Bill Sidles Mitsubishi

As of 10/20/the job is 100% completeWe have taken the necessary steps to start the mediation and arbitration process with *** in regard to clients complaintWe look forward to a satisfactory resolution for both parties

Client hired us to do a partial remodel of her bathroom. At the same time she hired another contractor to install a water heater and do the plumbing portion of her project. This sce[redacted]o created many challenges, some of which we could not control. As the client mentions, we did accidentally put an...

indent (not a hole as client mentioned) in the ceiling as we were putting up barriers to protect her bedroom from dust. We immediately addressed the issue and a satisfactory resolution was agreed upon an executed within a week of the accident. It was an accident and unfortunately, during an interior construction project, these things happen which is why it was addressed.  Also, The transition strips did have some pencil tip size indents in them, which is why we agreed to credit her the cost to replace them. I dispute that we damaged them by walking on them but in good faith, we took care of it. When client notified me of damage, I went and looked at it and she “forgot to show me” the damage to the hallway so I cant speak to that.  I have attached pictures of the damaged transition strips to my response. The access panel is our mistake and my stance on this situation from the beginning is that I want to fix the issues and move on.  By the client requiring a certain person to fix the access panel, she is prolonging the issue. The person she is requesting is on vacation and is also a sub contractor so I don’t have control over his schedule. I have asked on numerous occasions to send people over but she wont allow us unless it’s the guy she requested. I’ve been very upfront with the client that if she wants this person, he’s on vacation and she will have to wait. Along with other times I’ve given the client, I have an employee with 20 years of experience setting tile ready to fix the access panel on 10/11/16  and she has refused.  At this point I have no choice but to wait until he’s back from vacation and schedule the repair. I want nothing more than to resolve the situation and move on but my hands are tied at this point. Our contract clearly stated that no painting was included in the price of the contract. Touch ups are part of the painting process. Client decided to ask one of my employees, that’s not a painter and didn’t have any painting supplies, to touch up some paint despite the fact that it wasn’t included in her contract. My employee being the person he is, and trying to please the client, touched up her paint. When someone asks my employee to do work he isn’t suppose to be doing, and doesn’t have the proper tools to complete the work, it doesn’t surprise me that the job wasn’t satisfactory.  We built the deck exactly to the specs provided and were not hired to install the tub. So when client says “which is how they damaged the wall, and they had to cut away new drywall and actually had to saw through the grouted tile on the deck to open it up to insert the tub (poor planning)”, what she really means is the people she hired to install the tub did those things. Despite our best efforts, we cant control what we weren’t hired to do Client states that there wasn’t an outlet for her newly installed water heater. She is correct. Again, we weren’t hired to install the water heater. Why would it be our responsibility to check and see if she had an outlet for it? I had no idea what kind of water heater she was putting in, where it was going, when it was being installed, or have any details regarding the water heater. I fail to see how Kowalske is responsible for an outlet on a job we had nothing to do with. Client is correct in stating that “we didn’t think to install one”. Of course we didn’t think to install one, we had nothing to do with it. Client asked us not to include moving the register because she had measured and it didn’t need to moved and she wanted to save some money. When she told me this, I thought, that’s weird, according to my measurements, it has to be moved but I must have made a mistake. It wouldn’t be the first time I made a mistake so I removed it from the scope of work, sent her a contract that she signed and sent back. Once I received the signed contract I went to client home to do a check measure. The first thing I noticed when I got there is that the register needed to be moved. She agreed, I told her I would put it on a change order and send it over to her. The access panel was added to that same change order because at the time she signed the contract, she hadn’t selected a tub and I wanted to see the specs before I figured out where we would put it and how it would be installed. She signed the change order and paid for it within a few days of me sending it to her. I’m not sure why it’s an issue now.    The tub was to be tested and it was tested by the plumber that she hired to install it and client emailed me after it was tested to let me know it didn’t have any leaks. I agreed to credit client half the cost of the access panel in good faith and install the one in the basement with no additional charge.  If client does not want the one in the basement installed, we will happily provide her a full refund. Client was credited the full retail price of any returned tile.  