ComplaintsforAmericrawl

• Initial Complaint

  04/04/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had a tech from AmeriCrawl come out and give me a quote to dig out a crawlspace that is 30 feet long by 10 feet wide, that equaled 300sq ft. I asked the tech if they could just dig a trench big enough for a man to crawl in so that I could have all my plumbing updated before the new tenants moved in the house in 2 weeks. The tech stated that they couldn't dig just a trench, that they would have to dig out the whole 300 sq ft area because the code required the whole area to be a minimum of 18 inches below the floor joists. He gave me a quote of $5,100 and said they charge $17 a sq ft to dig. I told him that I would think about it and to call me later that evening. He called that evening and said they could get to it in a few days but he didn't have his trailer available and that they could spread outside or I could pay for a dumpster. I told him that if they could spread the dirt in my field and come down on the price to $4,800 that we would have a deal. He agreed and I signed the contract. I had the plumbers there 2 days after it was finished and they said there was only a trench dug and they could barely get to a few spots. I contacted AmeriCrawl and the Manager (owners son) stated that I was lying. Finally, he scheduled to come out and look at it. I have a video recorded interaction with him for 16 minutes, crawling around the crawlspace stating that the agreement was for a trench to be dug out only where the plumbing was and the price wasn't $17 a sq ft but the price charged was for 2 days labor at $2400 per day! This didn't sound like anything the tech wrote in the quote or anything that me and the tech discussed!! I think one of them is lying!! The manager ended up coming back and digging out some of what should've been dug the first time, that wasn't! After all the work they done, it still only comes out to an area of 96sq ft that was actually dug out instead of the 300sq ft. I would like to be reimbursed for the 204sq ft that wasn't finished!! I have photos and video I can email if necessary.

  Business response

  04/05/2024

  The terms as stated on the agreed upon, signed contract clearly states:

  "Owner understands that soil extraction entails removal of soil within 2(two)-3 (three) feet of items known to be as weight bearing, such as foundations, footers, piers, or other items such as furnaces, *****, slabs,concrete overflows, or other obstructions, and pricing is considered the entire crawl space area."

  Im sorry to hear that **** was frustrated by our crawl space dig-out policy as stated on the contract with us. Unfortunately, we cannot change this policy, but we do try to make it clear on our proposal, so that it wont be a surprise to our customers that dig-outs must be dug no closer to the foundation or other weight bearing supports than 2-3ft. The reason for this policy is to keep from undermining the support of your outer foundation and interior weight bearing supports. As stated on the contract that was finally signed and agreed to, the pricing is calculated by the area, but we simply cannot dig any closer to the foundation's footer or interior supports to prevent an undermining situation.

  When **** asked our inspector to just dig out a tunnel for someone to access plumbing, our inspector noted that he has to charge for 300 Sq ft as stated on the contract policy, not that we would dig up to the foundation, as that would endanger the foundation. We did, however, reduce the price from $5100.00 as originally proposed to $4800.00. The pricing of soil extraction is priced according to the full sq footage as to have an initial number for pricing. This is a very labor intensive job and performed by hand, as no machinery will fit in a crawl space to dig. Upon completion, there was an area that our crew could have gotten closer to the foundation,  so **** contacted our service department concerning this.  We then sent a crew out to remedy that issue and took photos of the depth dug as well as the distance dug from the foundation for future reference.  As Americrawl, we assume that when the customer signs the contract stating that they have read and understood the Terms and Conditions, there would not be this kind of frustration or misunderstanding. Again, we are sorry that **** was frustrated by this, but we make it clear what we can and can't do on our contracts.

  Business response

  04/05/2024

  Actually, **** has not yet paid the balance of his bill of $2800.00 for this job. 

  We sent an email to him trying to collect, and his response was: "Sorry, I have been busy and it slipped my mind! I will send the payment of $2,800 tonight or tomorrow. Thanks"

  Not one word in his email was mentioned to us about the issues he stated in this complaint.

