Word to the wise: Do not use All Seasons Home Remodeling in Somerville!

[rigel.livejournal.com]

Just a tip to those in the Davis Square area to avoid local contractor All Seasons Home Remodeling. I chose them because they were Better Business Bureau accredited. Things seem to have gone downhill for them, as far as I can tell, as they both got every single aspect of the repair wrong and, after offering to perform the repairs as originally stated and being told the lead contractor was on the way with new materials, had him cancel on me without informing me or their dispatcher. (I waited for an hour for him to arrive, called for an ETA, and when she called him, found out he just . . . wasn't coming. Ever. They made the 'ever' part clear, much to the dispatcher's chagrin.)

More details can be found here: http://rigel.livejournal.com/1945190.html

Comments

[ifotismeni]

i am a little confused (this is not snarky, genuine question here) -- it sounds like the contractor and staff themselves were very professional but the subcontractor was flaky? am i reading that right?

[rigel.livejournal.com]

The on-site contractor, who works for the lead, was professional. His work was also dependent on the lead contractor's approval, materials, etc.

It was the lead contractor, the one who approves all the work, who:
- had details on every aspect of the job "wrong"/not what I asked for and he agreed to at the time of the estimate (covering over the broken floorboards with half-inch, unvarnshed, jagged plywood rather than reflooring with floorboards, using a wooden dowel rather than a metal closet rod, etc.)
- miscommunicated with the dispatcher and I over the course of the morning
- presumed any miscommunication or unhappiness was solely my doing
- abandoned the job without informing the dispatcher or I.

[ifotismeni]

ah, i am sorry. i misread. thank you for the clarification!

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Regardless, I don't think it's unreasonable to hold a company responsible for any subs they choose to do business with.

[ifotismeni]

?

not sure why that comment is directed my way.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Your first comment noted that it seemed the company was fine and it was just the subcontractor that was flaky. I'm just adding that a bad subcontractor also reflects poorly on the lead. Just including a thought that seemed relevant to the line of comments :)

[squirrelitude]

I totally agree on that. Companies *must* be judged by who they choose to do business with -- it is one of the few ways they can be held accountable.

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

From my reading it seemed the dispatcher, lead contractor, and on-site contractor all work for the same company, but the lead contractor (the dude who was rude and canceled the job) makes the decisions.

[rigel.livejournal.com]

That is correct.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

hopefully, you are not on the hook for paying them either.

since the dispatcher is sympatico it seems, you could inform them they likely lost a customer, and that your blog about it is more telling than BBB.

then offer them a second chance, maybe withh a discount.

#

[rigel.livejournal.com]

I tried. She understood, but all she was able to do was call him back and try to persuade him to do otherwise. He declined.

I'm getting the sense there's more going on there than I realized.

[junesrose.livejournal.com]

Not for nuthin, cause I know it's too late for you now, but I got my contractor from Angie's list. And, everything, every change they made, was put in writing.

And, aside from lagging a bit with with the completion of it all (yes, we had other major things spring up along the way that caused delays, but now I think they've got other jobs to and the little stuff is trailing behind), I really have no major complaints. I feel so, so lucky, cause I too have been in your shoes.

I would try to complain to the BBB again, maybe that would work?

I had to take a landscaper to small claims court due to a math error (we paid them too much), only to have them show up at my door the night before the hearing with my check. But, it worked.

Hope you have some luck in your pursuit to get things done properly.

only tangentially related

[greyling.livejournal.com]

I'm a relatively new homeowner in the area, and I've had a few experiences with contractors that I figure bear sharing - mostly because I've been diligently scanning Davis_Square for contractor feedback before hiring anyone.

I had a bad experience with Steve at Center Line Construction, and would highly recommend avoiding his company. I had him knock out a load-bearing wall in my kitchen and put in a kitchen island there. While I am happy with the solidity of the beam they put in, I feel that Steve simply ran out of time to complete my project well - they never painted the wall, they left me with sections of my floor that I needed to hire a floor guy to finish, left sections of my new kitchen island unfinished/unpainted, and did a shoddy job protecting the tin ceiling that is next to the new beam. When you've been hired for a multiple thousands-of-dollars job, I'd think that a good contractor would take a little more pride in his work, and have his crew put in the extra 2 hours to finish the job well. Additionally, as the job progressed, extra "hidden" charges kept popping up - I feel he simply didn't mention these charges when putting together his quote so that his quote would then be competitive. All in all, I would rather have paid a higher up-front quote and dealt with a businessman who was honest.

I'm most of the way through a contract with Junior at J Construction, who is repainting my house and replacing the exterior trim on the windows. Thus far, I've been very happy with his work; his workmen are diligent, careful, quiet and polite. Junior is very easily accessible by phone or by email, and has taken care to tell me what extra charges might pop up during the course of the project.

[i-leonardo.livejournal.com]

i had a gruesome experience with All Seasons, too. in retrospect, i wish we'd sued them.

best of luck with your project :-/

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

in our experience, antimony and I have determined that you have to be very aggressive with contractors or they will do the fastest, easiest, cheapest job possible. However, if you point stuff out to a contractor, most of them are happy to do a better job w/o charging extra; you just have to let them know that you expect a perfect job and won't pay for anything less.

The guy who did our basement (Marc Gobulie, Mardan Construction, has since left the industry due to medical foo) was even more picky than we were, to the point of yelling at his crew about how the slotted screws in the light switch covers were oriented.

[rigel.livejournal.com]

That tends to be my take about it, though I try to be polite when I do it. Seemingly, even that didn't matter with this place.

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

if anybody needs foundation/sewer work, I recommend D'Alelio Construction out of Swampscott. They rebuilt our front foundation while we were still living in the house. Did a good job, were on time and on budget. Every time we made a change, they gave us hard copy and electronic copy of the change order to sign so that everybody knew up front how much everything was going to cost and exactly what was expected. They were very very professional and have clearly done a good job educating their crews about what is expected.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

Sorry you went through that. It's my understanding that the BBB is a bit of a joke..? At least, my sister got ripped off by a complete scam of a moving company, found out that people have successfully taken this company to court for similar issues, and yet they had a perfect BBB rating.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

My husband is a local plumbing/heating company and he said a contractor is only as good as its subs which means this chain of relationships is not good from the top down. Also you just have to pay to be a member of BBB and they actually call companies to ask them to join and pay their fees which gets you ratings. There was some sort of special on 20/20 or something similar in the last couple of years that talks about the BBB and it being a joke.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Here is a link to the report actually http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-best-ratings-money-buy/story?id=12123843