Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/16/2023

  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.

  We had Seth M*** come to our home in May of 2022. He said he would start our remodel project in August 2022. My son paid him a deposit of $9,665.91 on June 3, 2022 for a 1st floor remodel project. He started our project on October 17, 2022 and his crew worked 3 days and asked for the second payment by the end of the first week of work which was only 3 days of work. My son paid him $12,930.96 on October 20, 2022 which was 2/3 of the job. We had problems with the work from the beginning. Seth had an employee of his doing electrical work that was not to code in our kitchen and bathroom. He shocked himself the 2nd day of the job. He hid a junction box in our bathroom wall. He improperly installed outlets in our kitchen. there were in the wrong places and too close to our countertop and we had to change our backsplash order from 4 inch to 3 inch to accommodate. We came to find out that his worker was a laborer and not an electrician. We contacted an electrician who came into our house and told us all the electrical work performed was not to code and had to be tore out and be redone. I had a talk with Seth and he agreed to let our electrician come and do the work and then he would come back and finish his work. His workers damaged a new tub after they installed it. They put 2 dents in our new refrigerator. The removed furnace vents and dry sanded our walls and made a mess that they never cleaned up. We had white dust all over our house including in our air ducts that they left uncovered. They damaged 2 of our kitchen cabinets. They scratched our back door in 2 places. They installed a kitchen door and cracked the frame. The new wall they installed in the bathroom is uneven and cracking along with the ceiling. They did not level our floors before installing vinyl plank flooring and left big gaps at our front and back doors. There are too many mistakes to list here. I have text messages and photos on my phone to support our complaint. I will mail.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/20/2023

  Tell us why here..First, I would like to address the fact that **** ****** *s not my customer, her son ****** is my customer. Her name is not on the contract, and it was not made known to me that she would be making the final payment herself until a month after we started the work. The start date was always something that I kept in constant communication with ****** that it could change, and it was never put in the contract. The payment schedule was very clear after we knew what day we would start; it was agreed to before we started that the Friday of our first week of work to receive the second payment. Not that they need to know how I run/handle my business but the materials on this job were very expensive and most of the first deposit was spent on the materials that needed to be purchased before our first day of work, so they would be ready for us when we got started. I needed the second payment to cover the cost of labor for my employees as I knew we would be there for a while, and I would need the funding to pay my employees as the duration of the project continued. This is not something they knew as why I needed the money, but they did agree to pay me this amount before we started the work as it was clearly written in the contract. 
  Next, I’ll address the issue with my employee doing the electrical work on their house. I never once stated that I nor anyone that I employee is or was a certified electrician. The electrical work that was done was never proven to me that it was out of code. I have asked for documentation from the inspector that they have failed to provide to me. To say that he “shocked himself” is just false and is just a way to make us appear incompetent. The power from the breaker box was always turned off before we worked on anything electrical so there was no actual way to get “shocked”. The junction box was brought to our attention which we immediately eliminated by running all new wire from the switch directly to the light. To say that the outlets were placed in the “wrong” place is also misclassified because they were positioned precisely where ****** wanted us to put them. They may have been placed too low on the wall resulting in the purchase of a different size backsplash but only after we told to leave which denied us the chance to raise the outlets up the wall 1”. This would have taken us only but a few hours to do to give them the backsplash that they truly wanted. **** ****** did in fact talk to me about having her electrician come to “look” at the work we did with an electrical inspector; I was not allowed to be present. I did not agree to having a competitor come and evaluate our work, but I could not tell her no because it is ******’s home. So, I complied with their wishes. It was then decided that they would hire this electrician to redo our work so I graciously and humbly discounted our work off of the total invoice to show her a sign of good faith that we are an honest business and I am an honest man. Accusations were made that we damaged her personal property such as the refrigerator and the back door which I told her that I could not in good conscience admit guilt of because I trust my employees and I don’t believe they would do that. Because there was no proof that it was our fault, I cannot say that we caused those damages. The kitchen cabinets were removed from their family members house and were transported with personal vehicles and stored in their basement under other personal items for over a year. There were many scratches, holes and missing pieces to the cabinets long before we installed them. The kitchen door that we installed did have a crack on the jamb running along the bottom about 10” up. This was not noticed by anyone until the door was primed, painted and the hardware was installed. I told them that this could have happened because of the significant temperature differences between the basement and kitchen as this was during colder months. I told them that my solution would be to fill it in with wood putty of cut out the jamb itself and replace with a new board and repaint it but **** ****** demanded that I replace the whole door and the frame which would result in the throwing away the new door and purchasing a new one, reinstalling it, re-applying primer and paint. We hadn’t reached a solution before she told us clean up our tools and leave until this electrician came to do his work. The wall that was built “uneven” was discussed with ****** that we needed to build it that way because the floor was out of level so much that the bottom plate of the wall would need to match that slope and the ceiling was also following the same slope but once that drywall was hung and was covered with joint compound and paint, you would never notice, all discussed before we actually built it. He agreed as he stood 5’ away from us as he did through the entire duration of our time there and watched us build this wall. We did not charge ****** for leveling the entire floor but only certain spots of the floor where it “dipped” so we could install the vinyl floating floor over top of it. The gaps in the flooring by the front and back door were to be covered by trim but again, we were not allowed to finish the job.
  I would like to address that there have been many details that have been omitted by **** ****** purposely to support her case. I have texts and pictures to prove that I have given them many discounts based on my own moral compass to show that I am a man worth doing business with and that I care more about the customer, my reputation and the opportunity for a good review to acquire more work than money. I rented a dumpster, out of my own money, I did not charge them for it based on a mistake that I forgot to include it in the initial estimate I sent to them. Once they knew that I was paying for the dumpster, ******, without asking my permission, disposed of several large items from his garage which limited the amount of space we needed for the remainder of the project. I then needed to rent another one which they refused to pay for so again, in good faith, I told them I would cover that cost as well. I discounted an entire room’s worth of drywall finishing due to misunderstanding on ******’s part that I recommended that we refinish the walls in the kitchen. He told me that he didn’t know he would be getting charged for that. Again, in good faith, I did not charge him for it. There are many other examples of my good business practices that they fail to remember.
  Thank you for allowing me the chance to defend myself.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/20/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