  Customer response

  04/08/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  I realize your company policy is for the Inspector to mention on the proposal that the 2 to 3 foot of dirt next to the foundation will remain, but this wasn't mentioned to me at all. I was in no shape or form made aware that I would be charged for digging a 300sq ft area and actually be getting an area of 96sq ft dug out. That consists of me being charged labor for an area of 204sq ft that was never touched or dug out! After the General Manager came out the 2nd time to finish the job that wasn't done right to begin with, he explained to me why the dirt next to the foundation has to stay intact, and after that explanation, I now understand why it needs to stay! If your an honest, reputable company, I would think that you would only charge for the dirt that you dig or move? You mention that the price was reduced: The price wasn't reduced out of the kindness of your heart, it was reduced because ***** didn't have a trailer available to haul the dirt away, or at least that's what he told me! So I asked him if he would lower the price and dump the dirt in the field next to my house. I still don't understand why the General Manager (******) told me (on video) that the company charges a flat labor fee of $2,400 per day to dig out a crawlspace, and the Inspector (*****) told me that the company charges a flat fee of $17 per sq ft to dig out a crawlspace. These two completely different stories sound to me that one or both employees of this company are trying to deceive their customers. I also tried numerous times to get the owners contact info from the General Manager and the Accountant to no prevail! This also tells me that there might be deceiving and "bait and switch" practices being applied by AmeriCrawl employees. If I would've known that I would be charged for moving 300sq ft of dirt instead of the actual 96sq ft that was moved, I would've gotten another quote from another company to compare. Unfortunately, I trusted this company to do the right thing and give me an honest quote, but they took advantage of me. I really hope this company doesn't practice this deception with all of their customers.

   
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  06/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Please see attachments. We also have videos in case there are not enough pictures.

  Business response

  06/15/2023

  Dear ***,
  Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We are sorry for any inconvenience that you have experienced. We will do everything we can to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. In the mean time I will attempt to address your specific findings of this complaint.
  1. "Sister beam missing". You did previously mention that we did not install the beam near your front porch, so we sent our service tech to inspect. We took photos of the installed beam and did let you know that it was installed. If you meant to say "sister *****" in this complaint, then we will certainly investigate this.  As for "gaps between the sisters", during structural repair, we will often need to use spacers to install sisters, which would form "gaps", depending on which side of the joist we need to install the sister. Again, we will be glad to inspect this concern and repair if needed.

  2. On homes with siding, the siding starter strip us often mounted to the sill plate. If the sill plate is structurally sound enough on the siding side to continue to hold the siding's starter strip, we will use 2X4 sill plate in order to not disturb the siding. We can, although, inspect and replace with 2X6 plate.

  3. We purchase lumber for repairs as used in the construction of new homes. 

  4. When replacing sill plate, we do install in shorter sections as to help prevent extensive damage above the floor system. Lifting longer areas of the floor system can often cause extensive damage above. Shorter section installs still provide the height needed to bring the floor system back to its original height. 

  5. "Mystery boards in-between the beams".  Although I am not sure what boards you mentioning, I assume that you may be seeing the spacers mentioned above. Again, we will be glad to inspect this concern and repair.

  In closing, I will have our General Manager contact you and set a time for inspection and repair if needed.

  If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

  Sincerely,

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

  Customer response

  06/25/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  Better Business Bureau
  Central *******
  
  Response to questions:
  This message is in regard to complaint 20182348
  
  Has the company addressed the issue of the dispute?
  
  No, the problem has not been fixed. The **** did call and leave a message however at this time we feel that all communication needs to be documented through e-mail to prevent any confusion.
  
  If not Why?
  
  The situation will take more than 7 days to remedy, it simply cant physically be fix in that time frame. I needed to gain knowledge of why we still have a foundation issue along with the work that has been done, so I can be more specific in explaining the problem to the company.
  
  Has the Company meet the agreement they outlined in their response?
  
  No.
  In their response there are some incorrect facts, along with incorrect explanations.
  The person responding has not seen the work only pictures of the work and has no idea of the placement of the work done, the over-all view of the work.
  
