Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/03/2023

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  Owl Ridge built my house at * ******* ** in Nottingham, NH - Moved in Dec 4th. When doing the site construction, proper drainage wasn't put in. The contractor did not let me know until the end of the project. They told me I would have to get this fixed and they were not going to. Drainage was in the septic design plans which they told me was illegally done. Both the State of NH and Town of Nottingham signed off on these plans. With the amount of rain that came in on 12/23, my basement garage and mudroom flooded. Had the proper drainage been added in the beginning, there would not have been a flood. I have filed a claim with both their insurance as well as my own. The builder is not responding to my emails to have the site guy come out and fix their error. They have done multiple things throughout this build to place blame on others. They ordered the wrong window, tried to tell me it was a design error. They wanted me to pay $1300 for a window they should have ordered in the first place. I found the plans in the house where it showed they ordered the wrong window. They never acknowledged their mistake. They also had to raise my house because again there was a design error only it was their error since they knew where the septic and well would be located. Plans were previously done and provided to them when they quoted the house.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/19/2023

  Wednesday, January 18, 2023

  Better Business Bureau Serving New Hampshire

  48 Pleasant St.

  Concord, NH 03301

  Reference: claim ID ********

  Not only is this claim erroneous, but we believe it rises to the level of defamation. We were contracted to build a home for this customer on property owned by the customer. All survey, site planning and septic plans were completed by subcontractors hired by the customer prior to contracting with our business. We were contracted to build according to those plans. We subcontracted an excavation company to install septic, driveway and do site work according to those provided plans. As site work was underway, the excavation company brought it to our attention that the septic plan provided by the customer included no provisions for drainage in front of the garage. Additionally, the septic as designed would cause water to run in that area and then hold it there. However, due to its proximity to the septic system and leach field any drainage provisions would have needed to be detailed on the State and town septic approval. 

  We brought this to the attention of the customer. We explained that in order for our subcontractor to perform this work or install any drainage in that area, she would need to contact her septic designer. The designer would need to draw it in the plans and submit it to the state for approval. Per our contract, she’d be responsible for any additional material costs, which she did not protest. She simply declined to have us do the work and later informed us that her Stepfather and friend (who we assumed was her septic designer) already had a plan for it. We advised her on multiple occasions to make sure that it did get addressed as we were concerned about water getting under her garage doors. We even recommended that prior to her stepfather doing the work that she reach out and review it with us to make sure that he did not cause any new issues or void her home warranty. On December 23, 2022, after a major weather event in which several inches of rain fell in a short amount of time, we received a rather aggressive email from the customer stating that she had water coming in her garage and demanded an immediate resolution. We did reply that this was the exact area that we discussed with her, that she told us she’d be addressing on her own, but that we would send our excavation company right over to see what he could do to help her. Instead of responding to the offer to send over our excavation subcontractor, the customer said she was filing a claim against our General Liability policy. Our excavation subcontractor was sitting at the end of her driveway within 3omin of our email, waiting for her to say “yes please send him over”. Unfortunately this customer’s aggressive nature, verbal outbursts and inability to communicate professionally when dealing with anything that frustrates or overwhelms her, made all of our subcontractors and ourselves quite uncomfortable throughout the entire project. None of us are comfortable stepping foot onto the property without explicit permission and without her showing signs of calming down. 

  At NO point did we refuse to do additional work or repairs. We have informed the customer multiple times before and after the 12/23 incident that our subcontractor cannot add drainage without the provisions being made on the septic plan. She has made no effort to have those provisions made. In fact, she has not even said anything in response to it. We checked in multiple times over the next couple of weeks to see how she wanted to proceed. Her entire focus became the insurance claim. She even refused to let us come do another simple repair elsewhere because she wanted to “show it to the adjuster”. We cannot do work or go to someone’s home without their permission.

  Now the customer is claiming that our subcontractor should have put the drain in in violation of the State regulations or graded the driveway differently (the grade is done per her septic plan) and at our expense from the beginning. If she believed this to be true, she had several opportunities to address this with us prior to commencing work on her project:

  1. She signed a contract that clearly stated that any unforeseen or additional site work was at her expense and she never disagreed with that.

  2. We verbally and via email (which we can document) discussed the concern and her options with her while we were still on site doing work. She never once protested that we should do the work as part of our original fee or contract. She simply said that she did not want us to address it.