Client stated at the beginning of the project she wanted to keep any leftover tile. There was about 30 pieces leftover and I sent her an email asking if that was more than she wanted to keep. If so, it could be returned for credit. I never told her to return it and she never responded to my email so I though she was just going to keep it. Client states that we “failed to install the tile as agreed to”. This is the first I’ve heard this. In my many site visits and hundreds of emails from the client, this wasn’t brought to my attention. I would need additional clarification on this to respond. The vanity client refers to is 24 years old with hundreds of scratches on it and a significant amount of discoloration because of the age of it. Its impossible to substantiate the clients damage claim because the entire surface has scratches. When she initially made her damage claim (two weeks after we had anyone in the house), I was under the impression the only scratches were the ones she claims we put in it. When I did a site visit, I was clear that only a miracle could fix the top. In good faith I was willing to look into said miracle but came up empty. I liked into it not because I felt liable, but because I was trying to help her out.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I posted a response to reject the Kowalske response a few days ago but it does not appear on the Revdex.com site for some reason.  The problems with Kowalske are NOT resolved.  The access panel in the side of the tub deck failed the state code inspection so it was a violation of the law, and Kowalske said this is how they have always done access panels.  The panel was aborted by Kowalske this week and I should be refunded the $185 for this panel that I have already paid for.  An access panel was added to the basement and only took minutes to cut the hole and install the $10 plastic panel.  Kowalske oversold this job, only giving me the option of an access panel in the side of the tub deck when it could easily, and much more economically, been installed in the basement ceiling.  I am due many credits yet that take the balance down to about zero and I have a vanity that was destroyed by Kowalske.  I graciously allowed him to see the vanity another time because he said he wanted to resolve the issue, and all he did was argue.  Our contract clearly states that no pictures are to be taken, and I don't trust Kowalske anymore, so any pictures must go directly from me to the Revdex.com or to an arbitrator or to the court.  I am posting pictures that I recently found (I forgot that I took them) of the vanity just before the work by Kowalske began this summer.  I had taken the photos so that I could select paint and tile that would coordinate and not clash with the vanity top because KOWALSKE TOLD ME THAT THE VANITY TOP "IS IN GOOD CONDITION, NO NEED TO REPLACE IT" and my husband and I agreed.  You can clearly see that the vanity is in good condition and has no apparent defects of any sort including scratches.  I have emails from Kowalske stating that "it would take a miracle to fix the vanity" after he saw the damage that his crew caused.  During the bathroom remodel, his workers used the cultured marble vanity top as a workbench and I saw a variety of items on it, including tile, tile accent with fiberglass backing, demolition materials and tools, wood with screws and nails sticking out, soda, keys, binder, pencils, screws, hand tools, drywall pieces.  The inspector said that contractors typically use cardboard to protect a vanity surface but Kowalske did not.  Kowlaske had originally said he could fix it, then he said he was not comfortable doing that as he never had done it before, then he offered $120 toward a replacement and you can't buy and install one for that low amount, then he resorted to criticizing the vanity and calling it old.  If there were anything wrong with the vanity in any way I would have included it in the remodel project but Kowalske had said it was fine.  I even purchased a mirror to match the vanity when Kowalske didn't plan well and the existing mirror would not fit back due to their work.  There have been a lot of expenses with this project that should have been identified at the beginning of the project but were not and we suspect we are double paying for items.  When my husband told Kowalske this week that he should train his workers better so they don't damage property Kowalske's response was that it was old.  the vanity is between 8 and 24 years old and it was in good condition.  My husband replied "regardless of the age of the vanity, it does not give you the right to damage it".  We expect our credits and adjustments to take our very low balance down to zero, and Kowalske owes us a new vanity top and lien waivers from his company and his brother's.  The vanity is 55.5" by 22" and is a custom size and I am told by the big box stores that a new one has to be custom cut and will cost at least $500, Kowalske had said plumbing would cost at least $300, and then there is the removal and set, and haul away cost and wall repair cost.  Kowalske owes us at this point.  He has also said that his score will not be negatively affected by this complaint with the Revdex.com.  That is suspicious.  He has not resolved this complaint and shows no intention of resolving it and all he wants to do is argue.  We regret giving him our business and now we have a damaged vanity top. 
Regards,
Kelli & [redacted]