ComplaintsforKing Piers, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  see Attached document for more information, checks, blueprints, signed contract, etc
  

  On 5 Aug. 2022, I signed a contract with **** ***** LLC with address at ** *** ***** ************* *** *****, for a ************ **** ***********" at my residence at **** ** ******* ***** ** ****** ***** ** *****. The contract was signed by **** ***** ********* ** *** ********
  The contract was based on three specific estimates given by *** **** of **** ***** who explained our options upon inspecting our basement. We chose to have the cinderblock wall replacement option as outlined in the contract. The bid cost was given at $40,000.00. According to the stipulations of the contract, before work was to commence **** ***** requested 50% of the Total Contract Amount up front. The final payment was due upon completion of the contract. On 15 August, 2022, two cashier checks were given to **** **** totaling $20,000 representing 50% of the total contract amount [contract is on pgs. 19-23]
  The same week when payment was given, a contractor hired by *** ****, **** ******* ** ******** ********** Repair, Inc, located at **** ****** ***** ** ***** ** ******, began work along the south side of the house. A crew of men began hand digging trenches to expose the foundation walls. While performing this job a Kansas City Missouri building inspector had noticed the work being performed and asked the workers to see the construction permit for the job. Since no permit had been issued the inspector ordered the men to immediately stop wor*****
  Noticing the workers had left the job site, we called **** **** to find out when work was going to recommence. **** explained they were caught without a permit and was ordered by the City of Kansas City, Missouri to immediately stop work and apply for a permit. At no time did **** **** or *** **** explain to us a permit was needing. On the contrary, the Kings explained they perform most of their work without permits throughout the city. This was just a ****er of circumstances in which a city inspector happened to notice the digging and asked for a permit. My wife and I are not licensed contractors therefore we are not qualified to obtain a permit ourselves.
  The following week Mr. ******* sent a crew of men to remove sheet rock walls in our basement in order to expose and make accessible for demolition the concrete cinder blocks behind the sheet rock. The sheet rock debris was left inside our basement.
  For nearly three months from August until 8 Nov. 2022 we waited for a permit to be issued to **** ***** for the construction project. We were to discover many important details concerning the process in obtaining the permit. According to **** *******, the permit had to be submitted by a licensed contractor and consisted of a general construction permit as well as engineer drawings specifying the materials and construction process to fulfill certain codes of compliance. Mr. ******* explained to my wife and I, *** **** nor **** **** were licensed contractors and were disqualified to apply for a permit. *** **** has insisted from the beginning and throughout our conversations he is a licensed contractor and **** ******* was doing him a favor.
  Mr. ******* came to our house to take measurements of our basement and took pictures of architectural renderings we had of our house in order to create engineering drawings for the permit. Mr. ******* notified us directly Mr. **** did not have a contractor license and the permit was going to be filed under Mr. ******'s name. At this time Mr. ******* notified us he would not be the contractor on our job since Mr. **** owed him a substantial amount of money and even had a lean on Mr. King's equipment. Mr. ******* explained Mr. **** had subcontracted many of **** ***** jobs with Mr. *******, but over time Mr. **** had accumulated a sizable debt with Mr. *******. By November Mr. ******* explained to me he was not ta**** any additional work with Mr. **** due to **** ***** sizable debt owed him from previous jobs with Mr. ***** Mr. ******* was willing to take out the permit for our construction job, yet his sole responsibility was to
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  only check on the progress of the construction to make sure the job was being completed according to the permit. He was unsure who Mr. **** was going to use to complete our project. As far as my understanding Mr. ******* is not a business partner with Mr. King, he owns his own construction business and only subcontracts work for Mr. *****
  Mr. ******* also explained the State of Missouri required he set up a business entity in the state in order to submit a permit. We were told this required going to Jefferson City, Missouri to complete this step of the process as his business was located in Kansas.
  Soon after the permit was issued, **** **** advised me on the phone they needed approximately $1,200 dollars to cover the expenses of obtaining the permit. The contract does stipulate permits were exclusions in the contract and was the householder's financial responsibility. I personally called Mr. ******* to confirm the cost of the permit and architectural drawings. Mr. ******* explained the $1,2000 dollars was the amount he had invoiced Mr. **** which included his expenses to drive to Jefferson City to create a business entity. After confirming the costs of the actual permit and drawings we submitted a payment to **** ***** for a total of $872.54 dollars dated 8 Nov. 2022 minus the costs of the business entity. [*** ***** ***** *****] The permit was issued under Mr. ******'s name and business entity and under his contractor's licens* ***********. Mr. ******* hired ****** *********** to produce the architectural drawings and were submitted to the Kansas City Missouri Planning and Development department

   

  

