ComplaintsforBlac Market Home Improvement, Inc

• Initial Complaint

  01/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I entered into a contract with Blac Market Home Improvement on 6/2/2022 for a house project at **** ******* ***. Baltimore MD at which time I paid the contracted $21,677 for Draw 1. On 6/7/22 Blac Market construction requested a $10,000 advance on Draw 2 even though work was not complete for Draw 1 citing a need to pre-order materials. I paid on 7/1/22 $10,000 as requested. Blac Market requested an additional $10,000 advance on Draw 2 which I paid on 8/27/22. But all construction stopped on 9/29/22. Through text exchanges, emails and phone calls, over multiple weeks I requested updates and Blac Market gave me multiple excuses promising that work was going to begin again within the week. I met with Blac Market on 11/16/22 at Midwood at which time I was informed: 1. Blac Market had spent all my money; 2. Blac Market was not asking for additional money; 3. Blac Market would not complete any additional construction; and, 4. I was now responsible for all future work to complete construction, to include any payments. I requested receipts to prove Blac Market had spent all my money and they agreed but then later refused to provide. I also discovered Blac Market had not paid the electrician, ********** *********, for the completed work and still owed $2300. The electrician requested I complete payment. I paid the $2300 owed to the electrician. As per our contract, Blac Market never completed the work associated with Draw 1. In addition, failed to start/complete any work associated with Draw 2. Thus, Blac Market owes me a repayment of the entire advance on draw 2, plus the cost of the rest of the demo, trash removal, framing, second draw for electric and all HVAC rough in costs. Plus, the cost of replacing ruined materials in basement. A total of $28,000. A certified letter including photos, copies of emails and contract, was sent to Blac Market on 12/9/2022 stating breach of contract and asking for repayment oof $28,000 within 30 days. I never received a response.

  

  Business response

  01/23/2023

  On 6/7/22 not 6/2/22 the owner of **** ******* entered into contract with us. Prior to entering into contract we did a walkthrough and based off of what I saw on the property it had been partially demoed, partial electrical and plumbing rough in. At that moment the owner asked us if we would be able to finish the job for around $60,000. She then informed us that she had a lot of the material herself which she had picked up from various discount stores. I then asked her if she had permits pulled for the work that had been done which she responded she didn't know, they were paid for but she was not sure if they were actually pulled. After receiving the first check for $21,667 on 6/7/22 we began to do more research on the history of the property and found that no permits were pulled for the work that was already done. At that time we informed her that all mechanicals would need to be reevaluated to determine if the work had been done correctly. In the process of obtaining the proper permits we discovered that no permits had been pulled and no inspections were done which made all the work illegally installed. Moving forward we got the electrical and the plumbing reinstalled and inspected with the proper permits being pulled. The proper building permit was also pulled and the proper framing was done. The cost to rework all the electrical, plumbing and framing became more then what we estimated initially and we informed the owner that it was okay at that point we had enough money to take care of it. The owner had 16 windows in her basement which were to be installed however none of them were the proper size so she had to bargain shop to get more which they were not the proper size either and all the windows had to be reframed to fit what she found. The cost to do business started to increase due to price hikes which we were eating her $10,000 contingency and this took the job to $70,000. In the process of getting the first 2 draws we were given $21,667 for draw 1 and $10,000 for draw 2 which draw 2 should have been $21,667 also we asked for the remaining balance of draw 2 to cover some of the cost of the increase in material she met me at the property with a real estate agent so we could discuss the remainder of draw 2 because she did not want to give us that which I did not understand since we were in contract. She had just returned from vacation and we had 3 days of rain we explained that we would have to dry lock the basement walls because there was condensation on the walls. Unfortunately we discovered that the basement had 6 inches of water which was ruining the new framing so instead of dry locking we had to install a french drain system and sump pump. This turned into an additional cost of $7700 which was initially the funds that were allocated for the HVAC system. She now was complaining that there was no HVAC system however it was explained to her that the french drain system was the reason for this and she agreed to this while being on vacation but when she returned she acted as if this was not explained to her and she never agreed to it. At that moment the relationship became difficult, she started stalling on payments and every 2 weeks the cost to do business was increasing. We had her HVAC system quoted at $10,900 initially but after all the back and forth the cost increased to $14,000. The work that was done on her property included all permits pulled except HVAC, interior demo twice, exterior trash removal three times, 16 windows installed to custom sizes, gutters and downspouts around the entire property, proper plumbing and electrical rough in, 2 30' LVL's to carry weight for open floor plan, expansion of basement to create turn down stairs, framing of basement to include full bath, 2 exterior doors, waterproofing of entire perimeter of basement to include new sump pump. All these items done at $49,000 to include labor and material but we only received $41,667. This in which we received no profit because we were out of pocket more then what we received and she was not willing to increase the budget or pay the addons so we were forced to stop work on the property.

  Customer response

  01/23/2023

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  The information provided by Blac Market is misleading, incorrect and unsupported by any proof. I have provided proof of my statements, contracts, receipts etc while Blac Market has not. I did have a building permit, an electric permit and a plumbing permit, Blac market simply had to transfer those to their own name and to their sub contractors names, which was one reason they stated the job was taking longer than they originally promised. In addition, when we first walked the property when they quoted the job the basement had multiple inches of standing water in it. I told them the basement would need a french drain, there was no way that just sealing the walls would have fixed the problem. Both checks for $10,000 were asked for as ADVANCES on draw number 2 since the work as per our contract for draw #1 was never completed. In addition, I was never told, verbally or in writing that the job was going to cost more than our contract. In fact, when I expressed concern about going over budget because they'd already asked for 2 advances I was told not to worry they were still on budget and there were no problems. Finally, when we discovered the initial windows were not the correct size I told Blac Market I would purchase them because i knew they were not part of the original contract and I asked for what sizes they wanted, the sizes I purchased were the sizes Blac Market provided to me, if they had to reframe them it was because they mis measured, not because I bought any sub par materials, in fact almost all the windows were purchased at a reputable window dealer.

  Customer response

  02/09/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of Arbitration. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

  Better Business Bureau:

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID .********, and find that arbitration is necessary.

  Sincerely,

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

  

  Business response

  02/18/2023

  Better Business Bureau:

  I have reviewed the response made by the consumer in reference to complaint ID .********,  and find that arbitration is necessary.

   

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