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Business Profile

Roofing Contractors

Waters Custom Exteriors

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

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Complaint Details

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  • Complaint Type:
    Service or Repair Issues
    Status:
    Answered
    In April 2021 I hired Waters Custom Exteriors to replace my vinyl siding. As part of their estimate they did a complementary full exterior inspection of my home. Waters informed me that I had significant weather damage to my roof and siding. They suggested I make an insurance claim. I made the claim and my insurance approved the claim. To date I have given them $16,579.69 to get started on my home project. A whole year has gone by and there has been zero work done on my home. They will no longer respond to messages or any attempts at correspondence. Over the span of a year I have asked 19 times when my home improvement project would begin with little to no response. I have since also requested a full refund via mailed letter, email and text message several times again with no response. I have contacted an attorney and will be filing a police report.

    Business response

    06/07/2022

    First and foremost,the process of this specific insurance claim has been entirely above and beyond a basic and or simple claims process as it is described within this complaint by the homeowner. 

    A basic and or simple storm claim process usually follows as described below:

    1.) A storm damage inspection is performed by the contractor to identify any wind and or hail damage that *** be present on the home.

    2.) The storm damage found is then reported to the insurance provider.

    3.) The contractor and field adjuster will meet onsite to assess the damages to the home.

    4.) An approval from the insurance provider and the initial estimate/scope of work will then be provided to the homeowner and contractor.

    5.) The request and then approval of any legitimate supplements once requested by the homeowner and or contractor if needed.

    6.) The repair process will begin to properly restore the home to pre-storm condition.

    The homeowner providing this complaint against us is creating the image that their specific claim process was as pleasant and seamless as a basic and or simple claim process as described above. In reality, this claim was continuously dragged out by ******************** from the very beginning of the claim as you will see below.


    CLAIM PROCESS /TIMELINE

    On 3/29/21 we initially arrived at the customer's home to collect photos, measurements, and any other information needed to provide a free estimate regarding a request placed to us by phone on 3/15/21, to replace the vinyl siding that was currently on the home. Upon our discovery of wind and hail damage being present on the home, we notified the homeowner of our findings and explained the entire claim process from start to finish to fully educate the homeowner of the steps needed to properly file a claim with her home insurance provider. The customer then requested for us to come back out and perform a more in-depth storm damage inspection on 3/31/21 for her roofing siding, and gutters on the home and detached garage since she wasn't able to personally be present during the initial inspection.

    Once the damage was professionally identified and the customer fully understood the claims process and the obligations of both parties. A contingency agreement was then signed on 4/12/21 by the homeowner, which clearly states when we will be able to move forward with any repairs, including the following agreements as listed below.

     1.) "I understand that Waters Custom Exteriors will act as my agent in obtaining appropriate property restoration assessments and, upon the insurance company's approval of the scope and pricing, will proceed with the repairs prescribed by the insurance company."

     2.)"Material & labor specifications will follow once the price is agreed on with the property owner and the insurance company."

    The agreement as described above can be seen in the highlighted portion of the attachment provided, and in the copy of the homeowner's contingency agreement that she uploaded when she initially submitted the complaint.

    We were then notified by State Farm that an independent adjuster from ********************* would be able to meet at the home on 4/19/21 to perform the damage assessment needed to approve the claim, write up the scope of work, and then provide us with the initial estimate/scope of work needed for us to thoroughly evaluate it for any potential discrepancies and or supplements needed to provide to the insurance company for their approval. This is done by our company for the sole purpose to make sure that the insurance company isn't minimizing or simply denying any legitimate claims that are owed to our customers ensuring that they get the full amount owed to them to properly restore their home to pre-storm condition. 

    On 4/22/21 the initial estimate/scope of work was issued to the contractor and homeowner from *************************** at State Farm for an RCV total amount of 12,071.58$. After we performed a thorough evaluation of this initial estimate/scope of work, we found a total of 25 missing line items that should have been lawfully and legitimately paid for by the insurance provider that was entirely missing from the report.

    On 5/5/21 our first supplement was submitted to *************************** at State Farm requesting that the 25 missing line items be lawfully and legitimately added to the report so that the homeowner can properly restore her home to pre-storm condition.

    On 5/21/21 we spoke with *************************** at State Farm who disagreed with our submitted supplements and then requested that we meet onsite once again with a different field adjuster to perform an additional damage assessment and to go over any of the discrepancies that we were currently supplementing for regarding the first estimate/scope of work they had initially provided on 4/22/21. 

    On 5/24/21 the homeowner notifies us that she had spoken with *************************** at State Farm personally and he had notified her that the order was already issued for a different adjuster to come out to perform the reinspect and should be in contact with us soon.

    On 6/11/21 the homeowner notifies us that she had spoken with *************************** at State Farm once again and he stated that the newly assigned adjuster should have already contacted her by now and that he would leave a note for the new adjuster to touch base with her as soon as possible.

