Belfor Property Restoration

We had a pipe burst in our bathroom one evening and were put in contact with Belfor through our home insurance. They called that same night and asked if they needed to come now (it was around 10pm) or if they could come in the morning. By then we were able to turn our main water off so we opted for in the morning during their business hours instead. Their team of 3 people came the following morning with fans to dry up the water. The first hint that this was going to be a problematic experience was that our bathroom in our master has a small pocket door to enter it and I watched the girl try and shove a massive fan through the door before I mentioned it likely wouldn’t fit. This ended up breaking our pocket door and leaving it at a slant and no longer opening and closing properly - something I mentioned to their inspector that came once fans were removed but I still haven’t heard back on a remedy for despite her saying she would contact her boss about it despite her taking photos of it as well and saying she would get back to me on the repair for it since it was fully in fault to their employee. The next experience of unprofessionalism came the day after they had their fans there to be checked. I received a call saying that they had paperwork that they forgot to have me sign when they first showed up. They came that evening and I signed and they explained it as me agreeing that they were going to leave the fans there and me agreeing to use them for the job and pay once the fans were left there (basically a form and conversation that needed to happen when they first showed up not once the job was already completed and. I wasn’t able to back out anymore). When I asked about cost they said they weren’t sure but to ask my insurance about it. The following day they called again saying they accidentally had me sign the wrong form and then came over again and had me sign a few pages going over me agreeing to pay and use their coverage again basically yet the job was done with the fans so again basically signed the contract after job was completed to help protect them not me. When I asked what today was when signing they told me the date that they originally came not what today actually was ( something I didn’t realize til after they left and I was looking over the forms again ). Very deceptive to make it seem like I signed the form earlier. Additionally, I was not told when they were showing up to pick up the fans and check the status of if the fans needed to stay there longer or not. Someone showed up at the door in the morning and I was spammed with phone calls and told that his boss told him to show up then and he assumed someone told me he was coming. I had no idea. My contact for the Belfor inspector went silent for 2 weeks on me. I called, texted, left voicemails until finally I called their office and complained and the following day finally got a call back from her with the estimate info for the repair work. At that point we were fed up with how unprofessional everyone we were in contact with seemed to be and were told that if we went with Belfor it was going to be 6months to get the appointment to talk to their contractor and from there likely a few more months to even start the job (getting a new sink vanity and patching the drywall behind it). Lastly, I feel like this company just deals with insurance claims and nobody questions the overpriced and inaccurate estimates. My insurance (as well as me out of pocket for the remaining balance) had lines of fees that shouldn’t even be there… 58.83 and 40.62 to remove the vanity and sink from the wall, but I AM THE ONE WHO DID THAT. They called me saying I needed to prior to the inspector coming. 217.62 Asbestos test fee yet the worker here called his boss and I heard the conversation. His boss said it didn’t need to be tested and to just leave the fan there. 52.89 to haul debris - but NO DEBRIS WAS TAKEN 45.76 for water line cap to stop the water, but we already had the pipes closed off and water turned off the entire time they were there 13.20, 2.72 for n-85 mask and disposable gloves but nobody that entered the house had gloves or masks on. 319 for emergency service call after hours. They didn’t come after hours to my house so was this the cost for the minute long phone call I had with someone? If so I don’t even want to know what they think is a fair rate for them actually showing up after hours. A bit ridiculous.

We had a barbeque fire which burned out the bathroom, blew out windows, and burned attic timbers.  After Belfor negotiated with our insurance company, we signed a detailed contract for the house, patio, and furnishings.  We moved to a motel on the date of the fire.  Destroyed items were thrown out and others were packed up and removed to the cleaners, refinishers, and to Belfor's warehouse.

     The bathroom was gutted and in August the burned wood was replaced.  The roof and the siding were replaced.  We went on a month long vacation in September and when we returned, we found that 3 windows had been replaced.  Nothing else had been done.  We called and emailed Derek Stewart, Steve Lewis, and Chris Whalen.  Eventually everything was nearly completed, but not before we had many complaints about the workmanship and subcontractors.  The painters painted the upstairs bathroom and bedroom the wrong colors.  I had gotten paint samples for each room, left them in the room, and had written the paint color, numbers, and the paint company on the walls. This was resolved. When the painter came back to touch up, he left an open 5 gallon of paint in the carpeted hallway.  Our patio has debris from the painters and other subcontractors.  We moved in the day before Thanksgiving, even though the house wasn't finished.  It still isn't. 

