Nor'Easter Roofing, Inc.

Issues with prices not being charged as agreed and unexpected additional costs resulting from work. I had a new roof, windows, siding & doors put in. I was going to use a different contractor for the windows & Nor'easter claimed they would come close to the price. I was quoted $650 per window which included 3" casing on all windows. It was later determined that the casings would not fit. Upon the final payment I realized the contract was charging me for 17 instead of 16 windows & the price was not decreased due to the casing not being included. Shutters were installed on 10 windows of the 17 instead but at a lower price than the casings. When I pointed this out, I was told I had singed a contract & it didn't matter. As mentioned, the only reason I used this contractor for the windows was due to him meeting the price of the other contractor. There was a dispute over the doors that were installed. A contract was never signed. I was told he would give me his price on the doors because I was comparing prices & he didn't care about making profit on them due to all the work being done & just wanted travel points from harvey. I was told installation was $700. Upon payment, the amount for the door install was $1100 & the contractor refused to show me his invoice for the price for the doors. He informed me that if I did not pay him the price he demanded he would take me to court. He came to discuss payment & brought a co-worker with him. I am a single female & live alone. I felt very intimidated by the two of them arguing & threatening to take me to court so I paid for all but the additional door installation charge. I had the outside of the doors painted due to not having time to do it & wanted the inside of the doors to remain white. The doors were installed with black marks & two holes on the inside of the front door from shipping. I pointed this out & was told that's how they came & I would need to get it painted. This was not told to me upfront & is an additional unexpected expense to now have the door painted. When buying the doors I looked at Lowes but was told by the contractor that the doors there, even though the same brand, were of a much lesser quality than the doors he would give me & convinced me to use his doors instead. I just made a call to Harvey where the doors came from, I was just told that is not the case & the doors are not much different than what I could have purchased at a lesser cost. Other issues included the workers that were at my home. I complained[redacted] the workers smoking cigarettes while working on my home & throwing the cigarette butts around my house & in the dry leaves behind my shed. I complained & was told the workers never smoke but would be spoken to. Then I was called by the contractor & told to go outside & show the worker where all the cigarettes were to have him pick them up. I was not comfortable doing that. When the siding was put on, part of my front porch needed to be detached. Once this was done, I was informed that I could either have them attach it to the siding which they would not suggest or I could pay them extra to do it right & install a new post for the railing of the porch to attach to. This was not told to me until after the railing was already detached which will be another added expense. There was also an issue with my side door & the flooring needing additional work. The side porch was put back on, & now is not very steady & wobbles when stepped on. I pointed that out & was told they put it on right & maybe it was because it was not level prior to them taking it off, but it was now & nothing was done about it. I was told a magnet would be used to clean up all nails. I stepped on two roofing nails last week while mowing the law that went through my shoe & into my foot. I contacted the contractor over a week ago in regard to a piece of siding that is coming off. I sent a text message & received a response saying "ok". It's been over a week, I have heard nothing else & the siding has not been fixed.Desired Settlement$650 for the additional window I was charged for. $378 for the windows with no shutters or casings.$140 for the difference in price between casings and shutters on the 10 windows with shutters.Difference of $2700.68 (the price I paid for the doors minus install) and the price he purchased the doors for as agreed. Business Response It is unfortunate that Ms. [redacted] feels the business has not met with her standards. The business has continually responded to Ms. [redacted] increase in work load and met with her on a regular basis to ensure her needs were being address in a timely and professional manner. Noreaster Roofing repeatedly adjusted their workload and product orders to fit Ms. [redacted] request for additional services.Noreaster Roofing purchased products to be used in Ms. [redacted] home that were not fully covered by her deposit. The bulk of work requested was not submitted to the company until late fall, when the products arrived during the colder months, Ms. [redacted] expressed the desire for the work to be delayed until spring. Noreaster Roofing held the products until spring without further payment, or additional fees for storage, and adjusted their work schedule accordingly. Ms. [redacted] was charged for 17 windows that were installed and noted on her contract. One of the windows is a double window and counted as two widows. These windows are two windows that are