, how long you will be in the car, or many other factors. I wish I knew the answer though, because I would likely chose the one that was better for the environment.

2. Is it better to get read eBooks or buy the real thing? This seems obvious, get an Amazon Kindle. At least that is what I am telling myself as this is now becoming my Father's Day gift this year. By buying, retrieving, and reading books electronically, I am saving the rain forests, printing supplies, transportation costs, and probably loads of other things. Unfortunately I don't know about the harmful costs of producing and distributing these electronic devices. Are we causing an environment catastrophe by creating the lovely electronic displays? What happens when we are done with them? Are we creating a lead problem or does the Kindle have some other kind of harmful chemicals in it? It uses Amazon's Whispernet to deliver books, which is just their name for cellular signals. Harmful signals? Some people claim to be allergic to Wifi now.

Where can I find the answers? Seems like a common problem everyone would have, but I admit I haven't done a lot of online research. As more people buy into "going green", it would be great to have a resource that breaks down the answers to these more complex situations. I don't want to see answers that say blindly "use the AC". I want to see answers that explain why and show the difference of using the AC versus not. I want to know the person answering the question has worked the problem all the way through and is not just flippantly answering without really thinking through the opportunity costs. Suggestions for finding answers? Is searching Google based on each individual questionable situation the only answer? Then I think we run into a trust issue. How do I know the answer I find is not being influenced by some third party?