Do NOT Hire Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting

Life can be rough as a single female business owner trying to hire contractors. Here’s my story of trusting the wrong people. Hopefully others reading this can avoid all that I went through by not hiring Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting.

SUMMARY:

I hired Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting to build a set for my studio. They quoted $2500 then tried to charge an extra $2198 for supposed extra wood & supposed extra labor even though I had to provide 2 days of labor myself. They overpromised, underdelivered, & did not even complete the job.

LONG VERSION:

November 27, 2023 – Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting came into my studio for a boudoir shoot for her boyfriend, Habbib Bozorgnia. I asked her what she did for a living, she mentioned that she was a project manager for his company. I had been looking for someone to build a set for my studio & asked if she could provide a quote. Later that day, I text Shawna Lashelle/Paulido this link containing inspiration photos for what I was looking for:

December 8, 2023 – Shawna Lashelle/Paulido & her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting came to the studio to take measurements. Upon arrival, Habbib Bozorgnia was confused as to my surprise, Shawna Lashelle/Paulido had not shown him any of the inspiration photos I had been sending her so I showed them to him onsite.

After reviewing the photos, both Habbib Bozorgnia & his girlfrlend Shawna Lashelle/Paulido jotted measurements & drawings down on a piece of paper that I provided (not sure why they didn’t bring their own, def seemed unprofessional to me) for the proposed set included faux window, fireplace remodel, bookshelves, hidden cabinets, & wall trim with crown moulding and they took that piece of paper with them.

I was told by Habbib Bozorgnia at this time that the fireplace remodel would include having it being put onto a platform to raise it as requested, then a frame being built in front of it so that it could look like the photo I had provided & that this would be no problem at all as this sort of moulding was readily available at Home Depot. We discussed dates and I made sure to mention I needed the job done by January 6th as I had a client flying in from Colorado; Habbib Bozorgnia said that wouldn’t be a problem as it would only take 2 days to complete.

December 15, 2023 – 7 days later I still hadn’t received a quote so I began researching alternatives as it was imperative that I get the job done by January 6th due to the client that was flying in. I found a $169 bookshelf on Amazon, wainscoting for $250 on Etsy (which I ordered the second I found it), cabinets for $109 on Amazon, and text photos of all this to Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting, informing her that I now only needed the faux window & fireplace built: 

December 16, 2023 – I received a $2500 quote from Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting that included itemized lines for the above including them building the wainscoting:

I text back, confused why it said $422.40 for the wainscoting when I had stated that I was going to purchase the wainscoting from Etsy the previous day:

December 17, 2023 – After I sent the above texts, Shawna Lashelle/Paulido called with her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting on the line to clarify. He stated that rather than them installing the wainscotting I had already purchased from Etsy, it would be best if they did the wainscoting & that this would not change the $2500 quote as it was already written into it. While have done some woodworking with my Dad over the years (he lives across country or I probably would’ve hired him for the job), I hadn’t done a project like this so I trusted their judgement & agreed to this arrangement.

December 20, 2023 – I text Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting asking if they had a date they would begin the job as I would be traveling for the holidays & reminded her that I needed it done by 1/6 as I had a client flying in for a shoot on 1/8. I was informed that they were thinking 1/3-1/4 but she would check with their crew & get back to me:

December 27, 2023 – I text Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting to confirm install date AGAIN & was told they would START the job on 1/5. I then asked her if there was a guarantee it would be done in the 2 days both Shawna Lashelle/Paulido & her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia had promised both verbally & in writing and reminded her that I needed it done before my client arrived on 1/8. Shawna Lashelle/Paulido text back that they would stay late to get it done on time if needed. I reminded her that I would also need a couple days to decorate the set once complete so It needed it to be done by 1/6 at the absolute latest as that would only give me 1 day to complete the decor. Shawna Lashelle/Paulido told me she would check with the crew again & get back to me.

January 2, 2024 – Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting informed me that the crew would arrive on 1/4 at 8:30 am:

January 3, 2024 – Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting, having been to the studio as a client prior to me becoming HER client (so therefore, should have known they would need to bring some kind of cart or dolly), arrived with extremely heavy materials for the job such as a table saw & 8×4 wood panels with no means of transporting the materials upstairs. I was lucky that my building provides carts; wonder what would’ve happened if they didn’t. I then had to help her & her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia haul everything back & forth:

January 4, 2024 – I text Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting at 9:30 am asking for ETA since they were an hour late, Then, once again, I had to help her & her crew (2 men) haul stuff upstairs as once again they didn’t bring any cart or dolly. Once we finally had everything unloaded into the studio, the next issue arose – the crew had been told ZERO of what the job entailed and I had to explain literally everything to them all over again. Shawna Lashelle/Paulido, the supposed Project Manager for this company, just stood there while they were asking ME for measurements. Growing increasingly frustrated, I turned to her & said “Didn’t you guys write all this down the other day? Do you have those notes with you?” and she ignored me. Maybe at this point I should’ve just cancelled the job due to incompetence as I hadn’t signed any paperwork or provided any kind of payment, but I had promised to have the new set done by the time my client landed on 1/8.

