Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/26/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We built a house with Ideal and closed on 1/6/2023.
  Issue number 1: With the rising costs of everything during the build we were forced to pay for every increase any of the subcontractors did. We agreed that if we paid for every increase, we would be reimbursed for every decrease as well. There are two things that I believe were over bid and we should have a refund on, the OPPD bill and the permitting fees. The OPPD estimated bill was $2,380. We had power on site for about 12 months of the build and that bill was for estimated usage of power by the contractors during the build. That averages out to about $200/month in electricity which we don't even use when we live there full time. I think there should be a refund but they will not give me the receipt/bill that they paid. Also permit fees were estimated to be $10,661. Per the Douglas county website I calculated our permits to cost around $5,000. Again **** refused to provide the invoice for the permits.
  Issue #2: He has refused to pay for issues with the house within his 1 year warranty period. I have had to pay for some things myself. With this heat we have condensation in our duct work which is dripping into our drywall. We had a light go out he refused to take care of. Our patio steps were not up to code and he refused to fix those.
  
  I have a years worth of emails I can provide. In those he states he will gladly give me invoices just request specifically which ones and he would get them to me but it has been 18 months now and he dodges phone calls and won't address these issues.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/27/2024

  We were under contract with this client and built the house. We met for 2hrs prior to closing and went over all the number and costs of the house in person prior to close. We agreed on a final price and the client closed on the house in the spring of 2023. We don't make it a practice to share private information and subcontractor cost. We did offer to provide an invoice or two if wanted but it is not our business practice to share costs negotiated costs we have with our subs on yearly contracts between us and subs.

  We met the client on the steps to the patio on the Job with 3 Ideal employees onsite present. We went over how they wanted them. We built them how we discussed and then at the final walk thru he asked for something different. We offered and are more than happy to change the client but we are simply asking they cover our cost to change them which we dont feel is un-reasonable

  Regarding the condensation the client hired their own insulation contractor. When he made us aware of the situation we had our roofer go out and check all the soffit ventilation and roof ventilation. We calculated on the math and made sure there was no roof issues. We also added one vent on the opposite side of the house on the garage for where he had the issue just to be safe at no charge. We have all the math and are happy to provide it showing the house is ventilatedcorrectly. We also just offered via email today 6-27-24 to have our Hvac contractor come back and add an air vent in the soffit the client requested at no charge. We simply let him know that we did not insulate the house and we are not able to warranty insulation or any other air intrusion issues since he used his own sub and paid that sub to insulate the house therefore it is not covered under his home warranty.
  

   Also over the past year the client finished his basement with no city permits or inspections and we dont know what work we did originally regarding the Hvac, electrical was altered in the home. 

  We plan to notify the city of the basement being finished with no permits and inspections as well to cover ourselves if something happens to the home on a liability stand point. 

  We have answered all emails and things brought to out attention and we can not help the client does not like our honest answers. 

  We have tried to act in good faith and cover our warranty but we can not fix things we did not do and we can not just pay for things for free just because the client does not agree. We are happy to provide all of our emails showing we have always responded and gotten back to him.

  Thank you,

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/30/2024

  Mr. ********,

  As stated in the previous response we met in person together and went over all the final numbers prior to the home closing and being finished. We agreed on the final price together prior to closing. We then closed on the home. You were in agreement with the price of the home and you made a final payment to us in full for the work. If you were not agreement on the numbers that would have been something we discussed in that meeting. It's been close to 18 months since you moved into your home and paid us for the work completed. We are at a loss as to why after agreeing on a final amount owed and being paid in full why this is coming up now 18 months later after we all agreed to a final amount and you paying us in full. You were ok and in agreement at the time of closing on the costs of the home. In review of your file it looks like there was a total of 21 credit change orders giving you credit for all the things budgeted in the home that as not used or if there was a invoice that was less we credited it back to you. There is noting in our contract with  you that obligates us to share all the invoicing with you. This was not something we agreed to and this is not a standard business practice. We have negotiated pricing and things between our subs that they ask we dont share or have floating around in public because our subs do not give all the home builders the same pricing for the builders they work for. As stated before if there is an invoice you would like to see we are happy to share one but we dont share the whole house file of invoices. In the 21 years of being in business this is not a standard business practice nor is it a norm in our industry. Is there a particular month you are looking for in an OPPD invoice? We can certainly send you are particular month if you would like.

  The rear steps were built per our meeting together and what was discussed together prior to closing. The steps passed all the final building inspections and city code. If you would like to change them now we are happy to get material and labor prices together and can have someone change them for you. You would just need to cover our costs to do so since they are completed per code and per our original discussion of how you wanted them to be done. 

  As previously stated we had our roofer come out inspect the home, roof, soffit ventilation. It was determined that everything as properly vented. Our roofer work on a design for over 6hrs and calculated the math to insure all the vents and roof square footage was correct and the vents were placed on the correct spots. It was concluded that we are within code and the home is ventilated properly and has the correct ventilation. We also had our HVAC guy look at everything on his end as well. Both the roofer and the HVAC guy came to the same conclusion as we did that there is warm air getting into the home from something not being properly insulated. We eliminated all the possible causes on our end. Unfortunately you used your own insulation contractor therefore that is not something we can cover under our home warranty. We suggest you have your insulation contractor find the areas not sealed and insulated them correctly. If you need some help we are happy to have our insulation contractor come over and identify the issue for you and get you a cost to correct if needed. Please just let us know, we are happy to try and help on that if needed as long as you are willing to cover the costs since we did not do the insulation in the home.

