We hired Diogenes Petrolini of Petrolini Home Improvements Inc. to do a gut renovation of our home in Newton and had a very negative experience. In short, Diogenes Petrolini is not a licensed contractor. He doesn't have his own crew or subcontractors he works closely with. Instead, he hires inexperienced subcontractors based solely on their availability. Diogenes doesn't supervise them to make sure they follow the construction plans. He also doesn't monitor the quality of their work. As a result, both the structural and finishing work in our house is of extremely poor quality. In addition, Diogenes missed all the agreed on deadlines for completing the project. On the financial side, Diogenes had demanded 95% of the total contract payment while the house was still a construction site with all permits still outstanding, and refused to resume work until the bill was paid (we parted ways with him at this point). We would not recommend working with Petrolini Home Improvements Inc. on home renovations. We have since had to spend tens and tens of thousands of dollars and many months redoing his work. In more detail: 1. Diogenes is not a licensed contractor and is working under someone else's permit. We believe this explains the lack of accountability and shadiness we experienced working with Diogenes. Diogenes was recommended to us by an acquaintance who worked with him on flipping houses, and in retrospect, we realize that this should have dissuaded us from hiring Diogenes. 2. The quality of the structural work Diogenes did on our house is LOW. For example, all of the new plumbing in the house was installed in a DIY manner using Home Depot materials instead of professional plumbing materials and techniques. In addition, when we later hired a new contractor and plumber to open up the walls to repair the work done by Diogenes, we discovered extremely poorly installed support beams that appeared to be made of small pieces of wood rather than a solid piece of wood. New flooring had been installed without properly securing the subfloor. As a result, our new floors creak throughout the house and large gaps appeared between the planks within weeks of installation. 3. Diogenes doesn't project manage his subcontractors to make sure they follow the structural plans. For example, our plans called for recessed cabinets in the bathrooms. When it came time to install them, it turned out that the plumbers and electricians had installed their work in the walls in a way that left no room for recessed cabinets. Our brand new kitchen was not installed according to the CAD drawing provided by the kitchen designer. As a result, we don't have enough room to install a refrigerator that was included in the kitchen design. 4. The quality of the installations is very poor. For example, our brand new kitchen was installed with many obvious areas where the cabinets are uneven and have random gaps. Within weeks of installation, several pieces of trim had begun to peel off. The holes for the 3-hole faucets installed in the custom bathroom countertops are visibly misaligned. The kitchen faucet is also visibly misaligned with the kitchen sink. 5. The quality of the finishes is extremely poor. From the plastering to the painting to the baseboard installation, the quality of work is what you would expect to see in a warehouse, not a high-end home. We had purchased high-end custom quartz countertops for the kitchen and bathroom vanities. Diogenes' slab subcontractor created numerous deep scratches and gouges in the process of cutting the slabs to size. The seams and caulking are also terrible. 6. Diogenes missed all of the agreed upon deadlines to complete the project. When we arrived at the house for what was supposed to be the final walk-through the afternoon before our official move-in date, we found that the house was still a construction site. The bathrooms were not finished. The kitchen appliances were still being installed. The house was not painted. No door hardware had been installed. Everything was covered in protective paper and construction debris. There were probably a dozen people working feverishly throughout the house. Most of them looked like teenagers hired at the last minute to finish the job. It was a nightmare. We had already packed all of our belongings and were ready to move into the house the next day. Instead, we scrambled to rent a temporary furnished apartment to move into the next morning. 7. On several occasions, Diogenes acted in a very unprofessional manner both on the phone and via text. On the day of the final walkthrough (described above), we received over 30 threatening texts from Diogenes over the course of an hour, including texts that threatened our lives. These texts were sent out of the blue, without any provocation. We suspect a drinking or substance abuse problem may be behind this. The was the last straw for us. We immediately changed the locks and terminated the contract.