The crew then informed Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting that she had bought the wrong kind of trim for wainscoting & the fireplace & that she would need to go back to Home Depot to buy more. She left & I text her the same photos I had provided in this website link on November 27th & shown to her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia on December 8th in hopes she’d find the right materials this time:

Once at Home Depot, Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting informed me that they didn’t have any trim that looked like the photo of the fireplace I had been promised. I was furious that they had promised one thing even stating that they knew Home Depot had the look I was going for & probably should’ve been even more vocal than I was below but I decided I just needed to get this set done before the studio re-opened post-holidas & begrudgingly picked something else:

Once back at the studio, Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting informed me that she knows someone (her Dad I think) that does custom fireplaces like that photo all the time & that what I was wanting costs like $10k. I was speechless – if she knew exactly how much such fireplaces cost, then why did they promise they could do it BEFORE accepting the job or even bother to go to Home Depot to look for trim in the first place?? I had actually found a fireplace that looks nearly exactly like the inspiration photo on Amazon for $700, but again, because I was told they could do it, I didn’t purchase it. Extremely disappointing.

Meanwhile, after spending roughly an hour explaining to the crew what the job entailed, they finally started working around noon, 3 whole hours after arrival (!!!).

2pm Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting returned to the studio & again needed help transporting all materials upstairs. She then left. At some point I walked in to check on the job and noticed that the base for the fireplace was too wide & asked the crew why; they said that’s how fireplaces look (huh??). I Googled photos of standard fireplaces (since clearly I was having to adapt away from the original fireplace design) & showed them a couple photos to which they made up some kinda bogus lie that because of the size it couldn’t look like an normal fireplace. I think that what really happened is they measured wrong & didn’t want to change it as the crew moved VERY slow. After the first day they hadn’t even finished half of what would’ve normally been about a 4 hour job for one person. I know because again, my Dad & I built stuff when I was a kid (by building it was more me watching & him doing most of the work or yes I would’ve just DIY’d all of this) and there was 2 of them:

January 5, 2024 – Everyone arrived for Day 2 of the install & I was informed that yet again Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting needed even more trim and that there would be an additional charge for the additional wood. Having gone to Home Depot to purchase wood for other projects before myself, I said no problem, assuming that it would be around $200 if that for the additional wood they had been buying. By this point I was extremely frustrated as Shawna Lashelle/Paulido’s boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia had taken measurements during the initial site walkthrough on December 8th but apparently nothing at all was passed on to the actual crew doing the job, hence all the constant runs to the store for Shawna & more of my time spent helping haul the additional materials upstairs. I was assisting with elevator runs so much that I was barely able to get my own work done the entire 2 days.

By the end of the day, the job was finally semi-completed; however, all the extra wood was left after the crew was done. I text Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting that I loved the set because at the time, while I hated the fireplace, I thought at least I have the wall & window done in time for my client’s shoot. I then asked what I owed for the extra wood & also when the extra wood left in the studio would be removed as I had a housekeeper coming to clean at 1 pm the next day & needed everything gone to get the studio cleaned up for my client’s shoot on 1/8:

January 6, 2024 – Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting informed me that they were busy and would come get it between 2-6 pm; so my housekeeper cleaned around it & I made a reservation for the freight elevator surrounding that window then waited around all day for them to come. At 3 I asked for ETA, then again at 5. I finally received a reply stating that Shawna Lashelle/Paulido & her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia would be there at 6pm:

When Shawna Lashelle/Paulido & her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting arrived, they stated grumpily that they had left a party to come get the wood as if this was my fault and/or responsibility to clean up after their crew. I apologized for their inconvenience but reminded them that it had to be cleared up because my client was arriving that Monday & it was already Saturday, then once again, had to get a cart to help them haul everything out. Once they left, I had to sweep & mop after everything was moved since my housekeeper wasn’t able to clean behind the leftover materials.