     When I visited a flooring company in Portland, I specifically asked for real Carrera marble in the shower stall. The salesperson gave me a sample of the marble.  We were still out of the house when the heated flooring and the shower stall were tiled.  Chris Whalen called and said he and the spokesperson would  be at our house  last week.  Sheryl Nunn came and was in denial and rude.  Although I've emailed Chris, we've heard from no one.

     Although the patio has been measured twice, it hasn't been repaired, nothing has happened about the shower stall.  Our family room sofa was ruined by the water from fire hoses. 

     We want these issues solved and our house finished.

    

Our house flooded twice during the heavy rains of December 2015. The first time we did not know where the water was coming from as the flood got discovered a day or  two after the fact. We called Belfor the minute we realized water was all over the floor of 2 rooms in the basement. They showed up within 3 hours or so, which is incredibly fast considering the entire Portland
area was flooding. They pulled the carpet and pad in the 2 rooms, took samples of the drywall and set up machines to dry and dehumidify the  2 rooms to prevent mold (which apparently can grow really fast).
Eight days later they pulled their machines as everything was dry. The same evening more heavy rains fell and reflooded the bedroom. We were there to catch it and discovered the problem was from a poorly installed window well for an egress window we had had a contractor install in 2013. The window well was constructed with a solid concrete bottom rather than drain rock as it should have been we discovered later. That means the ground water was filling up the window well through its drain hole at the bottom.
We called our rep. Katie at Belfor a little after 8PM and she answered the phone. She explained we had to control the water before they could come back and help dry things out. We managed to set up a pump in the window well that night and on the following Saturday Katie sent us a crew to check on the moisture level in both rooms. Since the only moisture was under the faulty window the crew removed the drywall under that window and we did not need any more machines to dry the area.
Throughout the entire process Katie and her crew were very responsive (even in the evening hours) and sympathetic to our problem. They were very nice to deal with despite being very overworked by all the flooding they had to remedy. They efficiently handled our situation and helped in every way they could. Their response time was incredibly fast and they thought the problem out intelligently so as not to cost us more than was necessary. Another company may have decided to remove the drywall and wood paneling all around the 2 rooms 1 foot from the ground but Steve, our project manager, realized that the water had stayed very low to the ground and by using his moisture meter was able to confirm that after using the machines the walls were indeed dry. This helped save us a big amount of money. We are very grateful Katie, Steve and the rest of the crew were there for us in a very difficult and stressful situation.

On the advice of the property management group for my condos, I had Belfor come out to look at my condo due to a mold smell reported by my tenant.  Belfor told me they would arrange a time with the tenant.  I didn't hear anything back.  I finally followed up to be told that everything was fine & they found nothing.  The tenant continued to complain about the smell.  I asked that Belfor be sent back out while I was present (today).
The guy who came out was very nice, seemed competent and scanned the floor and walls with a moisture detector to discover an extremely high saturation rate (70-80%).  The mold smell by this time has escaped the bathroom and the bedroom adjacent smells of it as well.
The fact that they came out and found nothing when there was clearly a problem that has become quite serious by now (they need to tear out all the flooring and cabinetry in the bathroom now since over half the bathroom flooring was that badly saturated) concerned me, so prior to hiring them I checked out there reputation online . . . which is pretty much bad across the board.  Most reviews seem to be bad from both customers and employees.
Based on that, I've decided to hire somebody else to do the work.   If you have no visible mold, but a mold smell or concerns about damage not visible on the surface and they say all is well, you may want to get a second opinion.  I wish that I had done so much earlier.

After Belfor's successful water mitigation work after a disasterous toilet leak, we decided to hire them to repair the damage. Bad decision. Just because they did great work minimizing damage to our home, didn't mean that they were competent construction contractors.

EVERYONE WORKING FOR BELFOR WENT OVER AND A ABOVE WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO COMPLETE THEIR JOB. THEY ASSISTED US IN WORKING WITH MULTIPLE INSURANCE COMPANIES AND HELPED US DISPOSE OF ITEMS THAT WERE OUR RESPONSIBILITY. NOT ONLY DO THEY EXPECT THE HIGHEST STANDARDS FROM THEIR EMPLOYEES, THEY ALSO EXPECT THE SAME FROM THEIR SUBCONTRACTORS. WHEN ONE OF BELFOR'S WORKERS SAW A FOOTPRINT LEFT BY THE PAINTERS, HE CALLED THE COMPANY AND HAD THEM COME RE-DUE THE PAINT JOB.