BIGELOW ENTERPRISES INC

overpriced, nonprofessional cost plus, never again

The work progresses without much incident. Parts of the work were subbed out and these were delayed a few days due to no-shows. The quality of the work was up to expectations for a garage. I had signed a "cost plus" contract based on a friend using the same contractor and same contract, and the contractor, John, saying this is the way most customers like to work. I assumed we would have a similar result. The contract stated labor rate and 20% charge on subbed work and materials AND hourly labor (which I did not realize at first). The contract stated I would get invoices no more than once a week. I assumed I would get them periodically. I could easily fill the maximum space describing the string of disappointments after work was completed. We had proposed additional outdoor projects, but I made it clear I needed to know if we were on budget with the garage. I never heard back. Maybe 3 weeks after work was finished I got 3 invoices in the same email. The total came to 70% over the estimate. I had never even heard of a single complication. I was furious and did not pay a significant amount for several months. During this time it was very difficult to get answers to simple questions in a timely manner. I finally sent a payment for what I thought it was worth and stated I considered the matter closed. At this point, Lynn became more responsive. In the end we agreed that they had charged me for labor hours used to estimate the original expansion plan, but I had not accepted that bid. He deducted about 10% from the total, so I ended up paying about 50-60% over the estimate. Naturally Lynn said he would send me a final statement showing the balance credited, but he never did. I feel Lynn never felt his workers did anything wrong- they never knew the charges were going over budget. This is precisely the problem! If you are spending someone else's money, you should pay attention to how much you are spending. If you DO NOT accept a cost plus contract from this company you might have better luck, but take care in deciding what you sign.