Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/06/2024

  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.

  This all started in Nov of 23. ******* the owner of ******* tried to replace a failing 70 year old 5 to 8 ft retaining wall on a slope and replace it with less than 4 ft retaining wall to avoid the permit process. During this process he created a sinkhole b/c he took out the bottom of the retaining wall w/o any stabilizing support and the soil spilled out just like water in a glass. A complaint was filed and the City investigated but they were lied to and told the wall failed on its own. ********* plan to fix it was to dig out the back part of the hill and remove the remaining wall and fencing to place soil stabilizing fabric on the hill with the promise to replace them after a new retaining wall was installed. Replacing the wall required getting a building permit which required an engineer and a design that required removal of established shrub and further excavation farther up the hill, which I declined. A new design was submitted the wall was completed but ******* has not completed the job by replacing the dirt or the fence. This has been the worst experience of my life, I'm a 64 year old woman and this been drug out over a almost a year. ******* had no idea what he was doing as he did not use ANY soil stabilizing strategies to prevent the soil from collapsing. The 70 year old retaining wall was cracked and failing which is why he was replacing it but you can't take the bottom out of a retaining wall on a slope thus removing it's support. JBuilds/******* needs to man up and make this right. Everything is easy when nothing goes wrong but in this instance there wasn't a plan and he needs to make it right. The condition of the site is unfinished and dangerous. It's completely unprofessional for him to abandon it.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/28/2024

  Jbuilt LLC hasn't ever worked for ******** ********** and I ***** *********** personally oversaw this entire project. While on site I spoke with Mis ********** on only a couple of occasions both of which se was quite hostile and rude. Below I will point out the various flaws in her complaint as they come up;

  -Ms ********** Doesn't know how to spell the name I go by or my actual business name. (red flag)

  -Jbuilt was initally hired to repair the retaining wall because of the very obvious cracks that had been getting worse. I explained to the homeowner **** ****** that we would need to demolish the wall completely and start new because the wall was in such poor condition. I also pointed out that the additional wooden retaining wall and 8' high fence, both built directly on top of the 70 year old wall, were not to code. **** contacted his neighbor Ms ********** and was informed that we would not have access to the wall form her side. This made a full replacement impossible. So Jbuilt agreed to build a 4' high retaining wall several feet in front of the 70 year old wall and back fill with concrete. The idea was to reinforce the existing wall without actually touching the wall with any power tools. No part of the 70 year old wall or the walls foundation was ever interfered with.

  -The 70 year old wall collapsed while Jbuilt employees were working close by. Major injuries were narrowly avoided. At that point we had no choice but to remove approx 26 linear feet of unstable, partially and fully collapsed wall. We also had to dig a 'cut slope' and install jute netting to ensure no more of the hillside fell into **** Majkuts yard.

  -At that point we had to bring in an engineer to design a new wall that would meet code requirements. We were severely restricted by site access and the fact that Ms ********** would under no circumstances allow us any access to her property, including to install normal backfill. With these restrictions in place the wall had to be made several feet shorter than the original and Ms ********** was advised by **** ****** that she would not be able to install a fence on top as it would no meet code and could impact the structural integrity of the new wall.

  -Ms ********** and **** ****** had not been on good terms for many years so Ms ********** had not been down to look at he old wall in who knows how long. She came down to see it after the collapse and before that she was on the other side of a very tall fence. I don't understand how she can assume the kinds of things she's written in the complaint when she only saw the wall after the entire thing collapsed. 

  - I did not abandon this project. I did as much as I was allowed to do and hired to do. **** ****** the home owner was happy and left a 5* review on my ****** page. 

  - Please contact **** ****** the homeowner ********************* for his side of this. He has extensive documentation of his communications with Ms **************