Warren Carport Building

It has been rather aggravating. I've had to deal with them all day today. It has been very frustrating. I would put a warning for people not to deal with HBO Carports out of North Carolina. It has been a hassle. They've not been forthright in the things that they have told us. We're having them come and take it down. It will be four to six weeks before they come and take it down. It has just been very unreasonable. I'm an easy going person. We totally took care of the builders. They were sub-contracted. They were told that I was an aggravated customer. When I addressed that with the company they're like, "We did not say that." I'm like, "Well, then where did they get it from?" The price was not terrible when you consider other places. That was one of the biggest reasons that we went with them, was for cost. The quality was decent but there were a few issues with it. Their customer service was horrible. The guys were totally fine. But, they were sub-contractors. They were fantastic, especially the one builder whose name was Pedro. He was fantastic and super nice. We bought them Pizza. They were great. We really really liked the builders.

Did a great job pouring the floor in my new 40 x 80 equipment building (3,200 sq.ft.). Work was done as specified. Nice guys, very conscientious.

Frank White removed 3 damaged walls in our utility shed which measured approximately 10 x 14. The walls were replaced and reinforced. He built double swing out doors. The entire building was primed and painted.

Contractor did a haphazard job. The building inspector had resigned early in the project therefore there was no building inspector to oversee the project to ensure the contractor was building up to code. The contractor used 2 x 6's in the roof instead of 2 x 10's. The roof started to leak the very first winter due to ice buildup and the contractor refused to fix it. He tried blaming it on inadequate insulation, although we could not install the proper amount of insulation in the roof due to the contractor using 2x6's. He refused to come back and resolve the problems. We finally had to take him to small claims court. We learned that when he built the house, he did not use ice and water shield on the roof, he offset the 3-tab shingles less than 2" apart in some areas although the manufacturer recommends a minimum of 4 inches, he did not install an overhang in the back of the house to provide air flow to the roof, and he under-built the roof using 2x6's instead of 2x10's as per code. He kept blaming the problems on us - the homeowners, even though we knew nothing about building and had entirely entrusted him to build the house correctly. Two other contractors provided testimony (both in written form) as to the problems with the house. The contractors concurred that poor insulation was not the problem with the roof and that adding more insulation would just act as a "sponge", absorbing water from the leaks which would contribute to mold and mildew. The court mandated us to split the cost of a licensed architect with the contractor, for the architect to look at the roof and provide his opinion. The architect also provided the same opinion as the two contractors. In the end the court ruled in our favor and the contractor had to pay us a settlement so we could hire another contractor to remove the entire original roof down to the sheathing and properly install a new roof. After we started doing finishing work in the house we found that many of the partitions for the interior walls were "off square" and also that he should have provided with us with 2x6's for wet walls in the bathroom and kitchen areas, which he didn't.

On 8-11-08 Jeff Olson was hired to build a shed and was paid half the total agreed upon price. A contract was signed by both parties. He cashed the check, taking my money, and promised to do the work within a week. One week led to another with more empty promises to start the work. After weekly phone calls and no work done, he stopped taking my phone calls. Only after having a friend call posing to be a new client, did he answer the phone and after a long pause did he decide to talk to my husband who got on the phone. My husband gave him slack for stalling on the job, and gave him another chance to do the work or at least give us our depost money for supplies back by giving us the supplies. Jeff again said he would do the work and drilled one tiny 8" hole in the dirt in which we believed he was going to start building the pole building. He never did any more work. My husband left yet another message that he was going to fire him and hire someone else if he didn't resolve the issue. We never heard from Jeff again; he took our money and never performed the work.

The sub-contractor did a horrible job on the concrete - it is unlevel, cracks, and water pools to back and in corners rather than go to the drains.  Sub-contractor refused to be accountable and do repair.   James Kidder was unable to hold his sub-contractor accountable.  The legal-ness of their agreement (whether they had a contract) is unknown.  I started a lawsuit against Kidder, he was the general contractor, after he was ALSO unwilling to be responsible and showed he was ABSOLUTELY UNWILLING to take responsibility for the work he did on my property.  Due to technical aspects of contract law, we settled the case.  Attorney advised that I would be a protracted legal battle with appeals, etc. and not worth the cost.  I was paid the amount of the partial payment I gave Kidder for the concrete.  (Originally, I withheld full payment knowing the repair work will need to be done.) Financially, I am where I started.  But, now I have bad concrete that doesn't handle water properly, and in our Western NY winters, that's not good for long life.  New expense will be coming, and soon. Short of it, Kidder was invited to my home to do work.  It was work he refused to stand by and be a standup guy and do the necessary, decent, thing and get the repair done.  Instead we had to go to court.  Buyer beware!

Towards the end of the job the prices excessculated and they said it was due to the prices going up and the contractor doing the excavating. Then they tell me that they did the job time and material, this was never discussed. I think I made the mistake of telling them I would be paying cash for the building of the home. Being an honest person I was paying them what they said it cost. Hired an attorney and found out they have a lot of leans on them and they were a bunch of no goods, drugs, prison for forgery. Found out  they had a smart lawyer and can't get any or my money back due to the leins. They own property and rent it out but don't have any equity. They said they did the jpb time and material but refused to provide receipts, hours and dates work was supposed to be done. Talked to other people that had work done by them and they weren't satisfied with them, said they were crooks. Would not recommend them to anyone!