Building Professionals Inc

Sharon,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We enjoyed working with you and look forward to helping you with your future projects!
Thank you,
Chelsey LaFleur
Design Consultant
BPI

The individual who wrote this review is not the client, but rather a daughter of the client, who lives in the house with her mother. The client signed the contract and paid the bills, but her daughter acted as the client’s representative for the project. We asked for and received a document stating this since the mother had signed the contract.
The project involved repairing water damage in several rooms in the house and was extensive enough that they decided to move out during the project. The total cost was $34,813.00 and the contract was reviewed by an attorney (the client’s son) and signed on 2/14/16. The scheduled start date was 2/22/16 and the project was to be substantially completed in 25 days (M-F in our contracts).
The day before the project began, we received an email from the representative stating, “Sorry for the last-minute add-ons just takes some time convincing [the client] to make needed changes.” This was referencing a request for an additional estimate to remodel the master bathroom while the other work was being done. That estimate was not accepted by the client and we did not perform the work. However, some of the client’s children did the work while we were completing the contracted work. The client’s family did not obtain the required electrical, plumbing, and building permits from the town.
The project began on 2/22/16 as scheduled. During construction significant additional damage was discovered and the client’s representative requested that additional work be done. Change orders were issued since that work was not part of the original contract.
On 3/9/16 a change order was submitted for additional painting and hot water pipe replacement, which added 4 business days to the project. It was accepted and signed six days later, on 3/15/16.
Additionally, on 3/9/16, a change order was submitted to replace an exterior, wood framed, load bearing, basement knee wall that was completely rotted due to an incorrectly flashed deck. This change order added 15 days to the project. It was accepted and signed on 3/15/16 but the deposit, due when the contract was signed, was not received until 3/29/16, fourteen days after the change order was accepted. We began that additional work despite not receiving the payment to keep the project moving.
On 3/31/16 a change order was submitted to replace the front foundation sill plate behind the front entry stairs, and replace wall sheathing under the front entry interior landing. This added 2 days. It was accepted and signed two days later, on 4/2/16.
Payments 3 & 4 were not made when due – a total of $10,000.00. Since these payments were outstanding, we informed the client’s representative that all work would be on hold until the outstanding payments were made. This was done on Sunday afternoon, 4/24/16. We did not hear from the representative and notified the painter of the situation. He was scheduled to start painting the following day, 4/25/16. Finally, at 7pm on 4/24/16, the outstanding payments were made. The painter had already scheduled another project for the next day. He was on our jobsite the following day, 4/26/16.
The punch list and cleanup were scheduled for 5/4/16. Our employees worked as much as possible but were unable to complete the outside work as it started to rain in the afternoon. They planned to come back the following day to complete the job. There was less than seven hours of work left to finish the work and clean up the site. When our employees arrived at the house on 5/5/16, the lockbox was empty and there was a note on the front door stating that work was to cease because we had breached our contract by a “…failure to perform the work required under the Contract in a good and workmanlike manner and within the agreed upon completion deadline.” One employee’s tools were in the garage and the client’s representative would not allow anyone in to get them. We were told “sometime Sunday” 5/8/16 the tools would be available for pick up. Our Project Manager went there to find the tools had been left out in a pile of trash in the driveway; we have this on video to which the client’s representative vehemently opposed. The tools were ruined because it had rained between 5/4/16 and 5/8/16. The amount of damage to the tools and the weather leading up to Sunday led us to believe that the tools had been put out Thursday night.
The work began on 2/22/16 and was to have been completed 25 days(M-F) later, 3/25/16. The change orders added 21 days which extended the project to 4/25/16. It took six days to obtain the authorization to start on the change order work and one day for the painter to reschedule, which extended the completion to 5/4/16, the day it began to rain. Yes, we were late by one day.
If the work was “unworkmanlike”, why did this client continue to ask us to do additional work, and why did she make the 5th of 5 progress payments on 5/3/16, 1 day before posting a “cease & desist” order on their front door?
I don’t think our client was aware of what was going on. Given that we were paid the 5th of 5 progress payments the day before the “cease & desist” and the work was absolutely done in a workmanlike manner, the only explanation I can offer, as an opinion only, is the following: The client’s children did not want the building inspector, who would have come in for a final inspection on our work, to see the master bathroom remodeling project that they undertook without permits.
The building inspector was notified that we weren’t paid, and we requested that no final inspection of our work be done if the client requests one. If this property is sold in the future, there will be an open building permit which will need to be closed. They still owe us $1,715.97.
The “trainee” was indeed an apprentice carpenter who was supervised at the time. The bath fan statement is a distortion – the drywall hangers covered over the fan housing. The drywall was cut back to expose the housing, and the fan unit was installed. Drywall hangers move very quickly and it’s not unusual for an outlet or light to get covered.
We have been in business since 1994 and have grown to a company that now employs 12 people. We have a long list of satisfied, repeat, & referral clients. In this new age of social media and websites like Houzz, we are quickly learning that we need to ask these clients to post their positive reviews and experiences with us.