Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/28/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased foundation repair from Dalinghaus. This included stem wall repair and piers. They were to refill cement removed to do the work. They did this uneven. The also did a sloppy job on the stem wall. They were working with me to get this corrected but have stopped. There is still an area of stem wall cement that needs to be removed from the brick and two cement patches that need to be redone. The cement is supposed to be level with the patio. No dip around the cement. They also cracked the patio while working on the cement patches. They gave attempted to get this correct four times unsuccessfully and are refusing to finish correcting their errors. Despite telling me they would correct the faulty work they are now saying their contract is complete. Their work was sloppy and unacceptable. I had higher expectations for what I paid.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/31/2024

  I have reached out to ****** to address her concerns and I am currently awaiting a response.  We have every intention to come up with a solution to her concerns.

  I can update the response once I have received a response from ******.

   

  Thank you

  ***** Dalinghaus

  Co-Founder

  Dalinghaus Construction, Inc

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/14/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Bait and switch. I obtained multiple quotes for my foundation. Dalinghaus Construction quoted me 19 piers to stabilize my home. I questioned why their competitors were quoting me over 30 piers; and they reassured me I was being over quoted by their competitors. Long story short, I went with Dalinghaus. During construction, a rep (***** F) came by to drop off some tools and found that 19 piers would not be enough. They said I needed 14 more piers (totaling 33– same as their competitors). I’m stuck because I cannot leave my home half stabilized. No other reputable company would complete the job if another company started it. I was obligated to move forward with Dalinghaus. No one called to apologize for the misstep. They invoiced me and could care less how much this would affect my family. They proceeded to install14 more piers but left 14 large holes— they said backfilling was not part of the scope of work, while the original 19 were backfilled. Insanely strange why they think I wanted 14 large holes at my home. So this is where they gave me a “discount.” They backfilled the holes for free. Free? It should be included in the work. All in all, why do I have to pay for a mistake of this magnitude? I’ve tried to work it out with them peacefully but they have not provided me anything that would make this right. Only excuses why they should not compensate me. They have no integrity. They only care about their reputation at this point (they want my bbb review taken down). I would like to be compensated for the 14 additional piers that were missed from the original quote. 14 additional piers is a completely new job, not a “new work order.” They are the professional and should have done a more thorough assessment to provide me an accurate quote. Their competitors seemed to have done so but I was sadly duped by Dalinghaus. They baited me in and switched the price after the work started. $38k is a lot to lose. I have 2 small children and a home that needs to be completed.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/22/2022

  We provided the client a bid based on the floor readings that we initially had. There was another company who had recommended additional piers, but we have run into that before, where other companies add additional items that are not always needed. We don't try to have clients spend additional money if the readings of the floor elevations don't indicate that it's needed.

  
  

  During the construction phase, the client's husband had begun to remove the tile in the house, and that was when it was discovered that there had been 3-4" of self-leveling placed down before they had tiled. There was also a crack that was now visible. *****, took measurements again, and recommended additional work based on what was discovered with how much the floors were floated. We weren't trying to "dupe" the client. The previous homeowner had appeared to know there were issues and why they had to self-level as much as they did before laying the tile.

  
  

  We completed the work and we did backfill the locations, we didn't pour back the concrete for the 14 locations because the site foreman was advised from the client's husband to follow the contract. The pour back was not in the change order. It then turned into "miscommunication" and we ended up just pouring the locations back for them. The house was vacant while the work was being performed.

  
  

  All in all, we removed and replaced the concrete in those 14 locations for free (we normally charge), we did a discount. Before the complaint was filed, we offered another $6500 back to the client because we understood that there was additional cost and we were trying to help out with eating some of those costs. The $6500 discount was denied because the client wanted over $30,000 back, the full amount of the change order. If you include the $6500, we would have offered a total of $11,900 discount, including the other discount and the concrete removal and replacement that we didn't charge.

