My condo flooded and this company was referred by the builder. I got a bid for $1,500 to do the demo work and thought that was outrageous considering how small the area was. Since I had experience working for a restoration company in high school I decided to start the demo myself to save money since insurance wouldn't cover the damage and I had to pay for everything out of pocket. I spoke with Greg and told him my plan and he was very against me doing the work stating "I'd do more damage then already done."
I let the builder know and they said "they probably just want you to give them the job but I'm confident you know what you're doing and could knock it out yourself. It's good to have them give the official check that everything is dry." I agreed with the builders reasoning because I didn't want mold growing but wanted everything dry.
I was able to do about 90% of the work in ~3 hrs. I even brought fans of my own to help dry it out until they could come out. When the crew arrived they were really nice and said the small bathroom had also been impacted which I didn't realize and they removed the carpet of a small 2x7 section in the room sharing the wall near the wet area. I had to leave for work when the crew arrived and according to Greg, they were there for 8 hrs. My final bid was for $1370.90 and this DID NOT include putting everything back together. In shock I reviewed the itemized items and saw that things were grossly over measured. I kid you not, I was charged for removal, disposal and bagging of a kickstand. Which was not bagged, or disposed of, I was charged for the trim that I PERSONALLY REMOVED MYSELF.
I had also saved quite a bit of trim that was in good condition that I had planned to reused and numbered them based on where I pulled it from so I could reuse the measurements and use the non damaged parts for smaller areas. The demo crew took them even though I told them do not dispose of the trim in the living room that's numbered. I told Greg (project manager) and he said "I would t recommend that because it's MDF which is aborbant" but I still told him I wanted to keep it. I wasn't asking his permission, just informing him to not dispose of it. I told Greg his crew took the trim pieces because they were gone when I came back from work and his response was "everyone says they tell my crew stuff but I'm the boss and you need to tell me." I reminded him that I had and his response ^^ but he left me on read. I was also charged for the disposal of the trim I asked them not to remove and the removal of said trim.
Greg was willing to adjust some of the measurements but not everything. I paid the invoice for $1,266.51 because he said he wouldn't adjust it any more and it would get sent to collections.
It makes me wonder how many people received bids who don't know anything about demo work and just overplayed and took their word for it. Seems really unfortunate. Moving forward I would not recommend this company to anyone unless their practices change. I understanding you run a business but you're not profiting off insurance claims man, some people you're profiting off, are paying out of pocket for these disasters and you're grossly overbidding and charging for demo work that WAS NOT DONE. I have all the receipts for anyone who wants to look at them and I took a video of the work I did BEFORE the crew arrived and made sure sent it to Greg for proof so the time stamps lined up. read more