Polson General Contractors LLC

We hired Eric to do our gutters on our 3 story house. He communicated well throughout the process. His crew arrived on time and were efficient with finishing the project. His prices were reasonable! We’re very pleased and plan to hire him for the next project!

Eric and his crew provided quality work, on time and within the budget agreed to for our new roof. His crew was professional and did a great job cleaning up when they were finished. We couldn't be happier.

We worked with Eric Fiore through his business Polson General Contractors LLC. It was a miserable experience. There are so many frustrations I don’t have space to describe, but I will hit on some lowlights. We signed a contract for a $100k whole-home remodel (roof, siding, windows, update 2 bathrooms, update kitchen, turn garage to living space, new bathroom, floors, paint, trim, doors, heating). We feel foolish now because this was obviously more than Eric could do for the budget. Lesson learned – be realistic, not desperate.

In February 2022 we paid him $6k for permits and design, then a $40k initial payment in June. In December he told us we were permitted and ready to start soon. Eric misled us about the schedule from the beginning, but things got exceedingly frustrating in early 2023. March 2023 came and he had done no work on our house, but we finally got him to commit to a start date, so we moved out, which Eric required. My parents were kind enough to put their retirement plans on hold and lend us their travel trailer. Eric had told us he would finish within 6 months.

We went 4 months in the trailer with no progress. In July he sent his crew over for 2 days and completely demolished the interior of our house (except for one toilet). He really had us committed at that point. By the end of September, Eric had not completed any more work and we asked to part ways. However, he refused to give us our unspent money back, saying he had “invested” it in other projects. As he left, Eric threatened to sue us for breach of contract (yes, you read that right).

We met with a lawyer, and it wasn’t good. We learned that Eric was extradited in 2018 to Arkansas for check fraud, owed over $140k in outstanding judgements and tax liens (per a background check conducted October 2023), and has had several claims on his contractor’s bond as well as numerous business-related lawsuits in recent years. Eric made it clear he would not willingly return the unspent portion of the $40k we had paid him, so we attempted to continue working with him. In mid-October he agreed to a revised contract. We would not give Eric more money until he completed substantial work. Also, he would start work by the end of the month and continue making progress without long interruptions.

Unsurprisingly, November arrived and Eric had not started working on our house. In mid-November we got him to install a new roof, but only by threatening a lawsuit for breach of contract. Now, prepare yourself for this shocking news, but our roof leaked after his crew was finished. Every time it rained we had puddles in our living room. Eric was unconcerned.

Another month passed without progress, until his crew arrived for a day of demolition and took off the exterior trim. That put us in an even deeper hole. A couple days later Eric showed up at our house at 8pm (unannounced, as we had learned by then was his practice) to tell us the “good” news. He would be getting back to work in a few weeks. Oh, and he would require an additional $20k before he could make any more progress. At that point we had been living in the travel trailer for 9 months with nothing but a leaky roof and a completely demolished house. Eric was clearly unable or unwilling to live up to the schedule and payment plan we had agreed to.

Finally, thankfully, he agreed to part ways. But the pain did not end there. Eric offered to return less than $6k of our initial $40k payment. We contacted the suppliers and subcontractors Eric used and we believe he owes us over $20k. We offered to settle out of court if he returned $12k. Eric refused.

It was an incredibly frustrating experience and a colossal waste of time, not to mention the money Eric has taken from us. However, within two weeks of parting ways, we had another contractor underway and we have been DIYing it non-stop. It feels good to be making progress! We just wish we had done our homework and avoided Eric altogether or ended things much sooner. Some hard lessons learned.