Crowley Builders, Inc

Review: Illegal contract, illegal retainer fee, defective workmanship, poor building practices, failure to follow architect's plans, unsafe construction, more

Crowley Builders was engaged to renovate our home and add a second floor addition. The contract was an illegal time and materials agreement. The $5000 retainer fee was illegal. The billings were unsubstantiated and excessive. No time cards were presented and the billings were fraught with suspicious charges. The cost of the project has now exceeded the original estimate of $432,000 and now exceeds $600,000 and completion with available loan is uncertain. We are forced to remove the exterior trim and stucco at our costs because he and his subcontractor have ignored our complaints. The stucco has been deemed unsalvageable and defective by a construction expert. Desired Settlement: Father above form only allowed less than 700 characters. The expert witness is [redacted].

All exterior trim needs to be removed. The basements leaks worse than before the renovation. Interior windows have no insulation beneath their trim. There have been identified serious structural risks due to a failure to follow plans. Critical structural members were left unsecured and held in place by only friction that support the second floor. Required inspections were ignored. When he exceeded the original estimates and depleted our funds, we took a builder's loan with new estimates of less than $225,000 to complete furnished by Crowley as part of the loan requirement. He exceeded many of the estimates again without completeing the job.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

The claims made by [redacted] have no legal foundation to them. Crowley Builders, Inc. (CBI) has been a Licensed, Bonded and Insured Contractor since 1979 practicing the highest level of integrity, workmanship and business practices. The company has an exemplary record and hundreds of satisfied customers.

The [redacted] released CBI from its contract while the work was still in progress. As with any work in progress there will be loose ends to complete. The release was without cause or any reason given other than the relationship had deteriorated to a point that the release was mutual. CBI had been in multiple discussions about allowing the Zuckers to finish the work with another builder. The [redacted] chose to take that course of action.

The contract was a legal document as well as the retainer put down at the start of the project. The [redacted] were well within their rights to have an attorney look at the contract before entering into it if they were unsure of the contract language or had any disagreement with the contract terms.

The billings were standard practice to how CBI has billed all of their clients for a build of this nature. Billings were submitted on a bi-monthly basis fully disclosing all costs with receipts provided. At no time did the [redacted] request more detailed disclosure that what they received, except for the 30 to 45 days prior to releasing CBI from the contract. CBI complied with their request and provided them with the detail they requested. The [redacted] were completely aware of the costs on their project at all times. The [redacted] approved all of the changes during the course of the project, prior to CBI doing the work.

Through the course of the project the plans were followed. The City of Redwood Building Department did all of the regular inspections. All work was signed off to proceed with the next phase of the work. The building inspection card is evidence of that. There was never a write up by the building department for work incorrectly done, incomplete or not to plan.

During the course of the stucco work CBI was witness to the stucco work done under it's contract and confirms that it was installed according to building standards and codes. All the proper inspections were done through the course of the stucco installation.

Building companies and owners enter in a business partnership and somewhat of a marriage. As history tells us, not all partnerships and marriages come to a happy ending. The [redacted] are good people. For whatever reason, they are looking for some retribution without cause. CBI has grievances of it's own but holds no ill feelings towards the [redacted] and would find no purpose in trying to destroy their character as they are trying to do to CBI. Through the greater portion of the project, the [redacted] Building Department Inspectors and friends of the [redacted] complimented CBI on the high quality of the work.

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

CBI's response is not satisfactory. They are in denial of the facts that their contract, retainer, and billings were illegal/inadequate, and violated various statutes. The building department has looked at the work and issued a letter that indicates work was poorly done and was covered up, along with the architect and structural engineer. The work left our structure vulnerable to extensive damage and potential injury to us if there were an earthquake, and vulnerable to severe water damage.

