VJ's Construction

Review: After my mother passed away, I decided to buy her house. In order for the house to be insured we needed to replace the roof. I called Vincent B[redacted] from VJ's Construction to come out and give me an estimate for the job. They sent a representative to inspect the roof and he said it was in good condition and notified Vincent who in turn emailed me an estimate for a new roof. After sending the estimate Vincent called and said he was sending his partner Jeff J[redacted] out to look at the roof again and check for hail damage. He found hail damage and then decided to file an insurance claim with my mother's insurance company. Her insurance agreed to pay the claim and they completed the roof. The amount of money that the insurance company paid out for the job far exceeded the original estimate I was given. When it came time for me to write a check (thinking I would only be paying the difference from their original estimate. Jeff told me I had to pay more, stating that an "insurance roof" cost more than a "cash estimate roof" which was originally given. After much back and forth with Jeff and Vincent, I was so upset with them I told Jeff to tell me the final amount owed and I would write the check and we would be done. He calculated the amount, I wrote the check, then Vincent called back and said to write a check for a lesser amount (about $86 less) I told him, the check was already written, given to Jeff, and our business was done. A couple weeks later I left Vincent a message asking him if to send me a receipt reflecting that I had paid in full. Instead of returning my call he called my husband (who had no involvement with this roof at all) to let him know he was emailing him an invoice with our remaining balance. He told my husband I was too upset last time we had talked and that I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me. I wrote my check out for the exact amount Jeff told me to pay for their final bill and understood fully what I was over paying for. Very bad business guys.Desired Settlement: Honor the total amount Jeff J[redacted] calculated was owed and already paid as your payment in full. The excess money being asked to pay seems to reflect a severe roof leak that needed to be repaired after it rained on the new roof. (The interior ceiling has not been completely fixed yet) When discussing with Jeff who was going to have to pay to fix these leaks he made it clear that it wouldn't be me. I'm now being charged more money, so it seems like they are trying to recoup from their mistakes

Business

Response:

TMrs.

[redacted] was a previous customer of ours.

We had recently replaced Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]’s roof at their personal

residence. We found hail damage to the

roof of their home, filed a claim, met the adjuster, and the roof was approved. We replaced the roof and the only out of

pocket cost to the [redacted]’s was their insurance deductible. The project went smoothly and was a

success. Everyone was happy in the end. We specialize in insurance claims, and when

you sign a contract with us the contract clearly states that if we take the

time to go on an adjuster meeting to assist in getting the adjuster to approve

the claim, if the claim is approved, you are under contract with us to complete

the project. If the claim is not

approved the contract is NULL AND VOID.

It also clearly states in our contracts that we complete the job for

INSURANCE PROCEEDS. Mrs.

[redacted]’s mother recently passed away, and she decided to buy her house. In order for the property to be insured under

a new policy the roof needed to be replaced.

She reached out to VJ’s

Construction to inspect her mother’s roof to see if it qualified for full roof

replacement under her mother’s insurance policy. We gladly wanted to help our previous customer

and sent a representative out to inspect the roof. The

first representative we sent out to inspect Mrs. [redacted]’s roof overlooked the

damages, therefore, we were misinformed and originally did not think the roof

would qualify for insurance replacement.

Eager to close on the house and

get a new insurance policy, she contacted Vincent and requested that he send

her an estimate for full roof replacement for retail price and she needed it

immediately. To get it to her in a timely manner, Vincent’s

only option was to look at the property with satellite images using EagleView

Technologies to complete an approximate estimate of the job. We are putting emphasis on the word ESTIMATE

which is not a final price, it is an estimated cost that Vincent came up with

based on the limited information and resources he had. At that point Mrs. [redacted] agreed with the

price we gave her, and was willing to pay a little over $8,000.00 out of pocket

for roof replacement. Knowing that a lot could be missed using

limited resources via satellite images, Vincent instructed Jeff J[redacted] (his

business partner) to go take a look at the property the next time he was in the

area. When he did, the first thing he

noticed were the clay ridge tiles on the roof which could not be seen from the

satellite image. The cost to remove and

replace those alone is very significant.

As Jeff investigated the roof further, he noticed that there was also

hail damage to the roof that our previous representative obviously missed. Knowing

that the roof would qualify for replacement through an insurance claim under

Mrs. [redacted]’s mother’s policy, Jeff and Vincent immediately notified Mrs.

[redacted]. She then signed a contract with

us to complete the job for the cost of insurance proceeds. After the contract was signed we assisted

Mrs. [redacted] in filing the claim. Jeff

J[redacted] met the insurance adjuster for the inspection and the roof was approved

for full replacement. After the roof was

approved Jeff met with Mrs. [redacted] to discuss the project specifications. At that time, she requested a shingle upgrade

as well as the replacement of an additional flat roof that was not covered by

insurance proceeds. She understood

clearly that these would be additional out of pocket expenses outside of the

claim, and signed the document agreeing to these specifications (shingle upgrade

for $20.00 per square and flat roof for $1,300.00). She also decided to go with standard ridge

caps instead of the clay ridge tiles. The

insurance company paid to detach and reset the clay ridge tiles and awarded

$1,581.60 to do so. Therefore, the only amount owed to us was the $581.60 to

remove the ridge tiles. We confirmed

that the $581.60 was for the labor to remove the ridge tiles through Xactimate

(the program used by most insurance adjusters to make up estimates, and is also

used by her mother’s insurance company). Mrs.