    On 6/14/21 the homeowner notifies us that she had received a call from ******************* at State Farm who informed her that he would now be the newly assigned desk adjuster supervising the claim during the remainder of the claim process.

    On 6/22/21 we were notified by email that the newly assigned field adjuster would be an individual by the name of ***********************.

    On 7/20/21 we met on-site to perform the second damage inspection with ********************************* rather than a *********************** from State Farm as previously informed.

    On 7/28/21 the second estimate/scope of work was issued to the contractor and homeowner from ********************************* at State Farm for an RCV total amount of 23,203.67$. After we performed a thorough evaluation of this second estimate/scope of work, we found a total of 15 missing line items that should have been lawfully and legitimately paid for by the insurance provider that was entirely missing from the report. 

    On 8/20/21 we spoke with ********************************* at State Farm by telephone and were requested to obtain a specific estimate to determine the costs needed to cover a specific supplement we issued regarding the ac/gas line repairs.

    On 8/26/21 we received the requested price estimate written by Best Mechanical, which was provided to us by email from the homeowner. This specific estimate contained the ac/gas line services that were requested, and the costs required to perform the repairs. This estimate was then issued to State Farm.

    On 9/15/22 we spoke with ********************************* by telephone, and he stated that we now needed to send over a company-provided estimate/scope of work personally from us including any supplements that we were requesting.

    On 9/21/22 we provided our own personal estimate to State Farm as requested. This estimate was created with Xactimate which is the same exact estimating software used by State Farm.

    On 10/1/21 we provided a supplement photo report to State Farm by email as requested.

    On 10/20/21 the homeowner then personally submitted an email regarding our request for Overhead & Profit to State Farm in an attempt to receive the approval of the supplement we submitted so that we could move forward with completing the prescribed repairs!

    On 11/4/21 the homeowner then personally submitted another email regarding our request for Overhead & Profit to State Farm in another attempt to receive the approval of the supplement we submitted so that we could move forward with completing the prescribed repairs!

    On 1/21/22 we were notified by email from the homeowner that she had received an email message from her local agent named ******************* at State Farm stating that he spoke with claims today and reviewed the estimate. As they had discussed, the largest difference between ours and theirs is the "Overhead & Profit"cost. He then stated that after talking with a rep for a little while and going over the things needed from the contractor. The rep just stated that she is going to review this thing line by line and make sure that all is updated and get back to me, and then told her that he would reach out to her as soon as he heard from her.

    On 2/14/22 we received a text message in a group chat from ******************* at State Farm that included us and the homeowner. He then stated he spoke with the claims department, and they are still needing additional information from us to adjust their original estimate. We were then notified to reach out to the claims department to discuss the details.

    On 2/24/22 we notified the homeowner that we had contacted State Farm by telephone to see what all additional information was now being requested from us. We were informed that they were now requiring additional photos of the ac/gas line issues regarding that specific supplement. They also then requested that we submit subcontractor estimates to be able to request approval for the Overhead & Profit supplement as well.

    On 3/29/22 we notified the homeowner that we were still trying to obtain subcontractor bids as State Farm requested.

    On 4/19/22 we contacted the homeowner and let her know that we truly understood her frustrations and concerns. We also informed her that we are just currently in a position where we are trying to get this season up and running and with several claims coming out of appraisals from last year, dealing with the shortage of employees/subcontractors, and then dealing with the weather here lately that we were just currently behind schedule.

    On 4/19/22 we received a letter from the homeowner by email requesting a full deposit.

    On 5/25/22 after taking some time to discuss within the company how we should approach and handle the situation, we then notified the homeowner that we would be more than happy to sit down with her and discuss a mutual resolution where we could set a scheduled install date and provide some free project upgrades at no cost for the inconvenience that we had recently encountered. We also agreed to personally come out and install everything ourselves which would then immediately eliminate the need to get approval for the Overhead & Profit supplement we were currently waiting on. We then asked if there was any way we could possibly sit down today or tomorrow to talk. We also stated that if she would like to have her attorney present as well that would be fine with us! We agreed to sit down to discuss a set deadline on the installation start date and provide some free project upgrades such as replacing the siding on her garage at no cost to her for the inconvenience. We then let her know that if she would like to have an additional contract regarding the changes being made drafted for our endorsement then that would be fine with us as well.

    We currently have not received a response from the homeowner at this time.

    We do fully apologize to the homeowner and hope that we can come to a mutual resolution regarding the fact that this was not a basic and or simple claim process, as you can see within the timeline above. We have physically, mentally, and emotionally invested a lot of time, effort, and resources into achieving the position we are currently in with this specific claim. It is unfortunate that this issue has occurred due to several issues that have arisen within our industry as a whole regarding labor issues such as the currently crippled workforce causing local subcontractor crews to not be readily available as usual. We do hope that a resolution can still be achieved. 

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