ComplaintsforHBZ, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/23/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I had requested a quote from HBZ on 8/30/23 for a home remodel. The project started roughly 9/25/23. No contract nor disclosures for payment were provided. Unfortunately I had a poor experience with HBZ and I had to fire them on 2/3/24 due to unsatisfactory, unsafe, incompetent work as well as ignoring requests in my home, being disrespectful to me and neighbors, a lack of integrity, and very unprofessional in their correspondence. I asked HBZ if they were familiar with IKEA kitchens and was told they were familiar (many contractors I talked with were not and declined the project). Unfortunately HBZ lied to me about what their capabilities upfront as they were obviously not experienced with IKEA kitchens and their nuances with drawers, cabinets and various cover panels. I had to make multiple trips to IKEA to get their assistance.HBZ was very messy and they basically trashed my home-there was food and candy wrappers, melted chocolate on the hardwood floor, leftover lunch bags, empty cans, drinks, cups, bottles, food and coffee spills ALL over my home. HBZ was very disrespectful of my belongings, opening packages that were not part of the remodel, assembled and damaged my brand new desk using it as a work station, HBZ also were using the washer as a work station to cut wood so saw dust got into the washer. No regular clean up on the site. They charged me for dump runs but there were piles of garbage and debris all over for months at a time, which appeared to impede their working area. I asked multiple times to adequately cover the floors with Ramboard as recommended by the flooring specialist, wear shoe covers in the bathroom on the newly tiled white **************** but my requests were not honored. HBZ told me that Ramboard is not necessary. HBZ offered a solution to remedy the problems but then backed out and are harassing me via text and email for payment, prematurely threatening to send me to collections and are sending rude unprofessional emails.

  Customer response

  04/24/2024

  Invoice for project, detailing the charge of the fireplace as well as other charges to be credited.  

  

  Business response

  04/24/2024

  We tried attaching the below via a document, but it contained a graphic that didn't work.  The graphic was following the description of item 1.  It was a horizontally oriented rectangle (cover panel) with the left side adjacent to the floor but with a 1/2' gap between the bottom of the panel and the floor on the right side as the floor was out of level.

   

  There are few items spelled out in her review above and a few that were pointed out in the photos she posted.  Gathering from both the list we come up with is;
  1. Ikea kitchen (cover panels)
  2. Kitchen sink
  3. Messy work area
  4. Toilets
  5. Opening of boxes
  6. Desk
  7. Washer/Dryer
  8. Splattering on siding
  9. Uneven poorly cut line
  10. Drywall dust on floor/no protection
  11. Food spills
  12. Scratches on hardwood floor
  13. Cracked Tile
  14. Cracked wood trim
  15. Trash bags of debris
  16. Grout in ******
  17. Holes in ******
  18. Leaking sink faucet
  
  1.Ikea kitchens can be great when all the pieces fit together nicely, but sometimes they dont.  In addition, **** measured the kitchen for the layout, and when they did several of their measurements were off and we had to adjust.  In addition to the above addition, neither the ceiling nor kitchen floor were level and further adjustments had to be made.  On top of that, ****** changed the layout of the kitchen base and wall cabinets multiple times (after we already installed them).
  A. Panel cover.  The panel cover to the backside of the peninsula came in a rectangular sheet with manufactured edges on all four sides and perfect 90 degree corners. The cabinets for the peninsula were installed with the top surface of the cabinets level to accommodate the countertop.  The floor that the peninsula was sitting on was out of level approximately 1/2 over the length of the peninsula, about 6.  ****** was adamant about having a manufactured edge against the floor (told to us later), and having the exposed vertical edge (leading edge)  a manufactured edge.  These two edges of the panel have a perfect 90 degree relationship, and the angle of the vertical edge will be determined by the slope of the floor if you have a manufactured edge tight to the floor.  The box below is the panel, the red line is the floor, the blue line is the end panel and the vertical black line of the box on the right is the leading edge (although the blue line is outside the panel, in reality it was behind the panel with her desired setup).  We installed this panel three times, first installing as shown with a gap between the floor and covering the gap with baseboard matching the other baseboard in the house.  She didnt want baseboard.  We then tried cutting the floor edge at an angle to keep the leading edge perfectly vertical as it was an exposed, a manufactured edge, but this is when she told us the floor edge had to be a manufactured edge.  We then tried having a manufactured edge tight against the floor and cutting the leading edge at an angle to keep it perfectly vertical and in line with the cabinets and covering the now cut edge by having the end panel of the cabinets overlapping the cover panel.  She didnt like that either.  We then had a conversation about the geometric realities of her kitchen and that what she was asking for could only be accomplished if she had **** make a cover panel with custom angles (not happening).  She said she understood.
  
  2. The original kitchen sink was a porcelain Ikea sink with an apron that was proud of the cabinet doors and extended about 9 inches below the countertop, so the doors under the sink were fitted for this specific and were shorter than normal.  She changed which sink she was wanting to use multiple times from porcelain to stainless steel, sink with apron, sink without.  Each time she changed sinks, it necessitated getting new doors or making an alteration to the cabinet.  We never got to installing the sink because the sink should be installed after the countertops are in place, but the countertops cant be installed until the cabinets are finalized and when the layout keeps getting changed . . . .
  
