Heritage Builders

left me with half a bedroom ceiling done! they said the second half was not in the bid !are u stupid!!! they want to bill me for the other half. Dishonest sales man.never do business with them again!!

unknown

I contacted them because I wanted to put a steel beam in taking out one of my jack posts. I mentioned to them about a 10 inch flange being that I have a modular home and the two halves coming together pretty much equal that. They did not like this idea and all I heard was how Bill was almost an engineer and they discussed how my jack posts were 6 inch. I did not pay attention to the beam when it arrived and it ended up being 4 inch flange. that was never written in any email we discussed. When I came home I was told of one of my jack posts w cricked and it was okay by one of their workers. they had used my old holes. I was told they did not have the right tools to put them in straight in an email. It appeared to me they did. Also I had a light cam hanging by its wire. they took a 2 x 10 and ran it down the middle with the grain going the same way, but left spaces where the jack posts used to be. I already have a crack in the wood where the 4 inch flange steel beam touches the wood. The 2 x 10 is shimmed every 16 inches. Wood will warp. To stabilize they put 4 2 x 6 beams at angles. One though is pushed against a water line. if the beam shifts I might have a water leak. The other is covering part of an electrical hole for wires. If that shifts I am afraid it will do a lot of damage. We were emailing each other for awhile and they decided I owe them 90 percent of the job. the original amount was 2389 and if I want them to move my ductwork, wires, and radon pipe it would be an additional 250. I did it myself, but in the final bill they decided to add that price. Do not hire them. I feel they do not listen.
I had an inspection done and this is what he wrote.
  Upon inspection there was found a W12 x 22 Beam spanning roughly 16' that was used to replace a basement postthat had a design load of 11,702 lbs. per Wick Homes Model 454M-E drawing dated 10-14-2004.  The basement is of the Superior Walls design and manufacture.  
    The minimum load requirements for the posts under the home per Wicks drawings is 11,702 lbs.
Three of the original posts were removed as they were too long to accommodate the 12" depth of the newly installed beam.  The design load rating of the posts that were removed was taken from the postand is 13,700 lbs.  The allowable load rating of the new posts used to support the 12 x 22 beam is per their labeling 12,100 lbs.
   Since the two new posts replaced existing posts that needed a minimum oad capacity of 11,702 lbs. plus the additional load that was supported by the post that was removed, the load on each of th posts supporting the beam can be 11,700/2 +11,700= 17,550 lbs.  Plus 1/2 the weight o f the new beam = (22lbs./ft x 16 feet)/ 2 = 176 lbs for a total load per post of 17,726 lbs.
    Thus the newly installed posts are undersized according to the allowable load rating found on the post's label.  17,726 lbs-12,100 lbs = 5626 shy of the design load required per post.
   Note the load from the home is based on the floor and roof load as this is a manufactured dwelling which transfers 1/2 of the roof load down throuhg the center of the home to the row of posts in the basement.  This is common for the manufactured dwellings and homes as the roof trusses are not designed and built to span from the two exterior walls of the dwelling, but instead each half of the home's roof trusses spans fromthe exterior walls to the middle wall, transferring half of the roof load from each half of the home down through the center of the home to the posts in the basement.  
   As one can imagine  the  footings for the posts should have been investigated to insure they can take the 50% additional load on each of hte two footings.  Nothing was done during the inspection to ascertain the size of those footings.  as the concrete floor covers the footings.  
   Calculations were done to check the size of the steel w12 x 22 beam.  Those calculations were done by hand and checked using a PC program.   Copies  of those calculations are attached.  Note that the beam's allowabel stress iin bending was OK as was the web compressive forces where the web joins the flange at the supports.  Calculations did show the need for a web stiffener.  None was provided by the builder.  Also the connection of the post to the beam is questionable as the top of the new posts are not designed to provide lateral support to beam.  The builder did attempt to provide lateral support to the bottom flange of the beam, but the works looks questionable and amateurish.  If I were the Authority Having Jurisdiction (Building Inspector) I would not accept that means of providing lateral support in that area unless the builder could show it to conforms with standard practices by providing written documentation showing the technique used is common in building trades and that the bearing plate on the post is sufficiently well attached to resist any lateral forces.  
   The marriage beam in the home is laterally supported along both its top and bottom by floor joists wihich frame int it.  The W12 x 22 steel beam is only laterally supported along its top flange as installed.  
    Even though the beam size selected can take the loading numbers imposed on it by the home if it had web stiffeners at the supports, the means used to transfer the loads from the marriage beam in the basement to the W12 x 22 beam fails to comply with NDS 3.8.2 (the NDS is adopted in the UDC in SPS320.24, the former Comm 20.24) as a 2 x 10 is bolted to the top flange of the W 12 x 22 and is nailed to the bottom of the marriage beam with the grain running parallel to the W 12 x 22.  this arrangement allows the 2 x 10 to overhang the W 12 x 22 by 2 1/2 inches on both sides of the beam and that induces tension in the 2 x 10 and that tension is perpendicular to the grain.  NDS 3.8.2 reads: designs that induce tension stress perpendicular to grain shall be avoided whenever possible. (See References 16 and 19).  When tension stress perpendicular to the grain cannot be avoided, mechanical reinforcement sufficient to resist all such stresses shall be considered. (see References 52 and 53 for additional information).
   The width of the top flange of the W 12 x 22 is 4. 030".  There is a commonly found gap between the two marriage beams such that the width of the W12 x 22 flange just catches/supports two of the six 2 x 's that make up the marriage beam.
  The beam would have been better installed with 6" x 6" bearing plates( size per Wick drawings) attached to the beam that support the marriage beam where the posts did OR cut the 2 x 10 into pieces of sufficient length to catch the entire width of the marriage beam and arrange the 2 x 10 pieces so that the grain ran perpendicular to the marriage beam and place the 2 x 10 pieces along the entire length of the W 12 x 22 which would have complied with NDS 3.8.2
       