  3. A punch list was created the day we did her final walk through of the home; this is used to document any work owed to the customer. It is at that walk through that she shared her Stepfather’s plan to dig a trench and pull back one of the banks. She was comfortable with her Stepfather’s plan. She did not put anything on the punchlist in regards to this drainage (we have that signed document as well).

  4. The customer released the final draw of the construction loan for work being complete and to her satisfaction. 

  The fact that only after water came in her basement, in the exact area that we brought to her attention, is she claiming that we did something incorrectly or left work incomplete is unethical at best. While we understand how upsetting and frustrating this situation must be, this customer has failed to take the necessary steps on her part to address the issue. We cannot perform work in violation of state regulations simply because she demands it, even if she felt it was our responsibility from the beginning. 

  Further, even if this issue is a repair that we could/should make we have a signed warranty with this customer that allows us 120 days to make repairs (document can be provided). The customer notified us of the issue on 12/23/22 and filed this complaint with BBB 4 days later on 12/27/22 stating a repair issue. Not to mention that 12/23/22 was the day before Christmas eve and both owners of Owl Ridge Builders were in quarantine and actively ill with COVID (documentation can be provided). Since then, the customer has refused to communicate or allow us to make any repairs. 12/22-12/23 was also a major weather event, the customer had done no snow or ice removal since moving into the home in November (photos can be provided)all of which also contributed to the incident. 

  On multiple occasions she tried to force us to do things in violation of building code because she just didn’t like how something looked or did not want the expense of it. The $1300 window she mentions is one such example. Customer asked us to swap all casement windows where possible with double hungs to save money. She also expressed how important it was for her 2 sons to have mirrored image rooms, so wanted the window changed in one room to match the other. The window was a casement window, which by fire code can be smaller to meet egress. Replacing it with the double hung meant that it needed to be larger to meet code. In order to clear the roof of the sunroom, we had to set the window a few inches higher (less than 6in). She emailed us demanding we come to the house at a specific date and time. We arrived to find her with 3 other people, 2 of whom we had never even met that she kept deferring to as the expert. She was shaking and shouting. Not insisting that we had made the change without her approval but that she didn’t like it that high and that we needed to swap it with a smaller double hung. She was insisting that we were wrong about building code and should put a smaller double hung. Despite having it in text and email that she wanted the window change, because we failed to do a change order (because we rushed her window order for her to avoid a 12% window vendor increase) or warn her that we’d have to hang it a little higher we decided to replace it at our expense. We never issued her an invoice or mentioned payment. 

  Ultimately, this customer hired a family friend who created a poorly planned septic design that created many issues. We had to add a knee wall to the foundation to accommodate draining the washing machine, because he failed to account for the pitch needed to run waste water from the machine out to the field. Despite knowing the flaws the customer assumed responsibility for this plan and making provisions on her own. She either failed to make those provisions, had them done incorrectly or in general the weather event was too much for the topography of her lot, which includes a high water table and several wetlands–but now wants to hold someone else responsible. The fact that the septic designer is her close family friend is a major conflict of interest resulting in us being the fall guy. .Despite all of that, as the customer has been informed repeatedly we are still willing to help make this repair as soon as the customer has the drainage plan drawn by an engineer with the qualifications to do so. Only the original septic designer can make plan alterations per the state. Our hands are tied until then. 

  We pride ourselves in our responsiveness to our customers. We are known for going above and beyond in providing a personalized, hands-on experience, making ourselves readily available through the build process, which we recognize can be an overwhelming process. We made all of those efforts and more with this customer. Unfortunately this particular customer could not be pleased. She failed to meet timelines and follow contractual obligations, causing many project delays and complications. We have subcontractors and our own livelihoods that depend on projects moving in a timely and efficient manner.Whenever we tried to address these matters professionally she would lash out with extremely rude emails/texts or when dealing in person, just stomp off without any response or resolution. Then the next moment try to engage us in casual, social conversation. It was a bizarre and distressing situation. She has been lying in an effort to slander us around town and amongst the building community since framing began. Luckily it was enough that our reputation as good builders and even better humans meant that all of those folks came to us and reassured us that they knew better. Her complaint is riddled with lies; we have texts, emails and other documents to easily support that. Should this complaint be put out for public consumption we will take the necessary steps to seek legal action against this customer for defamation. 

  Owl Ridge Builders, LLC *** ******* **** *********** ** *****