  
  

  The project was Engineered and Permitted, and has been signed off by the City.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/27/2022

  I am rejecting this response because: Dalinghaus' claim and actions are unethical and lacks integrity. Dalinghaus does not act with integrity (quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness). A reputable company that has integrity would take full ownership of their mistakes and make it right for their customers. Dalinghaus apologized (admitting fault for the misstep after many complaints from me) but will not follow through and make it right financially. It is unethical to stick the customer with the bill for something of this magnitude. They have never taken the initiative to remedy this situation. I have ALWAYS had to make the first call, then beg, pled, and escalate my frustrations. I have waited 2 long months to escalate this (outside of Dalinghaus), hoping they would initiate some kind of compromise/resolution. Sadly, nothing. Now that I have made a complaint to the BBB, the apologies and "more" discounts are surfacing.

   

  Proposal:

  Dalinghaus received an engineering report from me. I hired an engineer to assess my foundation prior to searching for bids to repair my foundation. Competitors were also sent the same engineer report and made their own assessments. And their competitors included visible cracks on their proposals, so Dalinghaus had this information for the initial assessment (please see supporting documents). The cracks in my home have been there for over 10 years. How would I know there was self -leveling under my tiles? I'm just homeowner. These tiles have been here for many decades. If my house faces West, I questioned the southside of my home (areas that Dalinghaus did not show piers to be installed). As professionals, they should have made another assessment, asked me if I was going to replace my floors, or tell me my floors needed to be ripped up to make a more thorough assessment. My questions were met with blanket answers: "you are being over quoted." Unfortunately for me during construction, it was proven that their competitors were right this time, and they provided more a thorough assessment of my foundation. It is clear that the additional piers could have been caught in their initial assessment but was missed due to arrogance-- which resulted in the work order of 15 (later 14) additional piers. I did my due diligence by asking questions; and in the end, I needed what their competitors were not "over quoting" me for which is why I have a huge issue with this company and the outcome of my project. This is a bait and switch situation. I was duped. I understand that during construction, things will be uncovered, and work orders are necessary, but not of this magnitude. A work order should consist of 1-5 additional piers. The work order I received is for a whole new job.  

   

  Discounts:
  I do not know what arbitrary discounts they are talking about ($11,900 — which included the $6500 that I “rejected”). Here are the facts, which THEIR work order supports:

  1. The work order was for 15 (later 14) additional piers had a $1500 discount (because I complained) -- this is a true discount. Then I talked to the owner (***** D) and he gave me another discount of $1200 ($2700 total of real discounts). There is a line item of $2400 as a discount (removing a pier that is not needed.. going from 15 to 14 piers), but this line is to balance their books. If I only needed 14 piers (instead of 15), then that is not a discount. However if they installed 15 and gave me that discount, then that would be a "real discount." Back to the $6500 discount that I rejected, if they felt I’m entitled to the money, they should have just given it to me. Why do I have to accept or reject it? All in all, $2700 was all that was given to me for the work order, not $5400 that they claim.

  2. Their work order says "**Concrete to be grey and broom finish** Price included in helical pier installation"--- What does this mean? From a customer's perspective, it sounds like concrete will be poured in the color grey with a broom finish. "To be" is future tense. So Dalinghaus' claim that the contract did not include concrete for the 14 additional piers is false! Therefore, giving me the concrete for "free" is not a valid discount.

  
  

  Kudos to ***** F.:

  Due to character restrictions, I was never able to acknowledge ***** F. from Dalinghaus. He has been great. He has been empathic and responsive, but does not make the "big" decisions so he is not who I need to talk to at this point in my dilemma. He did the right thing and spoke up when he saw an issue. He has been the only employee that I have interacted with that has displayed true integrity. They need more people like him representing the company. I strongly believe that his team let him down. Unfortunately, the company has not displayed any integrity in my situation. I should not have to tell them how to act and do what is right. They should provide what is owed to me without having me go through obstacles to get it.  

