Bolt Construction

After interviewing close to 20 or so companies, we decided to give Bolt a try for our home addition project. Before the contract was signed, the owner was responsive and willing to answer all our questions. He provided a few referrals and we ended up only be able to speak to one. However, the review was for a kitchen remodel and not home addition. After the contract was signed and deposit was paid, the owner and project manager realized land surveys are required before architectural design. Unfortunately, this was revealed right in front of our eyes when the architect came to meet us and only found out no land surveying was done so he could not know the buildable area for his drawing. Not only this was a complete waste of our time, we realized they are inexperienced and tried to cover up their oversight by saying there were updates in city regulations only AFTER the contract was signed. Worse yet, they came back with $10K~ extra cost and said the land survey expenses wasn't included in the quote and they needed the extra fund to proceed with our project. We decided to not go forward with Bolt because not only they are inexperienced, they overturned what they promised on all expenses included in the quote upon contract signing before anything was done. We requested for a full refund on our deposit but the owner claimed they have filed tax and the 10% is non-refundable. He later stressed that this is a company policy which was never mentioned anywhere in the contract or made known to us. First of all, deposits are never taxable which was mind-boggling to hear that the owner said he did that. Second, after we consulted a friend who is an expert in tax, we sent the owner a form from the Department of Revenue and asked them to fill it in so we can claim the "filed tax" back. After days of following up (as the owner was slow in responding), he finally wrote us a check for the remaining 10%. Potential buyers aware: My experience is a living proof that Bolt is inexperience in home additions. Also, they are ready to lie, cover up their own mistakes and ignore you when you want to end the contract. I cannot recommend this company to anyone if you care about working with someone with integrity and your hard-earned money.