R.K.S. Plumbing & Mechanical, Inc.

Review: City of phoenix subcontracted RKS Pluming to relocate main water line, from march -april 2013. while in the process of Trenching and using Heavy machine, my Home was affected and Damage by RKS Pluming. Damages that cause house structure to crack in different areas, in which includes craks in between brick joints on top of a window, Damages that sum a Total of $3000.00. I contacted the city of phoenix several time and I was refered to RKS Pluming due to contract. after nearly 2 months of Finally getting ahold of RKS Pluming, was adviced that Rks felt that they should not be Responsible for Damages cause. I Recentely purchased my home in 2011. Brick home in perfect structure conditions, after Rks pluming company was done with contruction and Relocating water lines my house was affected and Rks not willing to take Resposability to Resove Damages caused by them.Desired Settlement: I would like to have RKS Pluming, Pay/Repair Damages caused while they were doing construction work.

Business

Response:

RKS Plumbing and Mechanical is contacting you in regards to a complaint (ID#: [redacted]) that we received from the Revdex.com. We would like to start out by saying that we did not perform any contracted work with the originator of this claim. RKS Plumbing and Mechanical was contracted directly with the City of Phoenix for the replacement and upgrades of water mains throughout the metro area. The scope of work is as follows:

1. The city will contract two different subcontractors to perform the water main upgrades for each parcel of private property and commercial buildings.

2. The first subcontractor will install new water mains in the street for multiple city blocks and run a line from the street to just past a property’s easement.

3. RKS will then set a water meter at that location provided to us by the city and trench a line from the newly set meter to the existing water main entering the home or building. The trenching is accomplished with the use of a walk behind trencher that will create a void in the ground approximately four inches wide by eighteen inches deep. This equipment is minimally evasive to the property as it only opens up the section of ground that is needed to install the new water main. Once the new water main is installed and inspected by a City of Phoenix plumbing inspector, RKS plumbing will then replace the previously trenched soil with a vibrating tamper while adding water to ensure that the soil is replaced with the proper compaction to avoid settling in the future. The installation methods used on the property are industry standard and are a contractual requirement by the City of Phoenix for this scope of work. Please note the installation of the water main was approximately thirty feet away from the window in question.

As we have stated to the owner of this property and the City of Phoenix’s representative regarding this matter, RKS Plumbing and Mechanical has been working with the City of Phoenix for the past three years replacing water mains on private and commercial properties. We have completed well over one thousand properties all with the same installation standards and safety precautions that was utilized at this property. The damaged that was caused to the property while very unfortunate has no correlation to the work that we performed. We feel that the cracking/damaged block wall that is in question is directly related to the improper installation of the window (please see attached diagram). When the window was replaced the installer did not install a lintel above the window to support the weight of the newly installed block. The lintel is necessary to keep the weight of the block in place and avoid the situation that we are discussing.

We suggested that the City of Phoenix send a home inspector to look at the installation of the window and provide a conclusion as to why they are experiencing this issue. We feel that if a home inspector would look at the installation of the window the complaint would be dropped directly due to the improper installation and the inevitable cracking of the block wall. Please see attached photo from Google maps street view, the cracking in the block can be viewed in the photo taken April 13, 2011 which is two years before we performed any work on the property. RKS takes extreme pride in our workmanship and our customer service and feel like we are being coerced into fixing an issue that we did not create.

Thanks,

Vice President of Field Operations

RKS Plumbing & Mechanical