   

One young man - early 20's - arrived and proceeded to put ladder against gutter in front of house.  He then asked me if I had a bag or something he could put the leaves/dirt etc from the gutter into.  I gave him a bag.   He cleaned the front gutter over the front porch - I presume because I had no way of looking at the work after he finished.  He did NOT flush the gutter with water.  I asked him if he wanted the hose and he said "no".  He then proceeded to the back of the house which is 48 feet long, one continuous seamless gutter.  He again put the ladder up against the gutter, looked in the gutter and claimed it was perfectly clean.  I questioned this statement because I have four large trees in my back yard - two maple and two ash trees which produce copious amounts of leaves during the fall.  He insisted the gutter was clean.  He then put his ladder back on his truck and I asked him if he was going to clean the down spouts and again, his statement was "they are perfectly clean".  He then complained that his hands were really cold - he did not wear any kind of gloves or covering and it was a cold day- and he asked me if he could run his hands under hot water in my kitchen sink.  I allowed him to do this.   After he left I called the company and the guy who runs the business "Ron" claimed he couldn't come and check the work that day because someone else was using his truck and he didn't have a ladder.  He said he would come and check the work the following Monday.  I am still waiting from that day to this for Ron to come and check the work!!!!  When I received the bill, it was for one and one-half hours of work.  The young man was there 50 minutes and I sent them payment for one hour only.  They have never contacted me again.  I would NEVER use this company again.  The work was shoddy and the customer service was atrocious.

Everything was done quickly and professionally. The team was friendly, prompt and competent. We live in an old cabin and have learned that repairs sometimes reveal more problems. If they ran into any snags, they managed to find solutions. They kept the work area clean and protected our furniture. Ron knew we were on a time schedule and had a tight budget, and he worked with us.
Heritage Builders has an excellent reputation in the area for high standards and quality work. We'll use them again in the near future.

They have been extraordinary and really very good. They were working on a project for us this winter and they have done some estimates for us on a couple of projects. We have an ongoing relationship with them. The work that they did last winter was essentially a change in a porch. They had to put a new siding on and they had to do a new trim and it was very very well done. They came within the budget, in fact, a little lower than the budget that they had estimated. Their price was reasonable and their responsiveness was excellent.

We called them to do something else, but their price was too high, and so we didn't use them. They are a quality company, and they are green, that is why the prices are high. They are good, but we found them expensive. Their quality is good. We would use them again, if the price was good.

The estimates were fair and to the cost of the project.



The people working kept the job site clean. They were well mannered and a credit to the business.



Projects were finished on schedule. Everything was cleaned-up - you would not know they were working here.



They did a follow-up on satisfaction.



The members of the condo that were involved were all very pleased with their professionalism.

