Gittleman Construction & Maintenance Corporation

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/12/03) */ Homeowner requested through his property manager at [redacted] a water shutdown and replacement of toilet supply valve and lineProperty manager scheduled building/riser water shutdown with Gittleman Construction and Maintenance, an affiliated company of [redacted] Upon arrival GCM plumber located a valve in the ceiling space outside of the homeowners unit in the common hallway that isolated this particular unit without having to shut down the building or riser water systemPlumber shut down water to the unit as requested, made necessary repairs and restored the water serviceGCM has a clearly disclosed one hour minimum charge for all service calls which is all the homeowner was charged for identifying the valve location, shutting down the water and making the requested repairsHad the homeowner asked us not to perform the repairs after locating the unit isolation valve, the one hour minimum charge would be the sameProperty manager has responded to homeowner that according to the Association governing documents and state statute, all service work in common areas including water shutdowns must be performed by a licensed and insured plumber approved by the AssociationAs an offer of goodwill, GCM has offered to credit the $service charge associated with this service call/invoice and waive late fees Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2014/12/04) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) "Property manager has responded to homeowner that according to the Association governing documents and state statute, all service work in common areas including water shutdowns must be performed by a licensed and insured plumber approved by the Association." There was no service work performed in common areasThe only "work" done in the common areas was to push a commonly accessible lever forward to turn off the unit water supply and then pull the lever back again (two turns of the wrist by hand)The plumber marked the unit water supply lever with a marker in the conduit so that it would be visible to future owner/occupants, belying their argument that only a plumber could turn this leverNo work was performed in common areas and no specialty plumber skills were requiredThere are certainly no state regulations which require a plumber to turn a switch using no plumbing skillsThis would be analogous to requiring an electrician to come to the building to turn a light switch on and off in a common area I asked the property manager and Gittleman repeatedly, and have copies of the email correspondence, if there was a unit water shut off switchI was repeatedly told definitively and unequivocally that there was no such individual unit shut off and that I would be forced to shut the water off to the entire building which would require a Gittleman plumber and their dictated service terms and ratesThe statements they made were entirely false They had ample opportunity to verify that their information was correct and should have known this information as the property management companyThis service elicited in bad faith with statements made to provide the impression that I had no choice but to use their services I have paid [redacted] /Gittleman's association fees for many yearsI have never missed a payment or been late on a payment for legitimate association feesI am unwilling to pay for a service that was only initiated because [redacted] /Gittleman made statements about the propertyAs I am paying [redacted] /Gittleman a monthly fee to be my property manager, they had an additional duty of care to not make statements about the mechanical structure of the building [redacted] Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2014/12/15) */ Note: this complaint has been filed against Gittleman Construction and Maintenance, the contractor performing the requested work, NOT the property manager or property management company [redacted] Gittleman Construction and Maintenance is not responsible for the content of homeowner association bylaws and regulations but as a licensed plumbing contractor, must abide by them when working in a HOA buildings or individual homeowner unitsGittleman Construction and Maintenance were contracted to perform a water shutdown and toilet repairs for the homeowner, and that is exactly what we didEven if our plumber merely identified the location of the water shut down valves on behalf of the homeowner and didn't perform any repair work, the charge would be the same, a one hour minimum While experienced in the requirements of shutting down and restoring water services in high rise buildings, many with boosted water and recirculation and control systems, our plumbers do not know the location of the thousands of individual shutdown valves in the plus buildings we service and never stated to the homeowner that we did in this instance prior to the call taking placeMany valve locations are unidentified are undocumentedAs we locate shutdown valves, we always identify any unmarked valves for future use where possible, as in this instance Our plumber did not operate or work on any switches or conduits as indicated by the homeownerShutting down and restoring of the water service was performed operating isolation valves installed in water service distribution pipes in the common area of the buildingApart from being in violation of the HOA bylaws and regulations, we would strongly advise against homeowners touching any isolation valve in a common area, isolating and incorrect valve could cause a great deal of damage After our plumber located and identified the necessary shutdown valves, shutdown the water to the unit, the homeowner requested that our plumber provide parts and replace the toilet isolation valve and supply line and make repairs to the internal toilet flushing mechanism with parts provided by the homeownerThis was completed at the homeowner's direction and he was billed for one hour of service for the entire callHad a full building or riser shutdown have been required (as in most instances) the time taken and associated costs would have been higher Gittleman Construction and Maintenance processes approximately 8,service calls per year for homeowners and HOA's, our offer to waive the service charge associated with this invoice as a gesture of goodwill remains

