Parkcrest Masonry Ltd

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted].
In regards to the response from [redacted] of [redacted], the timeline and explanation of work done as well as what was agreed upon is entirely false.  The recent bill submitted by [redacted] did not and still does not have any description or breakdown of time / work done.  The majority of the time which I was being billed for, which is also false, was already paid for in the last agreement which [redacted] typed up, quoted a price, obtained my signature and a check.  This was the way [redacted] and I did business from the start, this is the only way I would do business so the claim that they did this work, mostly when I wasn't there, for I am on the fire department, which consists of two 24 hour shifts a week, and I agreed that they could just keep track of hours and bill me in the end is completely false, I would not agree to that.I met [redacted] and [redacted] through my Uncle who they are also hired out by.  I went over the job, obtained a quote, signed it, gave it back to [redacted] with a deposit check.  My Uncle, upon telling [redacted] of me, stated I had several properties I was working on and that they could potentially acquire more work with me.  [redacted] told me several times they have specialty crews the can do all aspects of carpentry, from start to finish.  [redacted] began work soon after agreeing and signing the work agreement.  I was at the house a few days while they were there working, working myself and meeting other trades professionals and going over their portion of the job.  [redacted]'s crew completed the job rebuilding the three decks, as we had originally agreed upon.  The original agreement was to rebuild the three decks, the second deck was to be enclosed so new windows were to be supplied and installed, flooring to be supplied and installed in the enclosed porch area and blue board and plaster.  Upon beginning the job, the structural framing members for construction of the new decks were delivered.  The claim the deck work was originally to only consist of repairs, when on the first day the three posts that would entirely support the decks were delivered, prove [redacted] claim that the scope of work so drastically changed.  The only change to the decks was per recommendation of [redacted], the owner of [redacted], to replace the frame of the deck on the first floor, for it was the only one we had not agreed should be changed but it his opinion, after looking at it more, he felt it should.  I did not question [redacted] one bit and went with his advice to replace this deck entirely.  We agreed upon a price, a new contract was written and signed, a check was given to [redacted] and the work was completed.  The replacement of the deck was to include rebuilding the deck entirely, including the decking, which I ended up supplying the decking and the screws but was assured by [redacted] this would be reimbursed to me or covered with future work.  Also in the processing of doing the deck work, a table of my tenant was smashed, which she was home when it happened and went outside and was apologized to by one of the carpenters and assured it would be replaced.  The table was not replaced for several months after when my tenant informed me she reminded the carpenters several times they still had not replaced her table and they never did, so at that point I replaced it myself.  The deck work entirely went as agreed, the work was done to my satisfaction and in a timely manner.  The changes that were made, were as mentioned recommended by [redacted], and agreed by myself.  All of the work we agreed upon to this point was done and was promptly paid for by myself.As previously mentioned, while [redacted] was there working there, I had become friendly with them and they were well in tune with the additional work that needed to be done in the second floor renovation I was doing.  [redacted] was already contracted and paid to complete the porch area, consisting of plastering and flooring.  Since I was satisfied with the work they had done outside, I spoke with [redacted] about them doing the additional work on the interior, including demolition, removing floors, framing walls, installing a new support wall, and other misc tasks.  [redacted] assured me they have excellent finish carpenters, which interior work is their specialty and they would be the ones to complete the work.  So [redacted] and I again agreed upon a price, signed a contract and the funds were paid when requested.  [redacted] per the original contract was to supply and install the flooring for the porch area, which with the renovation became part of the kitchen area.  I had already paid them for this portion of the job.  I wanted the flooring to match through the porch area into the kitchen, I told [redacted] I had a hardwood flooring company I typically used and he assured me his guys could do the job.  We agreed that for the 100 square foot area [redacted] was to supply and install the flooring, budgeting the flooring at $4/ square foot, instead I would buy all of the flooring for both areas and in return they would install it all.  Again the flooring for the porch area was in the original contract, upon starting the job [redacted] brought to me a bag of flooring samples to choose from which they would supply and install.  The flooring they were to install was an area of 100 square feet, budgeting $4 a square foot makes that a $400 segment of the job.  