Panda Properties

Review: Panda was hired because of its rating on [redacted] and upon meeting with the principals:

Contract One (1) Cost $80,436.84 Contract Signed 7-27-10

Contract One adjustment to $79,630.42 Paid $78,630.84

Wording from signed contract: “The work to be performed under this Contract shall start on or before 10-11-2010”

“Substantial completion of work shall take approximately 5 Weeks”

The following constitutes substantial commencement of work pursuant to this contract:

Proposal Description Categories:

Roofing; Siding; Windows; Doors; Deck and Bedroom. The Siding was subsequently removed from this contract and was to be broken into separate contracts; one to replace the exterior stucco with stone veneer and one to replace the exterior wood siding with aluminum siding.

Result: Incomplete work in all respects as of 9-3-2012

Hasn’t been on job site since Fall 2011

Contract Two (2) Cost $9,230.00 Contract Signed 12-30-10

Down payment $1,000

Wording from signed contract: “The work to be performed under this Contract shall start on or before 3-28-2011”

“Substantial completion of work shall take approximately 2 Weeks”

“The following constitutes substantial commencement of work pursuant to this contract:

Stucco replacement with stone veneer siding”

Contractor never started this contract

Contractor left the outside of house in untenable disrepair indicating that this was only temporary and that the subsequent contracts for stucco and siding would correct these problems.

Contractor was advised of our intent to refinance the home upon completion of his work. We have been unable to refinance our home as a result of the Contractor’s failure to complete the work.

Time lines and job site work dates were not met. Agreed-to work schedules were more often than not broken; generally at the last minute, or just plain “no shows”. When on site there were numerous times when the contractor would leave early or his crew would show up and the contractor would show up later, or on occasion, not at all.

During the pendency of the initial contract the Contractor advised us of a reoccurring health and insurance issues. We indicated sincere sympathy of his circumstances. He assured us that the work would continue.

In late summer of 2011 the contractor notified us that his health had improved. In late Nov of 2011 the contractor was sent a punch list, some seven (7) pages in length. There was some communication but little was accomplished after that.

May of 2012 a schedule to commence work for June 2012 was arranged, only for the cycle to begin a new. The contractor did not show up.

Early July 2012 we sent the contractor a certified letter noting the unfinished work and requesting a face-to-face meeting to discuss how to move forward.

Late Aug 2012 we received an email indicating that we should call him. Instead an email was sent. It indicated, “We've been at this, what, two and a half years? I've been willing to be rescheduled, ignored, placed last in line. There are numerous missed dead lines and promises unfilled. I've been willing to work with you through your health issues, paid all but the last $1,000 on the original contract when I knew that much work remained and that I probably shouldn't have made that payment, and even offered up my physical help on Sundays to get this job done. There is still much work to be done. There's a second contract we signed and I've made a down payment which was to be started long ago and hasn't. I don't remember complaining about any of this. I prayed over all these things and your health. I believe that extending friendship and understanding better represents my values and hope it provides a positive working relationship and maybe more. I've also learned that there are occasions were no amount of friendship or understanding leads to resolution only to the status quo or worse. We seem to be there. What is it you wish for me to know?”

Contractor timely responded; “I appreciate your understanding and prayers and apologize for the neglect that has been shown towards you. A lot has happened with myself and Panda that I am not at liberty to share due to my attorney’s recommendation. I would like to come out and take a walk through to get on the same page as to the work that needs to be completed and then complete that in a timely manner. This weekend is my daughters wedding and then I will make time to fit your schedule. I would like to come on a Friday Sat or Sun. Let me know what works for you.”

We wanted the Contractor to show some good faith effort so we responded by asking him to have the dumpster removed that had been sitting in our driveway, preventing other contractor work from being accomplished, for almost two years. There was no response to that request. Finally we worked directly with the dumpster/waste management owners to have it removed.

Contractor has not demonstrated to us an ability to complete a contract, has erratic communication, is not reliable, and there is no trust whatsoever remaining. We are patently dissatisfied, would like a refund of the down-payment on contract number two, and money returned so that faulty original construction and the punch list items on contract number one can be completed by a reliable, trustworthy contractor.

As noted above, the Proposal Description Categories were Roofing, Siding, Windows, Doors, Deck and Bedroom. The following will be a description of the major deficiencies in each of the categories.

Roofing

The gutters are hung at steep angles or in wide V’s, leak and at least one done spout is not connected to drain tile. All of the other gutters in the neighborhood have gentle slopes -- these are obviously out of place. Additional vent openings were never cut into the soffits to aide in attic air circulation nor new vent plates inserted into all vent openings.

Siding

Was broken into separate contracts as noted above.

Windows

Replacement Anderson casement windows were installed. There are three windows that open and close easily and all the way. The remaining twelve windows have varying degrees of problems. From opening one half to two thirds of the way and either difficult to open or nearly impossible to open the remaining distance and either difficult to close, vibrating during closing or needing assistance from the outside to help it close to lacking any hardware to either open or close the window. A big (4 pane) window in the front room is separating from the frame such that you can plainly see the bare wood below. Two of the bay window panes open and close easily. All of the windows need to be painted a finish coat. After the window installation the majority of the molding around the windows had to be resized leaving little standardization. That is, the original molding was cut down (thinner) so that the original molding could be used on the larger window. In some cases new window molding had to be acquired and coated. In most of the rooms the area around the thinner molding is a different color than the rest of the room and needs to be blended into the room color or the room completely repainted. There was no mention of this during the estimating process. A number of the window treatments have not been re-hung or hang incorrectly.

