We contracted with Kring's in early February '25 to retrofit our originally wood-burning fireplace…read morewith a gas insert. The initial visit went well, but were originally told by the salesman when we signed the proposal that "Limerick Township does not require permits". He was emphatic that "only one township has ever required us to get a permit". We were also told that by the gentleman that came out to do the site visit on 3/8. That turns out to be a bold-faced lie. I just didn't see how any township would let a contractor cut into or modify a gas line, nor run electrical line, without a permit. And low and behold, that is EXACTLY what I was told by our township Code department. Just to "pressure test" that, I called every code office in a 25 mile radius and WITHOUT EXCEPTION, every single one requires a permit to install a gas fireplace insert to retrofit an existing wood-burning fireplace. Every one of them.
When Kring's was informed of this, multiple times I overheard that "permits should be the homeowner's responsibility to pull". How can a layperson homeowner fill out those forms? Plus, it is the CONTRACTOR'S work that is being reviewed and approved for Code compliance.
I know damn well what went down because I've seen it before - Kring's simply did not want to pull permits because it is a pain in the neck, and inspector oversite is also a pain in the neck, so lying to the client is the "easy way out". And I get that. But look at it from the homeowner's side (at least those with a conscience); I don't want to pay more in terms of permit fees, sure, but I get to sleep at night knowing it was inspected and done according to code. Was Kring's gonna bail me out if we didn't get permits and some nosy neighbor called me on it, which doubles the permit fees after the fact in most townships? Oh, and my insurance agent said that if we do unpermitted work and a fire investigation shows that work to be the root cause, he told me that the probability of a declined insurance claim is "99.999%". Would Krings have paid to rebuild the house, if we even survived the blast?
Places like this also just don't get the fact that, other than OBEYING THE LAW, they would have been more efficient. We were told that this would be a "4 hour job". But in reality:
1. Gas line install - 2 guys for 4 hours, then instead of the gas inspector being lined up to be on site, he needed to be scheduled for the next day.
2. Electric line install - 2 guys for about 3 hours a few weeks later, then, you guessed it, "I think all we need is a final inspection, he will be out tomorrow, the township waived the electrical inspection".
3. Kring's is back out the next day, 1 guy for an hour or so, with the "final inspection" inspector who, yup, says "where's the electrical inspection? No U and O before you get that".
4. Kring's is back the following week with the electrical inspector who, you guessed it, found the electrical work OUT OF COMPLIANCE with current codes and needs a part. Another man-hour down the drain.
5. Kring's is back out later that week to finish the electrical work CORRECTLY, with the electrical inspector. Another man-hour down the drain.
So that's around 17 man-hours, SEVEN total visits to my house over nearly 3 months, and Kring's is left with a pissed-off ex-customer WHO WAS LIED TO.
I've offered to have a conversation with the GM there to align and gain insight, and maybe save the relationship. You guessed it...crickets.
So...Kring's gets 1 star!