I believe that our first mistake was going with a company that perhaps does not usually do painting jobs. Heritage Builders had just finished installing two painted bookshelves in our living room, and one worker mentioned that he/they do painting jobs as well. Because we had a good experience with this worker (but not as much with some of their other workers - see my other review), we decided to see what their estimate to paint our kitchen cabinets and another small bedroom would be. After all, in their previous job - when something was not to our satisfaction, they were sure to make it right.
Their estimate - to paint kitchen cabinets and a bedroom - seemed EXTREMELY low (roughly $900, including materials), and - being new, first-time homeowners - we didn't stop to think "huh, that seems quite cheap - maybe they don't necessarily know what they're getting in to...". So in one way, this poor experience might have been due to us not making the right choice to begin with (and I hadn't joined Angie's List yet either).
The kitchen cabinets were stained a dark walnut color, and we wanted to paint a white/cream color. We knew this would take multiple coats and primer, due to the color underneath. They removed the cabinet doors and had them at their shop for over a week for painting. During that time, a worker primed (very thinly) the cabinets and then painted it. There were paint drips on the wood floor, the wood trim, and other spots. There were also spots you could clearly see through the paint (you could still see the *wood grain* it was such a thin coat) and many places where you could see the brush strokes against the dark wood. When he brought the cabinet doors back and installed them, he had only painted the FRONTS of the doors, so the backs were still stained dark brown, which looked quite odd whenever you opened a cabinet. While we had said they did not need to paint the inside of the cabinets, we specifically requested that they remove and paint the front and backs of the doors. Essentially, he only gave the cabinets (and doors) one coat of paint, when anyone (including myself!) knew that it would take multiple coats to cover the dark stain underneath.
Moving on to the bedroom, it was much the same. The room was a light yellow, and we wanted to paint it a light pink. Once again, he only gave the room ONE quick/sloppy coat (and no priming), and did not fill any of the nail holes. There was paint splatter on the trim and large spots of yellow that we could see through the paint. He also didn't paint the inside of the closet, which we assumed would be part of it as well, since it was the same color (and we had cleaned out the closet for him to paint).
After seeing all of this, we were extremely surprised, and called (and emailed) Ron right away. He came out to look at the job, and agreed that there was a number of issues that needed to be fixed. One must keep in mind that our quote was quite simple: paint cabinets and doors in kitchen and paint bedroom. There was no details about number of coats, priming, or anything. We assumed that when a professional company says they will paint a room or cabinets, they will do a job that looks *finished*. I believe that the greatest problem in this experience was lack of communication. Nothing appeared to be written down or explained, so when we mentioned or assumed things, they did not end up doing them.
A few days later, we were extremely surprised to get an email from Ron saying that he had spoken with the painter, who disagreed with a number of our claims. Basically, Ron was siding with his employee, and since we had a very simple quote on paper, there was nothing we could do. He said that if we wanted a second coat of paint in each room and have the backs of the kitchen cabinet doors painted, we'd be looking at a bill that was nearly DOUBLE what we originally paid. Since it was either doing this or going through the process of hiring a professional painter (which would take even longer), we decided to do it and realize that it should have cost that much (or more) to do it in the first place.
Since they were asking us to essentially pay double of what we were originally quoted, it was quite obvious that they didn't care about our business in the future or their reputation, which was too bad. I believe that a company who would want to insure a good rapport with a customer (and get future business from them) would have handled this situation differently.
I think that they might be a fine company for handyman work, but I would not recommend their painting services to anyone, even if they say that it is part of their line of work.

The owner of Heritage Builders, Ron, personally came out and met with us to give us an estimate on our job. He took measurements, and returned with some drawings and a quote the next week. Although the price seemed a bit high, we decided to go with them because he seemed like a very knowledgeable and honest person. They would be building and painting the shelves off-site, and then taking one day to install them.
That is when it went a bit south. We had assumed that either Ron would be helping to install the shelves (since he was the only contact person we had interacted with) or - at the very least - he would stop by to check-in on the workers as they did the job. Unfortunately, the sub-contractors (or whoever it was installing it) ended up doing many things wrong, including not removing (or covering) shoes on our white carpet, not cleaning up after themselves inside and outside, reattaching electrical outlets unlevel, not leaving enough room for the carpet guy to re-tuck the carpet, and completely covering up the only cable outlet in the room.
As expected, they had to send someone to come back and right all of the above wrongs, which was inconvenient. If the quality of the install job would have been like we expected from interacting with Ron, I believe it would have been an "A" rating. Also, if they had not come back and fixed the errors, it would have been a "C" rating.

The head guy is Ron and he is awesome. He was completely responsive. When his stucco guy was on vacation and wasn't available to come out and give me a bid, he came out and took pictures. He hooked me up with the best exterior masonry guy in the world who knew how to do real stucco. They also do all kinds of handyman services so if I ever need anybody I will use them first. I called them on March 24 and they responded on March 26. I haven't received the bill yet but they had the lowest bid. They did a beautiful job.

It's locally owned, it's a local person who has become an expertise in the area. He does the new windows and he has different crews he sends out to different areas for the remodeling, depending on where you live. I think of him as very trustworthy and definitely looks for the best situation for you in cost cutting measures and that kind of thing. He looks at different alternatives.