  4. Work space was fairly tight as this wasnt a super spacious house, especially with the kitchen, bathroom and household furniture being delivered at the same time (not our call). With this, it didnt take much debris to look cluttered, but some leftover wood and saw dust on the garage floor of a house that wasnt in use at the time is inconsequential.  As far as her mention of lunch debris, we simply werent trashing her house.  We were all eating lunch on site so there was going to be leftover bags/empty cups, but we were the ones occupying the house and it didnt have an effect whether these items were disposed of immediately or consolidated for future removal.
  
  5. So theres this Mexican place on 83rd . . .  Multiple guys on the site for 8 or more hours a day, the bathroosm are going to get used.  We apologize if one of our crew was having intestinal issues, but we would like to reiterate that the house was empty and we were absolutely going to perform a thorough cleanup when we finished.
  
  6. Opening extra boxes was our error.  Having ALL of the items delivered into the garage at the same time did make the situation a little more difficult, as we had to clear up as much room in the garage as possible.  To do this we moved all of the delivered items to the upstairs.  It was not properly communicated to some of our newer employees and a few (Not ALL by any means) of the non-Ikea boxes were opened.
  
  7. A desk that had nothing to do with the kitchen or bathroom was put together.  I did see at one point that someone had put some of our materials on it.  I didnt see any scratches on it, regardless, on the final invoice we offered a significant discount to cover any damages and replacing of items (she said that this discount looked good and accepted the offer).
  
  8.   We were originally asked to move the washer and dryer out into the yard.  As they would not be protected out in the yard we assumed that they were going to be thrown away.  However, one of our guys wanted to salvage some of the parts from the washer and so left it inside so that it was sheltered, and before taking parts wanted to ask if it was ok to take parts from it.  We NEVER told her that we were planning on using it for parts, but asked if it was ok.  She told us that she was planning on donating it, so we left the washer intact and inside.  I dont remember multiple requests to move the washer outside, but I think when she asked us if we could move it outside we were off the project for a few days and didnt get to it right away, and before we heard back from her that she wanted to donate it, it made a very convenient table for our finish-chop-saw.  We got some saw dust on it that was very easily vacuumed off and we in no way compromised the aesthetics or functionality of the washer.
  
  9. Its not uncommon to have these minor spills or splatters, and these are easily cleaned up.  Again, we were not maintaining a livable appearance, as no one was living there.  We could have kept the place pristine every night, but this would incur more costs.
  
  10. Uneven poorly cut line.  This is a flooring/drywall junction that is going to be completely covered by baseboard.  Having imperfect drywall lines in these areas is the norm in this situation. You wont see it.
  
  11. The protection on the floor had to be rolled back in order to get access to install the trim around the hearth. Drywall dust is inert, water soluble and easily wiped up.
  
  12. We apologize for any food spills.  These cause no damage and would have been cleaned up before leaving.
  
  13. When doing major renovations like this, floors should be the last item completed, instead, it was the first and all work was done on a completed floor. Regardless, any scratches or marks we made would have been taken care of before we left the project.
  
  14. We said yest to the tile project, assuming ceramic, stone or porcelain.  Unfortunately, the tile ****** chose was a much thicker than normal, cementitious material that was very weak and prone to cracking.  This weakness was further exacerbated by the fact that in places, due to the tiles unusual thickness, we had to plane the tile down, making it more vulnerable.  We should have said something when we saw the tile but chose to try anyway.  Because of the imperfections in this portion of the project we removed this form the invoice entirely (in addition to the discount offered on the final invoice).
  
  15. The wood trim was not completed and we had not used any putty nor sanded at the time of this picture.  This was also part of the fireplace hearth tile and was not charged for.
  
  16. There were trash bags of debris in the garage and debris in the yard.  We knew there would be several dump runs, but since no one was living there, we asked permission to stage the trash until we had a full truck load.  We were granted permission so this is a non-issue.
  
  17. We did not dump loads of grout in the toilet. Rather, when cleaning up the grout we shook a few small pieces off the sponge into the toilet.
  
  18. The holes in the grout are our responsibility.  We had a new employee who we believed was experienced with using a more complex grout product, which is far more durable and requires little to no maintenance, but is harder to use.  The discount we offered included the cost of regrouting the shower to make it aesthetically acceptable.
  
   On projects like this its standard to do a final walk though to make sure everything is complete, functional and all plumbing feature supply lines are tightened properly.  As the project was not complete this walk through had not been done yet.
  
  

  
  

  Customer response

  04/25/2024

   
  Complaint: 21617411
  
  I am rejecting this response because:the remaining bill ($12,534.41) still had all the fireplace charges which HBZ did not remove from the bill.  Refer to email and text attachments.  
  Please update the bill to reflect no fireplace charges (circled on the invoice) less the cost to remedy the bathroom tile, and less the cost of the hardwood floor remedy (*******).  
  Of note, this complaint was marked in error by BBB as Repairs, but should have been marked Bill ***********  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  

  Business response

  04/30/2024

  I have corrected the invoice and removed charges for the fireplace tile.  However, with this done we believe that ****** cannot deduct the cost of removal/installation of fireplace tile done by the new contractor as she would have had to pay that same amount whether we had done any work on the fireplace or not.

   

  As such, she should owe us $4,946.19

  Customer response

  04/30/2024

  The business accepted the final payment on 4/24/24, payment was sent via check, and this was resolved offline.   See attached message.  No further action necessary.  Thank you!  

  Customer response

  04/30/2024

  Complaint: 21617411
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: this has already been resolved offline.  The company HBZ agreed to the initial request for the payment on 4/24/24 via text message.  See attached photo of HBZ response confirming final payment.  The final payment was mailed by check.  No further action is necessary.  Thank you for your assistance!  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  *******************************
  

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