   

  I have attached my rebuttal to Seth M*** of Elevation Builders, LLC.
  
  Just some further information.  On March 15, 2023, my son ****** sent Mr. M*** an official letter terminating his services due to poor performance. I texted him with this information on the same day and he said he would be sending us an invoice.  
  
  I called Mr. M*** on March 23, 2023 and asked him what he thought we owed him.  I told him I thought we didn't feel we owed him anything more because of the damages and all the mistakes his employees made in our home that we now had to hire another contractor to correct.  He said that his business is closed and that he fired his employees.  I told him that his employees and the work they did were his responsibility and he agreed.  I told him another contractor came into our home to look and bid to complete the work and asked us if the people doing our remodel project were smoking crack.  Mr. M*** said he wondered about that also.  He also told me that one of his employees sued him and won.  Mr. M*** also said " you are not the only customer I am having problems with".
  
  I then asked him if he was capable of completing our project himself and his response was no that he has friends in the business that he could hire to help him but later sent me a text saying we owed him another $8,000.00 and that he thought it was better that we have someone else complete the project because of the way we feel about him and his work.  I will attach this text and others in my next email from my smartphone.
  
  Thank you for your time and consideration,
  

  
  

  RE: ********* ** ********
  

  
  This is a rebuttal to the response from the contractor we hired, Seth M***, owner
  of Elevation Builders, LLC. Please let this serve as a notice that we do not agree
  with his response and some of it is very untrue.

  
  It is true that ******, my son, signed the contract with Mr. M*** but I have been
  present and in constant communication with Mr. M*** from the very beginning
  including when he came to our home in May of 2022 to give us an estimate. Our
  home has been in our family for 3 generations. My in-laws gave the house to my
  husband and I, and we then gave it to our son. ****** works from 8:00 am to 8:00
  pm, so out of necessity, I was the one who was here and talked mostly with Mr.
  M*** and his employees. Mr. M*** was rarely here and his employees worked
  typically from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm Monday – Friday so ****** was not available
  during their working hours. I am also contributing in paying for our 1 st floor
  remodel project.
  
