IF YOU WANT YOUR WORK PERMITTED, STAY AWAY.
First of all, Jim was a nice guy and was pleasant when he was on the job. I don't often leave reviews and I like to give people the opportunity to make things right but Jim and Masterflame displayed gross negligence in the handling of our project and an utter disregard for us as customers by avoiding the permitting process.
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SUMMARY
Jim and Masterflame decidedly chose not to permit our new gas line. After we asked him about it, he avoided us and lied to us for TWO MONTHS before finally taking care of it, during which time we could not move forward with our fire pit. There was a two-week stretch, in fact, where my Project Manager was concerned about Jim's safety because he was not answering any phone calls, voicemails, or text messages.
When we got ahold of him (all seemingly well), Jim took zero responsibility and blamed the entire delay on someone else. When asked for some sort of financial relief he said he'd waive the charges for all the trips he had to make out to our place (trips he wouldn't have had to make if he did the work appropriately the first time).
Jim and Masterflame never would have permitted the gas line if we didn't force the issue.
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FULL STORY
Masterflame was a sub for a large landscaping project we did this summer and they ran a new gas line for us. THEY DID NOT PLAN TO PERMIT THE WORK. Jim dodged the question when asked if it was permitted before finally admitting that it wasn't - it was apparent that he still was planning to complete the work without ever contacting the City of Beaverton. Huge red flag for me; I have no idea how this isn't a standard practice. I don't think a gas line is something to mess around with.
Around late-July he begrudgingly agreed to file for and get the work permitted. Great. For me, that would have solved the problem - admit a mistake, fix it, and we can all move on. August came, still no permit or schedule with City of Beaverton...3 straight Wednesday's I was told City of Beaverton would be there (I suppose that's what he was telling my Project Manager) but they never came.
Finally, after I continued to bug my Project Manager since this was delaying our ability to complete our firepit, the City of Beaverton showed up on September 8 (the Tuesday after Labor Day). We were told City of Beaverton had been extremely backed up and that was the reason for the delay - a completely believable situation given COVID and current state of many businesses and organizations. I commented to the inspector about how busy he must be with the back-up at the City and he looked at me confused...they turned the permit around same-day (September 4) and came out for an inspection THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY. They aren't delayed due to COVID, especially for what he called a "simple inspection" like ours was.
Jim flat out lied to us. It took him over two months to turn around a simple request to permit his work. Once he finally filed the permit, it took two business days to have everything complete and we could all move forward. Clearly gross negligence and a disregard for customers' safety and his CCB responsibilities. read more