   

  Conclusion:

  It’s been over 2 months with no real resolution. So yes, I want to be compensated for my miserable and long-winded experience. I've given them ample time to make things right; and now, I have to speak up and speak out. What they did was not right, and I cannot allow my community to be victims in this trap. Word of mouth among neighbors is undeniably strong. I have had so many neighbors and friends that have come to me. We all face the same foundation issues. And I cannot recommend/refer them to Dalinghaus because of this unresolved situation. Two neighbors and a friend went with their competitors and did not even entertain getting a quote from Dalinghaus. I will gladly take down any reviews if they do what is right. Why should I  be responsible for 100% of the second invoice? They are the professionals and should advise me to pull up my flooring to provide an accurate and safe assessment. The flooring would have needed to be replaced in the process anyway. In this case, their competitors were right and Dalinghaus under quoted me.

   

  ** Please see attachment for supporting documents **

  
  
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/07/2022

  Dalinghaus Construction has had numerous conversations with ***** to try and come to a compromised decision in regards to the additional work that was discovered to be needed to reach the owner's desired project outcome.

  
  

  We have attached the engineering report that was provided to us by SD Engineering.  There was no mention within the report that there were sections of the house where the floors have been "floated" to cover the fact that there had been settlement in the area where the additional work was performed.

  Based on the attached floor elevation survey, that is attached, that was taken during the time of the original inspection by Dalinghaus Construction on April 12, 2022, there shows no need for the additonal piers to have been installed, unless as a future preventative measure.  We even proposed an additional 2 piers at the time prior to the agreement being signed that were declined by the owner and to proceed with the original, cheaper,  contract scope of work.  Both the declined proposal for the 2 additional piers and the repair plan for that work, that was declined, is attached Declined Proposal.

  
  

  We have attached pictures of the float material being removed by the owners with a timestamp date of July 25, 2022, 3 months after our inspection was performed.

  
  

  In regards to the discount on the concrete, we did not charge the owner for the additional concrete work that was needed for the additional piers.  Concrete removal and replacement in the areas where piers are needing to be installed is at an additional charge of $300 per location.  As you can see from CO#3 in the description it states that the price of the 15 concrete removal locations were waived by Dalinghaus Construction.  This resulted in a $4,500 discount that was not charged to the owner.  You can see from the original approved contract, attached Approved Contract, that concrete removal and replacement has a charge associated with it.

  
  

  ***** has made claims numerous times to Dalinghaus Construction that she wants the entirety of CO#3 to be covered by us.  This was additional work that was needed and accepted by the owner for the price that was proposed, see attached CO#3.  We do not agree with this claim and will not be supplying any additional reduction in price.

  
  

  If the owner would have gone with one of the other companies to repair her home, she would have not received this much of a price reduction from their bid for the additional piers.  We have been fair with the amount of discounts that we have provided based on the unforeseen circumstances.

  
  

  
  

  We agree that ***** F. is a great and knowledgeable person and he has been very instrumental with the continued conversations with the owner.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/11/2022

   I am rejecting this response because:

  DALINGHAUS: There was no mention within the report that there were sections of the house where the floors have been "floated" to cover the fact that there had been settlement in the area where the additional work was performed.

  RESPONSE: The SD Engineering report does not say it BUT it does say "This report is not to be relied upon by any other parties." (See attachment, SD Engineering report) SD Engineering does not work for Dalinghaus. Therefore, they need to do their own assessment and cross reference it with what I provided. I felt that **** C should have done a more in-depth assessment again to see why their competitors were all saying I needed more, instead of assuming that I was being overquoted. This is a huge safety issue. As mentioned, there were visible cracks in the home during their assessment. As a protocol, they should have the homeowner pull up all their flooring since putting in the epoxy will damage them anyway. That way, they can see if the home has been floated or not. Homeowners would not know this information.

   

  DALINGHAUS: We even proposed an additional 2 piers at the time prior to the agreement being signed that were declined by the owner and to proceed with the original, cheaper,  contract scope of work. 

