Boss Building Group, Inc. Response
02/25/2023
To Whom It May ******** ?This a response for Boss Building Group, Inc. (Boss). Please allow this correspondence to serve as Boss response to the review filed by *************************** ?This dispute arises out of a contract entered into between Boss Building Group, Inc. and Mr. and ***************** on or around January 2, 2022 (the Agreement). Pursuant to the Agreement, **** was to perform various contracting services for *********************** at their home located at ******************************************************************************************** The value of the work to be performed by Boss, prior to any change orders being entered into, was $288,774.29. ?Boss Building Group, Inc. was introduced to Mr. *********************** in 2020 while Boss was remodeling a home located next door to the Palmers residence. **************** reached out to Boss to discuss a possible home renovation job at Mr. ******* home. Initially, **************** requested a rough estimate for: (1) a covered screened in porch over the homes existing deck; (2) an extension to the existing deck; (3) a master closet addition to the back of the master bathroom; (4) removing the garage roof and creating an in-laws suite above the garage; and, (5) a laundry room addition which would connect the home to the new in-law suite. **************** also requested that Boss change multiple windows to doors, reface the existing fireplace, build a retaining wall in the backyard, and re-grade the back yard so it was flatter and more usable. Due to the ***** pandemic and many other reasons, it took about eight months to get architectural drawings created for Mr. * Mrs. ******* renovation. Once the parties to the Agreement were on the same page regarding the architectural drawings, the total cost of the project was estimated to be around $333,000.00. **************** informed Boss that Mr. ******* father, ************************** was going to be responsible for payment for the portion of the project that involved the in-law suite. *********************** also told Boss that $333,000.00 was outside of their budget and that they wanted the project to cost no more than $280,000.00a $53,000.00 difference to the estimate. At this time, **** undertook to value engineer the project, removing various items from its scope, to meet the $280,000.00 budget set by ************************ This resulted in a final contract price of $288,000.00 to which *********************** agreed, in writing, pursuant to the Agreement between the parties. Throughout the project multiple issues arose regarding the construction and multiple change orders were entered into between the parties to the Agreement (though not all change orders were documented in writing). On several occasions, in an attempt to keep the cost of construction down for ************************ Boss volunteered to pay for 50% of various change orders. **** was under no obligation to do so and simply did so in an effort to appease *********************** who were extremely budget conscious, yet requested change orders that would increase the cost of construction. Part of the contract included building an extension to the existing deck and put a roof over it since Boss had to cut the budget about $53,000 we included to install new flooring on the new deck extension and not the existing deck. But while the work was being preformed Boss notice there was a extensive wood rots to the existing wood deck so *********************** were informed of the issue and **** offered to pay for the labor as long *********************** pay for the materials, once they got to agreement work was processed. Communication between Boss and *********************** was open throughout the project and **** did not proceed with work on any change orders unless the work had been approved by ************************ The various change orders and other issues that arose during the project did result in the project taking longer than initially anticipatedhowever, that is normal given the amount of requested changes that were made. Once substantial completion was reached, **************** conducted a walkthrough of the home with Boss and a punch list was created for the final outstanding items of work. Once the punch list was completed by Boss, Boss enquired if *********************** would like to conduct another walkthrough to see if everything had been properly completed. *********************** declined stating that the work was fine and everything had been completed to the homeowners satisfaction. At this time, Boss work on the home was completed, to Mr. * Mrs. ******* apparent satisfaction, and final payment was therefore due to Boss. Despite this, and despite not having any contractual authority to do so, as this was not a cost plus job and a fixed contract price was agreed upon, *********************** demanded that Boss turn over various receipts in exchange for final payment. **** did however turnover requested receipts to *********************** as they were given to Boss from the vendors. At this time, whether intentionally or unintentionally, ***************** locked one of Boss employees in the new in-law suite. When that employee contacted ***************** via telephone to be let out, ***************** told that employee that if he did not leave the property (despite being locked in by *****************) she would call the police. Eventually, *********************** released payment to Boss, however, they unilaterally withheld $5,000.00 from that final payment with no legal justification in doing so. At this time, **** retained an attorney to try and settle this final payment dispute amicably. However, *********************** refused to pay the $5,000.00 and demanded, without any apparent rationale, that Boss should pay them $5,000.00. At that time, **** opted to not pursue the matter further given that it was only $5,000.00 in controversy. On January 25, 2023, ***************** contacted the law firm that had been representing Boss (though was no longer representing Boss) to demand that Boss come out to perform some warranty repair work on the roof at the home. The law firm informed ***************** that it no longer represented Boss but that it would pass along the message. That message was passed along to Boss by Boss former attorneys on January 31, 2023. On the same day, **** responded to its former attorneys stating that, if *********************** made final payment (per the Agreement, final payment is a written condition precedent to the warranty becoming effective) Boss would honor the warranty. However, until final payment was made to Boss the warranty did not take effect. That message from Boss to its former attorneys was not passed along to *********************** until February 8, 2023, several days after ***************** filed this review with the Better Business Bureau. At no time did *********************** reach out directly to Bosshad they done so, **** would have informed them of the contract terms regarding the warranty. At this time, it appears as though *********************** have opted for a total roof replacement, despite there only being an issue with a small portion of the roof that Boss worked on and is then trying to pass along the cost of that total roof replacement to Boss. Moreover, final payment has not yet been paid to Boss rendering the issue of warranty work moot pursuant to Section 22 of the Agreement. Boss went out of its way to make *********************** happy throughout this project. Boss went as far as spending approximately $30,000.00 of its own money on the home. For example, at the conclusion of the project as it was approaching substantial completion, **************** requested that Boss: (1) install a television in the in-law suite; (2) install an exterior fan over the area that **************** intended to use as his outdoor grilling area; (3) install lights in the backyard; and, (4) install a mirrored cabinet in the master closet. Despite the fact that none of these items were in Boss scope of work, **** installed said items and did not pass along any of those charges to *********************** despite being well within its right to do so. The work on the home was properly performed, properly permitted, properly inspected, and *********************** signed off on the performance of all of the work. Boss communicated with *********************** in length during the construction process in an effort to make sure that they were well informed throughout the project. **** strongly disputes the allegations made in this review by ************************ Moreover, **** has not, as alleged, failed to communicate with *********************** regarding this matter. Instead, *********************** failed to reach out to Boss directly and immediately moved to filing a review.