Complaints

This profile includes complaints for GS Merritt Contracting LLC's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

close

Find a Location

GS Merritt Contracting LLC has 3 locations, listed below.

*This company may be headquartered in or have additional locations in another country. Please click on the country abbreviation in the search box below to change to a different country location.

BBB accredited

Near

Country

USUnited States

Please enter a valid location.

Filter

• 

  GS Merritt Contracting LLC

  Tribes Hill, NY 12177-5527

• 

  GS Merritt Contracting LLC

  PO Box 271 Tribes Hill, NY 12177-0271

• 

  GS Merritt Contracting LLC

  825 Locust Ave Schenectady, NY 12307-1011

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/11/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore 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.

  My siblings and I contracted with GS Merritt Contracting (Jeffrey L*****) to perform renovation and expansion work on our house at *** ***** ***** **** in Edinburgh, NY on November 9, 2022. L***** started the requested work on or about that time and we paid him the agreed upon 50% of the total amount to start the work plus $4000 at his request to purchase necessary materials. Over the next several months, L***** requested additional payments for work that he was contracted to perform but had not yet started so that he could "purchase the necessary materials" and "get the work started". On or about January 17, 2024 L***** stopped responding to repeated phone calls to his number and did not show up at the job site to continue the work for which he had been contracted and paid. On January 25, 2024, I received an email from L***** informing me that he is "terminating our contract" and abandoning the job. To date, we have paid L***** $28,500.00 for work he was contracted to perform but did not complete. In addition, we have found it necessary to search for another contractor who can assume the job, fix the numerous errors in his exceedingly poor workmanship and complete the job that he was contracted to do. Initial estimates to repair the errors in his work and bring the building into compliance for the work done to date are approximately $70,000.00.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/12/2024

  1. Mr ****** wrote the contract with a provision that either party could sever the contract at any time for any reason  2. As for the $15000.00 payment. All work leading up to the sheet rock install “hanging sheet”rock was completed and inspections passed. Leaving a possible credit of $2000.00.  3. There is an outstanding balance of $3500.00 for concrete foundation work that he refuses to pay that he authorized me to complete the work per the architect’s instructions.  4. There’s another invoice for 6 drawing changes scope of work changes and customer driven delays and work stoppage at $1500.00 per totaling $9,000.00  5. There is also delivery charges for materials. The contract clearly states that the customer is responsible for materials. The total delivery charges are $100.00 per delivery with 11 deliveries  total would be $1100.00.  6. Mr ****** also tried to force me to remove existing wood floors make necessary repairs and install new floor That was not part of the original contract due to the fact the he wanted to save to flooring in the beginning when the contract was signed.  7. Mr ****** also tried to force the installation of concrete board in the 3 showers to be tiled also not part of the contract.  8. Breech of contract. Mr ****** repeatedly let his family members dictate copious amounts of changes to the drawings completed by the architect without discussing adding any of the other members to the contract. 9. We reserved the right to charge $500.00 per day for  work stoppage due to the lack of prudence and deliberate decision making by Mr ****** and his family.  10. We will if necessary furnish in access of 150 phone calls, ********, emails and text messages to show the extraordinary circumstances surrounding this matter. Also the other sub contractors and material venders can collaborate the significant amount time and pour planning causing major delays in production.  11. By my calculations Mr ****** has an outstanding invoice of $3000.00  Regards  Jeffrey L***** 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/14/2024

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.   Please see my responses below to Mr. L*****'s comments.  
  
  [To MESSAGE FROM BUSINESS:1. Mr ****** wrote the contract with a provision that either party could sever the contract at any time for any reason.  Agreed.  Please see attached agreement. 2. As for the $15000.00 payment. All work leading up to the sheet rock install “hanging sheet”rock was completed and inspections passed. Leaving a possible credit of $2000.00.  Not true.  Per Exhibit A to the agreement attached, when the sheetrock is installed, an additional payment of $18,050 was to have been paid.  As detailed in my letter to Mr. L***** (attached), we had already paid him $55,100 BEFORE the sheetrock was installed.  Because the sheetrock had not been installed, he was overpaid by $19,000 for this phase of the work.  Please see attached letter and Exhibit A for detail. 3. There is an outstanding balance of $3500.00 for concrete foundation work that he refuses to pay that he authorized me to complete the work per the architect’s instructions. Not true.  Mr. L***** was paid $3500 for work on the foundation.  Due to his error in the work, we agreed that he would forgo a portion of the payment that would otherwise have been paid had the work been performed correctly. 4. There’s another invoice for 6 drawing changes scope of work changes and customer driven delays and work stoppage at $1500.00 per totaling $9,000.00.  There is nothing in the Independent Contractor Agreement which speaks to these items.  Additionally, there was never an invoice submitted for these items and any payment for these items was never discussed.  5. There is also delivery charges for materials. The contract clearly states that the customer is responsible for materials. The total delivery charges are $100.00 per delivery with 11 deliveries  total would be $1100.00. Again, nothing in the Agreement speaks to delivery charges and an invoice was never received or discussed.6. Mr ****** also tried to force me to remove existing wood floors make necessary repairs and install new floor That was not part of the original contract due to the fact the he wanted to save to flooring in the beginning when the contract was signed. Nonsense. 7. Mr ****** also tried to force the installation of concrete board in the 3 showers to be tiled also not part of the contract. Nonsense 8. Breech of contract. Mr ****** repeatedly let his family members dictate copious amounts of changes to the drawings completed by the architect without discussing adding any of the other members to the contract.  Nothing in the agreement stipulates that ********* ****** would be the only person that would interface with Mr. L*****.  There is no breach. 9. We reserved the right to charge $500.00 per day for  work stoppage due to the lack of prudence and deliberate decision making by Mr ****** and his family. Nonsense.   10. We will if necessary furnish in access of 150 phone calls, ********, emails and text messages to show the extraordinary circumstances surrounding this matter. Also the other sub contractors and material venders can collaborate the significant amount time and pour planning causing major delays in production. There was ongoing communication with Mr. L***** during the contract period.  This was exacerbated by Mr. L*****'s disorganization and lack of planning. 11. By my calculations Mr ****** has an outstanding invoice of $3000.00.  Nonsense.  Regards assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]  Please see my responses above. 
  
  Regards, 
  
  ********* ******

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/22/2024

  Attached are change orders in response to your request.  Thank you.