Doors

The front screen door has a gap between the door and the doorframe such that snow blows in during the winter and interior door cannot be left open to promote fresh air circulation the rest of the year. The large garage double steel doors and frame were to be replaced. We were told that they were ordered last year. They never came. The installation of the two single garage doors is incomplete. The exterior molding needs to be painted and caulked, the interior molding needs to be installed, painted and caulked, and dead bolts and door bell needs to be installed. The west door also needs the doorbell to be reattached to the molding. The bottom plate of both new single doors in the garage is bowing upward. You can feel a “bounce” in it when you walk on it and snow blows in during snowstorms. Both patio doors work well but need to have finished coats applied, and are missing interior hardware.

Deck

To give perspective to the characteristics of the decks the following explanation is provided: Prior to the contractor beginning the renovation we had a 30 ft by 40 ft ground level deck jetting out from the north side of our home. The floor of the deck had thin gaps between the wooden planks to expedite drainage. The contractor was to build an upper deck, which was to in part cover the ground level deck. The upper deck was to jet out from the house approximate 10 ft and from the west corner of the lower deck 30 ft to the east. The upper deck was also to have gaps between the planks for the same reason. The railing on the north side of the upper deck is approx. 30 ft long. There are five 4X4 posts that form the support for the fencing boards that prevent people or stuff from going off the upper deck. I have mentioned to the contractor a number of times that the fencing is not secure enough to stop someone from breaking the fencing and falling off the upper deck. There needs to be additional support added to the 4x4 posts. The upper deck jets out from the house approximate 10 ft. (measured it) We asked for the area under the upper deck to be rain proofed so that we could entertain or just sit on the lower deck in wet weather. The contractor attached thin plastic sheets to the under side of the upper deck. The plastic extends to approximately 8 ft from the house at a slight angle down from the house to the northern edge of the upper deck. The plastic spans the width of the under side of the upper deck. I mentioned to the contractor at the time of installation that I thought that the plastic was too thin and that it would bow during snowstorms and heavy rains. Having gone through a winter and spring with said plastic here is what has happened: At the end of the northern edge of the plastic during any rain and to a greater extent during heavy storms water either drips off or pours off the edge of the plastic and splashes on the deck below back to within 5 ft of exterior house wall. It also leaks onto the deck below in various places closer to the house, both of which make it impossible to entertain or sit on the lower deck during wet weather. In addition the plastic bows downward during heavy rainstorms. This plastic sheeting retains pools of water in the bows and drips back onto deck after the rain ends both at the northern end of the plastic and also where it leaks during the rain. In cold weather the snow comes through the gaps in the upper decks planks and accumulates on the plastic causing it to bow. As the snow melts and freezes and more snow accumulates the bulging enlarges. As the snow melts the water either drips off or pours off the edge of the plastic and splashes on the deck below back to within 5 ft of exterior house wall. It also leaks on to the deck below in various places closer to the house. As leaves filter through the gaps between the planks in the under deck they accumulate on the plastic and make all of the above worse. Now that we have stagnant water mixed with rotting leaves you can see green mildew growing on top of the plastic. Since we don’t have access to the top- side of the plastic there is no way to clean it, absent taking it all down. The under side of the upper deck and top of the plastic is a magnet for the local wasp/bee population and again since there is no way to get at the nests to remove them. I have asked my wife not to go into the backyard until we resolve that issue. As to all the water falling on to the lower deck, (either over the edge or leaking in various places), the upper deck now blots out the sun and the lower deck doesn’t dry out and consequentially green mildew is growing on the wood of the lower deck during most of the year. Additionally, during the cold weather ice forms on the lower deck. In either case the deck becomes slippery and is dangerous to walk on.

Bedroom

This project was essentially the combining of two adjacent bedrooms into one office. The only two parts of this contract we are reasonably satisfied with are the re-roofing and the bedroom/now office. Since we have lost all faith in the contractor we will have the roof inspected to make sure that there are not any serious defects. Besides the window and door issues noted above, the other issue in the bedroom/office that could become major is that the sealant on the section of newly installed hardwood flooring is beginning to peal off.

Dumpster

It has been sitting in our yard for approximately two years. It is located directly in front of the back-attached garage and just south of the part of our yard that is a drainage problem all of which is located in our driveway. It has prevented another contractor from finishing his work on the drainage field, the retaining wall and replacing the driveway.

