ComplaintsforF & M Contracting LLC

• Initial Complaint

  08/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  June-July 2023 Paid over $23,000 *********** was hired to demo floors, a load-bearing kitchen wall, and a back door. They were also hired to paint the entire interior and install LVP flooring in the entire home. We decided because of the lies that this company told us about the cost and timeline to also remodel our kitchen. *********** provided a quote of $18k and a time frame of 4-6 weeks to complete the flooring and painting. 10 weeks later we still only have half of our flooring installed and only half of our downstairs painted. *********** continued to drag its feet on the project to be paid by the day. At 8 weeks into the project and with minimal progress, we could no longer continue to pay this company by the day to provide sub-par work. The proper permits were not pulled to re-route plumbing, electrical and remove a load-bearing wall. The city now is involved to make sure that permits are pulled and that the work is completed properly. We have been told by several other contractors that this project should have taken no longer than 4 weeks to complete. We have been defrauded by this company that continues to claim we owe them additional money after already paying them more than $5k over our original total quote of $18k. My home looks like a complete construction zone with no ceilings, no permanent sink, and no flooring. This company is aware that we have young children living in this mess that they created and had no intention of ever completing unless we continued to pay them exuberant amounts of money daily. *********** is now harassing my family by text, phone call, and email.

  Business response

  09/01/2023

  The ******** family hired us to do some remodeling for their home. FIrst off I want to say that we began work at her home on June 20, 2023 and ended on August 4, 2023. Out of that span, we were at her home a total of 31 days (and that can be verified from my payroll). ********************* understood from the beginning that we explained not only was it not safe having people living in the home while the remodel was taking place, but also that it would create a lot of dust and would be a bit harder for us to navigate having to watch out for 3 children as we are using nails, saws, and other dangerous construction equipment. It is a construction zone. She still decided to keep her family living in the home and knew it was going to be a bit more difficult for us to have to work around 5 people living there. Also, ******************* continued to add more to the list several times. A typical kitchen remodel is ***** weeks by ITSELF. We had the entire painting walls, ceilings, floors, trim, epoxy in the garage, the pantry expansion, small restroom pocket door to add, laundry room and entire kitchen remodel. Yes, she did hire other contractors to come in and do the items that required permits, but everything is a prcoess and certain things cannot be performed until after another items is complete. That is just ******************** works. Her timelines were unrealistic. On 8/4/23 the crew was working and they directed us to stop. From then on, she has given us issues to pay the labor for that day and also materials we already bought and that are currently installed in her home. The money she owes is for services already performed. We proceeded to file a mechanics lien on her home for the amounts owed to us as you will see attached here. I also attached all supporting evidence of our coorespondence with the ********** throughout the time we were doing work for them. She was well in agreement, and as you can see was coordingating lists and on track with us and the plan for her home. We have tried to reach out to the ********** on more than one occassion to settle this with them. This has caused our small, family owned business a great hardship, and we just want to be paid for our services performed and the materials we bought and installed in her home. We even offered to complete the job (because she is the one who told us to stop, we never intended too.) and she was unresponsive. We are also not harrassing her family. She asked us to stop emailing and calling her which we have. Our last communication by phone/text was 8/9/23 and the last emailed that we wrote her is attached with the lien. She does continue to get automatic reminders from Quickbooks about her unpaid invoice.

  Customer response

  09/01/2023

  Complaint: 20503952
  
  I am rejecting this response because: there are no grounds for a mechanics lien to be filed against my home as we do not owe this company any money. As stated in my original complaint we have paid them more than what was originally agreed upon. Again, this company continues to lie. We were never advised we could not live in our home. Who in their right mind would knowingly agree to a months long project and not live in their home with three young children? Had this company been truthful from the beginning of the project we would have never asked them to do anything but paint and flooring. I will also point out that F&M Contracting performed unpermitted work in our home. The city got involved after owner, ***************************, called and left a threatening voicemail on my husbands phone stating he was reporting the unpermitted work that was done in our home to the city so that our project would be shut down. I also have a threatening group text message on my phone from *************************** on 8/15/23. So again, the company claims they are not contacting us or threatening us but we have all the proof in voicemails and text messages. I will point out here as I have to F&M contracting that there was never a written contract for our project because as owner, *****************************, states in her email dated 8/9/2: we may not have a written contract with you because we were trying to be helpful and charge you you the most affordable way for the work you wanted. Nothing they did on our home was affordable and has cost us thousands of additional dollars because of this companies deceit and lies. Per the ***** Property Code Sec. ******.  CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS FOR LIEN ON HOMESTEAD: In order to file a Lien against a residential homestead Property, either you, or the General Contractor must: (1) have a written contract signed by the Property Owner (if they are a married couple, then both must sign the contract); (2) before the work begins; and (3) the contract must be filed with the County Clerk.  See ***** Property Code Section ****** for more details.

