Southern Elite Contracting Inc.

I have previously filed a BBB complaint and was contacted by the owner to remove the complaint. I was told if I removed the complaint that they would get the job finished and as an apology send us a 100.00 gift card on them for my wife and I to go out and have dinner on them. That was in June and that never happened either. Even after I removed my complaint they continued to drag their feet and blame the insurance company. They have already spent almost 8 thousand dollars of the insurance money and all they have done is lay down a new carpet that I purchased out of my own pocket and lay down the kitchen floor that was ruined. They over charged on the materials in the breakdown they sent me by almost a thousand dollars, I have the prices from Lowes where they were purchased so I know their prices were more than what was actually paid. 30% of the insurance money went to them for what they call Overhead and Profit. That is 1 thousand dollars above what the original quote they gave me was

It’s still ongoing after a year since the contract started. Scammers. Trying to figure out a way to extract money for services and labor that has already been paid for. I highly recommend choosing another company because they don’t have integrity.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS with this company. Wow! We should have read these reviews before we began working with SEC. I can't believe they are still in business after how they treat customers. We were given the runaround for months. They have taken our cash deposit of $3,500 and have not given us an itemized receipt on how it was spent, and now they are saying that we owe them money for doing absolutely no work on our house. When we requested an itemized receipt for how they spent the deposit, the "general manager" said that he is charging us for "his time'" which is $100 an hour and that he didn't want to bring the owner into the situation because he charged more per hour than he does! Doing what?!!??? Giving us the runaround and then being a jerk when we asked to mutually void the agreement since it wasn't working out? Im not paying him for that. His boss can pay him for that. I am so angry. We have had almost the exact same experience as the other negative reviewers. No communication. No integrity. Given the runaround, etc. Thank goodness for Yelp reviews and the Better Business Bureau. Otherwise, consumers would have no recourse. When we respectfully asked that we jointly void the agreement, they responded by threatening us and are now trying to punish us by charging us a cancellation fee for cancelling the contract after we had been treated poorly. Isn't that just a scam? They make their money through charging customers contract cancellation fees and by making up bogus charges for their time--only giving the customers a hard time. This company needs to be run out of town before anybody else gets hurt or is treated badly. What a bunch of clowns! I have dealt with many contractors, and I have never witnessed such unprofessionalism. Unfortunately, I am seeing this more and more. Our region is being bombarded by scammers. But the people have a voice!!

We had renovation done after water damage. It took a year to do what, even with the impact of COVID, should have taken no more than 2 to 3 months (flooring, drywalling, painting, resetting fixtures on one floor). All of our fixtures and raw materials were pretty easy to come by (or subs available). So, in our case, we could not blame things on supply chain issues. Our issues were as follows: 1. Communication. It either was non existent (even radio silent) or no follow through. We had to keep after them. 2. Inconsistencies in the quality of their crews. You might get one subcontractor for a job, and a completely different team to finish it up. That's fine, if the work is consistent, which it wasn't. 3. Fit and finish.in reference to #2, this part, by extension was also pretty inconsistent (paint on fixtures and baseboards that should not be there, unevenness in paint as well as drywall work, door casing and quarter round poorly installed, hollow pockets under LVP flooring,etc. I ended up installing the dishwasher myself.). Their response was on some of these things that this was the best that could be done and, even their contact states that they are there to repair to make things as they were. They get a 2 instead of a 1 or less because Corey made things right on s couple of HUGE mess-ups, one (relating to #2) that could have cost us thousands of dollars and possible court time had I not caught the problem.

