ComplaintsforAccurate Construction & Restoration

• Initial Complaint

  02/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello, I am having problems with a contractor that I have now released but he has sent me a bill that is overly inflated as explained below. Any direction you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Back on November 4, 2022 at 7pm at night, I had an indoor pipe that ran behind my dishwasher break. We immediately shut the entire house water valves off but this didn't stop the water from pouring in. It took greater than an hour for a plumber to arrive to crawl under the house to turn off the water. I immediately turned the claim into my home owners insurance. I was contacted by the insurance company promptly and they lined up the mitigation as well as a repair contractor. We spent 63 days in a motel and finally had to leave because the contractor would not give the insurance a completion date and here is why. After the mitigation was done which was completed approximately by the end of Thanksgiving. I called the contractor (Nicky ****** of accurate construction) multiple times to try and find out what is next. He never got started on any of it until the week of Christmas. That already put everything behind by 4 weeks. * **** ** ******* **** **** *** ************ ******* ** * ****** ******* ** *** ********** ******** Accurate construction was well aware of the fact that all the cupboards had to come out of the house. Measuring and ordering cabinets should have started the same day as the mitigation or shortly thereafter this added to the entire delay. The week of Christmas; a person arrived who is going to do the drywall and paint. He asked me what color of paint I wanted the walls to be. I explained to him that I was in the process of painting one wall an accent wall in both the kitchen and the living room/family room. He stated "to paint an accent wall costs extra" I replied that was fine I would paint it myself. I had already bought all the materials to do that anyway. I told him just white walls as they are is fine, however, they are satin walls (I had just had them painted 2 years ago) and that is what I would like them to be repainted as. He states "yea eggshell" I said I don't know what eggshell is. He replied that eggshell and satin are the same and showed me the shine on the wall from the paint. I said that was fine as long as eggshell is satin. After he was done painting, my walls were painted with "flat" paint. I told him this wasn't satin (all in text messages which I still have) He said he doesn't have satin paint etc....(see text message). He texted me and said if I wanted him to paint the walls again I would have to tell him that night. I was at work and didn't have access to my phone to receive that text message until the next morning. His painting was actually fair in professional painting. He painted around my TV wall bracket instead of removing it and painting the wall, left large holes in the kitchen and left the top of the front door unpainted as well as the connecting hallway. Telling me "the hall wasn't included in the bid and we are already over budget". Not sure how he could be over budget but he was. I called the contractor and all he did was have the painter call me. So the painter was done before Christmas. Somewhere in and around there, Nick had "George" from ****** come out to measure for cabinets. That was on a Thursday before Christmas, I believe. George came out, measured, and had all the prints drawn up and sent to Nick by that following Monday. Again, I never heard back from nick until he finally returned my phone call and said to pick out cabinets. So, during an ice and snow storm, my daughter and I had to go to ***** to get these cabinets ordered as there was this great sale going on where you get 30% off cabinets. We did our part, George got all the information over to nick that Monday night, Nick never called back regarding getting the cabinets ordered. Patiently waiting, I finally called Nick on Wednesday and left a voice mail. He returned my call on Thursday and said he would have everything done by Friday for me. Friday came and past, then Saturday, Sunday, Monday (I left voicemail) Tuesday (voice mail left). After not getting in touch with the contractor, I called ******. They told me that George is now out on vacation until the 4th of Jan and the sale ends "today" (Thursday). Nick finally returned my call and said he had been out with covid. He would get ahold of George and George will still honor the sale price. Well, George couldn't honor that sale price any longer and now we were after the first of the year and cabinets still have not been ordered. At that point, cabinets were ordered and they are 4-6 weeks out. I want to mention here, to this day Feb 1, 2023, I am still unsure what cabinets I actually will get. When I ordered the cabinets, yes I ordered the color, and design, but there were many other "features" George told me about and as he said "Depending on what Nick allows for cabinets, and with this sale, we can go up to $****** and the sale will drop them back down to $*****. So there were many options I could have gotten and that was what Nick was supposed to tell me, he didn't. He just ordered "the cabinets" I have attempted multiple times both in person and on the telephone to find out what kind of "features" I will get and George tells me "I have to talk to Nick". I have even gone as far as calling the corporate office with the PO # (and the only reason I have that (purchase order) is because one day when still attempting to learn of the features and cost I stopped at the store and asked George if the cabinets were coming with crown molding. He replied "No" "did you want crown molding?" I replied I don't know, I don't want any surprises. I don't know how much the cabinets are right now and I don't know how much I can spend" He said for you its no cost and proceeded to add crown molding on the PO at which time he showed me on the screen of the email he sent and I took a picture of the PO #.) I have made multiple attempts to call multiple ***** to find out the cost of these cabinets. I finally was able to get the cost from a woman manager and the price of the cabinets billed was $******* By this time, the insurance wants us out of the motel and back home. Nick wouldn't give them a completion date nor would he make the home habitable to live. I finally called a plumber out on a Monday to fix the "original leak" (insurance request) and to hook up a utility sink that the painter brought over. I told them to bill Nick (as the plumber was also affiliated and recommended by Nick) to hook up the USED utility sink. The plumber actually gave us a hassle as well but that is another story. In the meantime, I had my carpet installed (which I actually had purchased prior to the flood). My granite counter top, that weighs about 400 pounds, was laying in the living room where the carpet is to be laid. I called Nick and asked him to move it. He replied "***** ****** will move it" I told him I doubt it and we hung up. ***** ****** came out to install the carpet, but couldn't begin because this counter top was in the middle of the floor and they could not take responsibility of moving it in case it broke. Again, I called Nick the day of carpet installation and he states "I can't have anyone over there until next week to move the counter top". Again, please keep in mind, the insurance company wants us out of the motel. I am trying to do this as quickly as I can but the contractor has continued to put up road blocks. Most recently, I have given up on the contractor. As I write this email, I am still without cabinets and flooring. I have asked the contractor for a final bill. It took two weeks and threatening to turn them into the BBB he sent over a final bill. Please keep in mind, all that Nick's company did was paint and drywall. His final bill was for *********. The total amount of the claim was *********. Carpet, flooring, and cabinet install and tear out still have to come out of that money. He has over inflated his costs, he is attempting to bill me for services that didn't take place. He is charging me for products that weren't used. He is trying to inflate his linear footage amounts and NR amounts. And many other things that were not on the first accepted insurance bill. He said he sent another updated estimate to the insurance company for approval but wouldn't share that with me until it was approved. I called the insurance company and they said they had not received another estimate from him, however, it wouldn't matter they already paid on the first one. I don't know what to do. I contacted an attorney and he recommended I contact your office. I appreciate any help or advice you can give me. I haven't paid the contractor anything as of yet. I am willing to pay for what services he provided at whatever the actual cost should be. I should also mention, I have another person lined up to install the cupboards and floor and they informed me that Nick over bid the footage of flooring by 250 feet. I seem to think this might be insurance fraud as well. Also, the cabinets, nobody has ever shared with me what cabinets actually were ordered. As George gave me multiple scenarios depending on what pricing the sale would be. But because Nick would never tell me the pricing, I still don't even know what was ordered. Additionally, when the painter arrived, the key lock box was frozen so he had to have another key made. He stated when he was done painting he would put it back in the security box he also brought and hung on my front door. He was done painting and he didn't put the key in there as he said he would. He stated he gave it to Nick. I have asked Nick repeatedly to give me the key and he said he would drop it off. * ** ** ******* ***** ****** ** ******* This is frightening to me that there is a person out there with the key to my house. Also, the security box was not taken off until I hired another contractor to remodel my bathroom and he was able to take it off somehow. But I am still without that duplicate key. Respectfully, Clarion ******** ************************** ************