  RESPONSE: The proposal with the additional 2 piers was initiated by me. I expressed my concerns many times with Mark C, and to make me feel "comfortable" he added 2 more piers to a proposal but continued to say "I don't think it's necessary." (See attachment, **** C). Please read the whole conversation as well. So, I "declined" the proposal. Would 2 make a difference? I needed a dozen more. Is Dalinghaus pointing the finger at me that I refused 2 piers that were "not necessary?"

   

  DALINGHAUS: As you can see from CO#3 in the description it states that the price of the 15 concrete removal locations were waived by Dalinghaus Construction. 

  RESPONSE: This CO#3 is VERY deceiving. Why was this line item missing the $4500 discount value? Now an arbitrary value is thrown out for the cost. It says it's included in the installation with the color and finish. Not sure this can come off as a discount. A discount would look like this to a customer (see attachment, CO3)

   

  DALINGHAUS: If the owner would have gone with one of the other companies to repair her home, she would have not received this much of a price reduction from their bid for the additional piers. 

  RESPONSE: That is something for me to decide, not Dalinghaus. They cannot and should not make this decision for me. But sadly they have. The principle is, they should not lure me in with a low price, then kick it up their price to match their competitors. I had no choice but to move forward. I think Dalinghaus is missing the point here. If I knew walking into this project with Dalinghaus I would be down $100k, then I'm prepared for that. But I didn't. And they are the reason behind that. They've apologized and have admitted fault many times so I'm unsure why my decisions are up for discussion. I'm feeling those apologies were not sincere to begin with.

   

  Truthfully if Dalinghaus initially approached this situation with, "hey we made a mistake there's a lot more that needs to be done. How about we go half on the invoice so we both share the burden?" I would have 100% respect for that solution. Unfortunately, I was met with so many excuses in the beginning, then apologies after my review was posted. I felt duped with their lack of professionalism and empathy during that time. I get things can be missed during their assessment and things will be uncovered during construction, but 14 additional piers? That's excessive. I wish things worked out differently and I wish our situation was handled with more care than me having to continually ask for discounts to bring justice to the burden that was place upon me and my family.

   

  If they feel I am still owed $6500 and nothing more, then I'll accept it and we can close the complaint. I'm tired of having to write an entire essay to get my point across. 

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/18/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Our house has a sinking foundation which led to a difference of 3.6 inches at its worst, so earlier this year we contacted Dalinghaus Construction, Inc. Dalinghaus gave us an estimate and assured us verbally that they could lift at least 3 out of the 3.6 inches, thus leaving a difference of 0.6 inches. We signed the contract on March 23, 2022, with the total price quoted as $53,289. We transferred $30,232, over half of the fee, before the scheduled start date, May 24, 2022. Dalinghaus did not adhere to its verbal assurance during the lifting process and the final result was that the house was only lifted 1.5 inches, well off the original 3 inch guarantee. The rest of the house’ foundation was not changed significantly. After we communicated our displeasure that their service did not meet our expectations, Dalinghaus continues to shirk their responsibility by using the excuse that the house is too heavy. Either the Dalinghaus’ salesperson was not qualified to give a correct estimation of how much they could fix, or the workers were not capable of completing the task. Regardless, this is not our fault that Dalinghaus’ poor job did not meet the minimum industry standard, which did not result in our house being lifted adequately. When we discussed the possibility of getting a discount for the poor service we were rudely refused. Dalinghaus is not willing to bear any loss caused by their failure, which resulted in fifteen cement cracks in our backyard and more than fifty floor tile cracks in our house. The stucco was also broken, which by professional estimation will cost at least $50,000 to fix. From the very beginning, Dalinghaus made false claims and false promises to us. We think they are no better than frauds and scam artists!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/01/2022

  I have reached out to the customer and I am currently awaiting a return call to discuss their complaint.

  
  

  ***** Dalinghaus

  Dalinghaus Construction, Inc

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