ComplaintsforLavigne Construction

• Initial Complaint

  28/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Lavigne Construction (General Contractor) as hired to demolition 300 square feet of a residence and rebuild to building code. 1) Lavigne Construction did not complete the Scope of work and charged the full value and threated homeowner in writing with regards to putting a lien against the residence if the homeowner did not pay final balance - work was incomplete at time of threat 2) General contractor quote included supply and install of materials. Instead of purchasing new materials as quoted General Contractor re-used homeowner materials and did not provide credit from original quote 3) General Contractor quoted 8-10 week schedule - Execution of the work took 19 weeks and was still not complete 4) As part of the work General Contractor was to install new entrance door - Door was installed incorrectly and crooked - General Contractor would not correct and threatened to put a lien against the property unless final balance was paid in full - door correction was never completed 5) General Contractor did not provide safety equipment for workers 6) General Contractor permitted employees to work alone on the roof of the residence 7) General Contractor did not supply proper equipment for the execution of the work - Homeowner had to provide at an additional cost to homeowner in order for General Contractor to continue with the work 8) General Contractor did not show respect for homeowner property and left debris for homeowner to clean up 9) General contractor resorted to threats was inefficient, unorganized and unsafe 10) General Contractor showed no respect for neighbours property - often parked work trucks in front of neighbours drive way blocking them in/out

  

  Business response

  31/01/2022

  Lavigne Construction was hired on September 11, 2020 to demolish and rebuild a 21’x11’ addition. Work did not start till September of 2021 due to the customer not being able to evict their tenant. It was estimated that the project would take 10-12 weeks. Due to the Covid pandemic this verbal timeframe was given as a best-case scenario.
  
  Lavigne Construction completed all work set out on Contract. Lavigne Construction did not threaten the homeowner with placing a lien. We advised the ******* that if payment wasn’t remit as per the contract that a lien may be placed. One reason for this is that each time they were asked for a progress payment only half of the requested amount was paid. For 2, we were told by them that if additional work (not on contract) was not complete they would not pay the balance.
  
  List of materials to be included as per contract: foundation, framing, insulation, drywall, sheathing, siding, roofing, soffit and fascia (on addition). Mr. ****** specifically told Lavigne Construction workers to re-use the metal spindles, oak posts, casing and trims as that is what matched what was there. It was when the final invoice was to be paid that they demanded a reimbursement on said materials. This was never agreed upon or even mentioned beforehand.
  
  Lavigne Construction agreed that the door had been installed slightly off level and that it would be rectified. The date provided by Lavigne Construction did not work with their schedule. This was conveyed to us the same day the ******* contacted the BBB. ********** ** ******* **** ****** ** ** ****** *** ***** ********** 
  
  There are additional costs incurred by Lavigne Construction that were not part of the Contract as well. Contract was quoted and priced out in 2020 due to the delay on the part of the customers all material and labour were subjected to over 20% increase. Mr. ****** asked Mr. Lavigne for a quote on soffit, fascia and drip edge for the garage but before a quote was provided, Mr. ****** demanded our worker do the job. Once completed no offer of payment or even conversation about was had. When it was brought up at the end, we were told it “evened out” for the cost of the materials re-used.
  
  All work done by Lavigne Construction passed multiple inspections with the City of Sudbury. Final inspection calls for grading to be done under the deck for which Lavigne Construction provided a Contract outlining that this will be completed in the Spring.
  
  On January 26, 2022, Mrs. ****** remit the final payment and signed that the Contract was finalized and that other than the door being addressed and the grading to be done in the spring no further work was to be completed. 

  Customer response

  10/02/2022

  ***** ***** ********* ***** ******* ******** ** **** ******* ** *** ***** ******* ********************** ******** *** ****** ******** ****** ********* *********

   

   

   

  Background Information:

   

  In early 2020 the residence ** ***** ****** was sold. During a home inspection by the new owners it was determined in the 1970’s an addition had been added to the residence without the proper permitting. This issue was not discovered when Mr. ****** originally purchased the residence.

  In 202 the City of Sudbury requested a portion of the residence be removed and rebuilt with the proper permitting.

  September of 2020 Lavigne Construction was placed under contract by Mr. ****** to complete the construction required by the City. At this time Lavigne Construction received 10% of the total contract value quoting at 10-12 timeline line for construction. Due to COVID construction did not begin until 2021.

   

  During the final stages of construction at ** ***** ****** the homeowner did not feel the stairs as constructed by Lavigne Construction were built to code and would not pass building inspection. Lavigne Construction advised the homeowner Lavigne would handle the building inspector and everything would pass code and inspection.

  At this time Lavigne Construction requested full payment – the homeowner wanted to wait until final inspection had taken place by the City and everything had passed. As per the ******** e-mail Lavigne Construction advised the homeowner unless final payment was received by a certain date and time a lien would placed against the residence. As the intent from the beginning was to sell the residence the homeowner could not afford for a lien to be placed against the residence and full payment was made to Lavigne Construction. Final inspection was conducted after final payment was made and the City of Sudbury did not pass the work completed by Lavigne Construction ****** ** ******** **** *** **** ** ******* **********  

  The homeowner made progress payments in full and as requested by Lavigne Construction. Receipts were provided by Lavigne Construction. Lavigne Construction never provided an official invoice for progress payments only verbal request and milestone payments were made in full by the homeowner at time of request.

   

  Contract between Lavigne Construction and homeowner specifies supply new material and install. A change order was never completed allowing Lavigne to re-use existing materials. A credit was requested by the homeowner for materials re-sued by Lavigne Construction as the cost of  new materials was included in the existing contract.

   

  Items left to be correct by Lavigne Construction after full payment was made and failure to pass building code inspections:

  1) Removal and reconstruction of new stairs – hand/guardrail

  2) Grading of driveway

  3) Main Entrance door installed incorrectly

  4) Correction of poor workmanship on deck

   

   

  Thank you for your assistance.

   

  *****

  

  Business response

  10/02/2022

  As the customer has been made aware, Lavigne Construction is currently investigating with the Head of Building Service department to find out how or why the stairs passed several inspections including the framing inspection by senior inspectors but failed when a junior inspector made a final inspection on what was supposed to be the final inspection on the customers own work. Over the course of the contracted work 4 City inspectors have been on site and it was only on the last inspection, which Lavigne Construction was not a part of, that our work failed.

  Lavigne Construction advised the customers that we would go adjust the door on Friday, Jan 28, 2022. This date was refused by the customer. The following week our employee tested positive for Covid and required isolation. This has delayed our schedule.

  When our inquiries with the City have been properly addressed and we have more information on how to proceed, we will be in contact with the ******s. We will also at that time set a firm date on when the door will be levelled. The grading under the deck will be done in the Spring.

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