Boehm Constuction built our new custom home - and it was the worst possible experience imaginable. Everything they say on their website about Open Communication, Budget Focus, Craftmanship and attention to detail is the opposite of what we experienced. The budget doubled (and this was NOT because of change order upgrades requested by us), but instead was as a direct result of their inability to manage their subtrades, and when those trades messed up - the only way to get the work rectified is if we paid for it! The house was designed by an architectural firm and Boehm said they could build it. Examples: They hired City and Country to install the siding. The person installing the Hardy Board on the ground floor installed it wrong/damaged it and had to pull it off and start again. Even after the second install they did not follow the design specified in the architectural plans. The second floor was meant to be corrugated aluminum. Under Boehms supervision they allowed CIty and Country to install defective siding and strung us along for months telling us it would wash off with power spray, and then it would wash off with a special marine boat soap...and the more we are stressing about how awful the siding looked (it looked like a haunted house abbatoir) the more Boehm promised us it would be fine and that they had everything under control. Near the end of the siding fiasco the contractor said it would all clean off with a chemical spray. Once the siding was fully installed and Boehm paid the contractor (WITH OUR MONEY) only then did we get the call from Boehm that the siding would not clean up with any form of treatment and they were walking from the project and it was up to us to deal with the issue. It was at this point we had to make the decision to use the remaining money we had to take Boehm to court or to have all of the aluminum siding ripped off and replaced. We chose the latter. (By the way look at the other review on this website that flags all the small claims court cases Boehm is involved in. I looked it up and saw 16 of them!!!
Our trust in Boehm was zero so we had a 3rd party HVAC company come in and do an independent review of the HVAC system. And it turns out that Boehm did not pay enough attention to detail (this is a big upsell they list on their website) to notice that the subcontractor did not install the equipment they quoted, and instead installed a system that is not quite powerful enough. As well the workmanship had these issues: (excerpts taken from the 3rd party review)
Heat Pump: 1.this model is not a max heat which was the equipment in the quote, instead a standard model was installed. 2.exposed electrical on roof - the control and line voltage wiring should be in a liquid tight conduit 3.heat pump is not mounted on risers for drainage clearance during freezing conditions 4.heat pump is not anchored or seismically restrained to the building (just sitting own the sleeper) 5.several copper lines transitioning from the roof jack are subject to integrity issues and or have kinked pipework which will affect the performance of the heat pump 6. No visible electrical surge protection device. Any inverter board system with sensitive electronics should have surge protection.
HRV: HRV is not commission nor left running.-the drain needs to be terminated-the fresh air intake needs to insulated by code-the electrical needs to be completed-the system should have pressures checked while running and balancing of airflow-several of the duct connections run in flexible canvas are installed in a manor that will restrict airflow and be of issue **
The work Boehm did themselves was no better. They could not follow the architectural plans and located the master bedroom closet door in the wrong location. The door installation through the entire house was random. Places where we asked for bifold doors had standard doors or sliding doors. The door in the master bedroom still cannot close and the kitchen patio door (which is a large Westek multipoint metal door) was not hung correctly and the door grinds the metal every time it opens and closes. Their attempts to hang wallpaper was a mess and it had to be taken down and more wallpaper ordered. The installed the scuppers above the grade of the roof, so the roof cannot drain in some locations.
We tried to go through the BC Housing New Home Owners Protection Insurance process - and that quickly became apparent that it is not designed to be on the side of the home owner. Of the numerous claims we submitted the only one that was accepted was the one where we had proof via a 3rd party inspection that they had punctured the roof membrane with decking nails (and this is the same roof that does not completely drain and sits above a bedroom below). Even though Boehm was found to be responsible for this they refused to fix it and instead the insurance company sent out a new roofing company to patch the membrane.
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