ComplaintsforBuild Brothers

• Initial Complaint

  09/27/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I moved to a new home without AC and I am seeing this contractor had good reputation so I chose it for my HVAC installation. However, after this contractor installed the heat pump, my home got water damaged. No leaking exists prior to HVAC installation. After checking the pipe, we found that the root cause is that the air vent pipe is not secured on the drain line which can be easily budged and then contractor still drill a big hole (potentially move the tube off its location) and used it to drain the condensate line. Hence the water damage happened as picture shown. The contractor refuses to take any responsibility.

  Business response

  09/28/2021

  We did install air conditioning for this customer. Standard and industry acceptable methods of draining condensation include tapping and connecting to existing black ABS plumbing that is already present in the walls and attic of a home. Our attachment to this black drain line was secure and water tight. The customers home unfortunately had dysfunctional plumbing that had come apart in the walls of the home. There was no way for us to know this as it was buried within the wall. Its highly unlikely that our drilling into this line in the attic somehow "budged" connections within the wall apart. The pipe was very secure at the "top plate" and above in the attic where we attached. If, in fact our drilling did transfer some wiggle down line and cause the drain pipe to come apart, that would still be considered a faulty connection. A slight wiggle of the pipe, that is secured to framing at multiple spots, would not cause the pipe offset that we found in the wall. The cause of the leak, was in fact a faulty connection point within the wall that was present before and after we installed the ***** The new HVAC simply increased the volume of water present in the pipe and accelerated the presentation of the problem. Its our opinion that the accelerated presentation of the existing problem with the plumbing is a "GOOD THING". A separated black ABS drain/sewer line within the walls of a home can and will cause many long term problems including but not limited to: mold, mildew, sewage gas pockets, rain water leakage etc. Although I'm sure it was unpleasant to deal with this problem, we firmly believe exposure of the problem is much better then letting something like this fester over years. We stand behind all of our work here at Build Brothers and we donated much time and experience in tracking down the problem for the owner. Unfortunately we can not offer any warranty or guarantee of a home's pre existing defects.

  Customer response

  09/28/2021

  It is true that the plumbing of the home do exists some pre existing condition.

  However, I just want to quote from another contractor who fixed my problem: the way how they put the condensate line is directly drilling a big hole on the *** tube and sealing it with tape, which is not a standard practice.

  The correct way should be cutting a piece of pipe and replacing it with a tee and pipe couplings. The Ac installers did not do that which will prevent this disaster. The other contractor believed it is ***** responsibility since the ac installers

  should be able to find the disconnected pipe issue when they did the correct way. 

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