Reimer Building And Remodeling

AVOID Travis Reimer Building Inc. If you enjoy sleepless nights, a contractor that rarely shows up on the job (absent weeks at a time), hearing from other subcontractors in your community that they won’t work for Travis Reimer Building ( Kingsley, MI ) because he has not paid them in the past, getting texts from him months into the project claiming that work initially included in your contract is now an add-on costing more, and poor workmanship with no oversight, - then this is your guy. Run, don’t walk, away from Travis Reimer and never look back. I sincerely wish we would have heeded the advice from a previous reviewer - but we thought maybe it was a fluke. Initially he was nice, accommodating, and available. He told us to our face more than once that our addition project was on track - that he had great subs lined up - materials ordered, etc. but as time went on we discovered that he is a chronic, compulsive liar. The subs either didn’t show or he sent someone last minute who was completely unqualified to perform the work. We felt extremely uneasy as our building site set dormant for days and weeks on end. After our project started, we discovered that he was building his own house and using employees at his site versus ours - putting more salt in the wound. When we started to question what was happening, he stopped showing up at all and started texting - incessantly. The nice guy facade quickly disappeared only to be replaced with completely unprofessional rudeness, name calling, accusations, threats, lying and bullying. He will not hold himself accountable for anything. He tried to overcharge for materials - in one instance more than double the retail price for tile - and told us it was his cost. Outright lie. Think Jekyll and Hyde. Workmanship is sub par. Enormous gaps throughout all of the siding, crooked roof line, incomplete framing, entry roofs attached to fascia and more. All had to be fixed by us afterwards at our expense. He did not provide formal draw requests accompanied by Sworn Statements (Michigan law to provide an accounting of monies to track spending) - intentionally leaving us completely in the dark. And, we had to insist days on end for lien waivers which he complained about each time accusing us of being horrible clients because we wanted them. Halfway into our addition build - estimating that we had paid much more than the work performed - we refused to continue paying without the proper documentation. Rather than provide that, he terminated our contract. Days later, he tried to revive it but we were so beyond done. We transferred our permit and are finishing the job ourselves by hiring qualified subcontractors and tradesmen. We have since spoken with several past clients who have either fired him, he’s taken money from and not performed the work, or provided sub par work for. If you are looking for a builder in Traverse City, Kingsley, or surrounding areas, we strongly recommend you avoid any dealings with Travis Reimer, Reimer Building Inc, Reimer Building and Remodeling - or any other name he’s choosing to use. At this time we are filing complaints with the Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes (BCC), the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), the Better Business Bureau and Benzie County Building. Someone needs to review his practices - or more.

We contracted Reimer Building and Remodeling to put an addition on our home--kitchen, dining, and garage. Our contract and available funds started June 21, 2017 with a completion date from the bank of one year (June 21, 2018). We did not look into this company like we should have and are writing this review in hopes to save others from the terrible situation we have experienced. Long story short, dealing with Travis and his company has been a very exhausting and frustrating process. Our project was supposed to be completed almost two months ago, but Travis breached his contract as he was unable to complete it as he misused our funds and did not pay the subcontractors. Therefore, he did not have further access to the funds to complete the rest of our project. He still owes thousands of dollars to those subcontractors. We are still left with an uncompleted project and the hassle of trying to find another contractor to finish the mess. Prior to the bank closing, Travis was very open and easy to communicate with. This led us to put a lot of faith and trust in him and we gave him money from our personal funds so he “could get started” on the project (late June). He agreed to pay back at closing with the bank when he could start accessing those funds. When closing with the bank came, he did not pay us back as he agreed. When we thought the project was getting ready to start and Travis had accessed about $30,000, he stopped communicating with us and thought we might be scammed. It wasn’t until November 2017 that we started seeing some work being done after a meeting that only happened because we told him to not begin any work until he met with us. He excavated in November, leaving our well line exposed. When the snow came, our water line would frequently freeze. The pipe had to be wrapped in heat tape, and we left water running all winter which cost us extra in our electric bill. In February they got the structure up. The dirt caved in around the foundation, so they were unable to waterproof and backfill. It kept getting put off claiming he was working on hiring someone and renting a backhoe, which never happened. He asked for a second draw from the bank to pay for relocating the well line, materials for construction, and footing/foundation work. The subs were not paid from the draw. Over the next two months, they worked on tearing off shingles, installing the roof and windows. During this time, much of the house was exposed without shingles. We expressed our concern with Travis about this as rainy season was approaching. Unfortunately, he did not address our concerns and our upstairs bedroom now has water damage. In April, he asked for a third draw. The sworn statement he submitted showed that he paid the subcontractors for previous completed work. The bank required lien waivers signed for these draws, but the subs would not sign the waivers since they had not been paid. In early May, little to no work was being done. Travis was still not communicating with us, and our lawyer got more involved. After giving Travis the chance to commit to completion, Reimer Building & Remodeling breached their contract. We are left with an uncompleted project and are also out more than $5,000 of personal money that he has not paid us back. After his termination, our lawyer and ourselves have asked him for the records of funds used for our project. We have been waiting almost two months for his final costs on the project to help us move on with another contractor. We tried our best to communicate with Travis all along the way and tried everything on our end to make it work. We could include many more details and issues that have occurred, but there are just too many. We were hesitant to post a review, but had we read a review like this, we would have saved ourselves a lot of frustration and stress by avoiding this company.

