Kinney Enterprises

The owner of Kinney Enterprises started out being very prompt, considerate, and accommodating. He worked with us to design the basement as we wanted and made sure before the project started that everything was staged specifically so it could be done in 30 Business Days. We were excited to have the work done by someone who was perceived to be in the business with a large crew of folks who have done this for years. Well, that is where it all started to go downhill. From the moment we got the contract, the only thing the owner of Kinney Enterprises was good for was to pick up checks, cheat his employees of pay they deserved, and delay the project. His words did not meet his actions. The basement framing took 3 days. The guys who did the work did a great job except for one area. Problem was the owner did not properly guide them on how to build out the frame and as a result an entire section had to be rebuilt. I directed the project for this crew. Had he been onsite once in the three days of framing, he would have realized this issue was in place. Every time I called, he made an excuse why he could not come out. Then when the electrical work was being done, he had a crew that was supposedly licensed come out and do the work. I only found out later that the crew was not licensed nor were they insured. The electricians had an assistant who was also hired to do the plumbing. In the middle of the job, the assistant was laid off because he did not comply with my wishes. The electricians felt they were in the right. Later on, they had to redo the work because it was not up to par anyway - and met my requirements. Bear in mind, this was a subcontracted job as well. The big catch here was that the heat pump and internal mechanicals were installed but the HVAC outside was not installed. The electrical crew fought with the owner who said they should do it at that point. Mr. Kinney said no - wait till the end. Why? He didn't have the money. Note, I already paid $11K at this point as the job was paid in stages. At the end of the job - the heating system and A/C were not even from the same manufacturer. The system didn't work properly and I had to bring in a third party to fix these errors. But this is not the biggest problem. The sheetrock/mudding was supposed to take 10 days. It took 42 days. There were two short breaks due to vacations, holidays, and family issues on both sides. However, only two of the crew members ever hung sheetrock. The others they brought in were day laborers who were asking for hand-outs and pulling me aside stating they were not paid for 2-3 weeks at a time by the project leads and Mr. Kinney. The work was sloppy and inconsistent. Even after the guys finished the sheetrock and mudding - and started to paint - the job was shotty. So much so that after they left, it cost me an extra $3800 to fix the work this crew did because seems were still visible, paint was not properly applied (actually dirty stains and mud still seen). The crew kept on getting smaller and smaller. Yet, Mr. Kinney was never around to supervise. All he did was bring the materials in his truck and come around to collect checks. What was supposed to take 30 calendar days took 92 calendar days. The work came to a standstill. At the end, I indicated to Mr. Kinney that if he did not complete the work by a specific date, I'd be suing him. He was supposed to get a specific carpet - he did not. He didn't even consult with us about our options. He just wanted a specific style and type with a price point for the laborers to install it so he can make his profit. We offered to pay more but not the amount he was asked for. We called the carpet mill ourselves. The difference was .70 cents a sq yard not 4.25 as he claimed. Once again, the carpet installers worked all day and at the end of the day wanted to know where Mr. Kinney was - he came by 2x. Once to pick up the money and once to inspect the work. He left the job site before he paid the guys. The guys were furious as he skipped out on them - it took them 5 days to get paid. The kicker was that when we did a punch list - I had 4 pages of fixes. Kinney brought one guy and expected it to be done in 3-4 hours. The guy estimated 1-2 weeks as there were significant issues. After reviewing the job, Mr. Kinney simply walked out of the house and never returned. His fixer-upper guy stayed for two hours. Did 2 things and said. We are done. Except for $300, the job was paid in full and yet the work quality was horrific. The service was poor. The company did not provide and deliver the quality they indicated they would. At the end, the basement job cost $27,000 ($5000 above what was expected) because there were numerous repairs that had to be made including - rewire the alarm system due to the line being cut in our house by the sloppy drywall/general contractors. The sheetrock/paint had to all be done over. The heating/AC were also not working. AC worked fine but the heat was wired wrong and also is not fully supported by the heat pump installed - all in the name of saving a few dollars so that Mr. Kinney could make his profit.