I wish that I could have written a review that compliments this firm, but no matter how I tried, it doesn't work. The shed was ordered through Lowes on August 16th, 2016 and installed on Sept 14th, 2016. Yes, it took a month for them to install what is a prefabricated/precut shed. The reason for the delay was not due to a backlog of installations, but what I later was to discover, that being headquartered out of Salem OR, they "piggyback" installations and only come into WA when they have two or more sheds in the same vicinity to put up. Ok, that was a delay nobody said anything about when buying through Lowes. The two man crew showed up around 10am on Wed. Sept 14th and went to work. The guys worked quickly as they were concerned with getting the shed up and not concerned about craftsmanship in any way. Totally a "get in & get out" install.
As per Better Built requirements, the purchaser must caulk and seal all nail holes and wood seams which took a day and then the priming and painting began. The first problem noted was the ramp (that is charged as an add-on) was 4 and 1/2 inches above ground at the bottom. Not tapered to ground level. Second issue- the ramp stringer had split when the air nail gun the installer used to attach the bottom ramp board was "shot" into place. Ok, not anything too bad or that cant be fixed. Or you would have thought. The third and largest concern was the double doors. (again, an add-on upgrade). would not open or close properly on the left side. Now in my mind, that's a problem. All of these concerns were advised to Better Built on Monday Sept. 19th. Better Built stated that in order for them to proceed, I would need to take pictures of the problem areas and send them to Better Built and they would get back to me. Also on the 19th, the city building inspector showed up and stated that the ramp was a "tripping and safety hazard" and would not sign off on the paperwork. Now, we have issues.
Better Built advised they would have someone come by in a couple weeks- YES, a couple weeks to look at what was wrong. This was unacceptable. Pay over $4,000 dollars for a shed that is not to standards! SO, I went to Lowes and got the Customer Service Install team involved. Fortunately for me, after they saw the pictures and the non-conformance notice from the inspector, they jumped right on it and let Better Built know my, and Lowes displeasure and when looking at the photos were aghast with the sloppy work. Thanks to Lowes I got a call that Matt from Better Built would be up the next week to get all the issues fixed to my satisfaction.
How wrong I was, Matt showed up as scheduled and looked at the door (left side) and said the unit had settled and would need to be re-leveled. (which for the record was incorrect, the shed was not then or now out of level). Anyway Matt proceeds to use a mechanics floor jack to raise one side of the shed, which only makes the door opening/closing issue worse. I showed him he was making matters worse by using my 6 foot level on the shed floor. After about 10 minutes of this, Matt agreed the shed was level, but the door was out of plumb. He went to his truck to get his tools- which consisted of a claw hammer, nothing else just a hammer. He then tried to "beat" the door frame two by four in order to adjust the door swing. That didn't work so he began to attempt to pry off the door trim (all the while muttering "please don't split, please don't split over and over) I finally asked why he doesn't use a pry bar? To which he replied, "I don't have one-I lost it". You folks see where this is going don't you? I then went and got him the tools he needed from by toolbox and proceeded to help (tell) him what needed to be done. By this time I was livid with the incompetence. After getting the tools and helping get the door fixed, Matt stated that he did not bring anything to repair the ramp with him but they would have a crew up next week to repair it. Guess what! Didn't happen.
After I had not heard from anyone at Better Built, I called down and spoke with Matt who said that it would not be until October 20th until someone would be by to fix the ramp.
Great Customer Service. NOT! I had had enough of the delays and issues and non conformance. I went to Lowes and bought a new pressure treated board and spent my time repairing what I paid Better Built to do in the first place.
I wouldn't advise anyone outside of the city limits of Salem to use these folks. Nor would I suggest to anyone to use this firm. Not unless you have the time to stand there and watch over the installers to ensure everything is done the way YOU want it. Knowing that you will need to go back later and hammer in all the missing nails. read more