Customer ReviewsforARM Builders, Inc.

They are dishonest and incompetent. They created a contract using their building license, which required an architecture and or engineering license, which by law they are not allowed to do. Therefore, the Contractors' State Licensing board (CSLB) has no jurisdiction over them. The CSLB recommended that I file a complaint with both the California Engineering and Architectural boards.

In the contract they said they would design, and draft architectural, plus engineering blue prints to convert the existing garage to an ADU. They did not. They said that an architect would be working on the project, but it was not.

These types of issues are not reported on the CSLB site. But I did find that have recently been cited for departing from trade standards.

Citation Violation Disclosure
License Number XXXXXXContractor Name A R M BUILDERS INCCitation #X XXXX XXXX
Date01/27/2021Status COMPLE
Violations
CODE Business & Professions CodeVIOLATION7109.A DESCRIPTION Departed from trade standards

They asked for more money to make changes in the drawing, but did not make the requested changes. They promised RTI plans, but they were not. They also made statements that changes could be made without building plans, which were not true.

Dear Susan *******,
We are sorry you had a bad experience with Arm Builders. We strongly believe that you received exactly what we were in agreement to provide you. Lets start with the scope of our agreement which was to provide you with ready to issue plans for a basic garage conversion with no addition of approx 300sqft . We did this and you even signed a document confirming that you received the Ready to issue plans that the city approved and signed off on. All you needed to do was pay the permit fees and start construction. As for your complaints:
1. We provided structural and architectural plans that were approved by all departments of the city.
2. You claim you asked for changes in plans. We explained to you that the swing direction of the door is determined by the door you order and the city has no preference . There was no reason to resubmit the plans after they were approved.
3.You claim we didn't specify the location of exhaust fan on the plans in bathroom. The city doesn't have an opinion where you put the exhaust fan as long as you put one in. Some put above toilet , some in the corner of the room etc
4.You kept coming with these illogical requests after you already signed and approved the layout. For example: Window type , casement slider up and down, sideways etc. We explained to you that you can put in ANY type of window you want as long as it is double pane and meets energy code.
5.Let me be clear ,we did not do any construction work on your property! We are OK with that , sometimes people do not share the same energy and I'm glad that we ended our relationship at this point.
5. The fact no one was accepting any complaints from you is because there is nothing to complain about. You paid for plans and you received them. You pulled the permit 2 weeks after we provided you with the plans.
6. We wish you much success in the future.

All the best, ARM Builders Inc.

ARM builders does NOT address any of the issues raised in the complaint.