fused together, it is possible to misjudge them as one window. Upon Ms. [redacted] request for new doors, a verbal quote over the phone of $1100 was given. It is quite possible she may have mistaken the quote for $700.00The black marks on the doors were not brought to our attention until 3 weeks after they were installed. Noreaster workers promptly went to her home and cleaned the doors for her.Noreaster Roofing requires the employees conduct themselves in a professional manner. Any unprofessional behavior is taken up with the employee and dealt with internally. In order to finish siding the house it was necessary to remove part of the front porch, adherence to the siding was an option for Ms. [redacted], we also offered to restructure the porch to avoid adhering the porch to the siding for an additional fee. The restructuring of the porch was not included in the original quote. The side door and porch was properly installed at the time of installation. New England weather can cause erosion and deterioration of the foundation, thus causing the porch to be unstable at this time.Although a magnet is used to pick up nails in the yard, it can be difficult to get everyone as they may hide in the grass or be covered by dirt.Ms. [redacted] has expressed her concern regarding a piece of siding that has detached from the house. We are happy to go and fix the issue when our schedules permit.Consumer Response It is sad that a company would rather be dishonest than own up to their errors. I also did not realize that purchasing more products and services which increased the work load was such a burden. However, I did attempt to have work done by a different contractor, that would have gotten things done much sooner, but was told their prices would be met if I gave the work to Nor'easter. As for the work schedule being adjusted and them nicely not charging me storage fees, and me stating I wanted to wait until spring, I have to laugh because that is the complete opposite of the truth and I have text messages to show that. I specifically stated I wanted the work done as soon as possible and repeatedly asked if ordering the additional items would still allow the work to get done and was told that his guys work into January and it would not be a problem. The other issue was that it took a ridiculous amount of time to get pricing on items. We began talking about doors on [redacted] I said I was going to get doors at [redacted] and was told that he would give me his price so the price would come close and I would get a much better quality door. It wasn't until around [redacted] that I was finally given pricing information. I then asked about windows on [redacted] I mentioned I had another contractor that was giving me a cheaper price and was told by Mr. [redacted] that he would meet the price or at least come close if I gave the job to him. The contractor I had been speaking to would have gotten me the windows within a few weeks. It took about 2 weeks of going back and forth with Mr. [redacted] and it wasn't until [redacted] that I was finally given pricing information to match the other contractor. At that point I was told again that the windows would be in with time to get installed prior to the colder months but the time I was told it would take for them to come in was also delayed. In addition, I had sent an email with the breakdown of everything that was included in the price and was told it would all be the same for the price I was given of $650 per window. The $650/window was to include 3" casings on each window at a cost of about $63/window for the casings. It was later realized that the casings would not fit and I decided to do shutters instead. The price for the shutters was about $50 per window yet my price never changed and shutters weren't installed on all windows. I caught the error before making the final payment and was told, too bad, I had already signed the contract. As mentioned previously, I was charged for 17 windows with 3" casings, when there were only 16 and 3" casings weren't included and shutters were only put on 10 windows. As for the double window, it was one piece that was installed and the price to the contractor was not double the price due to it being a double window, in addition, the contract specifies 16 windows, not the 17 he claims. Even if we go with his incorrect statement that it would be considered two separate windows, I was still overcharged for the windows. In that I was charged for 3" casings on 17 windows and the price was not adjusted for the less expensive shutters that weren't put on all windows. In regard to the delay, as mentioned, I was adamant about having the work done much sooner than spring. I had pricing on the doors and windows within hours from the other contractor I wanted to use, not weeks. The slowness in getting me pricing was the main cause of any delay. When I asked Mr. [redacted] about the delay in getting pricing since the other contractor had a book he looked at to get the pricing, I was told that Mr. [redacted] was too busy to do his own pricing and had to wait for his representative at Harvey to do it for him. In addition, I was also concerned with my insurance company giving me a deadline to get the work done, I also made Mr. [redacted] aware of that and he told me I could just send a copy of the contract to them after he told me the work wouldn't be done until Spring. This was not acceptable and my insurance was cancelled