Customer ReviewsforS.F. Pauli Builders, Inc.

An extremely satisfying experience. S.F. Pauli Builders is in my opinion the "Gold Standard" in craftsmanship. Pauli installed a series of interior doors. As the work was completed months ago, I have waited till now to provide my review. There is not one single flaw in their craftsmanship. Every door reflects work done by a carpenter who truly cares about quality work. Highly recommend!

Thank you so very much for your kind words! It was a pleasure to work you and your project(s). We look forward to helping you on your next project.

Pauli Builders worked on a complicated project for us that included moving a door, removing a portion of wall, and both carpet and tile flooring. They worked hard to match flooring with the surrounding area and everything turned out great! Easy to work with and provided so much expertise to make our project a success.

Thank you very much for your encouragement and positive words Abby!

The plumber working with this company would not let us know when he was planning to be there. Wouldn’t call to let anyone know that he couldn’t make it. And, charged us for those supposed times he couldn’t get any one to answer the door! In the mean-time; I had to hire another plumber, who, told me the cost upfront. Made a schedule and let me know when he planned to be there. He contacted me as he was on his way. Did the work, cleanly, finished it in two days! Then, sent me an itemized list of what it cost him to do it. I gladly paid him. But, now, Pauli Builder’s is threatening to sue me for charges of work they refuse to verify. I never said I wouldn’t pay them! I asked for cost list to see what they were charging me for. Plus, I gave them 30%, down to start the job! Jeremy L******* keeps sending a blank list of the proposed contract. Not an actual “cost list”. What it cost his company to seal up the dining room for demolition, ceiling tear-down, and hauled away debris, floor safety cover, installed 1dining room light, switch repair, line fisher, switch box, labor for electrical work, plumber cleared old water lines of debris, and left a leaky faucet that was actually, new, more work they could have gotten from us! I feel like I need help communicating with this company. I have pictures, videos and receipts to show what I’m saying. But, Mr. L******* refuses to show me verification of the $3385.00, charges. For, the above work just described. I still don’t have a ceiling! And, now, I’m afraid to go forward with this. I asked for verification of the charges and he says he can’t work with me. He’ll be asking his lawyer to deal with me!