  Business response

  02/12/2023

  Hello,
  
  Background:
  We received this claim on 11/9/2022 while mitigation was in progress. Mitigation was not completed in entirety until 11/30/2022.
  November 28, 2022 Job was first inspected while mitigation was still in progress. There was still demolition that was required. We need all demolition to be complete before we send an estimate to ***** **** in order to send them the most accurate estimate possible, per ***** ****** guidelines. Estimate was submitted on 12/1/2022 for approval.
  My initial estimate was approved by ***** **** on 12/12/2022.
  Work began 12/21/2022. The insured asked for satin paint. Our contractor informed her that the paint color wasn't available in satin and the next closest would be eggshell. After she said eggshell would be fine she came on site and said that she did not like the sheen. Our painter offered to repaint the entire area free of cost but she refused.
  Cabinet selections were made 12/19/2022. The cabinets selected by the insured were Ordered on 12/29/2022 with all of the options she selected. ***** honored the sale price. ***** added crown molding to the cabinets at no cost for the customer. Cabinets cannot be ordered until we have full approval from ***** ****.
  On Thursday, 12/29/2022 the insured called and asked if I could have contractors on site the next day to move countertops. I told her that I need to give my contractors more lead time and offered to have them on site the following Monday to move the countertops. She refused.
  No flooring was over estimated. All flooring is given 15% waste to account for cutting down around cabinets, seems, and additional cuts that may be needed. This is standard industry practice.
  On 1/17/23 the insured let me know that she would be changing contractors.
  