The finish work upstairs was performed primarily by [redacted] of [redacted] Construction (who was hired by CBI to work some of the job), which was complimented by friends and family, but as the work progressed alone by the Crowleys, it became clear work was poor and incorrect, not per plan. Neighbors and friends and other builders (two are neighbors) began to speak up out of concern for us that things weren't okay looking, and that the job was stretching out over 17 months due to the Crowleys working short weeks on a regular basis. We were definitely overcharged. The missing structural components reveal a maliciousness on the part of the Crowleys! We have emails showing us asking to resolve issues, but they were ignored or refuted. Crowley tried to lead us to believe that there was nothing wrong, which was ludicrous. We are not trained to see when the wrong nails or screws were used, or that the wrong sealant was used, or that flashing and other materials were misapplied, or that footings and shearwalls were missing, so a lot of work was performed that was poor or missing that we didn't realize was a problem, unfortunately. The issues ran deeper, to our dismay, when we the structure forensically investigated. We have other construction workers (subsequent subs and others) comment on the poor work by CBI. It is astounding and mind boggling what happened here. The Crowleys lost their home to foreclosure in May 2012 (I will forward visa slip with that address to show the address to compare to Zillow), so there is motive to financially rip us off, as the Crowleys were clearly in serious financial trouble, but to perform dangerous work is an entirely other matter that can only be considered Sociopathic behavior. As far as claiming they had no problems with other customers, what about asking us for a loan for a lost arbitration (see emails where [redacted] asked for a loan of 13K)? Mediating is not an acceptable route to consider, only reportage and letting the authorities handle CBI. I doubt CBI will just refund us the over 200K we lost and pay for the retrofits and repairs of work that was covered up a long time ago. Had we reached the point where a final inspection were to take place, the building department wouldn't have signed off on it. There was a gas line, a furnace, a water heater and electrical work all done without the proper permits for those items (tbose are separate from Phase 1 and 2 Permits). Had it not been investigated, some of the work might not have been discovered, such as trimmed windows lacking insulation, but looking at the plans and asking if epoxy inspections were done, one would go back and see that they weren't. One would then look to see if the bolts were installed, which they weren't (we removed sheetrock to see that, due to shearwalls bulging out...no plywood was installed when it was supposed to be). The Crowleys state they sent a letter Sept. 9, but that is false. Their letter (Revdex.com has a copy of it) from Sept. 30 indicates they hadn't responded until that point, negating the claim that a letter was sent prior. Seems they don't keep track of their communications. We had tried communicating, but emails were ignored and subsequently blocked (copies sent to Revdex.com and CSLB of those emails). Emails are legal in a court of law, so those are formal, but are dismissed as not being formal by CBI. Emails are the best form of communication, as they are electronic, which are easier to document, and validate, as opposed to paper sent in an envelope (one could just put a blank paper and claim it was something different, so we aren't interested in communicating other than email). As far as meeting to discuss issues, no thanks to mediation. Only reportage to help protect others from being harmed. Why mediate with people who keep their heads buried in the sand like an ostrich, denying what [redacted] knows to be true?!

Final Business Response

It is clearly stated on the Revdex.com site "Generally, resolving a complaint requires both parties to move from their current position to a middle ground."

Just as the [redacted] failed to respond to our letter dated September 30, 2013, requesting a meeting to discuss the issues, it is clearly stated in their current write up that "Mediating is not an acceptable route to consider".

It is difficult to find any resolution to any dispute if one of the parties is unwilling to come to the table.

In both of the write ups with this complaint the [redacted] make a lot of innuendos and conjecture and clearly go on about personal issues that has nothing to do with the contract and the work between Crowley Builders, Inc. (CBI) and the [redacted]

In our responses to the complaint we have tried to keep to the high road and not bring the personal into this but we have to address their form of communications.

Within the first month of CBI being released from the contract and before any official documents were generated we would get text messages, e-mails and phone calls from the [redacted] (primarily [redacted]) that were accusatory, insulting, demeaning and emotionally disturbing. At the time of the release the [redacted] had retained a lawyer to represent them. CBI sent their attorney an e-mail on August 20, 2013 to request that [redacted] refrain from sending those types of communications. The request to the lawyer did not stop her from continuing to send disturbing communications. We were forced to block the [redacted]'s from sending us anything in those forms of communications. We have not received any communications from [redacted] or [redacted] since the early part of September after we blocked them, outside of one that came through sometime in October when they breeched our privacy and did a search to dig into our personal lives and extended family personal lives and personal e-mails. We did receive a couple phone calls that came from an anonymous phone number.

At any point in time the [redacted] could have called our office and kept this on a business level and/or mailed to us a letter and any documentation supporting their claims. They have done neither.

At this point in time other than the complaint filed with the Revdex.com and the Contractors State License Board, the [redacted] have not provided CBI with any letter or documentation regarding any issues. The [redacted] released us from our contract on August 3, 2013 without cause and no reason provided. CBI agreed to accept the release as the relationship in the previous 30 days of the project had deteriorated to a point that CBI could not properly prosecute the work.