[redacted] was only responsible for paying her mother’s insurance deductible (which

was $1,000.00) plus the flat roof and shingle upgrade. Her total out of pocket cost was $1,960.00 as

opposed to what she would have had to pay out of pocket if the roof was not

approved through insurance. Mrs. [redacted]

was getting a brand new, upgraded roof for $1,960.00 instead of paying our

retail price (which would have been more than our original estimate once we saw

the property in person with the clay ridge tiles). Her total out of pocket cost was also significantly

lower than the price she was willing to pay out of pocket from our original

estimate (which was over $8,000.00). The

point we are trying to make is that we assisted in saving her thousands. Under

the impression that Mrs. [redacted] fully understood the terms and conditions of

the contract she signed, we completed the project. Sometimes production does not always happen

the way we hope which is the nature of the construction business. Let it be known, that during the summer in southern

Louisiana pop-up thunderstorms are a common occurrence. Because of this, we tear off shingles and put

shingles back on one slope at a time so portions of the roof are not exposed. As a precaution, we also do not schedule

production if rain chances are 50% or higher.

The day of production, there was a pop-up thunderstorm and it rained for

about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, a leak occurred

and Mrs. [redacted] made us aware of it immediately. There was a small portion of

the roof with torn off shingles and brand new felt paper. Normally felt paper will keep rain out,

however in this particular case the rain was wind-driven and blew the felt

paper up allowing water to leak in. When

Mrs. [redacted] made us aware of the leak we went inside and observed the water

mark on the ceiling. We then offered and

insisted on repainting the mark on the ceiling, however Mrs. [redacted] opted for

us not to do this due to the chaos in the home at the time with the moving and

unpacking. She also informed us that it

would be pointless to repair the ceiling paint because she planned on

installing some sort of metal paneling on her ceiling.When

the next rain came through, the [redacted]’s notified us that the flat roof was

leaking but did not put any urgency on the situation because it was a flat roof

over a covered patio, and it was only leaking on to the outside brick. Sympathetic to their situation because of the

previous leak during construction, Jeff insisted on coming to fix it that day

(which was a Sunday). The [redacted]’s were

overly pleased and thankful for Jeff coming that day. The project was complete and the [redacted]’s

were happy.When

it came time to send the final bill everything changed. The painting repairs from the leak were mentioned

as well as Vincent’s original price from the estimate that he came up with

using satellite images. Mrs. [redacted]

seemed to not understand why the price of the adjuster’s estimate was more than

Vincent’s first inaccurate estimate. We

tried to explain to her that she signed a contract with us to complete the

project for the cost of the insurance proceeds, yet she continued to argue that

we should go by the first price. We

offered to repair the painting again and she refused. She wrote us a check for what she thought she

owed and told us to send her a final receipt saying that she was paid in

full. Since

we had done business with the [redacted]’s in the past, Vincent assumed that Mr.

and Mrs. [redacted] were both points of contact as they both were for the previous

project. Vincent called Mr. [redacted] to

let him know that a balance was still owed, and that he was emailing him the

invoice. If Vincent was aware that

contacting Mr. [redacted] would offend Mrs. [redacted] he would have gone about it

differently. At

this point we just wanted to make Mrs. [redacted] happy and settle things out even

though she was breeching the contract.

There was still a balance of a little under $600.00 owed to us for the

project. Since Mrs. [redacted] was not

agreeing we decided to give her options.

We told her she could pay her remaining balance and we would do the

painting repairs from the leak (even though she originally told us not to do

the painting repairs and only brought them up again after billing her) or she

could keep the money and we would call it done.

Mrs. [redacted] decided to keep the money and we mailed her a receipt

showing that she was paid in full. It

is considered insurance fraud and is illegal for homeowners to profit from

insurance proceeds. ell us why here...

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 10839725, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

BILLING POLICY POOR, ROOF WAS FINE.

Our roof was placed in a timely manner after insurance approval.

The workers were polite, and did a good job. However, after paying

$10,600 of the $12,000 bill, I asked for an itemized bill before paying the

remaining amount. This is because we made a few changes after the initial

quote, and I wanted to make sure our bill reflected this. I requested an

itemized bill twice, but each time received a non itemized copy that

showed the total amount owed - but it was not broken down.

They finally emailed me, and told me that they work directly off of the

insurance quote, and sent me a copy. This was exactly what I had been

asking for. That should have been the end of it. I would check the bill,

and mail the remaining amount (Approx $1,400) owed.

However, in the same email, they said their supplier would place a lien

on my house if didn't pay STAT. I thought that this seemed overboard

and pre mature, since had paid 90% of the bill, and had explained

that I wanted an itemized bill, and the reason why. I promptly reviewed

the itemized bill, and sent what I owed.

I would not deal with them again, because I do not care for their response

to a reasonable request for an itemized bill, or for their tactics of introducing

a lien when I had paid in a timely manner.