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/12/03) */
Homeowner requested through his property manager at[redacted] a water shutdown and replacement of toilet supply valve and line. Property manager scheduled building/riser water shutdown with Gittleman Construction and Maintenance,...

an affiliated company of[redacted] . Upon arrival GCM plumber located a valve in the ceiling space outside of the homeowners unit in the common hallway that isolated this particular unit without having to shut down the building or riser water system. Plumber shut down water to the unit as requested, made necessary repairs and restored the water service. GCM has a clearly disclosed one hour minimum charge for all service calls which is all the homeowner was charged for identifying the valve location, shutting down the water and making the requested repairs. Had the homeowner asked us not to perform the repairs after locating the unit isolation valve, the one hour minimum charge would be the same. Property manager has responded to homeowner that according to the Association governing documents and state statute, all service work in common areas including water shutdowns must be performed by a licensed and insured plumber approved by the Association. As an offer of goodwill, GCM has offered to credit the $20 service charge associated with this service call/invoice and waive late fees.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/12/04) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
"Property manager has responded to homeowner that according to the Association governing documents and state statute, all service work in common areas including water shutdowns must be performed by a licensed and insured plumber approved by the Association."
There was no service work performed in common areas. The only "work" done in the common areas was to push a commonly accessible lever forward to turn off the unit water supply and then pull the lever back again (two turns of the wrist by hand). The plumber marked the unit water supply lever with a marker in the conduit so that it would be visible to future owner/occupants, belying their argument that only a plumber could turn this lever. No work was performed in common areas and no specialty plumber skills were required. There are certainly no state regulations which require a plumber to turn a switch using no plumbing skills. This would be analogous to requiring an electrician to come to the building to turn a light switch on and off in a common area.
I asked the property manager and Gittleman repeatedly, and have copies of the email correspondence, if there was a unit water shut off switch. I was repeatedly told definitively and unequivocally that there was no such individual unit shut off and that I would be forced to shut the water off to the entire building which would require a Gittleman plumber and their dictated service terms and rates. The statements they made were entirely false.
They had ample opportunity to verify that their information was correct and should have known this information as the property management company. This service elicited in bad faith with false statements made to provide the impression that I had no choice but to use their services.
I have paid [redacted]/Gittleman's association fees for many years. I have never missed a payment or been late on a payment for legitimate association fees. I am unwilling to pay for a service that was only initiated because [redacted]/Gittleman made false statements about the property. As I am paying [redacted]/Gittleman a monthly fee to be my property manager, they had an additional duty of care to not make false statements about the mechanical structure of the building.
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/12/15) */
Note: this complaint has been filed against Gittleman Construction and Maintenance, the contractor performing the requested work, NOT the property manager or property management company[redacted].
Gittleman Construction and Maintenance is not responsible for the content of homeowner association bylaws and regulations but as a licensed plumbing contractor, must abide by them when working in a HOA buildings or individual homeowner units. Gittleman Construction and Maintenance were contracted to perform a water shutdown and toilet repairs for the homeowner, and that is exactly what we did. Even if our plumber merely identified the location of the water shut down valves on behalf of the homeowner and didn't perform any repair work, the charge would be the same, a one hour minimum.
While experienced in the requirements of shutting down and restoring water services in high rise buildings, many with boosted water and recirculation and control systems, our plumbers do not know the location of the thousands of individual shutdown valves in the 300 plus buildings we service and never stated to the homeowner that we did in this instance prior to the call taking place. Many valve locations are unidentified are undocumented. As we locate shutdown valves, we always identify any unmarked valves for future use where possible, as in this instance.
Our plumber did not operate or work on any switches or conduits as indicated by the homeowner. Shutting down and restoring of the water service was performed operating isolation valves installed in water service distribution pipes in the common area of the building. Apart from being in violation of the HOA bylaws and regulations, we would strongly advise against homeowners touching any isolation valve in a common area, isolating and incorrect valve could cause a great deal of damage.
After our plumber located and identified the necessary shutdown valves, shutdown the water to the unit, the homeowner requested that our plumber provide parts and replace the toilet isolation valve and supply line and make repairs to the internal toilet flushing mechanism with parts provided by the homeowner. This was completed at the homeowner's direction and he was billed for one hour of service for the entire call. Had a full building or riser shutdown have been required (as in most instances) the time taken and associated costs would have been higher.
Gittleman Construction and Maintenance processes approximately 8,000 service calls per year for homeowners and HOA's, our offer to waive the service charge associated with this invoice as a gesture of goodwill remains.