Mrs. Mogged, we are very sorry to hear that your review of S.F. Pauli Builders Inc. is not a favorable one. For over 45 years, Pauli Builders has been a reliable name for craftsmanship and integrity throughout the greater Peoria area. While we strive to meet all our client’s specifically requested needs, we are not always able to fully appease a client. This is largely based on the client’s perspective of scope of work, timelines, and expected detailed information. As a General Contractor, it is our role to oversee the entirety of the project for our clients. This includes the scheduling and management of our Trade Partners (sub-contractors). This does not always translate into us controlling the information that we are provided in the invoicing submitted by the Trade Partners who have worked on your project. It is apparent that the crux of your frustration is mainly with the plumber, and the $600.00 (4 service calls) that was charged to you. There are a few important items to note regarding the plumbing. First, your Pauli Builders Project Manager (PM) is your point of communication for your project. On any given day, Pauli Builders may have staff carpenters and our Trade Partners on up to nine or more active job sites. This volume of work requires each Pauli Builders PM to be the “hub” for communications to enable our PMs to be able to speak and inform our Trade Partners and clients of their project’s status. Your complaint of our plumber not contacting you directly is one of the misperceptions, as it is your PM who is tasked to call and inform you of the plumber’s arrival time window. When a client works with a specific trade directly, that tradesman (plumber in this instance) will contact you directly as you are one who contacted the requested tradesman directly. This is not the case with your project as the plumber was in communication with your PM. It is important to note that our plumber has been licensed and certified for Plumbing and HVAC for twenty-eight (28) years. Your Pauli Builders PM received your call later that day where you again complained that “the plumber did nothing”! Your PM explained what our plumber inspected and that your plumbing (as requested), while it may not be attractive, was up to code and showed not leaking anywhere. The plumber did provide an “estimate” of $1500.00 to $1800.00 to replace all the cast iron plumbing you questioned, but it appeared that no action or decision was taken on your part to confirm the additional estimated work to be done to replace the functional plumbing. Those multiple trips were documented for the following dates: Thursday, January 6, 2022: Your Pauli PM verified with you that the plumber with be at your home the following morning (01/07/2022) to begin repair/replace the plumbing issues. Friday, January 7, 2022: VISIT # 1 The plumber fixed the original plumbing issues. You were not there to speak with the plumber but had a teenage boy there to meet the plumber on his first visit. The plumber cleaned out the water supply lines due to large mineral and debris build up in the lines. This large amount of buildup was due to the aged, galvanized pipes that were installed when the home was originally built. The plumber greatly increased your water pressure in volume. Later that day, you contacted your PM to complain that the plumber “did nothing”. Your PM asked if you had checked the water pressure prior to calling. You stated you had not, and you checked the pressure with your PM on the phone. You stated that the pressure was fixed and good. During this call you stated that the plumber did not fix the cast iron plumbing drain trap and that you were concerned it was not to code. Your PM immediately contacted the plumber. The plumber stated that the plumbing in question was up to code, but the plumber said he would schedule another service visit to again look at the item of concern with the homeowner. Monday, January 10, 2022: VISIT # 2 The plumber returned to find that you were not there to meet him, but you again had the teenage boy be the point of contact for your concern. The plumber again inspected all the exposed plumbing and conveyed that all plumbing was up to code. This service call was to only meet with you (B******) to verify that the cast iron plumbing was up to code. During this visit, the teen that was tasked with meeting the plumber stated that the kitchen sink faucet was leaking, and that the plumber needed to repair that. Our plumber informed the young man that he works for Pauli Builders, and he was not given any instructions to repair a leaking faucet. It is vital to note that Pauli Builders was not aware of, nor ever had a request to repair a leaking sink. This request was a new “change order” and was not included or known about in the original “Estimated Work Agreement” you signed. Our plumber conveyed the young man’s request to your Pauli PM. Your Pauli PM did speak with you about the leaking faucet and scheduled a third service call for our plumber. Thursday, January 20, 2022: Your Pauli Builders PM called and spoke with you over the phone regarding the leaking faucet. The PM stated that our plumber would make your home his first stop of the day. This was to “squeeze in” your additional work to an already fully booked plumber schedule. Friday, January 21, 2022: VISIT # 3 On the plumber’s third visit to your home; he arrived at your home at 7:02 am, knocked on the door repeatedly, and waited until 7:16 am. There was no answer of the door, nor any vocal communication “through” a door or window to inform the plumber that you were home. Therefore, the plumber needed to leave and could not spend more time there as he was under the impression no one was home after fifteen (15) minutes of waiting. As the plumber drove to his next job site, he called the Pauli PM and informed him that “no one was home to answer the door”. Shortly after the Pauli Builders PM spoke with the plumber, you (B******) called your Pauli PM to say that the plumber, “didn’t wait for you and left”. I am not aware of the time lapse from when the plumber left your home to the time you contacted your Pauli PM, but based on my conversation with the plumber, he was not contacted by the Pauli PM regarding your call until he had almost arrived at his next scheduled job site. The Pauli PM understood your clear agitation over the phone and made the decision to submit your phone number to the plumber so that a direct and understood time to meet could happen between the two of you. The plumber called you shortly after 2:00 pm on that same day of you not answering the door. When he called you did not answer the phone and the plumber left you a voicemail message. The plumber stated about ten (10) to fifteen (15) minutes