Complaints

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:02/04/2023

  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.

  I paid a total of $13, 012 dollars to Big G Construction & Restoration….$2,800 for chimney restoration including 3 flat caps and 3 caps to cover flues, $10,212 for fireplace restoration. He asked to be paid in cash.
  I was never given a contract to sign. I am recently widowed, living alone, and did not know I needed a contract. I was verbally told the cost for labor and told by Greg (Big G) that he gets material at a discount and would only charge me what he pays for the chimney caps and fireplace stones. I told him I get a military discount at Lowe’s and Home Depot, also, and would get whatever materials he needed from there. I asked numerous times for material cost receipts and for him to please not order the stone until I knew the cost. Greg told me he would not order stone from Susi Builders Supply because they were way too expensive.. He said he would get stone from Youngstown.but never mentioned the name until the last day….I was still asking for costs and receipts. He would only say he doesn’t do it that way. It was difficult to even get receipts for money I paid and then had nothing on the receipt to show it was his business.
  I was very hesitant to ask him to correct his work because he yelled at me early on when I asked him to straighten a corner stone. The fireplace looked okay in photos but when actually looking at it in person, the fireplace itself does not have right angle corners. I was resigned to living with it. I asked Greg to return to me a box of stones he had taken. He has not returned them. I decided to check into the cost of the stones myself thinking he might have overcharged me as well. Susi charges $1380; Masonry Materials Plus in Youngstown charges $1,161. I was stunned to find he had overcharged me almost $3,000 in materials for fireplace stone and mortar, $559 for demo & prep materials, and at least $794 for chimney repair materials. I expected 15-20% markup (even though he told me he would only charge what he paid) but certainly did not expect to pay 300% more.
  I tried to resove the overcharge with him. He is a fast talker and would not own up even though I can prove the true cost of materials
  I also recently discovered he failed to cover the hole when he pulled out the chimney damper that he said was broken and not needed for vent free gas logs. It is sucking the heat from my house right up the chimney causing my furnace to constantly run.
  Warning to others…overcharges and poor workmanship.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/13/2023

  Dear BBB: 

  
  I am writing this in response to a complaint against my business, Big G Construction and Restoration. The customer contacted me to do restoration on her chimney and a verbal contract was agreed upon. I completed the work on the chimney and she paid me in full. I never took a damper out because there wasn't one in there to begin with. I offered to put a damper in when I was working on the chimney but she declined as it not needed. She was pleased with the work and asked me to come back and remodel the fireplace. We once again had a verbal contract which was broken down into material and labor. She paid me in cash for the first job and when I gave her the quote for the second job she asked if I prefer a check or cash. I told her whatever was easier for her. I then returned to her home and completed the demolition and remodeling of the fireplace. I have a text message stating "Fireplace looks awesome!!" She paid me for the project on January 12, 2023 but when I was there, she told me there were three stones she didn't like. I went back and changed them the next day, January 13, 2023. As far as the prices. of material she is quoting I have no idea where those numbers came from. There was a box of stone leftover that I left at her house along with some corners. If she wasn't happy with the work, why would she ask me to come back and do another job and then pay me in full? 
  

  Regards, 
  Greggory O****** Owner, President 
  Big G Construction and Restoration 
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/13/2023

  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.
  

  From: ****** **** *********************>
  Date: Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 8:01 PM
  Subject: Re: You have a new message from the BBB serving Western Pennsylvania regarding complaint **********
  To: Better Business Bureau <[email protected]>
  
  
  I read the response to my complaint from Big G.  He told his helper, Allen to pull out the damper because Big G said it was broken.  I do not understand why he is lying about that.  The damper was definitely pulled out.
  The fireplace did look awesome in a photo he sent to me; however, in person it did not.  As I said, it is not plumb…looks like a parallelogram rather than a rectangle.  The stones are not stacked professionally.   Big G asked me if I wanted him to take it all down when he saw I was not happy with it.  Why would I want him to redo it if he couldn’t do it right the first time?
  Big G did tell me he left two boxes of stones then the  next day said he only left one box of flats and the other box was empty.  He also told me he took the box of corners and that Masonry Materials told him they would exchange any corners that were not right.  I told him to give them to me after he exchanged them.  I more than paid for them.   He never has.  
  The biggest complaint is that he overcharged me horrendously for materials…especially the stones.  I proved that with documentation I sent.
  There was NO verbal agreement on materials which is also proven by several emails asking for the cost of materials.  Had there been an agreement I would not have been asking.
  Big G is a shyster who warned me about others taking advantage of me being a woman all the while doing the very same thing himself.  

   

  
  Regards,
  
  
  ****** ****

  Business Response

  Date: 03/21/2023

  *** ** ******** 
  Dear BBB: 

  
  After reviewing the complainant's latest response, I feel I have adequately responded to her claims in my previous response. As I already said the damper was already removed when I started the job. The handle however was still inside the fireplace and that was the part I had my helper remove and repair. 1 have been in business for 20 years and have had an "A" rating the entire time. In person she told me "the fireplace looks great". I did replace the three stones she had a problem with as I stated in my previous response. The type of stone she chose is rough and rustic, therefore the surface is not smooth. As far as it looking like a parallelogram, a rectangle is a parallelogram (a four-sided object with opposite sides that are parallel). The box of materials I left contained corners and flats. As far as the cost and agreement, it was verbal, she agreed and I started the project. Once again this was previously addressed. She praised the job and paid me in full when I was done. I have nothing else to say on this matter. The price was fair, agreed upon, and paid in full. 
  

  Regards, 
  Gregory O****** Owner, President 
  Big G Construction and Restoration 
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/25/2023

  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.

  Big G again did not address the issue of overcharge.  We did not have an agreement of materials cost.  Yes, I paid the invoice not realizing I was grossly overcharged.  However, after discovering missing materials I lost all trust and investigated the costs myself.
  
  The text he included was regarding a photo he sent while I was in Florida.  It wasn’t until I arrived home that I saw the fireplace wasn’t as pictured.  When I discussed it with him he asked if I wanted him to tear it all down and redo it.  Why would I want to when I would get the same result?  He did replace two not three stones then.  I thought I was just going to have to live with it until another contractor working on my house brought it up one day.  He said it would reflect poorly on his work and offered to make it right at no cost.  I will get a statement from him to prove my point.  Even with that said, I was not going to ask for all of my money back from Big G…just the overcharge.  I may need to rethink that since Big G is not being truthful and did not even build a fireplace up to code per the other contractor.

  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** ****