BIG HUGE MISTAKE hiring Randy and Nick Babcock to prepare design plans and build our custom home…read more Lots of lip service, VERY POOR QUALITY WORK, "I don't care" attitude, he used materials everywhere that should have been returned or discarded and much more.
PLANS
~. 6'8" door drawn on a 5' wall, but assured by Nick it would work.
~ 6'8" attic entry door placed where it would hit the sloping ceiling when opened a few inches Again, assured by Nick it was fine. Not true! Resulted in moving the staircase, a mud room door over and reducing the size of the laundry room and nook by 1'4" to a 5'8" depth.
~ Unclear dimensions that caused errors by framers.
SLAB AND PREP
~ Randy used minimal workers, some inexperienced, and DID NOT have the proper tools or equipment.
~ We pointed out missing electrical conduit to the island and living room one day before pouring concrete.
~ No clean out was installed by the plumber, as indicated in the plans and per code. Randy never tried to fix this mistake. Rather, he said we can remove the toilets and snake the pipes if they get clogged. Now he said it's our problem.
~ Air gap placed in the middle of the master bathroom floor instead of within the wall. Randy said he didn't know why it was there and never tried to correct it.
~ Plumbing that sits outside the 2x4 sill base.
~ Monolithic slab (means one poor) took 4-separate pours, resulting in 6-cracked and uneven cold joints. No relief joints anywhere in the slab. All pours scheduled in the late morning on very hot days. According to the concrete provider, Randy had no intention of scheduling trucks for one pour. He didn't have the manpower.
~ Forms failed while pouring concrete that left one side of the foundation out of square.
~ Several high and low areas on top of the slab, that requires floating the entire surface. Randy told us this is our problem.
~ Dozens of cracks throughout the top and sides - with rust seeping out, spalling, honey combing and chipping.
~ Questionable rebar reinforcements, rebar properly raised off vapor barrier and dobie placement.
BUILD
~ Base sills extend over the concrete slab up to 1" in areas, resulting in 20% loss of support in the framing and exposure to termites and the elements. Randy assured us this is normal and there are no termites where we live. We're in the mountains! Termites are in all the downed and dead trees!
~ Base sills recesses up to 1" in areas from the concrete slab. Randy said he'd cut off the excess, but never did and started sheathing. Some sheathing bows out over the concrete.
~ Trusses, APPROVED by Randy and Nick Babcock, arrived incorrect, blocking the entire entrance to the attic. Up to 40% of the trusses will need to be redesigned, reengineered and rebuilt to correct their huge mistake. His fix was to once again move the mud room door over and reduce the size of the laundry room and nook by at least another foot! We want a laundry room, not laundry closet. Nor do we want a door in the middle of the nook. He did not want to and would not correct his own error.
~ He used a lot of poor quality wood, that he should have discarded, even when we told him not to use it.
~ Did not refuse damaged materials. We believe he would have used this material had we not called the vendor to come pick it up. Randy got mad at us for doing this.
~ Shims used in many areas due to the uneven slab, then he filled the gaps with a water soluble caulking that dissolved when it got wet.
~ Hilti Anchors not nailed completely through sills and into the concrete on a load bearing wall.
~ 2x6 boards not nailed or toenailed to sills on a load bearing wall.
~ Used 2-2x4's as a header above a door that sits within a 6" load bearing wall.
~ 2x4" used in place of a 2x6" in the external.
~ Cuts made into exterior 2x6's when the exterior wall began to bow from the weight of the trusses.
~ No 2x6 support where exterior sheathing lined up.
~ Incorrect nailing patterns and nails used throughout.
JOB SITE
~ Refused to clean up the mess he and his crew made when he and three other workers came to pick up all their tools.
~ It took us six hours to clean up and discard plastic bottles, cans, beer bottles, cups, bottle caps, cigarette butts, broken Bic lighters, empty boxes, plastic, empty oil containers, garbage bags, bags of garbage, plastic straps, plastic wrap, building materials, broken ladders, hardware, scrap wood, and other garbage.
~ Knowingly dripped toxic pneumatic tool lubricant on the dirt in two areas that is 30 feet from an open well head.
When we started finding more sloppy work being done, got no reply to texts or emails, and no longer wanted lip service, we confronted Randy He bullied us, tried to intimidate us, accused us of sabotaging his faulty work and would say, "I don't know" or "it's not my problem." Then, asked for two more draws when foundation, framing, sheathing, and truss work is sloppy, incorrect and not completed.
