Complaint Review: 7 Construction Inc.

We hired 7 Construction Inc. (“7C”) in December, 2015, to redo our master bathroom, add a closet, a couple floor to ceiling cupboards and resurface and redo our double sided fireplace hearths and design a mantel.  We were impressed with how quickly 7C’s representative, David, seemed to grasp our vision for the bathroom improvements and add his own creative ideas.  David mentioned how their faith is reflected in their company name and that encouraged us, and we looked forward to a positive experience and a beautiful remodel.

Workmanship problems surfaced the 2^nd day on the job. We found a large hole in the bathroom floor where the workers cut through flooring and support joists to gain access under the house.  The foreman had no explanation why no one called us to ask if there was an access panel.  We showed him an opening in the floor in the adjoining bedroom just 5 feet from the hole.

Thereafter almost every day, there were substantial, serious problems which created as much corrective work as new work.  We very quickly got into a ‘one step forward, two steps backward’ mode.  During meetings with the owner, Izi, and two employees who were supposed to be monitoring the job (David & Mike), we were told “don’t worry, it can be fixed, everything can be fixed” again and again.  However, the day-to-day communication between 7C, the on-site workers, and us never improved, nor did the quality of work.

We believe one of the key problems was 7C’s workers appeared to be generalists and not trade specialists.  Example: at one point, a worker who was doing plumbing work in the morning was installing a pocket door at lunch, and by the end of the day, was painting.  All three of these jobs had to be repaired or redone at a later point because of poor workmanship.

After more face-to-face meetings with the owner, Foreman and Project Mgr., we were a month beyond the contract’s completion deadline and the job was about half completed.  We were exhausted and stressed beyond normal and at the end of our patience, and finally had to terminate 7C.  We brought in a reputable GC to make the rest of the repairs and finish the work at considerable additional cost.  At one point, the GC and his electrician were repairing some of the faulty electrical installation in the bathroom, and one of them remarked “this is a combustible event”.  We found out that several non-code compliant installation mistakes had been made, one of which was sealed up behind a wall and could have potentially caused a fire later (a junction box with live wires had been cut away to allow for installation on a 2x4 (photo below)).

The reason we’re writing this however, is what follows.  7C had completed installation of the shower area, including all tile, stone slab and fixtures before being removed from the job.  Once the glass was installed and we used the shower for the first time, we discovered our shower pan leaked.  This is the last thing any homeowner with a $20,000+ bathroom shower remodel wants to experience.  We’ve been advised that there are no repairs that are code compliant for this type of defect, except a complete tear-out of the shower pan area, including all tile, stone and slab. We just hope mold has not formed.

There are no shortages of problems with this job and the quality of work performed by 7C was for the most part, sorely lacking.  CAVEAT EMPTOR!