AMAZING SPACES INC

Description of Work: They built a sunroom with glass ceiling on an existing deck.

Description of Work: My father had just died, and my 75 year old mother in Texas paid to have a 2 room addition build onto our home in Chapel Hill. We met with several companies, and finally decided on Amazing Spaces in Raleigh. My mom wanted a living space that was mainly windows, so that she could see our meadows and flowers, as we live in the countryside of Chatham County. My mom, husband and I met with the salesman, John, in October of 2009, and we were reassured that we would have a 500 sq ft. addition, with a living area, a bedroom. Our computer room was to be converted into a bathroom for my mother, and would connect our part of the house with her addition. My mom was very specific about her needs at the meeting, requesting 36" wide doors so that a wheelchair could fit through the rooms if she became disabled. We specified ceiling fans in both rooms, carpet in the bedroom, and hardwood in the bathroom and the living area. Amazing Spaces used one their contractors to be the contractor / project manager. One of the reasons that we chose Amazing Spaces was that they promised that the project could be done in six months. After the early October 2007 meeting and signing of the contract, we did not hear from anyone until several months later. We were told that Amazing Spaces prides themselves on being very specific about the scope of work. We called them often, as we had not received a breakdown of the costs. The price we were quoted was $58,000 for the completed project. We were sent a generic form outlining line by line costs for sunrooms, which had little relevance to our project, so nothing in the form made any sense for our addition. We questioned the contractor and the salesman about this, and they both said that this was the form that they always used, but that everything that we agreed to would be done. We questioned them as to why it was taking so long for the project to get started, and they kept saying that they were having trouble getting all of the permits from Chatham County, and that it was holding them up. By March 2008, we were getting very anxious as my mother had to move out of her place in Dallas at the end of May, and would be arriving in June, and not one thing had been done on the project. We finally called Chatham County, who reported that no permits had been applied for, and that we already had a permit for 4 bedrooms on the land, which we were not exceeding by building the addition. The bathroom was finally started, and it was a complete nightmare. I gave the contractor a list of the items that we wanted in the bathroom, which was within the budget. We were told that we had to go purchase the things, and have them delivered to the house, and then the money that we spent on the shower, sink, toilet would be taken off of the final price. We were also told that no flooring or painting was included in the $58,000 price. We were told that we would have to purchase all of the paint and flooring, and do all of the work ourselves, or hire someone to do the work. Basically, all that they were going to do was put up the walls. The plumber that came in to plumb the bathroom said that he had never seen a worse drywall job in his whole career. We called the owner, Gypsy, who said that she would personally see to it that this job was done well. My mom was extremely anxious, and had just lost her husband of 56 years. We were told by many people, including many subcontractors who did work on the house, that we were paying top dollar for a 400 sq ft addition, and that we were being ripped off. The drywall man left about 50 drywall footprints all over our hardwood floors that took somebody about 8 hours to clean up. The The man that they sent in to do the drywall had a severe palsy, and he butchered the drywall. The doors that were put in the bathroom were not the 36" wheelchair accessible doors that mom requested, but rather 24 " doors. The contractor said that he was not told about the need for handicap access, but the electrician and the plumbers all said that they were very clear that handicap access was a priority. The contractor showed up on the project maybe once a month, and would quickly leave. The bathroom drywall and painting had to be completely redone before it was all over. The framing for the addition did not start until May of 2008, and things went from bad to worse. Some grading had to be done, and multiple times, all of our electricity lines, phone lines and water lines were cut. We were not told about the lines being cut to our barn, and only found out 2 weeks later, when we went to get deer meat our of our freezer in the barn, and were knocked down by the smell of rotting flesh. Deer blood had soaked a new mattress set, and had damaged many antiques that we had stored in that area, as all of the liquid from the meat- 40 lbs of it, had thawed and dripped out of the freezer. We were told that the company was refusing to pay for any of the flooring or painting of the 2 room addition, and that all of the casement windows were going to be installed unfinished and unsanded, and that we would have to stain them. The plumber had connected our converted bathroom to the pipes of our septic system, and then the concrete slab was poured over it. The county had not approved the slab, as they were concerned about the ability of the plumbing pipes to sustain the weight of the concrete. Amazing Spaces got an engineer to write a report to Chatham County to explain why he felt it was ok to carry on with their plan. We later found out that the engineer AS used was the contractor's father. We began to have constant clogs in our toilet / septic system, and paid Roto Rooter multiple times to try to clean it our. AS kept saying that our son was putting baby wipes and paper towels into the toilet, which was very odd to us. The last time that the clog happened, Roto Rooter put a camera into the pipe that had been put in under the new slab, and realized that the pipe under the slab indeed had been crushed, which had caused all of our plumbing problems. The wood that we had laid down in the living area had to be pulled up, concrete was drilled out, and the pipe had to be repaired. We kept calling Gypsy and the contractor, who continued to ignore us and lie to us. The outside of the addition had been graded, but water was pouring into the area in front of my mom's addition, and it had created a mosquito infested cesspool that smelled horrible. We were told that we would have to pay an extra 2500.00 to build a retaining walll to stop the water, but it did nothing to help the problem, and it was a swamp around that whole area. We had put in about $90,000 info fhis 400 sq to addition by now, and my mom was tapped out, as she only lives on her social security. The Chatham Co inspector had to come out to look at the plumbing repair, and it was then that we were told that Amazing Spaces had never gotten a plumbing or electric permit, and the county showed us the application that AS turned into them, which said that this was to be an unheated sunroom with no plumbing. The people that they had used were not even licensed. We had paid these people to take care of all of the permits, and then they told the county that we had told them that we did not want permits. Why would we do that? AS was very clear that they took care of all permits. They had never even told the county that they were putting in a bathroom, and they would not take responsibility for any of this unethical behavior. Needless to say, my mother had to rent a place to live until October, and had to pay to store all of her belongings, as the addition was no where near finished. AS was a nightmare from start to finish, and they truly made our lives h*** for a whole year. I cannot believe that they are allowed to stay in business.

Description of Work: Added a 14'x14' sunroom to our house.

Description of Work: THE COMPANY INSTALLED A HOT TUB IN OUR HOME.