  Regarding the septic lid, when the electrician was called out for the tripping outlet it was determined that you mowed over the septic lid and lowered the lid allowing water to get into the lid when it rained and also when the sprinkler system ran to water the grass. The electrician fixed this for you and sent an invoice because the lid was altered, damaged and was not in the same condition as we left it when the home was closed. In good faith even though it was not our issue we went out and paid for a new septic lid cap and replaced it for you. We didnt have to do that but we did that in good faith for you.

  Please just let us know if you would like our insulation company to come out and take a look at your issue and identify the problem. We can get a cost on what's needed to fix it for you if needed and help if your contractor wont stand behind the insulation job he did for you that you paid him to do.

  We are certainly trying to be reasonable just as we have done throughout your building project. As you are aware we can not warranty work we did not do on the home. But we are certainly willing to try and help you if needed

  Thank you!

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/02/2024

  I have emails dating back to
  prior to closing on 12/28/22 at 1:42pm where we talked about the OPPD AND
  permit invoices. Quit acting like you are surprised by this matter. It is very
  clear as to why you are avoiding this issue, you over charged us. You said
  “There is noting in our contract with you that obligates us to share all the
  invoicing with you.” Then why did you? You gave me EVERY invoice I asked for
  along the way, expect for these ones (OPPD and permits). Quit referring to your
  subs, OPPD and the Douglas County permit office are not subcontractors. AGAIN,
  I have almost all of your subs invoices from the build, you gave them to me.
  There are 2 more I want, OPPD AND PERMITS.
  It is shocking and alarming you
  don’t know your city codes very well. I have called the city and sent them
  pictures of the steps. They are not built to code. Please attach your notes
  from our conversation about the steps on the patio that day. They were not
  built the way we wanted them.
  Please quit talking about the
  roof and your “math” that you refuse to hand over. I do not think this is a
  roofing issue. The expert I hired already figured out the issue and if you
  would read what I wrote you might be able to understand that also. I will copy
  and paste it for you to read again.
  The condensation problem we have
  is not an insulation issue. He is correct we did hire our own insulator which
  in fact turns out was the insulation guys **** uses. We also hired **** from
  O-Heat, an energy expert certified by the City of Omaha to investigate issues
  like this. We paid for this out of our own pocket because we were not getting
  any help from the contractor. **** was able to identify a few areas of the
  house that needed to be addressed. First was the roof over the patio, which
  shared 3 walls to the house, had soffit vents but no roof vents. So therefore hot
  air was getting in but not being able to escape. We asked to have rood vents
  put on that part of the roof. They said their roofing calculations are correct
  and no more vents are needed. I asked to see their “math” and they replied with
  saying “you show us your report first and then I will show you ours.” They
  ended up doing the roof vents which I think helped but they still refuse to
  show us any calculations or math on their ventilation. **** also stated, “I
  measured your house’s air leakage rate at 1.5 air changes per hour (ACH). This
  is about twice as airtight as the strictest codes require.” The issue which
  **** also stated in his report is the giant soffit we had to build in the
  middle of our house to get the HVAC from one side to another. This is an
  interior soffit, not the exterior soffit like **** keeps referring to. ****’s
  architect made many mistakes when he drew the house this being one of them. And
  by talking with others this seems to be a common problem. The soffit is about
  20’ long and 4-5’ in height between the main and second level. **** stated the
  soffit was so large it is acting like a crawl space between the floors and
  should have been a conditioned space. **** also mentioned city code requires
  crawl spaces to be conditioned. Therefore when it get real hot outside the duct
  work inside the soffit starts to sweat and drip water onto the ceiling leaving
  water spots. Last year **** and I agreed to have his HVAC guy come out and put
  in 2 vents into the soffit to try and allow some conditioned air into that
  soffit but by time that got organized summer was almost over and we never could
  tell if it was going to work or not. This past week we had the same thing
  happen with those 100 degree days and now all of a sudden this isn’t his
  problem. He did finally agree to try more vents and maybe some sort of fan to
  blow air into that soffit.
  Let me know if you don’t
  understand this.
  You don’t know what you are
  talking about because you were not there and again are trying to blame others
  anyway you can. I have 2 septic systems, the lid I ran over with the mower was
  not one if the lids we are talking about. The lid I ran over with the mower was
  on the lower yard and I replaced that myself. I bought it on ****** and can
  show you the receipt if you want. I never touched the lid that was allowing
  water in. I have pictures of that lid if you want to see them. You will see it
  was not ran over with the mower and the seal was broken.
  Once again I don’t think you read
  anything I write. YOUR insulation guys already came out. I hired them. It is
  not an insulation problem. It is a crawl space/soffit problem.
  You have always shifted blame to
  others and it’s clear to anyone reading this correspondence between us that you
  avoid certain issues. As I said before, I am a reasonable person and have been
  very patient with these issues. I want the invoices of OPPD and permits, and if
  there is a credit due then refund the money you have been holding on to for 18
  months. I am positive I am not the only one you do this to. I might be the only
  one pushing back. It’s a big red flag when the AG ordered you to pay $10,000
  for barring clients to write bad reviews or saying anything bad on social
  media. Why did you have so many bad reviews you thought you needed to add that
  to your contract? Let’s get this settled.