Renaissance Contracting

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
***
Ms Cruz: (regarding complaint #***.)
In response to our original complaint against Renaissance Contracting
(“Renaissance”), we received the following reply on November 30, 2015:
“Carport was taken down at no charge to the customerThe reason the
carport didn’t have permits is when we initially called the city they told
us anything over sf would require permit which this carport was not
larger than thatTherefore we made bid and excluded all permits and
engineering as we didn’t believe it was required according to the cityWe
are just now waiting for the owner to acquire drawings for the carport in
order to obtain permits for us to reinstall carportI have been available
and always helpful for the customer so I’m not sure why its stated we have
been unprofessionalI have been trying really hard to get the ball rolling
on these items so we can reinstall carport.”
The response from Renaissance is not acceptable for many reasons1.*Reliance on Renaissance*. Independent of what the City told them, it
was their business as a licensed contractor to know what size of carport
needed a permit. We relied on them and their expertise in these mattersThe price agreed to was based on that. For them to later come back and
dramatically increase the cost of the job to us due to the fact that
permits and engineering would now be required amounted to a bait and switch
by them. Because Renaissance failed to do this, we were subjected to
multiple complaints from a City inspector, forced to visit the City of
Austin Permit Office several times, and had to pay both for an engineering
inspection of the carport (see comments below) and for a permeability
survey covering my entire yard. None of these matters were disclosed to us
by Renaissance. They bid us a “turn-key - all in all done” carport job for
$4,000.00. In fact, with all the permitting fees, engineering work,
permeability study, etc, the actual job cost was likely much closer to
$6500.00. Had we know the cost differences that were actually
involved, we may not have gone forward with this project. We now wish we
hadn’t2.*Shoddy and Unsafe Construction*. Nothing in the Renaissance reply
mentions that the worked performed by them was both shoddy and unsafeEven to a layman this appeared true. Our suspicions were borne out when we
hired a professional engineer to perform an evaluation. A copy of the
Engineer’s report from A-Engineering, LLC dated September 29, (the
“Report”) is attached to our reply. Their conclusion is that the work was
unsafe and that the carport should be torn down. Basically, the Report
establishes that we received nothing of value for the money we paid. I
have also attached to our reply (a) a number of photos that make clear the
construction issues before the carport was taken down, and (b) a video that
also shows exactly how bad the work was3.*No Offer in Reply to Reimburse Expenses*. As a result of the work
performed, we have incurred numerous costs. None of these are mentioned in
the reply by Renaissance and no offer to reimburse them was includedCosts and inconveniences incurred by us include:
aLegal Fees. These are ongoing and are in the range of $1,at
present bEngineering Report. Dues to the shoddy work we hired an engineer to
confirm our suspicions. The cost to verify and get the Report totaled
$ cCity Fees. Permitting will obviously be necessary. These were not
disclosed to us on the front end. They knew or should have know that these
would be part of the costs. Since they were not disclosed, they should
bear these fees($1450.00)
dEngineering Drawings. To get the permits necessary we are now being
told the engineering drawings need to be prepared and submitted as part of
the permitting process. Yes, the contract says these are extra, but, we
were led to believe that neither permitting nor engineering would be
required. We relied on them for these assurances which they knew or should
have known were incorrectePermeability Survey. The cost of this was $500.00. Again, this was
a cost that they knew would need to be incurred or, at a minimum, should
have know about had they competently managed this project and bid it
correctlyfInconvenience Factor. Because of their intentional fraud or negligence,
I have had to run around to the City on numerous occasions to deal with and
understand the permitting issues. I relied on them for this and they led
me to believe none of that would be necessary. I value my time at $per hour which is not my professional consulting rate which would be
$per hour. I estimate I have wasted over hours trying to
address and clean up their mess. Accordingly, I’d like to be reimbursed
$for that4.*Requested Resolution*. Based on all of the above, we have no
confidence in Renaissance. We request a full refund of the sums we have
already paid them and a reimbursement from them of the costs we have
necessarily incurred in having to deal with their deceptive conduct or
gross incompetence. For obvious reasons, we no longer wish to work with
them***
Regards,
*** ***

***, We have completed all items
alreadySincerely, *** ***

[redacted], Carport was taken down at no charge to the customer. The reason the carport didn’t have permits is when we initially called the city they told...

us anything over 400 sf would require permit which this carport was not larger than that. Therefore we made bid and excluded all permits and engineering as we didn’t believe it was required according to the city. We are just now waiting for the owner to acquire drawings for the carport in order to obtain permits for us to reinstall carport. I have been available and always helpful for the customer so I’m not sure why its stated we have been unprofessional. I have been trying really hard to get the ball rolling on these items so we can reinstall carport. Sincerely, [redacted]