due to the work not being completed by sometime in January. I then contacted Mr. [redacted] early in April and was told he had another job to do first that had signed a contract before I did, which I found hard to believe. Then there was another delay due to the permit not being requested until after I contacted Mr. [redacted] in the Spring about the work. I think this confirms that I did not cause him to have to adjust his work load since a permit does not expire and if he had any intention of doing the work prior January, it would have been requested then. The black marks and three holes in the front door was brought to Mr. [redacted]'s attention the day after the front door was installed and a picture sent to him. I have a current picture of the inside of the front door showing that nothing was done to correct that. As mentioned, his response was that was just how they were delivered and I would have to get the inside of the door painted, which as mentioned, is exactly what I told him I didn't want to have to do and was why I had the outside of the doors painted and left the interior white as that was the color I needed them to be. The issue he is referring to that was corrected was in regard to a sticky substance on the outside of the side door, that was taken care of. I should not be required to pay to have a door painted, when I ordered it specifically the colors I wanted just to be told after it was installed that I had no choice now but to pay someone. In addition, if I had requested the inside of the door to be painted a certain color and paid him to have that done, would the doors would have still arrived in the same condition needing to then be painted again?As for the front porch, being that this is Mr. [redacted]'s line of work and what he does everyday, it should have been brought to my attention well before the job was begun that the side railings of the porch would need to be taken off and it should have been brought to my attention then, the correct way to put it back together and any costs involved. Not brought to my attention after the railings were taken out and the siding put up so I could be told at that point to put it back together correctly and without damage it would cost me more. He was aware of the railings when he came to see the house and gave me pricing on the siding initially. As far as the back deck, the railing was never brought to my attention. A partner of Mr. [redacted] told me about the front porch, this was the only contact I ever had with that man and it was days after the back of the house had been done. I did not discover the issue until fairly recently. There are nails sticking out and the 2x4 that was back there was thrown away. Not only that, when the workers ripped the 2x4 out, they ruined the lower part of the railing. I did not authorize this and was not spoken to about it. As mentioned, I would not have told them it was ok to do it or not to worry about the broken part of the railing or to throw out the 2x4 since this is the piece I would have needed to put back in order to correct the issue. The back deck, unlike the front porch was not previously screwed into the siding. And according to what the partner told me in regard to the front porch, the way to correct it was to place either a 2x4 or 4x4 against the house but not attach it to the house, only to the porch and then attach the railing to the 2x4 or 4x4 instead of the siding. This was exactly how my back deck was prior to it being wrecked by the workers. Now I not only need to get a new 2x4, I also have to replace the lower rail that was ruined and stain to make it all match what was there. I would like to be reimbursed for the windows I was overcharged for, and either reimbursed for the damage to the back deck or have it repaired and don't feel that I should have to now pay to have the front porch repaired property without damaging the siding as this was not brought to my attention prior to any work or any pricing being given for the job. I am not sure why Mr. [redacted] was making it sounds like such a burden to adjust their workload when he was the one trying to sell me on using him for the additional work and I ended up spending over $34,000 when all was said and done. Perhaps to Mr. [redacted] this is an insignificant amount, but for me it was quite a bit of money and for that price, I would like to be happy with things and not feel like I was overcharged or forced to pay additional money to correct mistakes like the back deck or put in positions of having no choice but to spend more money to correct things I was not made aware of upfront such as having to now paint the front door and repair the front porch. Business Response The additional items purchased by Ms. [redacted] were not a burden to our company. Each project, for example: the roofing, the siding, the windows, the doors, should be seen as separate projects and not one project as a whole. In some instances, a projects completion may have relied on completing another project first. The business has continually responded to Ms. [redacted]'s increase in work load and met with her on a regular basis to ensure her needs were being address in a timely and professional manner. Nor' Easter Roofing repeatedly adjusted their workload and product orders to fit Ms. [redacted]'s request for additional services. We offered many opportunities to complete the work in the time frame expected, however, Ms. [redacted]'s