They in return installed 250 square feet of flooring, which I would have paid $300 to have this job completed but agreed to this with [redacted].   The contract was now to complete the kitchen area entirely.  I hired [redacted]s plaster guy to complete the additional plaster work for he was already there to plaster the section contracted to [redacted].  I separately agreed on a price with him, signed a contract and paid him upon completion.  The only remaining work was to install cabinets, 5 interior doors and trim around the doors only for the original trim remained through the rest of the house.  This was work I was going to complete myself or use a carpenter I used last year on the same apartment which I did the almost exact renovation and actually used to show [redacted] just what I was doing.  The carpenter charged me for 4 days of labor for himself alone, total of $1000.  The first three days of the crew working they worked only on the hardwood floor.  As mentioned this was agreed covered by them per the original contract.  The first day they worked on the floor they asked me to go by the nails they would need which cost $85.  Upon completing the floor the carpenters there, assisted me in taking the cabinets and doors up to the second floor.  This took the four of us approximately 1 hour.  Now all that was left to do was install cabinets, interior doors and trim.   The crew that was there to do this work, were referred to by [redacted] as “specializing in interior finish” and assured me this is what they do every day.  The first day they worked on the cabinets, they came without the needed tools or screws to complete the job.  I went out and bought them clamps, glue, screws and drill bits.  I spent 6 hours of my day that day explaining to them how to install the cabinets, for the way they planned to install would have resulted in the upper cabinets not aligning.  I am not a professional carpenter but I have installed several kitchen cabinet sets and immediately in being with this crew, knew that this was not their specialty.  I worked close with them that day, assuring myself the job was being completed right, and in a way teaching them the way I knew to install cabinets.  I went over the layout multiple times, laid the cabinets out were they were to be installed and left an illustration for the carpenters to follow.   The other work, consisting of installing doors and some trim work seemed to move along as expected and was completed within a few days.  I was not there for most of the time this work was completed.  I did direct the crew to another house around 2:30 in the afternoon which they worked there until approximately 5, installing one door. [redacted] claimed on his bill, the crew was working 10 hour days and listed the days out.  The crew typically got there at 8 am or soon after, left by 5:00 each day and one day a week left closer to 3:00 claiming they had a meeting.  This was the hours all the workers form [redacted] carried.  They took a lunch every day for one hour which they would take a break, in my yard, have their lunch and rest.  I was happy to see them do this but never imagined I was being billed for it.  In all reality the crew worked 8 hour days and one 6-7 hour day.  [redacted] told me of their drive time and how they all had to meet in the morning, I have never heard of a contractor charging a customer for drive time.  The last segment of this work was to be billed on an hourly figure because that is what it was supposed to consist of, just a few hours over the time they had allotted over what I had already paid for.  All of the work was meticulously gone over by [redacted], drafted up in a contract and signed by me before any of the work would begin; suddenly he claims we made a verbal agreement which turned out to be an increase in what they had billed me by almost 30% of the entire job.  I did have more work going on and I did mention a renovation at my mother’s house which I told [redacted] they could submit a quote for and also had another large project which I ended up not doing and instead selling the house which [redacted] told me himself they planned on doing and were extremely upset they spent the time to quote the job and not in the end do it.  I told them with their quote I had determined it was not in my best interest to have the work done and instead sell the house as is, [redacted] seemed clearly not happy with this.  After giving them another chance at work with my mother’s house, they seemed to not have the knowledge or ability to perform this job, for it was a lot more work than they were currently doing for me.  This all went on while they were at the house in Danvers, working on the demo.  So as [redacted] claimed, I did meet him at my mother’s house, but I did not give the job to him, the work was already completed and he did ask me about them doing the siding, so we met there to discuss that and also the issues I had in Danvers and this bill he had generated, claiming I owed him.  I told [redacted] within a week, which was as soon as I noticed the mistake they had made with installing the cabinets.  I was extremely upset with myself for allowing them to do the work when they initially gave me so much doubt in their ability.  All along [redacted] assured me this is what they specialize in and if he in any way gave me any doubt I would have contacted one of the many other contractors I work with.  I told [redacted] I was not happy with the work, the difficulty with both the language barrier and the knowledge of this scope of work I had with his crew.  