  Pg 1
  
  As far as the contract payment terms, we cannot confirm anything because ******
  never received a copy of the signed contract, he signed from Mr. M***. ******
  does have a copy of the invoices that Mr. M*** has sent and revised on several
  occasions because he did not include carpeting on our stairway and painting up
  the stairwell as well has new trim work the entire 1 st floor which we clearly stated
  that we wanted done. He did not put these items on the original invoice of
  $29,290.63. The cost of the project as of October 2022 is now $36,030.63. We
  would have never moved forward with this 1 st floor remodel if we knew the cost
  would increase so much. I think he deliberately omitted items and then what
  choice did we have. That is an increase of $6,740.00. We have paid him a total of
  $22,596.87 for work that is terrible. We are very unhappy and unsatisfied with
  the quality of the work that Mr. M*** has performed in our home. Our home has
  been unlivable with no working kitchen or bathroom since Mr. M*** started our
  remodel project on October 17, 2022.

  
  Our problem first began with Mr. M***’s 2 employees that started working in our
  home on October 17, 2022. The second day of the job, his employee Craig was
  installing a bathroom light fixture and fan and shocked himself. We know that
  because we were there in the home having lunch and watching TV in the living
  room and heard him tell the other employee he got zapped. Mr. M*** was not
  there. ****** quickly approached Craig and asked him if he knew how to shut off
  the power and didn’t want anyone to get hurt. So for Mr. M*** to say that we
  are trying to say that we wanted to make his employee seem incompetent is not
  true. Mr. M*** was not there and did not witness what happened but we were.
  We soon found out that his 2 employees were new and just hired by Mr. M*** to
  start on our remodel project. Craig hid a junction box in our bathroom wall and
  ****** knew this wasn’t allowed. I approached Seth the next day about it and I
  told him that it was against the electrical code and his response was “You taught
  me something new today”.
  
  Pg 2
  
  Craig then moved to installing electrical outlets in our kitchen above where our
  new countertop would be. He only installed 3 electrical outlets and 1 was not
  even in a junction box, just wires in the wall. One was inches from where the sink
  would be and none were GFCI protected. We then told Mr. M*** that we did not
  want his employees to do any more electrical work. At that point, Mr. M***
  clearly knew that ****** and I were not satisfied with the work that was being
  done in our home by his employees with very little supervision or direction from
  him. We found out that Craig was not an electrician and was a laborer. For Mr.
  M*** to say they put the outlets were ****** wanted is ridiculous. ****** is not
  an electrician or contractor. We had an electrician come into our home and give
  us an estimate of the work that needed done in the kitchen and bathroom. He
  was mortified when he saw what was done by Mr. M***’s employee. He said
  nothing was done to code and would cost about $6,000.00 to correct the
  mistakes that were made. I talked to Mr. M*** on November 21 st , 2022 and he
  agreed to come back and finish the work after our electrician completed his work
  because he would be removing drywall and the walls would need repaired again.
  Mr. M*** removed $1,000.00 from the invoice for the electrical work that his
  employee performed incorrectly. Mr. M*** has accused me of not having an
  electrician and making it up to intentionally make him suffer by not letting him
  finish the job and get paid. I have attached the text message from Mr. M***. Mr.
  M*** said that we kicked him out of our house which is definitely untrue. He
  agreed to wait until the electrician was finished because he knew he was wrong.
  He was angry and ****** witnessed him scratch our back door in 2 places while
  carrying out his tools to take to another job while waiting to complete our
  project. Unfortunately to date, our electrician has not started our repairs because
  he is under a contract and deadline with the State of PA for hospital alert systems
  in Pittsburgh. He has assured us he will be staring in a couple of weeks. All of this
  is beyond our control. We tried to find another electrician but couldn’t find one
  that was available. They are all extremely busy.
  
