Fronheiser Construction

Review: The Company came out to my house and after "inspection" provided an estimate of $5300 to do minor repairs and replace my pool liner. There is a line in the contract that additional work will cost extra. I understand that. I have a very old pool that needed to have a 16' board removed and replaced and the tracking that held up the liner needed to be replaced. I requested an estimate on both additional items multiple times and was told "it would not be that much" but was never provided with an estimate. In the mean time, the employees at the company kept referring to my contract as an estimate (since they signed it and I signed it and put 1/3 down, it was a contract, not just an estimate). I paid the remainder of the original invoice as soon as the work was complete. I just received an invoice for the additional work. They charged $472.43 to replace the tracking and I find that to be reasonable. They charged $1,569.67 to remove and replace a 16' by 10" piece of lumber, of which $1,530 was labor (18 man hours to replace one board). The total overage comes to a 42.9% overage of the original contracted price. Plus or minus 15% was what is expected in most construction jobs. Had they informed me that replacing that board would have resulted in such a large fee, I would have contracted with another group to complete the job - most likely at a much lower amount. My objection was that when I requested information on the additional costs, I was never given any more information. I took out a loan to have the pool repaired and the loan amount does not cover this extreme overage. In addition, when they were here, they informed us that the liner might not stay up unless we make MORE (expensive) repairs to the pool. One of the workers commented that without these addition repairs, the liner might slip again over the winter and the liner warranty would be void. Once again, had that been part of the initial conversations, the decision to repair the pool at this time may have been different. I certainly would have taken out a larger repair loan. Please also note that part of the current pool ledges were not fully attached as the pool workers informed us that there is more wood that should be replaced but we were not shown or informed of this while the liner was out of the pool and the walls could have been inspected. I went out several times to check on the workers and they made no attempt to point out any potential future issues.Desired Settlement: I feel that the company should have responded reasonably to my requests for an estimate on the additional work. The request was made more than once. I would like to have the labor hours on the board replacement reduced to a reasonable level. In addition, I would like some honest answers on the current condition of the pool and whether they intend to honor the warranty at all, considering the statements of the workers previously noted.

Consumer

Response:

Subject: Complaint #[redacted].

The owner came out to the house yesterday. Observed the work done and agreed to reduce the bill. So, the complaint could be considered closed in a satisfactory manner.

Vice President, Manager

Training, Development, & Quality Control Manager

[redacted] (cell)

Business

Response:

It is truly a shame where this society is going. When a consumer decides to go to the Revdex.com before even trying to talk to the company doing work. Fronheiser Pools has always been and continues to be a reputable company who never puts profit in front of service and satisfaction. We made a mistake in moving forward with the repairs without consulting the customer. The repairs needed were far more extensive than originally thought. Before I even received this complaint from you, I was out to see the customer yesterday and brought the complaint to a mutual agreement. This could have all been avoided if they had trusted us and not believe every company is a crook. If our society keeps going down this road and I have no reason to believe otherwise, all the honest companies will decide it is no longer worth it being in business and the only ones left will be the crooks.

[redacted] Fronheiser

President - Fronheiser Pools