Douglass Carpentry & Construction LLC

"We are a bit blindsided by the complaints in this report. I believe that all of the issues that we have been alerted to have been corrected in a timely manner. We were requested to return to caulk cracking at the corners of the floor grout joint, which we have done twice and continues to be a problem. I had attempted to arrange a 3rd trip but had not heard back from the customer as to a schedule. Cracking is always an issue at points of differential movement in a non-elastic material like cement grout which we remedy with a matching sanded grout caulk per standard practices. In this instance it has been exacerbated by structural work that the customer has had done since the bathroom was finished. We bid the structural modifications, but the customer opted to utilize the services of another contractor. The work, as performed, caused sheetrock and plaster shatter lines, along with obvious settling across one of the doors. If, by jacking the floor up/down carelessly, that amount of damage was caused one would expect the grout to crack again as well. The creaking drain pipe was an issue we discussed immediately after the project was completed and I was under the impression that it was a moot point that we had agreed was an issue of the existing cast iron drain lines. If the client had felt that we were negligent in addressing the issue we would have opened back up the closet wall to try and address the problem further. We have never been contacted concerning a leak at the tub. The pitch in the floor was also never brought to our attention as an issue. The house is 90 years old and has had a rather interesting and structurally nebulous addition built at the back end of said bathroom. The subfloor was existing, as was the tub unit, so we did not even consider leveling the floor as there is a door at each end and it would have made a large step at the one entrance. Unfortunately, we do not have control over what our customers and other contractors do to their houses. We have tried to be responsive and addressed issues that arisen even after there were others working on the structure of the house. We stand by our work 100% and try and be as helpful as possible as issues arise - even after several years have passed and we are fighting against movement, gravity and others work. The last time I met with one of the two customers to assess the sheetrock/plaster damage we discussed bidding the replacement of their kitchen in the future, so needing to write this reply seems strange. I have contacted the customer again after reading and replying to this report to try to arrange the grout caulking again."

"Unfortunately we sent our painters out to finish a small area of fascia that we left unit Summer to paint. They came and only did half of it. We sent them back and assumed it was done. It was not. We got out there this month - painted the two areas and completely replaced an fluorescent light fixture that the electricians had only rebuilt based on their assessment. Thank you for your patience."