schedule did not allow us to complete the work on time. Ms. [redacted] was unavailable for much of our allotted times for the work to be completed. We made every effort to complete the work in the expected time frame, for example: we installed all the doors and windows in 1 day.Our company must investigate material costs and delivery times in order to give an accurate quote with the best possible pricing. We do not simply use one supplier, we check our suppliers availability and search for the best price possible. This process can produce delays in getting the quote to the customer because we have not gotten a response from the suppliers. We cannot give a quote to a customer without first getting information from the company that supplies the products. Delivery quotes are estimated and are dependent on the suppliers' schedule. Delays in the delivery of products cannot be avoided if the supplier has not shipped the products to us.The 2x4 was removed during the process of adhering the siding to the house, the railing was intact and not damaged during the process of removal. We were told by Ms. [redacted] not to re-install the 2x4 because it would make holes in the new siding. Ms [redacted] was then made aware that she would need a 4x4 to properly attach the porch to the house. Ms. [redacted]'s response was that her boyfriend would take care of getting the 4x4 and attaching it to the house because he was a carpenter. We believed the 2x4 was no longer needed and that Ms. [redacted] did not want the 2x4, so it was thrown out. Ms. [redacted]'s insurance company was faxed a signed roofing agreement and the insurance should not have been cancelled because of the timing of the roofing project.Ms. [redacted] contacted us in April and in the interim of getting her available schedule times, we scheduled another job. We did not know when to expect to hear from Ms. [redacted] or what her availability might be, so we scheduled a project. We cannot reasonably keep our schedule open indefinitely while waiting for a customer's response. Ms. [redacted] expressed concern about having the windows and doors finished while the weather was cold. Requesting the permit in the colder months was not necessary because the weather was too cold for Ms. [redacted] to be comfortable with having the work done. The doors were in proper condition upon installation. The doors were inspected and did not contain any holes that would need to be painted. We removed a black substance by using a towel and Windex, but this is the only issue with the doors that I recall. The doors themselves come pre-set in a door jam. The doors were pre-painted red. The door jam came with only a primes coat and is not complete without a top coat of paint. It is this part of the door that we said would need to be painted. We are not a painting company and do not offer this service.Nor'Easter Roofing has made several concessions in an effort to please Ms. [redacted]:She was given a free set of shutters $400 was taken off the price of the doors (instead of the $1100 originally quoted)We purchased products to be used in Ms. [redacted]'s home that were not fully covered by her depositWe held the products until spring without further payment, or additional fees for storageWe paid for an additional dumpster to be delivered to her home free of charge (a $700 value) because she filled the original dumpster to be used for the project with her personal items, without permissionNor'Easter Roofing believes it has gone above and beyond the expectations of a normal service when addressing the concerns of Ms. [redacted]. Consumer Response It is funny to me that the contractor is now stating that each project should be considered as separate projects when the entire time, he kept telling me it was better to do everything at once so it would be easier on his company. As for my schedule not allowing for the work to be completed on time, my schedule had nothing to do with it as I had the entire month of December & part of January off. As mentioned previously, every time we spoke when something was added, I confirmed with him that things would still be done on time. In fact, I sent a text on december 27 asking what the eta was on everything because it was supposed to take 2 weeks for the windows & then it was switched to 4 weeks for some reason & that brought us into January at which point Mr. [redacted] was on vacation for a week. As mentioned, when I asked about getting the work done, he told me how his guys had worked well into January in the past. It wasn't until after his vacation that the he let me know the windows were in & told me that he would not be able to do the job until Spring due to the weather not being a certain temperature. I was not told at any point that I needed to contact him to schedule anything after that, I waited until we had several days of weather at the temperature he specified to contact him & was told there was another job getting done that had signed a contract prior to me. Again, that had nothing to do with my schedule. I was never once offered any opportunity for the work to be done prior to that. As mentioned, there was a delay in the window order & then he went on vacation. There was no offer to do the work before it got too far into January. As for him checking suppliers, every time we spoke, he specifically told me that he gets all of his supplies from Harvey, sent me to a showroom all the way in Natick when I asked for