  Business response

  04/21/2023

  To: Better Business Bureau
  Re: ******* ****** ********* of King Piers LLC
  First off, this job unfortunately didn’t go as planned. (As you can see from my ******* channel this is NOT how we operate.)  We were hit with many hurdles and setbacks. One setback was with the Permit as stated. My contract with Mr. ****** excluded my getting Permits.  My partner **** ******* not Sellers was out performing work and the inspector next door of ******* ******’s home informed us to pull a permit before continuing any further with our work. **** ******* is a licensed contractor in the State of Kansas but not Missouri.  **** ******* on top just applying for his contractors licensee in Kansas City, MO he also had to set up business in the state of MO. Which took some time. Once all that was set up **** was licensed.   It took almost 6 weeks from start to finish to receive the permit. The many hours spend down at KCMO Public works and City Hall trying to jump through hoops to get this permit, we excluded from having to deal with.  **** ******* was paid $50 for every hour spent obtaining this Permit for the ******s.  **** was paid over $1500.00 Not including gas expense and reimbursement.  **** lives in DeSoto, Ks. That’s not just a hop skip and a jump to Kansas City, Mo. City Hall.
  Once the Permit was issued **** ******* was busy with other King Piers projects therefore not able to get to ******* ******s job until the end of January beginning of February 2023. I was not wanting to wait that long because Mr. ****** had already waited long enough.  I put the word out that I needed a Mason and I received a phone call from a young man named ******.  I showed ****** the job and explained to him it was a $40,000.00 project to remove and replace the existing block foundation walls with new concrete filled CMU block foundation walls.  I stated that King Piers had already received $20,000.00 down payment.  My agreement with ****** was that I would pay for all the materials (Block, Concrete & Rebar).  I also stated I would take care of all the spoil haul off.  ****** agreed to build the walls for the remaining $20,000.00.  ****** built the East wall along with a portion of the back North side foundation wall, was completed with new CMU concrete filled block. Engineering Sound work.  One morning ****** came to me stating he needed a draw to keep going.  I had a feeling this was going to happen because his wall building was much slower than he stated he could build these walls.  I then sent ******* ****** a partial invoice requesting $5,000.00.  On Monday, ******* was kind enough to give me the $5,000.00 draw.  I told ****** I would give him $3,000.00 of the $5,000.00.  I stated the $2,000.00 would go towards materials.  I did exactly what I said I was going to do, with the exception of spending the $2,000.00 on materials.  The next day after giving ****** the $3,000.00 check he was never seen from or heard from again.  I called him numerous times, nothing.  I then called **** ******* on the phone.  I needed an update on the completion of a large King Piers Piering project in Olathe, Ks. Would be finished.  He stated he needed another week.  The next day ******* called me on the phone.  He was unhappy with the lack of progress and the slowness of the walls being built and wanted to cut ties.  ******* stated he had no ill feelings toward me and that he would not say anything negative about me or my company on any social media platforms. Since telling me this, ******* posted his complaint on the BBB.org and *******’s wife Slandered me on ******** and the BBB.org  
  We are still willing to get back over and get this job completed. I can have ****s crew there Monday – April 24, 2023!  
   
  As far as a refund we do not believe one is owed as we were not allowed to complete the job.  If ******* had not Fired King Piers LLC his project would have been done long before now.
  As far as King Piers owing **** ******* money that is not true and a flat out lie. He is 100% current and this had no issue as to why he wasn’t there completing the wall.  It was because I had **** on a big King Pier job and did not choose to pull off to go to *******s job until the pier job in Olathe was completed. ******* couldn’t wait 1 week.
  To close, I jumped through hoops for the ******s getting the Permit whether they agree or not, only to have my good name slandered socially.  This bad review is not warranted in my humble opinion.  
  
  ********** *** **** ******* * *** **** ***** *** ***************** **************
  

  Customer response

  04/25/2023

  *** ****** ** ** ******** **** ****** ** * ****** *** **** **** ** * ****** *** *** *** ********* *** ********* ** ** ****** ** ******** **** ********* **** ** ****** ** ******* ********** ********** ********
  I am rejecting this response because:

  1.  Mr. **** has argued "he jumped through hoops" to get a permit only after a city inspector caught **** Piers without a permit.  How did it become our responsibility to pay for a contractor Mr. **** hired to create a business entity in the State of Missouri? Further, as a homeowner I could not apply for the permit according to information received from the permit office Kansas City, Missouri.  Only a licensed contractor can request such a permit for a basement replacement. Mr. **** assured me he was a licensed contractor yet there is not license number or listing for Mr. **** nor his company.  These facts suggest Mr. ****'s business practices are questionable.

  2.  I did not ask Mr. **** or demand work begin immediately after the permit.  I only wanted a realistic time frame.  After Mr. **** hired a sub-contractor how did it become my responsibility whether the agreement between these two was to be fulfilled.  Once the sub-contractor left the job site and explained his reason for doing so was due to past jobs/agreements made with Mr. ****.  Given I had no control over such agreements and these were made between Mr. **** and other parties again would suggest Mr. ****'s business practices are questionable.

  3. I can only testify to the conversations I had with the original contractor, Mark ******* and his reasons for not completing our job.  From our conversations his reasons for not pursuing our job was lack of payment from Mr. **** on other jobs.  At no point did Mr. ******* nor Mr. **** explain Mr. ******* was going to complete our job.  Again, Mr. ****'s story is in direct contrast to the information I received first hand from Mr. ******* and thus I question Mr. ****'s ability to conduct business appropriately.

  4.  Mr. **** state I am not entitled to any refund.  Yes, I did ask him to not finish due to the information provided in my original complain and further as I have explained Mr. ****'s business practices indicate someone I cannot trust to fulfill his obligations.  At best he would hire another contractor and whether they would be able to complete the job based on my experiences with Mr. **** is highly questionable.

  5.  I did agree not to pursue any ill feelings nor post any negative thoughts on social media.  Yet, I feel as a consumer I am able to make a formal complaint via the Better Business Bureau.

  6.  Finally, I had signed a contract with Mr. ****.  According to the contract I upheld faithfully the financial amount in addition to an extra $5,000.00.  Mr. **** from the many facts presented in the original complaint and this rebuttal, as a consumer, it is reasonable to think and question Mr. ****'s ability to complete our job judicially.  In essence I have lost my faith in Mr. ****'s responsibilities as outlined in the original contract. 

  
  ******** ******* ******

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