  Hiring F&M Contracting has been one of the costliest and worst mistakes my husband and I have ever made. They have turned the dream of having a beautifully remodeled home into a complete nightmare and others should be cautioned of our horrible outcome with these individuals that claim to be a professional. I have never had anyone come into my home and yell, curse, and scream at their employees and myself but this is what owner, ***************************, has done and claims to be a professional. Keep in mind my children were in my home when all of this behavior was taking place. We have suffered emotional damage after this experience. This is the most unprofessional group of people we have ever delta with. I will caution every person I know in our city to stay as far away from F&M Contracting as possible. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  09/01/2023

  In regards to the rejection, I do want to reiterate that there are grounds for a lien to be filed as she has not paid for services already performed and materials that were already installed and used at her home. We are not asking for payment for anything else. She also states we had no "contract" but you can see we have several indications in writing that constitutes as a written agreement between F&M Contracting to do said work and that she was in agreement with that and even provided her own lists and updates for the job. There is no where in writing that we agreed to $18,000 for this project. We agreed that she would pay labor only to the men who worked and she knew what the labor fees were and she was consistently paid that to us every Friday. We would get materials from ***** and we had her permission to put them on her account and she would pay for it. When items were cheaper from ********** or not available at Lowes, we would buy them on our ********** credit account and she would reimburse us for them.  She also states that we "dragged our feet" with the project, yet we were only at her house for a total of 31 days. She states we quoted her an estimated time of 4-6 weeks for PAINT AND FLOORS ONLY. With all her changes and additions, we ended up having paint (walls ceiling, trim), floors, create pocket door for half bath, install sliding door and remove old one, move kitchen island with sink, pop-out window in laundry room, etc. It would only make common sense that this would increase the timeline. Also, F&M Contracting is not permitted to pull any permit because the work we performed does not require one. We had planned to use our subcontractors for the other work, but as per ************************ request, she hired them directly because she wanted to pay and work with them directly, therefore we referred our subcontractors to her for her use, but those agreements were with them directly and if permits were need, that would have been something she would of needed to work with them for. *************************** is not an owner of F&M Contracting. The only 2 owners are ********* & *****************************, which we have eliminated contact with her once she asked except for the automatic invoice reminders that send through our accounting system. I do not know if ******* has contacted her or not, but I know that the OWNERS have not. I will discuss with **** about any texts or calls that have been sent, and will make sure there is no further communication between him and the ********** moving forward if that is truly the case.  Also, again it is stated that this started out just paint and floors. ******************** continued to add things to her list of items she wanted done; which common sense will tell you increases the time and budget. Also common sense also should tell you that it is never ideal to live in a home while a full remodel is taking place. This was discussed to her several times, after her child hurting himself several times stepping on nails from walking barefoot, etc. We also had to use a certain paint for her doors that had a harmful smell and we advised her to leave the home. She had stated to us she was going to stay in a hotel for the weekend and then we found out her family ended up staying in the home that weekend even after our recommendation not too. We have many references including the people who referred us to ******************** that we are very ethical people, and we provide the best service we possibly can. We are a ********** small family-owned business, and ******************** continues to report inaccurate facts, and try to defame our business. We have endured great hardship from her not paying the materials we provided, and has limited our ability to move forward with other projects. We have tried to offer to finish the project (because we never planned to stop) but ******************** does not want that. We will not be providing a refund for any services or materials that were already performed or installed in her home and we will continue to seek payment for labor performed on 8/4 and materials that were purchased through July-August that she agreed to reimburse us for. If you see in the attachments provided, there are several messages from ********************, thanking us for the work and telling us how happy she was and how great things were looking. If we were anything like she is claiming for us to be - I don't think we would have any messages like that. 

  Customer response

  09/07/2023

  Complaint: 20503952
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I do not have more time to waste on this horrible business. My husband have learned a very costly and time consuming ****** with these people. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

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