              In the response from the company the attempt to address specific findings of the complaint
  
  1. "Sister beam missing". You did previously mention that we did not install the beam near your front porch, so we sent our service tech to inspect. We took photos of the installed beam and did let you know that it was
  installed. If you meant to say "sister *****" in this complaint, then we will certainly investigate this. As for "gaps between the sisters", during structural repair, we will often need to use spacers to install sisters, which would form "gaps", depending on which side of the joist we need to install the sister. Again, we will be glad to inspect this concern and repair if needed.
  
  Facts (You can Verify)
  On the first contract there where to be 20 sister joists installed but we only counted 18. There are 2 sister beams missing on both ends under bedrooms. All of the work done in the second contract is off by about 5 feet not correcting the issues.
  One joist had spacers.
  
  2. On homes with siding, the siding starter strip us often mounted to the sill plate. If the sill plate is structurally sound enough on the siding side to continue to hold the siding's starter strip, we will use 2X4 sill plate in order to not disturb the siding. We can, although, inspect and replace with 2X6 plate.
  
  Fact
  The sill plate was being removed to be replaced, any damage to the siding would be done on removal of sill plate. We also expected and understood that the siding will need
  
  Page 1 of 3
  
  replacing or repaired due to replacing the sill plate. The contract stated 2x6 sill plate,  we paid for 2x6 sill plate, and we had no discussion of change to 2x4.  The joists rest on 3.5 inches of sill plate. The standard for a block foundation is a 2X8 sill plate.
  
  3. We purchase lumber for repairs as used in the construction of new homes.
  
  Fact
  There are several sisters joist with new warped boards unable to sister up tight.
  
  4. When replacing sill plate, we do install in shorter sections as to help prevent extensive damage above the floor system. Lifting longer areas of the floor system can often cause extensive damage above.Shorter section in stalls still provide the height needed to bring the floor system back to its original height.
  
  The shorter sections have multiple joints creating more risk of rot. Jacking up smaller sections actually causes more damage than the larger sections. Ask another foundation company how long their sill plate is that they install? There was no specific length in the contract other than 25 feet.
  We did not notice any anchors in the sill plate.
  
  5. "Mystery boards in-between the beams". Although I am not sure what boards you mentioning, I assume that you may be seeing the spacers mentioned above. Again, we will be glad to inspect this concern and repair.
  In closing, I will have our General Manager contact you and set a time for inspection and repair if needed.
  If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
  Sincerely,
  *******************
  
  We contracted to have work done on the crawl space on 9/13/22 for $18,800. After the work was completed, there are still problems in the kitchen and hallway areas. To fix the kitchen and hallway area we contracted again to have that area fixed on 10/28/22 for $3,000.00.
  We still have the same problem with no improvement.  We emailed the company on 10/21/22, 11/3/22,11/11/22, 5/10/23, 6/3/23 we can forward the emails to any email address requested.
  10/21/22. Informed the company of the issue in the hallway and kitchen. We agreed and paid for the repairs to be completed. We do not understand why the crew did not let the ** know about the kitchen area and that it was only found out after we called to have someone come to inspect the first work that was done.
  
  11/3/22 Kitchen contract was completed. At this time. we informed the company that the kitchen area was not fixed.
  
  11/11/22 We emailed them again.
  
  5/10/23 We emailed them to inform that we had a third party under the house and he told us there was a beam joist hanging in the hallway area. There was a crew sent out to inspect the work. We called the ** and he stated everything is as it should beand that he has pictures and he was charging a $250 trip fee of which was never mentioned in the prior phone call. When asked about the warranty he stated the only guarantee is on the sump pump and it was costumery to charge when we find nothing wrong.
  
  Page 2 of 3
  
  6/3/23 We emailed them again to inform that the sill plate was a 2x4 and they should be 2x6. Did not receive any response.
  
  After the last 2 interactions, the fact that they wanted to charge us to inspect their own work and that there was no guarantee but on the sump pump, and lack of response to the last e-mail, lead us to believe they would not fix any problems with their work. Therefore, we placed a complaint with the BBB on 6/13/23
  
  In preparation to answer this we have discovered why the kitchen and hallway foundation is still the same and no improvement. The work done on the kitchen contract is all placed in the wrong location, it is about 5 feet to the right. With sister joist on perfectly good joist and sill plate, wrong size, placed in wrong spot, all the bad joists are still not sistered. I also found the hanging joist. Anyone is welcome to inspect our findings.
  
