ComplaintsforCentennial Construction & Remodeling Services, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  09/30/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We paid Centennial Construction (CC) a design fee of $1,500.00 (in April) to plan and design for renovations discussed with the owner, Mr. B. Ash. CC is now (end of Sept.) billing us an additional design fee of $1,450.00, despite the fact that: 1) CC never finalized the design, so it was never approved or signed-off by us (homeowners). Under the design contract, any further fees were to be due “Once the design has been approved and signed off by the homeowner.” 2) CC never informed us that the initial design payment of $1,500 had been exhausted and that additional design hours/charges were being incurred, until an Aug. 16 text. 3) CC never provided any design documents, despite having been paid $1,500 (in April). 4) No renovation work was ever done; Mr. Ash effectively walked away from the project on Aug. 20. So, as such, we feel the additional fee is not justified. When we shared these concerns with Mr. Ash, he replied: “Im a reasonable person, but I can’t say that about you both.”

  

  Business response

  10/07/2021

  October 6, 2021

  Re:  Resolve complaint #15922487 filed by Dave and Diane Maruszewski.

   I do apologize for this inconvenience, but the owners are in the driver’s seat during this process.

  I do understand how they feel, but a design agreement is still an agreement.  It is not the contractor’s fault that the process took months.  It is also not our fault that the material cost went thru the roof this year. This process can be quick & sweet or take more time depending on the owners.  We have signed 12 agreements this year.  With 8 moving forward, 3 are in the process and this one, which did not move to contract.

  I will provide a time line for the process of designing, estimating and final cost for the project. Each time there is a scope change it causes there to be more design time to accommodate the changes and the cost of those changes. 

   We want to and have tried to communicate with the Maruszewski why there is a final cost due above the initial design fee we received. The signed design retainer included 8 hours of design time.  All hours would be tracked and any time over 8 hours to be charged at $100.00 per hour. There were 14.5 design hours over the 8 hour agreement.

   February 2, 2021 - I met with Dave to discuss the project.  Diane was not there.  I then prepared an estimate based on our meeting. At this time there are no drawings or specifications, just a conceptual thought of what the remodel might be.

  February 19, 2021 - The rough estimate was prepared with items noting 6 different components to the remodel. This rough estimate are approximate cost of the project.  Final hard numbers are achieved as the process proceeds with the Design and Build Retainer Agreement.   An estimate is not a signed contract.  The scope has to be finalized with drawings, a specification spreadsheet prepared to reveal the final cost. Then a contract can be signed.

  Diane then called and did a phone interview with me and asked for references.  We provided those references to her. We pride ourselves on customer service and the fact our clients often become lifetime clients.

  April 27, 2021 they then reached out and selected us as their contractor and signed the design agreement

  April 28, 2021 – When we met the rough estimate scope was completely changed. Diane wanted a first floor master suite remodel done where the living room and dining room was currently.  This was a new scope added.

  June 25, 2021 – 2 PM meeting with 1^st round of drawings and a new rough estimate cost was given based on the changes plus 2 material price increases.  The meeting then had me adding more changes for additional work.

  July 23, 2021 – Presented new drawings and prepared contract with the final spec pages

  Contract not signed. Due to sticker shock 1^st floor was then removed from scope adding more work and prices of material continued to increase. They started moving backwards.  While other clients continued to sign contracts.

  August 4, 2021 – 11AM again updating drawings due more changes to the scope.  Taking work out that they will do themselves.   Once again moving backwards.

  August 11, 2021 during a conference call meeting more changes were made for 4^th redraw of scope. Told them there would be no more drawings until we sign a contract.  They asked for the final cost to be estimated.

  August 16, 2021 -3:29 PM I sent a text message with the final cost and upon approval I would prepare the contracts a final drawings.  I also stated that at this time they were over the initial design time by 14.5 hours.  That fee would be waived when they signed the contract. 

  August 18, 2021 – They called and asked for a copy of the design agreement which we provided.

  August 24, 2021 – There was no communication after that between August 18 and 24. We then emailed an invoice for the 14.5 hours of additional design time.   

  September 24, 2021- With there being no more communication a request for payment was made

  This started a chain of emails where they do not feel they owe for any of the extra design work hours.

  September 30, 2001 – After the chain of emails trying to find a solution and explain the balance due I offered a one-time offer to split the cost of the balance due.  Once paid I would drop of the drawings.   Owner choose to file a complaint.   We truly feel we should be paid for the total hours spent on this design project per the agreement.

