The complaints we've listed below are in regards to a vaulted ceiling remodel of the living and dining rooms in our home, started in Oct 2014.
1) A structural inspection found 8 fairly substantial flaws. The inspector noted that the job in many ways showed shoddy workmanship. We repeatedly asked ACS to return, but their responses included vague time frames and we became concerned that they might not finish the job (or might drag it out). In the meantime, half of our roof had no insulation (while we awaited the repairs) and outside temperatures were starting to reach freezing at night, so we were anxious about getting the job completed. At this point in time, we filed a BBB complaint.
A history of previous mis-communications and mistruths by ACS led to the delays and our predicament of a cold unfinished house in November. Those complaints are listed briefly below:
2) A mistake was made in the structural engineering drawings, and was discovered during the first day of ACS's work on 10/1/2014. The structural part of the job was scheduled to be completed in 2 days. During the first day, ACS offered an alternate solution to us, indicating to us that this was the only solution and that it had been reached via communication between ACS and the structural engineer. Although the solution presented wasn't in keeping with the original design intent we really wanted, we reluctantly agreed, based on trust of their expertise. ACS went ahead and installed much of their solution on that first day. The next day we found out that the structural engineer hadn't known of his error or that ACS's solution was being implemented, and he then fixed his error by drawing up for us a new design that met the original design intent. We asked ACS to implement the engineer's solution, and they charged us for a "change order", which ended up costing approximately $4800 to cover one work day, one day of "lost" labor and about $250 in materials. ACS never conceded to any fault in lying to us about their lack of communications with the engineer, and in implementing their structural changes without a drawing revision from the engineer.
3) While the structural changes were initially being done, the Structural Inspector arrived to check an air flow question we had, and observe the project. We were unsure at the time if it was considered an official inspection. We relayed to ACS that the inspector gave a "green light" for structural and air flow. Green light meant proceed with rest of structural and not 'approved', but was misinterpreted by ACS. The text message was sent in the middle of the day while structural work was still far from completed, and as a professional contractor ACS should should have known that there was no way the structural inspection could be completed until the structural work was complete. ACS reported that they had talked with the inspector and that it was OK to install insulation. The insulation was installed and the inspector arrived following this. Inspection failed, due to him being unable to inspect properly because of the insulation present. ACS would have charged a second fee to remove and reinstall, so we opted to remove it ourselves. In addition, the quality of the insulation installation was marginal, so we decided to re-install it ourselves later. For example, the baffles we'd been promised were not installed (ACS hadn't passed along that info to the subcontractor) until we insisted on them. The resulting fit was so poor, we wound up replacing them anyway.
Update 2/15/2015: ACS did return to complete the structural repairs and passed second inspection. Because of the aforementioned issues, we re-installed the insulation ourselves, terminated further work with ACS, and hired another contractor to finish the drywall. ACS did not agree to our terms to terminate the contract, attempting to charge us $4945 more to cover insulation and drywall work which ACS had not completed. We offered to pay $2102 (for the insulation materials and our interpretation of the contract terms including 20% of remaining non-completed work). ACS then threatened to file a lien against our house unless the $4945 was paid. We determined the only feasible way to prevent the lien against our house was to have this resolved in small claims court. We also realized that we had been generous in paying ACS $2000 for a "day of lost work" (not called out or covered in the contract) that ACS had included in the change order bill near the start of the job. We billed ACS for this amount, preparing to go to small claims court. At this point, ACS called us and finally agreed to settle this outside of court. We agreed to pay $1000 to ACS and record the BBB complaint as closed satisfactorily, in return for ACS agreeing to not file the lien against our house. Both sides signed a statement agreeing there are no further obligations from either party. read more