ComplaintsforPriority One Construction

• Initial Complaint

  01/18/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I signed a contract with Priority One Construction(*****************************) on 07/11/2023 and according to the contract he was supposed to finish construction on 09/11/2023. Today is 1/10/2024 and Contractor did only 5% of the construction. Priority One Construction changed construction deadline three times. The first deadline was 09/11/2023, then 11/11/2023, then 12/01/2023. After 12/01/2023 Priority One Construction did not give me a new construction deadline at all and Priority One Construction requested me to sign a new contract with new construction deadline and new terms and conditions and he also requested additional money for work that is not in the contract. I did not agree to sign a new contract, because I have a valid contract with Priority One Construction and he already passed the construction deadline. Priority One Construction passed the construction deadline and according to my contract with him Priority One Construction owes me $105,000 at this moment . Priority One Construction did not return me my $54,587 that I paid him for performing construction at the bakery. I agreed to void his debt of $105,000 and remove my claims from CSLB and his Insurance Bond if he refunds me my $54,587 that I paid him. 7 days ago Contractor agreed to refund me my $54,587 with the condition that he will keep $9,587 for 5% of the work he did. He said that his attorney will prepare an agreement and he will refund me $45,000 after I sign the agreement. I agreed for his offer, because I am tired of constantly waiting for his responses. After I agreed for his offer, he stopped responding to my text and email messages. Please help me protect my consumer rights and persuade him to speed up my refund, because I don't have the money to do construction at my bakery. And I am suffering huge financial losses like paying rent, paying business loans, paying for equipment financing. I am afraid that Priority One Construction will take a long time until he gives me my refund.

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  To clarify the details: project start date was 08/22/23. The additional work that was mentioned were changes presented to me when we picked up the plans and there were hand written changes on the plans. Other changes included additional work that was requested by the plumbing inspector which can be verified with the city. Regardless of these changes that were out of my control, the client still insisted that they should not pay for them and the deadline should remain the same even though I would have to do more work on my end. Since there was so much animosity from my clients side regarding deadlines, changes and extra expenses I proposed we draft an addition to the contract to detail the changes and new deadline. This client was so used to me responding to emails, texts and calls that after not responding immediately they decided to find another contractor and told me that I have 2 days to get my belongings and get out. My mistake was not getting that in writing.
  

  To not further complicate anyones life or have anymore dealings with these individuals, I am going to do my best to settle and come to an agreement with them.

  Customer response

  02/07/2024

   
  Complaint: 21130158
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This is all lies. We signed the contract on 7/11/2023. The term of the construction completion according to the contract was 2 months. After 5 months 5% of the work was done. Priority One Construction (*****************************) has not appeared at the bakery for months. Other General Contractors told me that this project will take maximum 1 month to complete because the premises are small, only 750 Square Feet. On my questions ***************************** responded with irritation "What do you want from me? This is how Construction is done in the ***". I don't understand why ***** signed the contract with 2 month construction completion if he knows that he will not be able finish the project in 2 months. I am not a person who likes conflicts and arguments, but ***************************** managed to bring this construction issue till this conflicting point and still he is not even trying to remove the conflict with me. I went to the bakery every day to see if there was progress in construction, however the bakery was locked, there was noone working at the bakery. If I saw that ***** was at least trying to finish the project on-time and there were in fact delays that were out of his control, I would give him more time to finish the project. However ***** didn't even try, he just took my money and I believe he was busy with other projects, that's why he never had time to work on my project. There was no animosity from my side towards ***** at all, I as a client who paid a lot of money for the service wanted ***** to perform that service. I did feel animosity towards me from his side when he yelled at me several times on the phone. I even patiently waited another 3 months after the construction deadline was over to give ***** every possible chance to fix the situation. Unfortunately I cannot financially and physically give ***** ************************************************************ place so that a sane person would plan ahead of time and finish the project on-time. There were hand-written changes of the architect approved by City Hall of ******** in the blueprints which ***** saw when he picked up the blueprints. ***** picked up the blueprints, I didn't even hold the blueprints in my hands. Every time ***** tried to find some issues to increase the amount of the construction contract. And every time ***** changed the construction deadline of the project. When he changed the construction deadline for the 3rd time and when he requested to sign a new contract with new deadlines and terms, I understood that he will never finish construction. It's against the Law for a Contractor to take money for the job not yet performed and for materials not yet delivered. By law he was supposed to take 10% of the total contract amount($9,000), but he took $58,587. And in a month he requested me to pay him another $6,000. I think that it is fraudulent activities. I filed claims to CSLB, Insurance Bond, and I'm getting ready to file a lawsuit against his company. On 1/3/2024 ***************************** told me that he will refund me my money and that his lawyer will on an agreement. Since then there's been another absolute silence from *****************************. ***************************** is not refunding me my money and not offering any solutions to our dispute for already 8 months. It seems to me that he is using my money as a 0% loan and he is not refunding me my money for the work that he has not performed. I think that it is scam. 

  Sincerely,
  
  Elmira Beishenova

  Customer response

  03/15/2024

  Priority One Construction solved my dispute with him to my satisfaction. 

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