Total Home Improvement Inc

We have had several discussions with Mr.*** about the final bill for the work we performed for him in march and April of this yearHe has objected to the cost although he made changes to the scope of work, and there were some repairs we needed to make as a result of previous water damage that were
not obvious upon earlier inspection.We are aware of language barriers in this instance, as Mr *** speaks english as his second language, and we made our best effort to clarify and communicate with him as clearly as possibleWe spent several hours in meetings with him trying to make sure he understood the contract language and how we operateHe insisted he understood, but objected to every invoice he received, demanded detailed logs of our hours and expenses, and generally made it very difficult to pay our suppliers/subs in a timely manner.To address his specific objections:1) We provided all required receipts both on the final bill and hard copies of the various purchases we made on his behalf(See attached final bill and materials receipt.)2)We did NOT charge for repair of an accidentally damaged stairwell wall, we charged for the repair of the bathroom walls adjacent to the tile shower walls, and the walls above the new tile baseboard we installed.(See attached final bill for work performed and related charges)3)Our contract terms clearly state that we do not mark up materials, but we do charge a 10% overhead fee and a 10% profit on the total cost of the jobOur terms and conditions also state that any offsite work such as securing materials, meetings etc are part of our billable hoursMr *** did not want to pay for deliveries or a dumpster, so we removed and hauled the debris ourselves and went to the various suppliers to pick up materials or goods ourselves(See attached Written estimate and Contract)4) We did charge for specialized tool rentals for this project, but we did not charge for the purchase of any toolsSupplies such as saw blades, drill bits etc are considered part of the materials and supplies to do a job and are billable at cost to the client.See also the signed Change Order changing the scope of work authorized by Mr***
***SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS REDACTED BY Revdex.com***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response this work was all done buy the Bid and contract, during the time of her work there were nothing said about rework, she knew we wanted new doors and frames, all she did was go out and buy standard window and try to make them work along with the doorsOver the first week I never complimented her work, I would say something is wrong with this, are you going to fix itI did pay her a check for 20k on the 39th of Octand again on the 0f Oct for 20K, she states she offered to refund the over payment to me not true, she cashed it the next dayboth me and my daughter saw her running the costs out of control and we were very upset with her workOn Nov 16th we wrote her certified letter about the addition labor cost associated with the issues surrounding the door and windows as she was in breach of contract failing for her to communicate any issues during the installation or constructionthe framing area selected for the stackable washer and dryer was not built correctly, kitchen We had a meeting about the project 12/and Starla stated that she would stay on budget and her word was her bond we did not delay the project other then when she could not work as the Subs were in doing there work I don.t how she can say that she did over 10k of additional work she did not till use, told us we were saving money because some of the sub contractors did not cost as much as was in the bid and we would get money back or used on other things in the houseShe got paid Oct 10th 16K, Oct 20K, Oct 29th 40K, Oct 20K, Feb 4th $3,and on Feb 17th $2,682.37.Contractor she owns money to
Contractor she owns money to
*** *** *** *** $*** *** ***$*** *** ***$All these bill were from Oct and Nov of
Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.       <!--[endif]-->The company failed to present me the valid receipts charged for materials and labors.  I only received receipts of amount of $4,878.29.  Some of receipts were for tool rentals, tool purchases . One receipt included sales tax of $110.56 which was double-charged.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.       <!--[endif]-->Their final accounting of $19800.00 (as attached)  did not reconcile with the quoted items nor with the receipts they provided.
3.       They wrongly charged me $260.00 for “searched for paint” as their worker mistakenly pierced holes through the drywall to my stairway wall (photos can be provided)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.       <!--[endif]-->You charged 20% markup for all materials purchased. It is outrageous that they charged separately for pickup trips, meeting, phone conversations and shopping time.
 
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.       <!--[endif]-->Summary of the project
 The original estimation dated March 16th, 2015                 $14848.00
Change order dated March 26th, 2015                                  Add. $2675.50 (add new shower surround)
Delete repair shower surround                                    ...⇄ of $600
Delete the heating element                                                   Credit of $1030.00
Extra materials more than the allowance                              Add $619.12
 
The total project estimated and quoted                                $16512.12
Final amount charged and paid                                                $19800.00
 
The overcharged amount is $3287.88.    I request a refund of the overcharged amount of $3287.88.
The contractor refused to provide valid receipts from the beginning of the job.  She mentioned “language barrier” as an excuse of failing to provide receipts and doing the overcharges.  I graduated from a top U.S. business school with mater degree. I am not an English expert; however, my English should be proficient to communicate the business needs.
Sincerely,[redacted]

We have already addressed his objections to his bill. He is attempting to demand a refund of the profit, overhead and sales tax costs of this job. We have repeatedly responded to his complaints, and we have provided copies of our contract t and paperwork to both Mr [redacted] and the Revdex.com.Please close this complaint as frivolous

We were hired on October 10.2015, to do a whole house remodel. This work included replacing the water service,all new water and drain lines, all new electrical wiring,new windows and doors, reframed a laundry room, reconfigured the hall, bathroom and closets,refinished hardwoods, new kitchen and...