  Pg 3
  
  Mr. M*** said that accusations were made that his employees damaged some of
  our property. They are not accusations, they are truth. I am attaching photos and
  text messages as evidence from Mr. M*** apologizing over and over and
  admitting that he was not present enough to oversee his employees. I am also
  attaching text messages from Mr. M*** admitting his employees’ negligence and
  sloppiness and that he reminded his employees on several occasions that they are
  in someone’s home. Mr. M***’s employees removed all of our heat registers and
  cold air returns at the beginning of the project and dry sanded the walls and left
  piles of dust and clumps of dry wall mud on all of the uncovered floors. I asked
  Mr. M*** if it would be cleaned up before laying the new vinyl plank flooring and
  he said they would. They did not clean it up and laid the floor and installed the
  lower kitchen cabinets overtop of piles of drywall mud.
  We know must pay an airduct company $500.00 to come and clean our furnace
  and airducts. White dust is everywhere in our house including upstairs, the
  basement and covering all our new windows. I have attached a picture of the
  drywall mud all over our basement floor. They clogged our basement sink. They
  never attempted to clean up anything and was a total mess. ****** had to
  remove the drain and unclog the pipes. One of his employees pooped all over our
  toilet and left it that way. Mr. M***’s employee dropped a tool in the brand-new
  tub after they installed it. I have attached a photo. Mr. M*** denies his
  employees dented our refrigerator in 2 places. It was just purchased in
  September of 2020 and we certainly did not dent it ourselves. It was not dented
  until his careless employees started working in our kitchen. I have also attached a
  photo of the refrigerator. When you see the picture, you will clearly see that we
  did not damage our own refrigerator. That would not make sense to purchase a
  $700.00 refrigerator and intentionally or accidently put 2 dents in it.
  
  Pg 4
  
  Our kitchen cabinets were not brand new but were perfectly fine. My husband
  who is a maintenance mechanic carefully removed them from a home that my
  niece recently purchased from an older couple with no children. We even had
  Mr. M*** look at them before starting our project and he agreed that nothing
  was wrong with them and would be fine. Mr. M*** installed the kitchen cabinets
  himself and then we noticed a chunk taken out of one of the top cabinets that
  wasn’t there before they were installed. I have attached a photo. Mr. M*** did
  not measure correctly while installing the upper cabinets to accommodate for a
  waste pipe that runs up the corner of the kitchen. He built a box around the pipe
  before installing the cabinets and then it did not fit. They shoved the last cabinet
  into the box covering the pipe and it looked ridiculous. We had them remove it
  and when I questioned Mr. M*** about it, he did not have an answer or solution
  as to how to fix it. It remains undone. I have attached a photo of that as well.
  When he gave us an estimate, he said it would be no problem.
  As far as the kitchen field door that they installed, I did not demand that they
  replace it. Mr. M***’s employees cracked the door jamb and it does not close
  properly and the door is scratching the frame in several places. I have attached a
  photo of the kitchen door frame. They have removed it once and redid it. It still
  is not right. When I asked him about it, I said I expected new products that we
  purchased to be perfect, he said “He would not replace it because it would be
  $500.00 out of his pocket”. I told him we paid for it and that we should not have
  to settle for damaged products. They also took a small chunk out of a new barn
  door that the installed in our bathroom. I attached a picture of that as well. The
  new bathroom wall that they erected is uneven and is cracking in the corner. I
  have attached a photo. The ceiling in the bathroom above the tub shows visible
  signs of where the old wall was. It looks terrible. I have attached a photo. They
  had to move our bathroom window because Mr. M*** allowed ****** to order a
  tub and surround that did not fit. Mr. M*** did not check to see if the surround
  would fit and the tub was already installed. The window had to be moved in
  order for the surround to fit and then Mr. M*** charged us for moving the
  window.
  
  Pg 5
  
  They removed our oak trim when they moved the window. Mr. M***’s
  employees replaced the same trim back on our window and it was crooked and
  nicked and they tried to repair it with wood putty and it looked terrible. They
  removed the trim, threw it in the garbage. It remains untrimmed. They also broke
  our window blind.
  The floors were never leveled as we discussed. Mr. M***’s employees laid the
  vinyl plank flooring wrong and left gaps at the front door and back door.
  According to Mr. M***, self-leveling cement was used were necessary.
  ****** did put 2 items in the dumpster and they were not large. We removed
  them when Mr. M*** mentioned it. As he said by the text he provided, he told
  ****** that they were going to need another dumpster anyway so it didn’t matter.
  I also saw one of his employees’ emptying bags of garbage from his car into the
  dumpster.
  I have attached a text from Mr. M*** telling me I was the most unreasonable
  person he ever dealt with. I have attached that text message. The feeling is
  mutual. It should not come as a surprise to Mr. M*** that we were not satisfied
  with his work. We both told him from the very beginning.
  I also attached a text from Mr. M*** asking me for half of the final payment 2
  weeks before Christmas stating that he would not be able to pay his bills for
  December and could I find it in my heart to give him half although the project was
  not completed.
  Thank you for the opportunity for this rebuttal. I apologize for its length.
  Respectfully,
  ***** ******
  
  Pg 6
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** * ***** ******