All Things Restored LLC

All Things Restored contacted me on August 29th, 2021. They were a referral from the company who installed a roof and in this roofing process, a mold issue was discovered. The owner of ATR (Brian Sobolewski) arrived at the house, inspected the problem, presented a contract through his phone app and asked for a complete payment. I complied with his requests because he guaranteed that his company was a "turnkey" restoration company and when he was finished, we wouldn't even know a problem had occurred. The signed contract specifies both mold remediation and complete restoration. What actually happened is far different from his verbal and written guarantees. The ATR crew showed up, unsupervised. They damaged lots of items- many beyond repair. They even left a table lamp out in the rain! Staples were put into woodwork in multiple locations, etc.. When I informed ATR that damage had occurred, I was told not to worry about it and then received a multiple paragraph text, explaining that ATR gives their employees a $500 bonus at the end of the year if damage had not occurred during the year. And, they allow their customers a $100 "courtesy discount" if damage occurs, concluding that none of this problem was their fault. While their invoice bills supervisor charges for their crew, the reality is that they were left here completely unsupervised and alone (according to the neighbors) because homeowners were required to vacate the premises for 3 days and 2 nights, in this instance. After the ATR crew was finished with their deconstruction, all of the deconstruction plastic and their personal trash were left in place, both in the house and in the yard. ATR apparently believes that it is their customer's responsibility to clean up after their crew. Although Brian Sobolewski told us that his contracts cover everything, they do not. For example, the customer is expected to cover the cost of air quality testing (in this instance $1200) once deconstruction is compete. The customer is left with no choice other than to pay because ATR tells you that they will not return until testing reveals that their deconstruction and mold remediation was successful. We promptly contacted a testing company and paid their fees, believing that this would keep the restoration process moving forward. Our assumption was incorrect. The deconstruction occurred in August. It is now November 26 and no restoration has ever taken place. The house is still torn up, drywall is still missing, etc. Even though ATR has been paid, their crew has never returned to put anything back together! Why? Because ATR hires sub-contractors to complete the restoration process. Initially the sub-contractor said he was from ATR. In reality, he is an ATR sub-contractor who in turn hires his own sub-contractors. As the customer, you become two sub-contractors removed from ATR, but you are instructed, by both ATR and the sub-contractor, to continue to remit payments to ATR. And, both also tell you to only contact the sub-contractor going forward- to avoid any contact with ATR, now that the restoration part of the process has begun. The sub-contractor, at least in this instance, was not given a copy of the contract I signed. So, he continues to request that he be paid (through ATR) before any restoration work can begin, even though the only contract I signed specifies both remediation and restoration. Although the sub-contractor admitted that he had never seen my contract, he did say that he was familiar with ATR contracts and knew that they only dealt with mold remediation, not restoration. Even though I knew that, in this instance, this was not correct, I sent a check to ATR with a note enclosed, informing them that this was the payment that the sub-contractor had requested and should be forwarded to him. (I did this because I have a son who is both blind and deaf and living in a house that remains torn up is very stressful for him.) ATR did not use these additional funds to pay their sub-contractor, instead creating an invoice dated a week or so after they received the check, attempting to justify their being entitled to it and even asking for more. So, the sub-contractor still believes that any restoration work has not been paid for and restoration work is still not being accomplished. I sent a copy of my contract with ATR to the sub-contractor. He has informed me that if he can get things worked out with ATR, that it would now be roughly two to four months before he could complete any restoration. This began on August 19th. As I write this, it is November 26, with expected completion possibly in March. This is not a large scale project. In fact, it is rather modest. With ATR, promises made are far from promises kept. I have been left with no choice but to hire an Attorney, which I have done. Sincerely, Dan Johnson and Judy Bernhard