Before I could even get back upstairs to my studio I received an updated quote from Shawna Lashelle/Paulido’s boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting asking for an extra $2,198 for a supposed 8 extra hours of labor, supposed extra materials, & the supposed addition of wainscotting which was always part of the job from the beginning:

Again trying to be nice & keep things on friendly terms, I sent an email thanking them for the job but stated I was confused by the quote doubling for wood & “extra” labor which wasn’t actually extra as they had quoted 2 days from the beginning (not to mention that I provided 2 days of labor myself). I included a screenshot of the photo I had sent on December 15th showing both the wainscoting & chair rail desired PRIOR to receiving the quote on December 16th in my email. I received no reply to this email.

January 7, 2024 – I hired a Task Rabbit guy to build the bookshelf & it was 11 pm when he completed it that I discovered that the wainscoting did not extend to the bookshelf as promised due to the crew having measured improperly; I had told them the shelf was 35” wide as the measurements were on the Amazon listing, I even showed them the listing & we’d had a detailed conversation about this; they started the wainscoting at 40.5” wide:

I thought about expressing my frustration at this time, but I really don’t like conflict so I decided to wait for their response, planning to eventually hire someone else to finish the job down the road.

January 12, 2024 – After no response to the email I’d sent on the 6th, I finally received a text from Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting on the 12th stating that we needed to talk as I needed to pay the invoice:

I called her, asking her if she had received my email showing photos of the wainscoting I had asked for prior to receiving the $2500 quote & stated that the new quote was incorrect & needed to be adjusted because also, I bought the paint, they didn’t actually do the bookshelf build as proposed in Quote 1 & they had leftover wood to return. I stated that I would only pay what I had agreed to pay prior to the job beginning as 1) The job was quoted as a 2 day job from the beginning (see text from December 20) which is exactly how long it took so there was no extra 8 hours & 2) While I had agreed to pay extra for the trim, I’ve bought wood before & know that this small amount of wood doesn’t cost $2198, & 3) I had provided photos of exactly what I wanted & even purchased the Etsy wainscotting for $250 only to be told it would be better if they did it and why would I spend over $2k on something I could’ve gotten for $250 AND it would’ve been done right as this Etsy company has hundreds of reviews while they apparently have ZERO?? I know, my bad trusting them; she just seemed so nice when she was in my studio & I didn’t know who else to ask after another contractor prior this one also trying to scam me by quoting $17,000 for the job.

She then replied “Well you were happy with the job!” And I told her “I was sort of, but once the bookshelf was installed I saw that the wainscoting isn’t complete & I was never happy with the fireplace as it looks nothing like the photos, but I was letting it go. But I definitely am not paying the extra $2198 & this feels like a scam if I’m being honest. Did you even look at the photos I sent you showing that I had asked for the wainscotting before you ever provided a quote?” Her response literally was “I don’t care what the photos look like, the work is done!” then she said that she would get her boyfriend Habbib Bozorgnia on a 3 way call to discuss all this & hung up on me. I never heard from her again.

January 15, 2024 – Against the advice of friends & another contractor I had take a look at the set who stated he would’ve done the job for $1500, I paid the $2500 I had agreed to because 1) While I was not happy with the fireplace or the job overall upon realizing that the wainscoting was not finished, I was glad at least that I had a set that was semi-usable as I had promised my client who flew in from Denver JUST to shoot with me on 1/8 that she could use it & a semi usable set is better than not keeping MY promises to MY client & 2) They had been nice people during the job to the point I thought I had made new friends, so I didn’t want to short what I thought at the time were nice people out of the money I had agreed to pay. However, I refuse to pay the extra $2198 when the job is incomplete & the fireplace is nothing like the photos. 

February 6, 2024 – When I heard nothing for weeks, I though it was over & they had moved on. As I was updating photos on my Google page yesterday I noticed that my 5 star rating had dropped to 4.9 stars & discovered that Shawna Lashelle/Paulido of Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting had changed her 5 star review from November 23, 2024 to a 1 star on February 1, 2024:

I knew immediately that this was in retaliation for my refusal to pay the $2198 I don’t actually owe.

I was going to let ALL of this go – that’s why I paid despite literally EVERYONE I talked to stating I shouldn’t pay even a penny based on the below results I got (and the fact that I had never even received or signed any kind of contract from them), but I decided to come forward with this entire story once Shawna Lashelle/Paulido decided to come after my business when I did way more than I even should have. Here is a photo of the fireplace I had told them I wanted vs. what I actually got:

Only hire Triad Home Solutions & General Contracting if you like having someone lie about what they are capable of doing, not actually do it, then double the price for shoddy work that is not even complete.