later you called him back asking why he wasn’t there. The plumber stated he was only calling to schedule another appointment directly with you to fix your leaking faucet (not in the original bid). The plumber conveyed to me that your reply was, “I will call **** (Pauli PM)”. You did get in contact with you Pauli PM and scheduled the plumber to come to your home for a fourth (4th) time. Our Pauli Builders office manager phoned you and conformed that date and time with you. Tuesday, February 1, 2022: VISIT # 4 The plumber arrived at you home at approximately 1:00 pm to repair your leaking faucet. He looked over the problem. He stated he needed to pick up the materials and would have it taken care of. Your Pauli PM contacted and informed you that the plumber would be back to the home in the morning for the repair. Wednesday, February 2, 2022: The Pauli PM received a call on his cell phone from you where you stated, “we are done here. I guess I will find someone else to take care of the other things”. Your PM took you at your word and called the plumber to tell him to not return to repair the faucet. As per your request, Pauli Builders stopped all work on your project. It is vital to notate that the entirety of your agreed upon scope of work for plumbing in your “Estimated Work Agreement” was 100% completed on the first visit by the plumber. All subsequent delays were for work outside the original scope of work, and were delays caused by you not being present at any of the four (4) service calls performed by the plumber. Each plumbing service call is a base fee of $150.00 plus any materials used. You have only been charged for four (4) service calls at $150.00 each for a total of $600.00 to date, as reflected on your invoice. We have no detailed material costs lists to submit for your review for two (2) reasons. The first is that the minimum charge for the four (4) visits is the only charge being applied to you. The second reason there are no details for materials costs provided, is because you are not being charged for ANY materials. Our office was invoiced by our plumbing trade partner for only four (4) service call visits at the minimal base charge. I submitted a text email to you with this explained in much less detail. However, it appears that I did not provide you information in the format that you desired. I apologize for not being able to meet your specifications on the information. You stated in your complaint, “I gave them 30%, down to start the job”! That is correct. Pauli Builders did receive your deposit for the “Estimated Work Agreement” in the amount of $1,952.00. That paid deposit amount was applied to your final invoice #10081 that was submitted to you on February 15, 2022. This final invoiced amount was for ALL work performed up to February 2, 2022, in the total amount of $3,385.00. Pauli Builders subtracted your deposit payment of $1,952.00 from the total invoice amount. This brought your final balance owed to Pauli Builders to $1,433.00. In my email I sent to you on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at 12:22pm, I listed each service line item and the charge for service. There were no line items for plumbing material(s) costs because you were not charged for any plumbing materials, only the four (4) service calls by the plumber. I am sorry if you feel my response was, “a blank list of the proposed contract. Not an actual “cost list”. The list I submitted you included the hours worked for each Pauli employee and the completed work, as per the work agreement, up to the point of you severing our working relationship. You were provided all the information on your project that our office had to provide. You stated in your complaint that Pauli Builders, “left a leaky faucet that was actually new”. This is an item that was never included, or even mentioned in the original “Estimated Work Agreement”. This was an item to repair that was added later. As mentioned prior, the plumber did come to your home to inspect the problem and the plumber had purchased the needed parts to repair when you contacted your Pauli PM to inform him of your cancellation of work agreement. Neither Pauli Builders, nor our plumber, left any faucet damaged or overlooked. Another element of your complaint reads, “I still don’t have a ceiling! And, now, I’m afraid to go forward with this. I asked for verification of the charges and he says he can’t work with me”. I again need to point out that you do not have a finished ceiling due to you cancelling your work agreement in the middle of the project. We can not come into a home to finish a ceiling we were working on when the homeowner has discharged us from the property. Your final statement in your complaint was, ”He’ll be asking his lawyer to deal with me!” Mrs. M*****, I attempted to speak with you over the phone, but I was repeatedly interrupted, and I could not complete a statement or explanation to your questions and concerns. I ended the phone conversation when you exclaimed, “I know, I know. You are rich and mean”! I immediately followed up the phone conversation with an email that explained the reason for the costs. In that email, I also included our company’s policy and process for clients who we are not able to come to a timely agreement on payments. That process is to hand the client’s open balance file to our business attorney for documentation as there are state laws and timeframes Pauli Builders must follow in the event of needed litigation. After multiple emails responses from you stating that you would not pay and repeatedly demanded a detailed itemization of all products, time, and materials, you only gave a final response of, “Your plumber didn’t do anything to deserve $600.00”! This final response conveyed the message that we were not going to be able to come to an agreement between the two of us. Therefore, I followed the company policy to hand the file over to Dennis M****** of H***** *** ******* This is not an action taken to be “mean”, but to be a good business citizen as it would not benefit either of us to continue to disagree on the same items repeatedly. Your complaint to the BBB is the correct way to follow up on a concern with a local business if you feel that the business you have been dealing with is not being honest or fair with products and/or services. I have clearly explained the reasoning and justifications of your final invoice. I trust that this response more than answers all your questions. Finally, I hope that you can see that our company did not choose to pursue the full amount of the “Estimated Work Agreement” in the amount of $6,505.00. Instead, Pauli Builders has only charged you for the work performed up to February 2, 2022. Thank you for your time.