Travis appeared promising in the beginning; he
had a number of good reviews on Home Advisor, he answered his phone and/or
returned calls promptly, seemed to be professional and friendly, was on time to
our first meeting, and gave me a competitive quote.  He wanted more than half of the project cost
to be paid at the end of the first day, which made me nervous, and fortunately
we agreed on a smaller initial payment. 
The miscellaneous repair work was satisfactory, but I will focus on the
bathroom floors as this was the bulk of the project.  Things starting going wrong on day two:
1.      
The new sub-floor patch in one of the bathrooms
was too thick for some reason, so rather than put in the correct thickness, he
chiseled down the high edges.  This still
left the center of the patch too high, where the toilet flange is.  So the toilet elevation is too high, and
there is a fairly large gap between the base of the toilet and the tile floor.
2.      
He didn?t use spacers on the floor tiles, and it
shows.
3.      
He installed the wrong Schluter strip at the
doorways; it was about 1/8? too high. 
I?m guessing that it was left over from a previous job and he hoped I
wouldn?t notice until he was gone.  He
was unhappy that I asked him to replace it, and said that I should have noticed
it sooner.
4.      
He ordered the wrong base coving?twice!  Rather than install the base coving that
matched the tile that I had specified, he decided (without any input from me)
that he would install a different style and size of tile with a similar (but
not matching) color ? and on top of the floor tile, rather than beside it as it
was designed and as most base coving is installed.  His second attempt was noticeably off in
color, and again was a completely different style and size.  Then I discovered on my own that the correct
base coving was no longer available ? he should have discovered that when he
ordered the floor tile.  When I had the
audacity to point out his error, he got angry and threatened to rip everything
out and walk off the job.  I wish I had
let him.  After I did some research with
the tile supplier, we determined a reasonable solution, although not ideal.  This delayed the project completion by a good
week. 
5.      
He ordered the wrong grout ? again without
getting my approval.  I had specified an epoxy
grout; he ordered a cheaper water mixed type. 
Fortunately, I noticed this before he had installed it.
6.      
There were 3 places where some foreign material
was wedged between the tiles, and then grouted in place, but you could see
where they stuck through the grout.  I
had to repair this myself as he could not get it corrected in time for arriving
guests.
7.      
One of the new toilets he assembled leaked
between the tank and the bowl, and the leak caused the caulk at the toilet base
to dissolve before it had cured.  I had
to reassemble the toilet, scrape out the old caulk, and re-caulk the base.
8.      
He left a fair amount of mess outside for me to
clean up ? cut tile pieces, left over mortar, he didn?t hose off my deck that
he used as a work surface, etc.
The lesson I learned from this project is, when
you have a specialty type job, you should probably hire a specialist.  Also, make sure that every little detail is
nailed down in writing.  I had assumed
that a simple floor tile job wouldn?t be much of a challenge for any decent
craftsman.  Travis had a habit of making
unilateral decisions if he wasn?t sure what I wanted.  Then he would get angry for calling him out
when he made an error.  It seemed like
once the contract had been signed, the communication stopped, and it was all
about getting the job done the cheapest and quickest way.  Unfortunately, cutting corners rarely works
out for anyone.