We had water damage in our home due to a frozen pipe. Almost 50% of the home needed repair work.
The initial assessment went well. After the first half of the payment was made, things went down hill: 1. They did not provide any regular follow-up. 2. When trying to get a status on the repairs, we had to call the project manager at least twice and wouldn't get a call back for at least three days. 3. After we were told the project was completed, we found that trash and debris had been left in the home and not hauled away as agreed upon. 4. Birkes continuously threatened us with litigation for non-payment, even though they had not finished the repairs. 5. We had to call and remind them repeatedly to finish up the repairs. 6. They lost the key we gave them to our house and failed to tell us. This added to additional delays in getting the repairs done. The key was never found. If the opportunity were to present itself again, I would under no circumstances use Birkes Construction. Even if it caused additional lead time to start, I would make sure to shop around. They have a triple A (AAA) Better Business Bureau rating, which means absolutely nothing.
Service Provider Response
While our company does have an A+ rating with the BBB and has for the last 18 years, we also appreciate constructive feedback on areas that we can improve and strive to do better. We recognize that no matter how hard we try to provide the absolute best in restoration, remodeling and new construction projects for both residential and commercial customers, we are always learning and appreciate being given the opportunity to do so when we receive feedback from our clients. However, in this particular instance, this is a very unfortunate and completely unfounded review and the reasons behind it are equally unfortunate. We were contacted by the H/O themselves after being referred to us by their insurance company on 03/06/14 for us to give them an estimate for water damage to their home. I personally spoke with [member name removed] on the initial call, and while he was very nice, he was also extremely verbal about his disgust with his insurance company and how he was on his 3rd adjuster (he told me the first one he ended up getting fired. I wrote this in the call notes, so all is documented here.) Therefore, their initial frustration was with their insurance company and how they didn't do anything right for them. Although we spoke to them for the first time on 03/06/14, their actual date of damage to the property was on 01/09/14 according to their insurance company. We immediately scheduled an appointment for the following day and did a detailed Estimate for Repairs that was sent to their insurance company (with whom we work with DAILY. Even though this is one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., Birkes Construction has been one of their few preferred vendors in Oklahoma for many years, so we consistently receive jobs from them.) Our Lead Estimator and their adjuster compared estimates, and after both reviewing their line by line items on what was needed to get their home to as good or better condition than it was prior to their loss, we received approval from the adjuster on the agreed upon estimate. We also confirmed with their insurance company that ALL funds they had agreed upon for repairs were sent directly to the homeowners themselves at the beginning of the job. Therefore, the homeowners themselves collected the money for their loss in full (which is owed to the Contractor that performs the repairs, of course.) The homeowner states this was a $24,000.00 repair, but that is false. Their Contract for Repairs that they both signed at the beginning of the job clearly states the agreed upon amount with the insurance company was for $14,001.56 (and this amount never changed.) The terms were 1/2 of the total amount at the beginning of the job and the other 1/2 at completion...these are the same terms we do on all Contract for Repairs if the funds are sent directly to the homeowners. Because they received the full payment from insurance, they must pay the first 1/2 when they signed to contract to begin the project on 03/28/14 (which they did.) There were several of us, both in the office and out in the field, that spoke to both [members' names removed] on numerous occasions throughout their repairs, and they were ALWAYS happy and spoke positively about the work being done. It wasn't until the end of the project when everything was completed and it was time to pay that there were issues. This property was, from the beginning, a property that they didn't reside in and were trying to sell. This is documented from the beginning as verified by the homeowners. Their pipes froze and caused the water damage, but went undiscovered until their realtor discovered the water damage when showing the home.) Because they were not here to let us in, etc...[member name removed] let us know that they kept a key under the flower pot on the porch in order to get in and out. After the repairs were complete and the house was in better condition than it was prior to the damage. [member name removed] and I spoke and he was happy with everything. Not one word was mentioned about anything that we hadn't done or that they weren't happy with. When I asked him about the final 1/2 payment per the Contract, he said he would talk to his wife and get back with me. I had to call a few days later, and he said that their mortgage company needed us to sign a "lien waiver" for them and then they would pay, as they were attempting to sell the home. Obviously, no company would EVER sign a lien waiver and waive our rights to collect the money owed to us until it was paid in full. I told him several times that we would be happy to sign it upon receiving the remaining $7,000.78 from them. He avoided my calls and/or would tell me that "the mortgage company had that second 1/2 in escrow." If they chose to use the funds appropriated for their water loss on other things during the repair process, that doesn't diminish the fact that they still owed the remaining balance. After letting him know this several times, I quit hearing from them or getting any response to my e-mails/messages. On May 16th, I finally let them know that if we were unable to collect the remaining balance, then we would indeed have to file a lien on their property (which is clearly stated in their contract, as well as the law, for that matter.) I finally heard from [member name removed] a month later. This was after I had reached out numerous times and then sending the final message letting them know that they had signed a contract, they had been paid in full from their insurance company months prior, and that we would need to file a lien if the remaining $7,000.78 wasn't paid in the next few days. She was extremely rude and ended up having to pay the remaining balance on a credit card because they had used the appropriated funds for their repairs on other things. (This is not a baseless accusation...this was stated by [member name removed] they used that money.) The bottom line is that they started from the very beginning of this job in a negative place. They were mad at their insurance company and made it so difficult on their agents and adjusters that they went through 3 different ones, with the first one being fired. [member name removed] made this extremely clear in our first conversation and their third adjuster that had to take the case CONFIRMED TO US that they ended up expediting all funds directly to them so they would be happy. We then took over and they were happy until it was time to pay the second 1/2. [member name removed], in his own words, said the “mortgage company had the funds in escrow” (? Makes no sense?) and they wanted us to sign a lien waiver stating that we would not file a lien on their property, and THEN they would pay. I told him that no company would ever do that, and I let him know that I was extremely surprised that the mortgage company would even request that, knowing the funds hadn't been paid. Because we wouldn’t sign a lien waiver for them before they paid for repairs that were completed…because we had to finally get to the point where we told them we had to file a lien since we weren’t getting any response….because they had to use a credit card to pay for the remaining balance since the “funds were being held by the mortgage company” (per [member name removed], the homeowner)…that is why we received this unfounded review. [member name removed] stated that our 18 years of having an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau “means nothing to her”, but it means everything to us. We are a family owned company that we started on our own with no money over 18 years ago, and we take pride in treating our homeowners, insurance adjusters, and employees as we would our own family. They were unhappy with their insurance company when we got them, then were happy with us throughout the ENTIRE job, then all of the sudden, now they’re unhappy with us because they had to pay before we would sign a lien waiver. We are saddened by this, but in no way, shape or form did we deserve this review.
