I am the chairman of the property committee at the local church, St. Johns United Church or Christ - Harmony, in Hampshire, Illinois. This past spring, Natanael Hosen, the principle of EcoShield, visited the church and informed us of hail damage to the siding and roofing of the church and parsonage. In that we did not know of the damage and found no negative reviews online, we agreed to contract with him. They started a little late for my timetable, but all in all they convinced the insurance company to pay for the repairs and had them completed in a reasonable amount of time.

However, during the repairs, the boom lift tore up the asphalt parking lot, broke a concrete sidewalk and created ruts in the grass. About a week later, one of the shingles tore and became displaced. Natanael requested that I sign off on the repairs anway, which I refused with the consent of the committee. He sent out his superintendent to inspect and took pictures. Natanael was thereafter apologetic.

The first repair was to the roof. He hired a separate roofing repair crew because his guys were too busy to make it. We have a black roof. They showed up with red shingles and were going to replace the torn one. To our benefit, we were having a vacation bible school that day and a few on the property committee were in attendance. They told the crew that it would not work. The roofing crew then moved the torn shingle back in place, caulked it, and told those in attendance that it was a proper repair to their disapproval. I contacted Natanael who apologized and acknowledged it was an inferior repair. I asked him to contact me before a proper repair was to be completed so we as a committee can be in attendance to be confident the repair was done properly. He never called, and we did not discuss it again until the concrete was "repaired".

He hired a contractor from Rockford to perform the repairs for the asphalt parking lot. He told me the time to be there and I was there but no one showed. The next day, I contacted Natanael, who told me they had backed out the night before but he didnt want to contact me because it was so late. Really, he wasted me 2 hours on the time clock at work. He then hired a second asphalt contractor from Roselle, where he is located. Originally, he asked them to repair only the parking lot that was buckled and destroyed. When this contractor saw it, he requested meeting with the property committee and Natanael because he knew that more damage was done than Natanael was telling him. We met and Natanael showed up late again. He got out of his car and just said where do I need to sign as if it was going to get done. They were going to repair the concrete and fill in the ruts damaged by the boom lift. This was a Monday, Natanael was to get them 50% down by Wednesday and repairs were to happen on Friday. I got a call from Final Touch Asphalt on Friday that Natanael had not paid them, didn't answer any calls nor reply to any calls. Final Touch refused to do go any further and Natanael responded saying that he did not like their pricing. He hired a third company. Again I showed at 730 and his new asphalt company was already there. Natanael showed at 8, which is typical of him. We met for a moment but then he wanted to leave to fuel his vehicle. (He had a driver bring him to the site who never got our of his car.) The asphalt crew and I suggested that he work through this with us and send his driver, which he agreed. Natanael again wanted to repair a smaller portion than what was damaged. His crew told him it was a larger area and described the proper area to be repaired. They worked out a deal to start on Monday, which has come and passed. A week later, Natanael says they will start this week. I suspect it is a fourth company who may do the repairs Natanael wants rather than what is needed.

Meanwhile Natanael sends out a concrete repair crew to fix the sidewalk. They mixed the concrete on the ground and only made the sidewalk 2-3 inches thick. We have pictures of the torn out concrete that was the standard 4 inches thick. I sent him the photos and he cares not that his subcontractors performed an inferior repair.

I spoke to him then about the roofing and he asked if it was leaking. I told him as far as I knew it was not but that I would not know until it started to discolor the ceiling. He said then it is fine and that I was being too picky. I asked if it was properly repaired and he told me "yes". I asked why he did not call me when the proper repairs were done as I had asked. He told me no further repairs were done or needed. I wouldn't trust this guy with my dog.

As for the ruts in the yard, he says they will be filled in this week. I am not going to hold my breath. Luckily, the insurance company has $30,000 that he can receive if all the repairs are done properly. Thanks to my committee for supporting me in not signing off. We will see how he continues to represent himself and his company.