   

  Brent Ash

  Owner  / President 

  Customer response

  10/12/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 15922487, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond.  Centennial Construction (CC)/Mr. Ash responded, “We truly feel we should be paid for the total hours spent on this design project per the agreement.”  However, Mr. Ash did not acknowledge the following:

  1)     CC Received $1,500 in April: We paid CC a design fee of $1,500.00 (in April) to plan and design for renovations that we had discussed with the owner, Mr. Brent Ash, and for which an initial estimate of costs (quote) had been provided in February.  Per the design agreement (signed April 28, 2021), this translates to 8 hours of design time ($187.50 per hour), paid in advance and in good faith and trust.

  2)     CC Never Finalized Design: Per the design agreement, any further design fees (beyond the $1,500 paid in April) that might be necessary for the project were only to be due “Once the design has been approved and signed off by the homeowner.”  CC never finalized the design plans, so no final design plans were ever approved or signed-off by us (homeowners).

  3)     CC Lack of Notice: CC never informed us that the initial design payment of $1,500 had been exhausted and that additional design hours/charges were being incurred.  We were only notified after the fact, when Mr. Ash sent a text message on August 16 that an additional $1,450 of charges had apparently already accumulated.  Mr. Ash never provided us with an accounting of those additional hours.

  4)     CC Errors & Inefficiencies: If the 8 hours of design time paid to CC in April was insufficient, the errors and inefficiencies of the design operation of CC are likely contributing factors – we can detail such errors and inefficiencies, if needed.  Any errors or inefficiencies on the part of CC should not be fiscally attributable to us (homeowners), but should be the sole responsibility of CC.

  5)     CC Never Delivered Any Design Documents: CC never provided any engineering drawings, structural assessments/analyses from a structural engineer (the intended renovations involved significant structural elements), schematics, blueprints, or any documented designs (final or otherwise) for our intended renovation, despite having been paid a $1,500 design fee in April.

  6)     CC Abandoned Project: After nearly six months of waiting for CC to renovate our home, CC effectively walked away from our project on August 20, when Mr. Ash stated (via email) “I think that it would be best if the full project was put on back burner for a while,” with no renovation work having been done and no design having been finalized or delivered.  This was the second such time that Mr. Ash had suggested postponing our project indefinitely.

  Mr. Ash seemed to imply (in his BBB response here) that we were the cause of the delays in the project moving forward.  This is not the case.  At the outset, Mr. Ash had informed us that CC would not be able to begin our project for about six months, or until roughly September.  We agreed to wait.  As we were waiting for CC to be available to begin our project, we engaged in discussions with CC over the summer of other possible design renovations.  But, ultimately, his estimated cost for these other design renovations was significantly greater than our budget allowed.  So, we told Mr. Ash that we would need to focus only on the project originally discussed.  As such, the overall scope of the project ultimately did not change, and we continually referred to the original quote to clearly indicate to Mr. Ash that this was the scope of the work that we wanted (i.e., no significant design changes).  Note that when we referred to the original scope of work, Mr. Ash repeatedly referred to it as “going backwards,” which he again stated in his response here.  It remains unclear why he refers to our renovation plans in this disparaging manner.

  Mr. Ash seemed to imply (in his BBB response here) that we suddenly filed this BBB complaint without prior notice to him – this is not true.  We had shared our concerns and attempted to resolve this issue with Mr. Ash on several occasions, and on our most recent two communications (i.e., 09-24-21 and 09-29-21), we communicated our intent to file a complaint with BBB if not resolved.

  When we had shared these same concerns with Mr. Ash, he responded (09-30-21): “Im a reasonable person, but I can’t say that about you both.”  We have been homeowners for more than 20 years, and we have never had a contractor behave in such a manner.  On the contrary, we have had the pleasure to work with many professional and respectful contractors over the years, including many in the Carmel area.

  In summary, after nearly six months of waiting for Centennial Construction to renovate our home, Mr. Ash effectively walked away from our project, with no renovation work having been done, no design having been finalized or delivered, and then he billed us for an additional $1,450 (beyond the $1,500 already paid in April), even though he had given us no indication throughout the interim period that such charges were being incurred and even though the design agreement stipulates that any such payment would only be due after the design had been approved and signed-off by us.

  Given these facts, we hope that upon reviewing our response, Mr. Ash and Centennial Construction will be reasonable and will cease billing us for the unjustified charge of an additional $1,450.00.

  
  Regards,
  
  Diane Maruszewski
  

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