Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I contracted Coach House Garages to build a new garage and driveway. 3 weeks after pouring the foundation the walls were cracked. A few weeks later the driveway apron was cracked due to no rock under the pour. They repoured the apron and I made the final payment. Now 6 months later I asked them to repair the very poor job done on the garage floor which has started to crack and pop up. I contacted 2 companies who both immediately said upon seeing the work that it was a very poor job. When asking Coach House to repair the poor job they offered $1005 of reimbursement to have the floor ground down. That is unacceptable for such a large project and I want it fixed correctly, they only want to put a Band-Aid on it.

  

  Business response

  07/05/2023

   

  To Whom it may concern:

  We contracted with *** **** for the garage.  As is outlined in the contract we do not have warranty against cracking of concrete. Industry standard is no one can guarantee concrete from cracking. The first crack *** **** mentions was on the Foundation walls, these are reinforced with steel rebar (the foundation walls aren't going anywhere) furthermore *** **** backfilled up against the wall, when the concrete wall was still new (Green not enough curing of the concrete had elapsed). We are always willing to go above and beyond, as is shown by us tearing out the new driveway that we poured and replacing it with new concrete. As far as cracks in a garage floor: all concrete cracks! That is also why there is steel reinforcement installed in the garage floor. The Crack shouldn't ever widen, but cracks do develop over time; this is normal. These are rarely affecting of the structural integrity. From what we have seen the crack is simply a shrinkage crack that simply is not fix for! As far as *** ***** comment that the finish is poor, this is merely his opinion. There was not promise of a perfect concrete floor finish. We agreed that the finish wasn't as smooth as he would have liked. Additionally on the pop out *** **** refers to, this is merely where a leaf got in under the top layer of cement thus creating a small hole over time. 
  As we did with every issue that *** **** raised, we have been willing to address every issue he has brought to our attention. Our last communication was on 6-13-23 When the attached letter was sent to *** **** from **** *****s. The letter was in response to *** ****** request for us to pay for a new epoxy coating on his garage floor. Since we didn't contract for an epoxy floor, we are not willing to pay for entire epoxy coating but are willing to help with the grinding part of the epoxy project our offer was $1,005.00 we came up with this offer based on the cost to rent the proper equipment and labor to do this work. The small pop-up *** **** describes can easily be repaired prior to the epoxy coating. We are willing to fix the pop up if *** **** chooses to not do the epoxy coating.

  Coach House Garages

   

  Customer response

  07/24/2023

  Coach House Garages had many inaccuracies in their response.

  They said that I backfilled against the wall when the concrete was still green which is totally inaccurate and yet another way they are deflecting the fact that their workmanship was poor.

  The rock that was put in for a retaining wall base did not go all the way to the foundation wall, the retaining wall is over 3' away from the foundation.

  They state that they are "always willing to go above and beyond" as demonstrated by them tearing out part of the new driveway and replacing it. What they didn't mention is that the work was necessary due to their poor workmanship and lack of proper preparation of the surface before they poured the driveway. It is an industry standard that you put a rock base under a new driveway but they did not do that causing the driveway to crack before the garage project was even completed. The only reason I knew about the rock is because my security cameras recorded their actions.

  Coach House said that my comment about the finish on the garage floor was "merely his opinion". That opinion was also shared by 3 other contractors of which one was their contractor that replaced the bad section of the driveway. Their contractor literally said this is a very poor job on all of the concrete finishing before I showed them the garage floor. Their exact words about the garage floor were "they didn't even turn it black" which they explained that they didn't run the power trowel long enough to get the proper finish on the floor. They went on to show me lines in the finish that are from dragging the concrete off with a board which the trowel would have taken off if done properly. There are also numerous footprints in the finish that also would have been removed if the workmanship was adequate. I didn't expect a perfect floor finish but felt that it was reasonable to expect it to be flat and not have footprints in it. 

  The leaf popping out of the finish is just more poor workmanship where they didn't take the time to remove the leaves before finishing the floor. 

  I asked Coach House to have the floor ground level and have an epoxy coating put on it to preserve the floor over the years which they refused. Their solution was to have the floor ground down which would take the top hard layer off the floor and leave it that way. Companies that do concrete grinding recommended doing that and leaving the floor that way. Their solution does not rectify the extremely low spots in the floor. I realize it's a garage but I spent a lot of money to have it built and expected them to correct issues the right way, as their warranty says, instead of dismissing them. The concrete problem is bigger than just my garage as an employee told me that Coach House has had other recent complaints about the poor workmanship of the concrete work on their garages prompting Coach House to find other concrete companies. 

  Their lack of standing behind their warranty has given me no other option than seeking an attorney.

  

  Business response

  07/25/2023

  I will have my sales rep ****** reach out to the consumer directly within the next to few days to arrange a meeting to discuss and resolve this.

  Customer response

  08/17/2023

  I did meet with Coach House on 8/8/23 and they agreed to increase their original offer. I explained to them at that time that I was going to be out of town on business the following week (8/14-8/18) and would search for a company to do the requested work when I returned the week of 8/21/23. This matter is not settled but we are making progress on a resolution.

  Customer response

  08/28/2023

  
  

  Coach House Garages and I have come to a resolution

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