I reminded him that his bill reflected mostly time that was already payed for in the installation of the floor and the rest of the labor was extremely delayed due to the crews inability to perform the job.  [redacted] told me multiple times the crew should not have installed the cabinets, that is not something they typically do.  I was not hurting for help, I gave them the job because I believed his original statement that this crew specialized in finish work and they would do a comparable job to what I experienced with the porch work.  This was not the case at all though.  I can’t express how disappointed I was after seeing the mistake they had made, missing a filler strip which set a cabinet 3” too close to the wall not allowing the dishwasher to open, requiring the cabinets be almost entirely removed, a longer piece of granite, tile work to be redone and the filler strip that was intended to be used which was cut and used as a shim, be replaced.  I went over the importance of that filler strip multiple times, I left detailed illustrations showing exactly where the filler strip went and when I told [redacted] of the mistake, his only response was I shouldn’t have hired them to install the cabinets yet still thought I should pay them.  The work I had this crew perform outside the work that was contracted was a maximum of 3 days work for three guys for it was only four days work for one guy just a year prior.  Part of this work was covered by the last contract agreement as well, covering additional work in kitchen and bathroom.  I expected a day or so in addition and more importantly I expected it done right.  Any other segment of this project which resulted in a cost of $1000 or more [redacted] typed an agreement for and we both signed.  Yet now he claims this $7350 upcharge was a verbal agreement.  As stated this bill should only be for installation of kitchen cabinets, 5 interior doors and trim, and approximately 120 linear feet of misc window and baseboard trim.  What I was owed:  upon adding 1st floor deck to be entirely rebuilt, I opted to use PVC instead of the pressure treated [redacted] wrote up in his contract, I also supplied matching screws, so I was owed difference for the pressure treated wood and screws to be used here, I was owed for supplying them all nails to install flooring, cabinets, etc, for they always supplied their own nails and when the “finish” crew started they came ill prepared each day.  The owed me for replacing my tenants glass table which they broke and they also entirely destroyed a small brick wall I had while unloaded demo debris form second floor.  After realizing what they had done with the cabinets and also ruined a fridge panel by putting screws in it, resulting in me just painting it, I was extremely disappointed and expressed this to them.  [redacted] just kept repeating this work is not typical for them and not offering me any remedy.  We went back and forth on this for a while and I tried to make the cabinets/dishwasher work as is.  I wasted weeks with the in between stuff before I finally just rectified myself.  I was not planning on paying them for a job which was not done correctly and I most certainly wasn’t expecting to be billed 5 times what I should’ve been billed, which was based upon time, when most of their time was spent learning how to do the job.  I figured it was a learning experience, harvested no bad feelings towards them and figured I would just absorb the cost incurred to me and they most certainly wouldn’t expect to be paid for the job they did incorrectly.  [redacted] had an attorney call me, threatening me with a lien against my property, I explained the entire story to her and she stated this was a satisfaction issue that should be resolved between [redacted] and myself.  Then after I explained to [redacted] the costs to me and what I felt like I was owed it was then he proceeded to file a lien against my house.  [redacted] came to my primary residence one day to collect a check, he said to my uncle that I have a very expensive house and he seemed to begin counting my money.  [redacted] was extremely disappointed and almost acted as if I owed him something for quoting the house I ended up selling and was also upset I went with a different contractor to do the addition at my mothers house.  Perhaps this bill was retaliation for this, perhaps it was to cover himself from any funds I claimed he owed me for the job they had done incorrectly.  My objective was to rent my property and move on, I did not plan to pursue this company in any way for the repairs I incurred but I most certainly did not expect a bill for it.  Even if the work was done right I would not agree with the bill in any regards, the hours are incorrect, the ability of the crew to perform the work was extremely unsatisfactory and the fact they thought it was ok to attempt to put a lien against a customer who was so unhappy is extremely bad business.  I pay all my bills on time or early.  I paid [redacted] every penny we agreed upon and requested everything be documented prior to work starting.  Completing this small amount of work on an hourly basis was spoken of for it was to be a very small portion of work, not an increase but almost 30%.  I want to rectify this and put it behind me, but I can’t express my disappointment it has even gotten to this point.  I asked [redacted] multiple times for a detailed bill reflecting everything I stated above and he has failed to supply this.  It seems as if he is just ignoring what I have said and seeking these funds in retaliation.  