Sequence of Events: 12/01/2021: Date of incident – Water damage in the kitchen and basement 12/06/2021: SerClean completed the cleaning and drying and referred Southern Elite Contracting for the repair works (cabinet, hardwood floor and basement ceiling). 12/27/21: Tanner [Last Name Removed] (Sales Rep from Southern Elite Contracting) visited my home to assess the work and signed construction agreement. 01/05/2022: I issued the check for the deductible in the amount of $1000 to Southern Elite Contracting and it was picked up with the hardwood sample. Note: There was 2 months of silence, and the SEC Rep did not respond to status or ETA request. 03/10/2022: Tanner [Last Name Removed] called to inform me that he is no longer available for my project and handed over to Bruce (Another SEC Rep). 03/11/2022: Bruce visited my home to pick up the first insurance check and sample of the hardwood so the work can commence. I issued the first insurance check in amount $15,111.89 to Southern Elite Contracting 03/17/2022: I picked out my choice from cabinet samples provided. Note: Another month of silence, and the SEC Rep did not respond to status or ETA. 04/18/2022: Bruce reached out that he is no longer available to manage my project and he is handing over to Ricky [Last Name Removed] (Another SEC Rep) 04/28/2022: With increasing frustration, I sent a text that I’ve waited long enough and I’m willing to find another contractor since my project was not getting the deserved attention. 05/02/2022: Ricky Glenn of SEC and the hardwood floor contractor visited my home. The contractor indicated that the existing floor is solid hardwood, but Southern Elite Contracting’s estimate was based on replacing with engineering floor even though the insurance adjuster’s estimate was to sand and finish. I’m not sure how that was missed even though the hardwood sample was provided twice to SEC Reps. Considering that I have provided the hardwood sample twice, it was evident that my project was not getting the deserved attention. I concluded that Southern Elite Contracting was just buying time, exploiting my project at my expense by submitting unnecessary supplements to insurance and subsequently dragging on the project. The SEC Rep would not commit to an ETA and at a point even expressed that my project could take a year to complete so I should manage my expectations. As a result, I issued the Rep with an ultimatum that if they don’t give me a firm date by May 31st, 2022, when the repairs will commence, they should refund me so I can engage another contractor that will take my project serious. Keep in mind that at this point, there have been 3 successive Sales Reps assigned to the project. 06/02/2022: After given several ultimatums to cancel the construction agreement and request for refund, they sent a Demolition team to our home on Thursday, 06/02/2022 without prior notice to demolish the existing kitchen cabinets in readiness for the new cabinet install. During the demolition, they damaged the existing granite countertop and sink and left the damaged materials and debris from the demolition in my kitchen. 06/04/2022: They managed to install the cabinet without knobs and handles. The countertops have been damaged and detached, kitchen sink and microwave have been removed and there is no end in sight for restore. We have no functioning kitchen for over 3weeks (See attached pictures). In addition, the SEC Sales Rep stated that they will not move forward until they have been fully paid. I ask why would I commit to that demand given their poor track record on the project? The SEC Sales Reps also told me to go knock my myself out. 06/23/2022: After waiting for almost 4 weeks without a functioning kitchen and there was no end in sight, I terminated that the construction agreement immediately and engaged another contractor that was ready to do the work satisfactorily before getting paid. It was evident that SEC was buying time at my expense and using the $16,111.89 paid upfront as a leverage to threaten me that all kinds of fees including termination fees will be deducted from money in their possession if I terminate their contract. 07/20/2022: After having a couple of unproductive phone conversations with SEC’s CEO (Mr. Devin Smith), I sent a formal request letter asking for refund. In the request, I stated that based on the insurance estimate, the total cost for installing the new kitchen cabinet (Demolition, Material, Labor etc.) is $6,330.11. Since Southern Elite Contracting only worked on the kitchen cabinet installation and there are still works to be done, the amount due to be refunded from the payment made thus far is $16,111.89 - $6,330.11= $9,781.78. Moreso, this amount does NOT include cost of replacing the damaged granite countertops and removal of the debris (See attached pictures) left in my home that is yet to be paid by the insurance. I have engaged BBB as my last-ditch effort of getting a resolution. I’m hoping SEC will do the right thing by refunding the $9,781.78. However, I will have no choice but to file against SEC if we cannot reach a satisfactorily resolution.

Ernie Greene did excellent work and I would 10/10 refer him any chance possible- everything from his professional mannerism and work ethic to his sense of humor and charm is hands down what you need and want when it comes to having work done and done right!

Southern Elite Contracting (SEC) is the absolute worst project manager / GC that I've ever experienced. I can't stress how terrible of a job this group did on a bathroom remodel. Project start date pushed a month. During the sales process we were told it would take 3-4 weeks. Project still isn't complete 4+ months later. See quality of work in pictures below (This is after 4 months and their painter over for 3 days). Twice I called owner Devin Smith to update him on the situation thinking he cares about his customers as a business owner, and he never once came out to see the job for himself. I have since fired SEC as I want my project finished and was tired of being strung along by SEC. I'll update this thread to the cost and extent of repairs to fix the botched job that SEC provided

I had Southern Elite Contracting work on my home on 01/26/2017. I dealt directly with the owner, Devin Smith. The agreement was to repair 2 trusses above my garage, which had pulled out from the plates. At the time the work was completed, I was at the office, therefore I had my wife leave a check for them. After I came home and inspected the work, I noticed this company damaged my rafters/ceiling below the 2 trusses that were repaired. The ceiling is drooping/sagging a good 4-6 inches now below the two trusses that were "repaired". The drywall on the ceiling is also now cracked, which should tell you how bad the damage they caused is. On top of that, the truss work that this company did is sub par at best. There is a half inch gap where the truss support meets the rafter, which doesn't look safe to me. The owner, Devin, has not made a single attempt to come look at the damage his workers have caused. We have even tried to move our schedule around for him. He has made every excuse in the book. I have even sent the owner pictures of the damage, and he refuses to even address the pictures. He continues to play the stupid card by stating that they did not touch the ceiling/rafters and no damage done by his guys. I'm curious as to how someone could come to the conclusion that "no damage was done" without coming out to assess the damage?

They assessed my roof and found wind damage.  They met with the insurance adjuster who agreed.  They were out within two weeks  ( I needed time to get approval from my HOA).  Everything was done in one day.  Clean up was great.  Everyone was professional.    They took the dumpster the same day as the work done.  I have heard others complain about dumpsters being left for up to a week with other companies.  We need our driveway for multiple cars.  Could not be happier.  The roof looks amazing.

I had issues getting my roof replaced.  Southern Elite Contracting said that they would work with my Insurance Company to get it approved.  I was skeptical but gave them a shot.  Justin came out with the adjustor and walked the roof and 3 days later I had my approval from my Insurance Company. 

On the scheduled day of the replacement, the crew was very prompt and Donnie, the supervisor, walked me through the process.  I am very pleased with outcome.  And even the cleanup was great!