pricing, even though they couldn't give it to me, then provided me with the name & telephone number of his rep at Harvey that was getting him the pricing. Every conversation we had, even when signing the contracts was how all of his supplies come from Harvey. I never once said anything about my boyfriend being a carpenter, especially since he isn't one. Again, as mentioned in all of the other responses, there is a front porch & a back deck. The only thing Mr. [redacted]'s partner spoke to me about was the front porch. This was after the work was being done & I was given two options, damage the siding or pay them additional money to put it back the right way. That should have been told to me upfront & a price included when we signed the contract since being a contractor, just looking at the job, would have let him know it would have needed to be done if that were the case. In fact, the 2x4 that he is talking about on the front porch & saying was removed was not. There are two of them, that are still there. As shown in the pictures. The other completely separate issue is the back deck. I was not told anything or asked anything about the back deck. The partner spoke to me about the front deck only & several days after the back was done. There is damage to the rail, there are nails that are exposed & at no point did anyone tell me they were doing that or throwing the 2x4 away or point out the damage due to them tearing the 2x4 off of the railing. I'm not sure how my insurance company was faxed anything, since Mr. [redacted] never got a fax number from me & was on vacation when I was talking to the insurance company. This was in January. Unless he is now an insurance agent, not sure how he can determine that my insurance shouldn't have been cancelled. It was in fact cancelled specifically due to delay in the work not being completed by that point. I did contact him in April, as he states but not based on my schedule. I had not heard from him at all. He knew ahead of time I had wanted the work done when the windows came in & he was the one that could not do it. I figured he would have contacted me as soon as it was possible to do the work. There were no conversations about my schedule until I reached out to him & he told me about his timeframe on the other job that supposedly singed a contract before me. Then I told him based on that, what would be ideal. The text messages provided show that I sent him a message because I hadn't heard from him. Not because he was waiting for me to get him my schedule. I never expressed any concern about the cold weather & having the doors & windows done. In fact, I specifically said that I would either make sure I wasn't home or I would just dress appropriately. He was the one who after his vacation said he couldn't do the work & we needed to wait until Spring. He never applied for the permit showing he never intended to do the work until Spring. And since permits don't expire, if he got one, it would still have been good if there were a delay. If I weren't expecting things done in January, I would have had no reason to check in on the ETA of the windows. As for the front door, I was not told upon ordering the door that I would need to have it painted after it being installed. As mentioned, I specified that I did not have time to paint the door & that was why I had the exterior painted & when I asked, was told the interior would be white, I stated that was what I wanted. I was not told about needing to have the interior painted until after it was installed & I asked about the two holes & the black marks. This was not an expense I had expected based on our conversations about price upon ordering the door when I specifically stated I did not have the time to paint a door & the reason I had it done the way I did. If I had chosen a color other than white for the exterior, would it still have been delivered with 2 holes & black marks on it? I would think the door could have been delivered without that happening, & if not, it should have been brought to my attention well before it being installed & me being charged for the door. He states that it was that part of the door he told me would need to be painted, that was not the case, it never came up until I saw the holes and marks on it. There were no free shutters. Through text messages & email, the cost of $650 was to include 3" casings on all windows which cost $60 each. I did not get those casing, instead shutters on only 10 of the windows. The shutters are less expensive than the casings, so not only did I pay for the shutters, I also paid extra for them & paid for casings on windows without them or shutters & also paid for an extra window. I don't see why a payment for storage would have been required since as mentioned, I was very adamant about the work being done prior to the middle of January. In fact, I was trying to see if he would allow the other contractor to buy all materials from him & do the job which would have saved me money on the whole project. Instead, he offered to meet the price of windows. I did not fill the original dumpster, it was brought to my attention that some wood had been thrown in the dumpster. I looked out my window & could see about 6-8 pieces of wood resting on top of the trash in the dumpster that was already more than 1/2 full without the wood. The items to be disposed of in the 2nd dumpster filled the 2nd dumpster more than 1/2 way & therefore would not have fit in