Regards,
[redacted]

[redacted] hired us to remodel three floor porches thanks to a recommendation from his uncle, a contractor who knows our expertize doing all exterior improvements. We signed a contract on 7/14/16 (attached) and we completed the job on time and quality. Although when according to the contract we just...

were going to do porch repairs and improvements, we completed an overall rebuilding of the three porches including structure, he paid more for the additional job but certainly was less than what he should have paid for an overall replacement of the three-floor porch. [redacted] was very happy with the job in course that he asked us to do interior work too in the second floor. We made floor replacement in kitchen (including floor level corrections), floor removing in bathroom, removing walls and building another ones, etc. completing the job on 08/17/16; we agreed on a final payment for these additional job being effective on 9/9/16 (see copy of check attached). We restarted working under hourly work basis on 9/6/16 on a word agreement between [redacted] and the owner of our company to send workers to do whatever [redacted] should want them to do. We sent three carpenters, one of them in charge that got all the instructions that [redacted] gave to him; we kept working this way until 9/14/16. I have sent an email with our invoice dated 9/16/16 for this hourly job on 9/22/16 but then I realized that I have sent by mistake our Inv–[redacted] ($13,650.00) dated the same day for another contractor. I have sent correct one, our Inv–[redacted] ($7,350.00) on 9/28/16 (See attached invoices: you can see that the first one is clearly for a different contractor and a different job. Also, see payment check of our Inv-[redacted] and Inv-[redacted] to show that invoice [redacted] is real). One week after sending the first bill and not getting any notice of [redacted], I found the mistake and I have attached correct invoice sending him an explanatory email, and a text message too. After three more calls, he finally called me back on 9/30/16 complaining that our invoice was too high for just installing cabinets and not properly done; he agreed to review our invoice and give us his review, but he didn’t send anything. I send him a text message on 10/7/16 asking for his answer, and yet no response. Then after many text messages and phone calls, I communicated our lawyer to file a mechanic lien on 11/9/16. Our lawyer communicate him about this issue, and finally we agreed to have a meeting on his mother house on 11/23/16 to measure siding and roofing for an estimate; I wanted to get an agreement on the invoice pending of payment first, but he mentioned $2,200.00, amount that the owner of the company did not accept. Our lawyer filed that mechanical lien and yesterday asked us about the last step signing the statement of account; I told our lawyer to wait for a final attempt to make an agreement with [redacted], so I sent him a text message asking for $4,500.00 settlement, then minutes after I got his complain in the Revdex.com.   FACTS: We never claimed being a company specialized on interior finish work, you can see our website where we say that “WHAT WE DO: We specialize in a broad range of exterior property applications…” that is why [redacted]’s uncle recommended us to work with him on his porches. The truth is that [redacted] appreciated that our people are good hard workers (he told me he was impressed with the quality and speed of our work that we saved him many weeks of time) and decided to give us more work. Communication was intense between [redacted] and us before 9/9/16; we have a copy of all text message content and a detailed list of phone calls and text messages showing that [redacted] had a close following of the job being done (see attached list of phone calls and text messages from August 15th 2016 to date) [redacted] did not call to complain for the bad work done on his cabinets; he just mentioned that after more than a week we sent the bill, when I made many calls and text messages trying to reach him. We showed that communication was fluid since the beginning of the project, but suddenly it stopped after sending him our bill for the last part of the job. The last part of the work we did from 9/6/16 until 9/14/16 was under hourly basis on a verbal agreement, not for a specific job. Our carpenters said that they not only installed cabinets, they also had to move cabinets and accessories to the second floor; they installed baseboards