  We have been moving forward with a complete remodel unaware that the foundation was not correct or complete until we started working on the siding. The foundation must be fixed,the kitchen and hallway still are soft and it will affect the resale value. Any inspector will see the poor workmanship. The lack of care on the entire project leads us to believe that they will not be competent on future work. In our opinion, any future work will have a lack of extra care that will be needed to lessen the amount of damage.
  
  In their contract it states that all material is guaranteed to be as specified, and the above work to be performed in accordance with the drawings and specifications submitted for above work.
  
  We request a refund for all foundation work performed.
  
  We invite any third party out to verify the work and materiel any day after 3:30 P.M. if you have any further questions, please e-mail us.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Page 3 of 3
  
  Regards,
  
  *** And *******************
  

  Business response

  06/26/2023

  Dear ***,
  Again, we apologize for any inconvenience that you have experienced. We would like to proceed with repairing the issues on your home,but understand that you have someone already working on these issues.
  We certainly apologize for any confusion about your emails concerning missing joists.  When you contacted us about missing "beams", we were understanding "beams" as stated on contract as we do not refer to joists as beams. This lead our inspector to return with photos of the beam installed.
  We have reviewed the photos you presented, and do agree that some of the components were not installed correctly.  Although a 2x4 treated sill plate is the most common sill plate, there was a statement on the contract for a 2x6. The ******* caps were not installed correctly as shown.
  Therefore, due to these errors and your preference to have someone else already repairing these issues, we will issue a partial refund of this contract.
  We will email you the details of this refund for your review.
  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
  Sincerely,
  *******************

  Customer response

  06/30/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  Company has not provided any refund amounts to date.  We are asking for a full refund for the erroneous work done on our house. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *** And *******************
  

  Business response

  07/01/2023

  Dear *** & *******************,
  Again, we apologize for any inconvenience that you have experienced. As stated previously, we have reviewed the photos you presented, and do agree that some of the components were not installed correctly.  There was a statement on the contract for a 2x6 sill plate and the ******* caps were not installed properly as shown. Therefore, due to these errors, your preference to have someone else already repairing these issues, and in good faith towards the betterment of customer relations we will issue a partial refund of this contract.                         See attached details.

  Respectfully, *******************

  Customer response

  07/05/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  REFUND RESPONSE
  7-5-23
  
  We are fine with the refund on contract #1 (bedroom area) however, contract #2 (kitchen area) was completely done wrong.
  
  Contract #1
  25ft Sill Plate.............................$1******
  20 ****ft Full Joist..................... $3300.00
  20 Box Header Caps................. $ ******
  Total $5300.00
  Discount $ ******
  Refund $4945.00
  
  Contract #2
  Contract                    $3790.00
  minus discount       $790.00
  Refund                      $3000.00
  
  Total Refund should be $7945.00
  Please send a check in the amount of $7945.00
  
  MAILING ADDRESS:
  *** AND *******************
  P.O. BOX 305
  117 *******************.
  *******************  46987
  
   
  Regards,
  
  *** And *******************
  

  Business response

  07/10/2023

  *** & *******************,

  Attached is a revised refund details document. Please review with understanding that the remaining items on contract #2 will need to be removed by Americrawl for return, as those items are not attached. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.  Thank You.

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

  Americrawl Inc.

  Customer response

  07/12/2023

  Better Business Bureau:

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this response/resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  RESPONSE TO STEEL BEAM AND JACKS
  7-12-23
  
  We have removed ************** and jacks.
  
  Please come to pick them up M-F after 3:30 PM.
  We will need to be here to open the garage so please let us know which day it will be.
  YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO GO UNDER THE HOUSE.
  
  Total Refund.................................$7945.00
  
  Americrawl will deliver a resolution agreement and refund to the following address: P.O.BOX 305, ***************************************************************************
  
  Thank you,
  *** and *******************
  
  

  Regards,

  *** And *******************

*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. ↩