appliances,new bath, all new drywall, insulation, interior doors, trim and painting the interior.installed new flooring, tile and fixtures.
. There were multiple areas of the job where we had to do additional work to meet code, repair damage to the walls, floors,etc, rework  doors and doorjambs because the house was not built to standard sizes, and replace more of the exterior siding around the windows than was estimated for because the client asked us to do so. The client came to the site almost every day during the first 3 weeks of the job, and we did not do any additional work without his knowledge or consent. This additional work was not provided for free, but was billed on a time and materials basis, since it had not been  estimated, nor was it part of the original estimate/contract.
For example, During the course of the window replacement,we discovered dry rot, broken shiplap sheathing, and the old windows had been installed directly on the studs. The new vinyl windows needed to be installed over the sheathing, so we had to repair/prepare the window openings properly before we could install the new windows.
Another example of additional work that was required involved custom sizes for both exterior doors, and full replacement of all interior doors and jambs. We had originally been asked to replace just the interior doors by going to a salvage/second use warehouse and trying to match used door to the doors in the house that were not salvageable.
None of the clients doors were of standard heights, so we were unable to find salvaged doors that would work. We informed the client of this, and we told him we could purchase and install new custom doors and jambs, or buy interior  pre-hung doors off the shelf at Home Depot and rework them ourselves. He opted for the latter, as he wanted the work to move forward, and this was a less expensive option. Through out the first several weeks of the job, the client complimented us and our work repeatedly, and told us he really liked our work and our approach.
We began the work on October 13th and work proceeded without any problems until October 30th, when the client made a partial payment that was returned by his bank.The client replaced the NSF check on October 31st. Apparently the client deposited enough money to cover BOTH the checks he had issued, and the bank ran the returned check through the process as well as the replacement check. The following week, we offered to refund the over payment to the client until the next scheduled payment was due The client told me not to bother since he was going to have to pay me that money in a couple weeks anyway. I assured the client he would not receive any further invoices from us until the pre-paid deposits had been used for his house. I repeatedly offered to refund the extra deposit until more work had been done, and he repeatedly refused.
At this point the client began to feel anxious or worried, and told his daughter that I was overcharging him, that the costs were running out of control, and that he was upset with our work. His daughter contacted me  on November 4th,2015,and demanded that we stop all work on the house until she could figure out what was going on. She informed me at that time, that her father had memory problems, and that she was very concerned about him. She told me that he kept repeating things, asking the same questions even after being told the answers. I mentioned that when her father came to the job site, he seemed to ask me the same questions over and over as well.
 She requested a full accounting of what we had done to date, the monies received, and reviewed the work we had done up to that point. She then requested a meeting with me and her father, which occurred on/around November16th. We provided all the requested information, explained the additional costs for all the additional work we had done, and agreed to run everything by my clients daughter for the remainder of the job. We also addressed some minor corrections to the work, that the client was extremely upset about, although most of it was still in progress and not completed at that time. We asked to restart the project, but the client and his daughter delayed the project until December18th. This delay led to additional costs for portable toilets, storage of the cabinets and appliances, rescheduled work by subcontractors,etc.
We were told we could resume work as long as we agreed to stop work when we reached the point at which costs were equal to the original estimate/contract, regardless of the actual percentage of completion. The clients daughter said we would review the budget and the job progress at that time and they would decide then if they wanted us to finish the job. We received no further payments from the client until February 4th, when we had completed enough work to have used the earlier deposits. We also completed several minor corrections at no charge to the client,which were reviewed and accepted by both the client and his daughter. Every reference in the clients complaint to poor workmanship was addressed and corrected prior to the meeting with him and his daughter in November, or once work resumed in December. At no time did we overcharge for our hours or our materials costs, We provided accounting up dates multiple times through out the job, and repeatedly told and SHOWED the clients the repairs/corrections we had made.
We did over $10,000 in additional work on this project, most of which was required to meet the terms of our contract, or to accommodate the clients requests. The following is a list of the things we did that were not on the original estimate/contract.
Repair dry rotted framing at windows
Install new sheathing around windows
Install custom sized exterior doors
Replace approximately250 square feet of hardiplank siding
Rebuild exterior thresholds to accommodate custom doors.
Disassemble and rebuild a portion of the back deck at entry to house to accommodate new exterior door
Install cementitious leveler, flashing and custom build front door threshold over concrete stoop.
Reframe bedroom closets for by-pass doors
Install new subfloor in kitchen,back entry and bathroom.
Customize all new interior doors and jambs to accommodate shorter ceiling heights.
Re-prime and paint all doors and jambs after re-working.
Install additional exterior trim to windows at clients request.
Other additional costs that exceeded our estimate included the choices the client made for fixtures, cabinets and cupboards, countertop style and material, appliances, and the type/style of interior trim they wanted.
In early February,we received a small deposit from the clients daughter, with the clients authorization, to purchase and install the interior window ,door and floor trim.Upon completion of that, we notified the clients daughter that we had reached the original estimated budget, provided her with a fixed price to complete the remaining details of the contracts, and requested a deposit.
I met with the client and his daughter at the job site on February17th 2016. At this point, the kitchen, the laundry/back entry, the closets, and finish details had not been completed. We were not at the end of the project, and had not done a walk through with the client to create a final punch list to take care of any minor corrections. However, the client was extremely angry and threatening, complained about work not being done that actually had been done, exploded over work that had not been finished yet, and made it quite clear he didn’t want us to continue. His daughter asked me to step outside while she talked to him, and about 20 minutes later, she wrote a check for the small amount that was due, they signed the account statement I had provided, and asked to be released from the remaining portion of the contract.
I noted on the account statement, that they had paid me in full, removed my tools, and left. I have provided the client with copies of receipts, subcontractor invoices, etc. At this time, we are in the process of paying the remaining balances to our subcontractors on this job, since my agreements with the subs included final payment upon completion of the work, as we were not able to complete the work, we were caught short, and have made arrangements to pay the subs as we can. We will provide subcontractor lien releases as they are provided to us, once we have completed paying the subcontractors.
I do not know what else we can do for this client.