and windows moldings, also interior doors, etc. They also said they did all that [redacted] asked for, they followed all drawings he signaled on the kitchen for the cabinets. In addition, [redacted] commanded the workers to install a door and some repairs in another house during such period; so we can see that [redacted] kept making a very close follow up of this part of the job too. [redacted] was very happy for the job we did with his three floor porches and many more interior work that save him weeks of time; but he is complaining about his kitchen cabinets, work performed under different agreement on hourly basis. Unfortunately, we could not do anything about it due to a lack of communication at the end of the project; we did not have the opportunity to see the problem on site, analyze it and find a solution. He said that 63 days after our meeting he hired other contractors to do the repairs, but 63 days after our meeting on 11/23/16 is going to be in the near future on 1/25/17 where he let the apartment sit for a month? Therefore, it is just a mistake with dates or something else is going on, causing him to fall on evident contradictions. Our people only installed flooring and cabinets in the kitchen under hourly basis, other contractor installed granite countertop, tile backsplash, dishwasher, all appliances and accessories. Our workers said they followed all drawings and indications [redacted] gave to them, he marked on the kitchen walls exact distribution of cabinets and place for every appliance. Our workers did not cut any cabinet; they installed all custom cabinets that [redacted] provided to them on the places he quoted. [redacted] required us to give him estimates for his mother’s siding and roofing on 11/23/16 when we had the last meeting. Can a person that is unsatisfied with the work done ask for additional work?  INFERENCES The typical reaction of a person when a work is not done properly is to call immediately with a complaint and ask for a solution; but [redacted] mentioned that after many attempts to talk with him about the bill. He never asked us for a solution, he never asked us to go to his house to see the problem; he just mentioned that on the phone and we thought it was a trick to get a reduction. Nevertheless he agreed to review our invoice and go from there we did not get any answer for so long that we started to file a mechanic lien on his property. Analyzing what [redacted] is complaining about, it is difficult to see if the problem with the cabinets really happened, we can highlight all contradictions as follow: He claims that we are specialized in interior finish when he knows from his uncle that we are specialized on all exterior work.We had a verbal contract to send workers to help him to do miscellaneous interior jobs but he is saying last case of work completed was installation of kitchen cabinets. (see attached text message where we talk about work under hourly basis)He states he was out of the job for several days, but according to the workers he was doing a close follow up of the entire job that also asked the people to work in other house from his property.He argues that his cabinet repairs for another contractor were done in the future (1/25/17: 63 days after our last meeting on 11/23/16), this is not possible. Our people on the contract under hourly basis among other jobs they just installed flooring and cabinets on the kitchen. Therefore, other contractor who came to install the granite countertop should have noticed a supposed problem with cabinet’s installation and should have let [redacted] know about it. Also, [redacted] should have noticed it, since he was making a close follow up on the project. It appears there was a mistake with his kitchen design and he is trying to blame on someone else.  CONCLUSION It is clear that [redacted] made this complaint to the Revdex.com as a defense against the mechanical lien we are filing against his property for not paying the bill for services provided. We are a small business company, our core is keep working on exterior improvements; we always try to give our best in all works we perform, mechanical lien is our last choice when our customer closes the communication for unpaid services. In this case, we did not complete the mechanic lien procedure yet, so still it is the time to make a settlement, we would like to collect at least $4,000.00 and we expect [redacted] to respond to get a win-to-win agreement.      [redacted] LLC Administrative manager [redacted]