Contract was to install 11 helical piers to shore up and raise the sinking foundation on the left side of my home in Amherst. We negotiated a terrific price, so I signed a contract. What followed was appalling efforts by the company owner to upsell this job based on outright deception in the attempt to make "something" on this project "because we are giving this to you for free" (not true either). What followed was an extremely contentious process where I had to threaten lawyers, and reports to OSHA, to get them to do what they said was a three day job completed in 2 and a half months. I had to bring in another contractor (Frank's Basements) to inspect Collingwoods work, and to complete the rest of the necessary work to finish this Basement repair. Please feel free to look at the review I wrote about Frank's Basement's work and posted on this same day.
In September, 2012, I discovered when I returned from vacation, that my foundation had sunk another inch, so I decided it was time to fix this. The town inspector confirmed the need for the repair and gave me names of five contractors. I selected three (Frank's, Young's, and Collingwood) to obtain estimates. I previously had done significant work with Frank's and Young's at my home and at my office, so I knew they were both quality contractors. I recognized collingwood, because I have often driven by their place on Millersport Highway. I learned that I needed engineer drawings/plan and soil testing which I started. I obtained bids from the three and final bids after the soil testing was complete. Collingwood through their representative-Doug Laufler provided a substantially lower bid. They were clear that they were breaking into this part of the business, and had only done a couple of jobs. After some intense negotiations which included my insistence that they come up with a meaningful warranty, we arrived at a lower price. In late November, we tentatively scheduled the work for January. Doug had suggested this was a three day job unless there was a heavy snowstorm. I needed to reschedule the early January to one week later (1/14), because I took a brief vacation to New Orleans. Doug expressed concerns because he was scheduled to have a double knee replacement on (1/17), but again stated they could get most of the job completed by then. When I returned on the 13th with no phone calls to set up the job, I contacted Collingwood. They did not reach Doug until 1/15, and he promptly claimed that he had never committed to the 1/14 start date. He was very optimistic that he would recover quickly, and that they could start the job 10 -14 days after his surgery was completed. Four weeks later, in mid February, I called asking for Doug and learned that he had a terrible recovery, and had to be re-hospitalized 1-2 times. They settled on the owner-Larry starting the job, and claimed that Doug could assist from a car just off property looking at cell phone pictures. (He could not walk even with a walker up to the house to visually inspect the work in progress.) I learned that Doug was the only person with expertise and any significant experience with basement foundation repair in this company. Of course, Collingwood is a roofing company , not a basement repair and drainage company. They started the excavation, and Larry met with us for the first time that night. He seemed angry and aggressive. They had torn out my old external drain system from the house, so he immediately pressured me to sign a contract, and give him a $3000 deposit for the entire costs for this part of the job, because and quot;he had to bring in a licensed plumberand quot; and was certain that he had to lock in their time. I gave him a check for $6000 to include the $3000 deposit due at startup. I signed this contract with reservations, but had already expected this work was going to need to be done. He then proceeded to request to look at my basement drain tile, and we walked through the entire large basement. He expressed a number of concerns about minor issues suggesting that the other half of my house was also sinking, and would need extensive repair. The next day he brought me out to see the excavation, and pointed out that each of the and quot;weepersand quot; was plugged with dirt. He suggested that this indicated that my drain tile was completely clogged, and would have to be replaced at probably an additional $10,000. I suggested that we will need to run camera's to inspect the drain tile to know that, and told him I would think about it. I promptly spoke with an expert, and learned that the weepers are always plugged, and that there was no evidence that any other part of the drain tile was not functioning except for the one five foot section that we already knew about. I also learned that the costs of re-installing the exterior drainage system is typically included in the price of complete job. My expert also doubted that any additional foundation work due to sinkage was required, because the engineer had already inspected the house in the Fall. It was clear to me that either Larry had no knowledge of basements and drainage systems, or he was being intentionally deceptive in the attempt to up sell unnecessary services to make the profits he felt he deserved. The next day, I met with him and promptly cancelled the $3000 contract (as was my right within three days). I suggested that with his one expert (Doug Laufler) unavailable and because it appeared they were over their heads that perhaps we could alter the main contract to bring in expertise so that they could competently complete their contractual obligations. Larry was of course indignant, and stated they were going forward with the drainage work because he had already committed to the plumber. He bolted out of my house refusing to talk further. I promptly wrote him a letter notifying him that I had cancelled the 2nd contract and required him to return my deposit. I gave him notice that I would hire another contractor to complete the drainage work inside and outside, and that this other contractor would have full access to the work site as my representative to ensure that they competently fulfilled all terms of the original contract. Larry was so indignant that he never spoke with me again. His son, Rich,who was managing the crew took over negotiations, worked out an uneasy agreement with me to complete the job. They continued to apply significant pressure for payment as if they were desperate for my money for the company to survive. They intentionally delayed the job for weeks at a time leaving my entire yard cluttered with garbage for the next two months or so. I found it very strange that they left my house in such hideous condition for so long with their trailer and sign with their company name for all to see. All of my neighbors had serious questions about what was going on when we talked outside once the weather improved. On several occasions, I had to threaten a lawsuit, and eventually threatened an OSHA complaint, because they left on open exposed 12-14 foot wide hole around the left side of my house with a neighborhood full of young kids. Following my threat, they showed further contempt for me by loosely tying up a 25 foot section of a flimsy picket fence to two trees (with open access to the hole on either side). The fence promptly fell over within three days with high winds. Eventually the work on the piers was completed. When Larry's other son refilled the hole, they damaged the external drain system, did a terrible job loosely filling the hole, did not bring it up to grade, and tore up my back yard leaving 2-3 foot gouges where they got their heavy equipment stuck. Even though the job was not finished, and the yard was a disaster, they promptly demanded the large $10,000 payment due for the completion of this phase of the work. Fortunately, Doug Laufler was finally back in action. Doug agreed this was wrong, fixed the drainage system, and brought in another contractor-landscaper who was skilled with excavation work, This independent contractor fixed most of the damage, and left the rest for later in the spring when they were supposed to bring everything to grade, add topsoil, and reseed all damaged areas. Since they completed this work, I made the rest of the $10,000 payment as agreed. In the spring, the independent contractor returned, loosely filled the hole to grade, removed the excess dirt (mostly clay), placed topsoil, groomed all areas, and left me with a bag of grass seed (at my request-because I planned on bringing in another company to fix my lawn. It looked good so I made the final payment. A month later, I discovered significant sinking in the dirt around the foundation in different spots. I also discovered that the landscaper had left little more than a dusting of topsoil (1/4 inch) in all spots not flower beds. This rested on top of mostly clay and easily washed away leaving bare spots, with no topsoil all over half of my yard. There was no point in contesting this because I had already paid them all of the money according to the contract. Finally, another broken promise: Doug Laufler was supposed to deliver the manufacturers warranty shortly after the completion of the job. It required 3-4 phone calls and six weeks before a copy was finally delivered to my door. I will never do business with these people again. The number of lies (large and small) was staggering. I did get foundation piers at an excellent price, but the costs of time, stress, frustration, and the liability they exposed me to with that open hole where someone could have been hurt or killed is clearly not worth it. I should have joined Angie's list and read the many negative reviews about this company and about the owner in particular. I would never have done business with them. Caveat Emptor my friends-- Buyer Beware with Collingwood
