LBJ Construction

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Multiple delays, shoddy work that had to be redone. Much was redone at LBJ expense but I lived through it. Rather than an expert eye that protected my interests, blindly followed errors in plan. Poor attention to what fit the character of an older home. Often worked two half days out of a week. Later a serious water leak revealed absolutely incorrect structure, verified by the City Planning Inspector revisiting. LBJ took no responsibility. My husband and I found another contractor to rebuild correctly.

The build-out of our showroom went well - on time and on budget. The remodeling of client's homes have gone well, despite the inevitable unknowns that occur with every remodel project. LBJ has always been willing and able to go the extra mile and do whatever necessary to resolve any unexpected issues for us and our clients.

They were recommended to us by the company who we got to do the kitchen design and the cabinets. They work closely with that company. They came in and everything started out fairly well except that they did not maintain good control over their subcontractors. The tile people came in to install the tile and said the floor would be flat but not level. We told them we wanted the floor to be flat and level. After several weeks of delay they did get that accomplished. They put up recessed lights in the kitchen and they weren't lined up, which I told them I wanted them in a line. They had to come back and move the lights. They had to stain a bunch of woodwork and paint walls. Before Christmas last year they came out to do stain matching for the wood already in the house. They did some samples and we told them the one we wanted. The painter came back during the christmas holidays and said they had to pick a color. We had told them we had already done that. They spent most of the day mixing stains to try to get the right color. He put his crew to staining with a color that was too light, they finally got the color we wanted and they said they would be back to do it the next day. They came back the next day and still didn't have the right color. They said they would come back and it ended up being six months before they came back. We talked to LBJ Construction and they said that they couldn't make any money off of our project. I have paid every invoice and it wasn't like something was in contention that hadn't been paid. The job is finished but my wife is not happy with some of the quality. It appears the general contractor bought a new office and overextended himself and now he doesn't want to finish our project and make things right. Their price was high. Update: . Since the response contains factual errors, I would like to set the record straight. 1. Floor: I knew about the problem with the uneven concrete slab. The rooms had previously had carpet and vinyl tile and the dips and hills were quite evident when we pulled those up. There was a depression in the center of the dining room that was 1 5/8? below level as I remember. I asked the tile people to float or fill the floor to make it level. There reply was ?It will be flat, but not level.? I told them I wanted it both flat and level. After much consulting and complaining they accomplished this, but at the cost of delay to the job. 2. Lighting: Please note that the ceiling in the kitchen had been completely removed, so re-locating light fixtures did not involve sheet rock work. LBJ used a handyman rather than the electrician to set the fixtures. However, he just ?eye-balled? the alignment, and as a result the fixtures were not in straight lines. I strung string lines myself and asked that the fixtures be aligned properly. 3. Wood Staining: This was the major issue and did not proceed at all as Mr. Powers has described. The following timeline is taken from my notes: a. 11/27/10 One of the painters came to do color samples. We showed him some existing woodwork to be matched. He returned this day with a perfect match. b. 12/27/10 Although LBJ?s superintendent was on vacation we agreed for the painters to come during the Christmas holidays to do the staining, since we already had agreed on the color. The owner of the paint subcontractor came this day and said we needed to pick a color. We told him that we had already picked a color based on the sample done by his brother. While he tried mixing stains for color, his crew proceeded to stain all the woodwork with a lighter color. He finally got a color close enough to what we had picked and stained one door facing. We told him that was what we wanted, but he said they would come back the next day and darken all the woodwork, if we were sure that was the color we wanted. c. 12/28/10 The painters returned the next day and I told the subcontractor that the color on the door facing was what we wanted. He replied, ?I had that color yesterday, but I don?t have it today.? His crew finished putting on the first coat of the lighter stain and left. d. 12/29/10 The subcontractor returned alone and painted a window frame with the color to match the previous door frame. He said that they wanted to wait until the superintendent returned from vacation. e. 1/27/11 The LBJ superintendent and the subcontractor came and brought a can of stain said to match the selected color. The window contractor had to replace some trim, so we suggested that the painters could wait until they finished. f. 11/14-16/11 The painters finally returned and finished staining. I noticed that the finish on the fiberglass rear door was very rough and when I asked about it, they claimed that it was the nature of the material. I went to the supplier from whom we obtained the door and the stain supplier and was told by both that it sounded as though the painters neglected to apply the final coat of polyurethane. I relayed this information back to LBJ. g. 1/31/12 The painters returned to finish the door. As you can see from this timeline, the work was neither professionally done nor completed in a timely manner. In addition, in the process of staining, they splashed stain on the newly painted walls. It was for this reason my wife asked Mr. Powers to come for a final walk-through. He refused and replied that he had done that a year ago, although that was long before the work was completed. 4. When I learned that LBJ had terminated his superintendent, who had been with him for many years, I called Mr. Powers directly since there was unfinished brick repair (from a dryer vent move) and some unfinished electrical work. He expressed surprise that the job was not complete and sent his handyman to take care of those two issues. It was obvious that LBJ had not followed the progress of the job very closely. 5. Bathroom: LBJ had initially quoted remodeling the upstairs bath as part of the contract. After the delays due to the floor, Mr. Powers unilaterally decided to remove this from the contract. The statement that I decided to remove this is patently false. Due to the time lapse between quotation and job completion, I requested several times through the superintendent for them to update the bath quote. This was never done. 6. The comment about LBJ being over-extended is strictly my opinion based on my forty years of business experience. I do know that they built a new design center and that some key employees (the superintendent and one of the previous partners) were let go. To me those are indications of a business with problems. 7. Please note that I paid every progress payment as soon as I received it with no questions. Some aspects of the job were upgraded from the original quotation and I also paid the upgrade charges promptly, so if LBJ was unable to profit from this job it was due to their own mismanagement. Please note the peeling varnish on the poorly prepped door, the paint overlap on the windows, and the puddle of varnish in the window corner. These are selected examples of wide-spread problems.