  Resolution:
  The final supplement estimate for this claim has been approved and a copy has been sent to the insured.
  Cabinets have been refunded and purchased by the insured. She is having her new contractor install these cabinets
  Key has been mailed to the insured.
  The insured will be handling all flooring herself. Along with the remaining repairs required.
  Mrs. ******** will be paid directly from ***** ****. We will only bill for work we have completed that is being pulled directly from the approved ***** **** estimate. The adjuster is aware of all of these happenings.
  
  If there is anything additional that is needed, please reach out.
  
  Have a Great Day!
  

  Customer response

  02/13/2023

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  I was told by the painter that "eggshell" and "satin" were the same thing for which i have since learned they are not. I did not refuse to have the painter repaint, he told me that ******* ******** doesn't have satin paint. Additionally, if the contractor would inspect the paint job he would agree the painting was subpar. In addition, contractor is saying they installed 3-1/2 inch wood baseboards and attempting to bill me for the same which in fact the floor boards used are nothing more than vinyl casing. And additionally, the hallway which is also an open extension to the family room and living room wasn't painted with the explanation from the painter "we're already over budget that wasn't included". Contractor is also attempting to say there was electrical work done, there was no electrical jobs to be done. As far as the response from this contractor you will see the long gaps in between repairs and I don't really know how long it would have went on but this contractor did not make any attempts to call me to keep me informed. All the initiation of conversations were from my end. The insurance kept asking the contractor for a completion date in which he wouldn't give so they had no choice but to push on my end. We needed to get back into the home. Contractor made no attempt to make the home habilital on his end. I have reviewed the "new" inflated estimate sent to the insurance company and I am willing to pay for work completed, such as dry wall, priming, etc. I will not pay for paint that I didn't want and until we can come to an agreement on cost of painting I will not be willing to pay for that either. Perhaps if this contractor used customer service skills all this would have been avoided. But he has hidden behind a phone and never has attempted to come see why things are the way they are.
  As for the cabinets, when i looked at cabinets I was provided all these different scenarios (because of the, at that time, current sale). ***** explained depending on how "much" the contractor allows for cabinets we can go really fancy adding in a lot of different things. Well, because Nick didn't get back to ****** that sale was missed (verifiable with *****) . To this day, I still really don't know other than color and shapes of cabinets I don't know what I'm getting. The order was made without my final approval of what exactly was being ordered. This is my home, I should have been the final say on everything being done and purchased. And as far as crown molding, you can see ***** added this in...another one of those things that I shouldn't have had to go back and ask. And how can ***** just give away ******* in crown molding? *** **** ********* ** ***** Additionally, and i have witnesses to everything I'm saying, ***** **** **** ** **** ** **** **** ***** *** ***** ** *** ******** ***** ** ****** ***** ********* **** **** ** **** ***** ***** *** **** ** **** ****** ***** ** **** ***** ***** *** *** **** *** ****** ******* ********* *** ************* ** ***** Dishonesty isn't how I roll. Nor will I allow a business take advantage of me.

  Business response

  03/01/2023

  Hello,

  Accurate Construction & Restoration has been on site with the homeowner and conducted a walkthrough to discuss all of her concerns. We are working with Mrs. ******** to ensure the final invoice is accurate and encompasses all work completed.  Accurate is only billing for work that was completed from the approved ***** **** estimate.  Through this process, the adjuster has been involved as well, and is aware the insured will be handling all remaining repairs herself.

  We are working through all of her concerns to get this matter handled as quickly as possible and closed up.

  Thanks,

  Nick ******

  Customer response

  03/21/2023

  Hello,

  I am still waiting for accurate construction to finalize a bill. The last bill sent to me still had baseboard work costing approximately ******* that was not put in my house. I asked them for receipts for this and to date they have not produced those receipts. Additionally, I am going to argue the painting. I had my indoor walls painted in satin paint. I specifically told the painter that I wanted satin painted walls and he told me eggshell was the same thing. They are not the same. I will advance my complaint to the attorney general fraud division if this matter isn’t resolved soon. 

*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. ↩