Orion Construction Group

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

I have talked to *** I will be addressing his concerns starting tomorrow morning I ansticipate all issuees will be resolved by the end of the week

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: I was contacted by [redacted] of Orion Builds to place rebar and pour several cell phone tower foundations. I was told we would be able to set the 300 pound anchor bolt assembly on a cinder block and that after we poured the 18" thick slab we could set the pier forms (2 separate halves that bolt together, weighing about 125 pounds per half), on the concrete slab, bolt them together and pour the 3 piers. Upon starting the job I found the hole was dug to tight and we had to spend 5 man hours with shovels digging away the edges to get our 3" of concrete cover for the rebar. Fortunately I brought 5 guys and we were still able to complete our upper and lower rebar mats in the first 6 hours even with 2 guys digging for several hours. Then they did not have the excavator dig a ramp so we had to climb in and out of the hole on 4' banks. I was told this ramp would be dug for us. It was not. This was brought up to [redacted], who is [redacted] on site foreman. [redacted] never bothered to address it. It is a MAJOR safety concern. Our guys are trying to walk on rebar mats 16" off the ground and load 125 pound forms and anchor bolts. You do not want to go down a 4' embankment and land on a piece of rebar. Furthermore, every time we get in an out of the hole dirt fills the edges of the hole and covers the bottom rebar mat because we have to slide down the bank and crawl up it. Then the customer shows up and complains about the dirt in the hole and we end up scooping out dirt with cups every few hours to keep the customer happy with the sub par excavation job that [redacted] and [redacted] had done. Next we are informed that we will not be allowed to put the 300 pound anchor bolt assembly on a cinder block because they did not want any cinder blocks in the pier columns. Then the first of two major change orders came. First, we were told we will not be allowed to set the 250 pound pier forms on the 18" concrete slab, but rather that we have to put the 250 pound forms on cinder blocks that sit on dirt and get them level. So we had to untie our upper and lower mats and put cinder blocks down. We were told we could not have rebar touching the blocks or going through them but we could bend it around them. So we did. On day three (this should have been done in one day), when we were finishing up we were told we had to take the 250 pound forms down and the 300 pound anchor bolt assemblies that sat on those forms. We had to turn the cinder blocks, and we had to untie the mats, and run the rebar through the cinder blocks not around them! This was madness and was not called for in the plans. This would have taken a full day since the second major change was that we were never provided with a proper anchor bolt template by Orion or Nemont. Anchor bolts that have a 1/8" tolerance should be set with a template and that is why the tower manufacturer sells one. We set them without one and got it down to the 1/8" tolerance. It took 6 hours. Only the 3rd day of a 1 day job [redacted] had his foreman [redacted] show up and tell me he was going to make a template out of wood off of my work! I refused until I got paid. It was clear we were being used to solve all the problems. I was then told that all of our work was wrong. However, nobody besides me and my guys bothered to measure and see if it was wrong. I double measured everything and took over 150 pictures before I left as proof that my numbers were on. Furthermore, [redacted] had pier forms made up. These were hexagon forms and had 2 sides. They were numbered in sets. When we set them up they had different inside diameters on the halves with the same numbers! One half was 36" and the other half was 37". After 2 hours trying to bolt it together we tried putting two 10,000 pound ratchet strap on the 37" form and sucking it down to 36". When one of the ratchet straps broke I told my guys to stop because it was unsafe. That was at the end of the second day. When I told [redacted] this that evening he proceeded to tell me that we can lay the half form on it's side and press it down by hand to make it smaller. He told me this after I told him we broke a ratchet strap on it! He told me to bring 20 bricks to set the bottom mat on, at my expense. We spent time breaking them in half and then finding rocks because we were in a very secluded area and the nearest place to get bricks was almost 2.5 hours away. When the customer complained [redacted] called me and said I didn't know what I was doing because we should have put more bricks down, this was after he told me it only needed 20. After we spent 2.5 days with improper materials, forms, and terrible planning by the contractor and owner we were told we did not know what we were doing. We were told that "we can see from the bank your measurements are off." In my 15 years of construction I have never eye balled from a bank a measurement within an 1/8". But these guys do it all the time I guess. When my guys were loading our tools he overheard [redacted] on the phone trying to find a welder to fix their forms and they were preparing to build a template. They all told us the day before they were going to be sure to dig the holes wide enough from now on and with a ramp. To top it off, I spent almost 2 hours calling and locating a place to get bricks. We went from using 20 bricks per site to 100. I solved every issue they had and then they tried saying that my guys were not working. My guys busted their butts on that job and so did I. This is totally dishonest. Furthermore, Nemont has ran off several concrete contractors. [redacted] who was the inspector for MUTI (the General Contractor), or for Nemont (the owner), told me the have gone through 5 concrete foundation contractors to date. Furthermore, he told me he knew there was a template that the tower manufacturer made! When I got back to reality I was speaking to my concrete supplier in Williston and he said he knew of two other concrete contractors that had problems with Nemont and MUTI and this hole crew. This was handled totally unprofessional and when I called for inspection the refused and instead kicked us off site without every checking my measurements. The state inspector was never given the chance to inspect our work. My guys worked such long day that we elected to sleep in the vehicle so we could get up and get the job done sooner. [redacted] who has never left Wisconsin to come here actually tried to say that every time someone came on site we were sitting in the vehicle not working. Every guy who has ever worked for me will gladly vouch for the fact that I never let my guys stand, yet alone sit around. [redacted] went as far as to say that a suburban is "not the right vehicle for the job." He said I couldn't fit a generator and concrete vibrator in it. So I took pictures of the tools on site. Totally unprofessional. I should have asked for subcontractor references to verify the integrity of this business. After the fact I looked up their company and saw they recently had a liquidation auction. It would appear that Orion and [redacted] are hurting for cash and along with selling of assets think it is ok to not pay subcontractors for work performed.Desired Settlement: Payment in full. Below is their invoice with all change orders. This is just for the labor hours. I provide housing for my guys and pay them $20 to $30 an hour. The cost of doing business is expensive in this area. I can't work for free and design a tower foundation installation system and not even get paid for the man hours.