the first dumpster anyhow.I'm really not sure how he went above & beyond expectations when as mentioned, it took weeks to get a price, there was a 2 week delay in the window delivery beyond the time I was told, there were issues with wrong items being delivered or items not being ordered at all, I was sold on doing the work through him for the windows based on him stating he would meet the price of another contractor & being able to get the work done prior to the start of January, neither of those things occurred. I was overcharged for the windows, even with the installation of the shutters, the back deck was damaged, the front door is going to cost me significantly more due to not being informed of the condition it would be delivered in which I relied on in making my decision to use him. Not only that, within only a couple months of the work being done, he has already had to send workers out to fix a piece of siding that was falling off & now is sending more workers out due to the siding on the back of the house bowing. Which when I was contemplating redoing my siding, one of the main issues was that the old siding was bowing which Mr. [redacted] himself told me was due to the previous contractor not doing the work properly. He did actually send people over to look at it today that told me the siding was bowing because it got wet after the siding came off & told me new plywood would be needed to fix it which shouldn't cost much & I was asked what I'd like to do. I texted Mr. [redacted] & although he wasn't here to know what the conversation was, told me that's not what I was told. He said it's my house that's bowing & it can't be fixed. Then later told me he'd send guys to fix it but it may cost me extra, I asked why it didn't start bowing until 2 months after the new siding was put up if it was my house, he refused to answer, then after many messages told me he didn't know, he didn't see it. I'm not sure if Mr. [redacted] is just lying about things or if he just does not remember things correctly as he likely deals with a number of customers & it would be easy enough to forget or confuse the issues. But regardless, being overcharged for items, finding out later about additional costs that should have been addressed initially, feeling intimidated upon making the final payment & then finding out my deck was damaged is not above & beyond expectations. Please see the attached showing the damage to the railing, the condition of the door, an email and texts showing the price of the windows and what was to be included, texts showing the delay in getting pricing and showing me asking for an ETA at the end of december after a 2 week delay in the windows as well as my text asking when things would get started in the spring. Texts showing it took about 7 days to get a price on doors, 9 days to get a price on windows, a contract was signed on the 29th and they were supposed to be in in 2 weeks and weren't until January as well as texts arguing with me that the bulge in the siding can't be fixed but then telling me it can be but refusing to answer my question about what he told me. Business Response Ms. [redacted]'s contract shows 16 windows and 9 shutters for a cost of $11,100.00. Ms. [redacted] signed and paid the amount on the contract.Outer window casings are not listed on the contract, she was not charged for them.There are 2 1/2" casings listed on the contract which she did receive, these casings are located on the inside of the window.Ms. [redacted] received all products and services listed on the contract.She also received products and services that are beyond the scope of what the contract covers.Ms. [redacted] actually received 17 windows and 10 shuttersNor'Easter purchased products to be used in Ms. [redacted]'s home that were not fully covered by her deposit. Nor'Easter used business funds to offset the amount needed to purchase products needed to complete the project.Nor'Easter held the products until spring without further payment, or additional fees for storage.Nor'Easter charged $400 less than the verbal quote of $1100. The verbal quote was given for the labor associated with removing the existing 2 doors (main entry and side doors), the installation of new doors, insulating and trimming the interior casings with new trim and disposing of the old doors (painting the doors was not part of the quote, Nor'easter Roofing does not offer services for painting).Nor'Easter paid for an additional dumpster to be delivered to her home free of charge (a $700 value) because the original dumpster placed for our project was filled with debris that Nor'Easter did not place in the dumpster. The debris was not from the projects the business was contracted to handle.Nor'Easter sent three workers to Ms. [redacted]'s address to fix an issue with her siding. Nor'Easter sent the men with no additional cost to her. The business was unable to schedule the three men to work at another location because they were sent to Ms. [redacted]'s home. The issue with her siding was caused by the structure of her house and not due to Nor'Easter's workmanship. Nor'easter Roofing not only fixed her siding free of charge, but lost wages for 3 men that could have been working elsewhere. Nor'Easter Roofing was not responsible for fixing the issue without pay. Nor'Easter fixed the issue without pay, to ensure customer satisfaction. Nor'Easter has exhausted all means possible to meet the needs of Ms. [redacted].