In our experience contractors are notorious for lacking administrative detail. However, inconsideration of Panda’s A+ ratings over the largest number of completed jobs on Angie’s List, coupled with our meeting of [redacted] and [redacted] the Principals mentioned above; we were so impressed with her energy, practical approach and follow up) we were sold. For the next couple of months things went well. We were in contact with [redacted] and although there were some canceled appointments by [redacted] at least we were told beforehand. The cancelations became more numerous with and without notifications. There were some make up appointments, but we were notified, albeit with little time to prepare. We made mention to [redacted] of concerns about the workmanship. About a year ago we stopped hearing from [redacted]. Things went down hill from there and we have since learned that [redacted] is no longer with Panda Properties. [redacted] told me “finished is finished, I won’t have to do anything”. Here we are -- from the financial loss of the original contracts, constant mental strain, the additional costs to fix all of the problems left behind when [redacted] abandoned this project, the unsightliness to our neighbors and the further loss to us by not being able to refinance in to a lower interest rate. We went from high expectations, to wondering why are we being treated like this, to how could someone abandon a project, and just walk away?Desired Settlement: Refund of $25,000 for Contract 1 and Refund of $1,000 for Contract 2.

Review: At first we were pretty pleased with the work done given the context that I am not a person that has completed any home repairs, outside of installing a wood floor, or has any construction experience. It was clear at the time of completion that there were things that were not completed to our standards (gaps in caulk/grout etc.) but given the cost of the project we were happy with the work done. [redacted] and his crew were friendly with my family and generally responsive to issues that came up during the project. There were some breaks in communication but for the most part responsive and completed work timely. At the time of deconstruction [redacted] identified mold from a previous repair (not Panda) and removed drywall and framing to rid the area of mold. [redacted] also indicated that there looked to be issues with the drain. My understanding was that those issues were resolved during reconstruction. Fast forward to March of 2013 (just over 1 year later) and we noticed water forming on the carpet outside of the newly remodeled bathroom. We called [redacted] and he came to our house to look at the issue. Over a period of three weeks [redacted] was in communication with my wife and reached a point where they had to remove a portion of our shower to fix the "failing drain". While we assumed that he took measures to fix the drain originally we were happy that he came out to make it right. During the process of identifying where the leak was coming from, the carpet outside of the bathroom hallway was continually damp/wet and we made the decision to replace the carpeting with tile (a mistake in hindsight because it only masked the still leaking shower). After [redacted] removed and replaced our shower floor “fixing” the leak we noticed that grout around the shower was

becoming gum-like. We attempted to contact [redacted] again to let him know that the shower was still leaking and that grout was beginning to fail as a result. At this point [redacted], and Panda, cut off all communication. Till this day we have not heard back from [redacted] or Panda. After discussing the matter with other contractors we are not surprised, nearly the entire project was completed with poor craftsmanship. We are now exploring outside help to resolve the water leak. We have brought in several contractors to look/bid on the work and we were shocked to hear their opinion. While we knew that there were issues with the work done, the things they have pointed out (improperly pitched shower floors that has led to watering pooling on shower floor, improperly

grouted/caulked tiles, improperly installed wall tiles etc) have lead us to believe that Panda was not equipped to complete the project appropriately. Our only option is to remodel the entire shower (contractors are so afraid of the quality they see on the tile work they cannot guarantee what it looks like behind the tile) and pay twice the amount of what the original project cost.Desired Settlement: Due to the fact that we need to completely redo the work that Panda performed on our bathroom due to water leaking from the repaired bathroom we wish to be compensated for the cost of the project.

Review: We hired Panda Properties in the summer of 2013. We were told that our job would take approximately 2-3 weeks. We had several issues from the start. The products we agreed upon were not used. Although, we were not 100% happy that the wrong tile was used in our kitchen we did not make them take it down. Our estimate on the time frame continue to grow by the day and seldom did they work a full day to make up for the time frame. When installing our cabinets they scratched our wood floor in the kitchen and removed paint from the wall. We were told that they would fix that and never did. They never finished edging off our tile work. They hooked up a dishwasher and several times we stated our concern with the way it was being installed. My husband informed the owner several times that odor from the sewer was going to come up. Sure enough it does and now we are stuck with a terrible odor coming into our kitchen. We also had two bathrooms done and they do not look very professional. Many things were forgotten or simply not done. The tile in the floor does not line up and to correct this a very think line of chaulk was added. When we voiced our complaint, nothing was done. To my mistake I paid in full and was told that they would return to fix the dishwasher and finish the tile. I received the run around for several months. Two appointments were made and he never returned. I received a text message as I informed the owner I was going to file a complaint with the Revdex.com. He then responded stating he would like to resolve the issue. I agreed as my sole purpose was not to hurt or bad mouth this company. Again, he never followed up with this. We were willing to let most of our issues go with the exception of the sewer odor coming into our kitchen. Overall we felt that he was very kind and this was not the route we wanted to go. Although we were not happy with the work in the long run both the owner and his stepson were very friendly when they were here. We wish they would have fixed the issues so we would not have had to file this complaint.Desired Settlement: At this point we are not confident that the dishwasher would be fixed correctly. We have given them 6 months to come back and fix this problem. I've left several voicemail messages and sent several emails with no response. We are going to need to have the work in the kitchen fixed and I don't feel that we should be responsible for hiring someone else to come in and fix what they promised to do. At first we were hoping that Panda Properties would come back to take care of this but clearly that is not happening.