- install all bottom rebar mat

- install all top rebar mat

- install all vertical cages around anchor bolts

- install anchor bolts inside vertical cages

- insure anchor bolt placement in the correct direction and height out of the top of the pier (8”)

- install pier forms on cinder blocks and bricks as per change order

- set anchor bolts within 1/8” tolerance (no proper template provided)

- tape all exposed threads with electrical tape

* All work done to engineer specifications provided

* The price does not include material

* Does not include permits, fees, or drawings

* Includes all per diem and housing

Contract price per completed foundation

= $6,000

Change Orders at $100 per man hour:

Dig out sides of hole by hand x 10 hours

= $1,000

No access ramp dug resulting in 4 extra hours of work getting materials in and out of the hole and 4 additional hours of cleaning dirt by hand with a cup from around edges of rebar mat. (this was due to improper excavation)

= $800

Set forms on blocks and bricks instead of setting on concrete as contracted 8 extra man hours

= $800

Set Anchor bolts without being able to put on a cinder block as originally specifi[redacted] and setting anchor bolts without the proper template took an additional 12 man hours

= $1200

Untying upper and lower mat to move rebar around cinder blocks after form setting procedure was changed was an additional 4 man hours.

= $400

Additional housing and per diem, 1 day job took 2.5 days with change orders. 2.5 days of food, lodging, and gas. This was not included in original bid and was a result of the change orders and owners refusal to provide a proper anchor bolt template.

= $350

As per [redacted] we went with 20 bricks to set the lower rebar mat on. This was grossly insufficient and there was additional labor breaking bricks in half, finding rocks of sufficient size to prop mat up and calling for almost 2 hours to locate bricks in a remote area of Montana. This was 4 additional man hours.

= $400

Pier form halves built to different dimensions. Two men Spent 3 hours trying to get them to close as one side was 36” and the other side was 37”. Broke a ratchet strap trying to correct forms. Stop due to safety concerns. We were told by [redacted] that we could put it on its side and push it down by hand. We were told this after breaking a 10,000 pound ratchet strap trying to suck the form to the proper dimensions. 6 additional man hours.

= $600

Total Due = $11,550