DO NOT HIRE AMERICAN ELM BUILDERS…read more
They took our money and abandoned us, leaving us a living room full of materials we do not want and no work on the project we had hired them to perform. They consistently lied to us and made commitments that they did not keep.
We asked for a quote to sand our dining room floor, and the contractor suggested that instead we change the entire floor (instead of just refinishing it) for a little more. We accepted the quote and then signed the contract for a higher but still reasonable price. From then on, the nightmare began.
They were supposed to perform the work between June 26 and July 3rd (as per the contract). They asked for a $2200 initial deposit, which we paid. When the works were supposed to begin, they took out four planks from the floor but did not perform further work because they said there was no subfloor and installing one was a different project. They said they would go to ask if a permit was needed and send a revised quote. We tried contacting them to see how things were going but they just said they needed more time.
On July 3rd, the day the project was due, we arrived at a home with a corridor (connecting the dining room to the bedrooms) full of wooden planks and a hole in the floor. Only then did they send us a quote (which on the phone they had insisted would not exceed the original one for more than 10-15%) for double the price of the original agreement. Some of the items that were included in the original contract had been revised and their cost significantly increased (in addition to the new work included in the second contract). We said we couldn't move forward with that as it was outside our budget, and they insisted we contact our insurance company to see if it would cover it. They then stated that they had found mold and advised us to contact our property insurance company, so we did.
American Elm Builders then provided a report of the issues on July 7th, which we submitted to our insurance company. It turned out the issue was not covered. We informed them of this circumstance on July 10th and asked to put an end to the contract, pay for the patching of the floor and part ways. They said they needed one final thing, but if that didn't work, they would refund us and take the materials. They said they would call us on July 12th. We contacted them repeatedly on the 12th, and they said they would call us on Monday instead (14th). We called them all day and received no response. They finally contacted us on Tuesday (15th) and said that because the apartment had mold, they could not proceed until a professional remediated the issue. So we called a licensed mold remediation company to come first thing in the morning, the next day (16th). When the mold company arrived at the site to provide the quote, they stated that there was no mold, only damaged wood from past leaks. They measured the humidity and inspected the areas, assuring us that there were no ongoing mold issues and that the area did not require mold remediation. We called American Elm Builders with the mold professional and he explained this. They requested he send this in writing, which he did that very morning. We had been insisting they remove the materials since the project was not going to take place and they had basically been abandoned in our apartment and were dangerous (we have two kids who kept scraping their legs in the wood), and they said they could not because their truck was in the shop and would be for an indefinite time. They offered instead to come and move the wood. They were supposed to come on Friday (11th), but ended up coming on the 16th. We insisted that we wanted to finish and move on and that at this point they could just leave the hole on the floor, take the materials and issue our refund. They then said we would need to pay a restocking fee of 30% and wait indefinately for their truck. We offered to hire a U-Haul to transport it to be returned to the seller, but they said they would have to study it. We insisted that we were out of time and needed a solution and they agreed to call us in the afternoon with a timeline for the truck.
Instead of a call or a timeline, we received an email informing us that they were putting an end to the contract, leaving the materials and the hole, and were not going to issue a refund. Unbelievable. Naturally, they have not answered our calls after that. They left us with a giant hole on the floor, loose planks with open nails and $2200 worth of wood (according to them), which we insisted we did not want. They have also refused to provide us with a receipt for the wood, despite our requests.
