Complaint Review: Betterliving Sunrooms

Need to file complaints immediately with your state contractor board and local building department. They will take action against the manufacturer and local contractor. At one time craft builts roof panels were decertified by BOCA.

A rep from the company was onsite during the installation and instructed the installer as to how to install the structure, attach it to the pad, the home, and the roof.  All of which were done incorrectly, and not according to the provided plans that were
submitted to the city for approval.  The builder failed to have the structure inspected by the city, and when it was finally inspected at the finance companies request it failed both the city building inspector's inspection and a private building inspectors inspection.
 
In this case, the contracted building company who carries the name Better Living Sunrooms of Central Indiana pointed the finger at the manufacture for improperly instructing them in installing the structure on the front of the home, where they had never installed one before (and now we wonder if they had EVER installed one). Using the companies name Better Living
Sunrooms one would expect that the contractor is professional and able to do what they are to do (these people represent the product at various home shows which was where they were found).  One might expect a shoddy job from a contractor who is not carrying the manufactures name and has had no experience with the installation of such a structure.  After pointing the finger at the manufacture saying they were the ones who told them to install it as they did the builder then pointed the finger at the home owner and insisted that all the problems were the home owners fault. 
 
As you see above, now the manufacture is trying to point the finger at everyone else involved performing CYA because they dont want to take any of the blame.  The manufacture, though asked on multiple occasions to visit the home, never did, and e-mail requests to Andy Stone were never responded tophone calls were not returned. The warrantee card that is mentionedwell, one has to have been given such a card in order to return it!
 

Currently, there is missing flashing, the building is not properly ttached to the homes walls (3/4 gap in places that was hidden by the hollow space of the vinyl siding of the home which allows air, water, and rodents to enter the home as it was not flush mounted or insulated), roof is not level, slopes back towards the home, flat spots in the roof valley where water goes
under the shingles and comes in the home via the walls.  And there are warped vinyl parts on the structure, trim is pulling away from the windows, there are 1/8 gaps in the panels around windows where you can see straight thru the wall, and if we get a good storm, (which we tens to have a number of each year) water blows in around the windows (even where we dont see cracks or openings) and has water stained the curtains and caused damaged to items that were inside of the structure (the floor had to be removedunder it, water, bugs, spiders and dead mice).  The structure was to be a 4 season room, an extension of the living area, but it has had to be closed offyou cant heat it!  We were also told that the R value
in the roof was not right as if you were to touch your tongue to it in winter it would probably be stuck! (Too cold).
 
I ask you Craft-Bilt: is Better Living Sunrooms of Central Indiana (aka Sho-Pro) still in business as we would love to have someone else come out and replace the structure, because total replacement is what is required to make things right.  However, we will not have Sho-Pro back on the propertyit has been observed (not only by us) that they are not qualified to be doing such work as they have been out several times to fix things and actually made things worse!  That is what we had been asking for.  Instead we were forced to spend THOUSANDS of llars in attorney fees trying to get just that, get it replaced and installed by someone else who knew what they were doing. We had multiple inspectors out, multiple contractors, and all said the ame thing, many just looking at it from the street! 
 
Before the structure was installed the homes value was appraised at $70,000.  We had hoped that the addition of the 4 season room would take the value up to around $90,000.  However, after the structure was added with all its problems, both in quality of manufacturing and installation, the estimated value of the home is now $30,000!  My sister is out of money and now owes a significant amount more on the home than what it is worth thanks to the installer and the manufacture.  IF the manufacture does as it says, then why when we asked and asked, did they not find another installation company to come
out and make things right?  It was all we asked and had been asking since early 2008!

 Now we have a worthless structure a greatly decreased in value home, all  kinds of issues with water, leaks, bugs, spiders, and mice, we have spent thousands of dollars trying to get Better Living Sunrooms of Central Indiana to pay for the repairs, trying to get Craft-Bilt to hold by what they said in the above text (find someone else to make things right), and we are out of moneynothing left.  We will have to come up with about $5,000 to fix the roof, but cant do that until the structure is pulled off and put back on, attaching it to the pad and to the home. Meanwhile, continued damage occurres, and again I mention, my sister is out of money having spent all extra trying to get someone (Better Living Sunrooms of Central Indiana or
Craft-Bilt to make things right). There is no equity left in the home to be able to get another loan to fix things. Craft-Biltyou want to make things right?  Then fix it! 
 
Please note, yes the whole story is here, we are not making things up or leaving parts out.  The expectations of the home owner are as anyones would be.  I seriously doubt that Andy Stone would want this structure on the front of his home or anywhere on his home.  There was no flat Andy stuck in the front yard, and after the structure was built no one came out from Better Living Sunrooms aka Craft-Bilt, despite requests.

 

 

As the manufacturer cited in the report above, we warrant the materials we manufacture. The independent local dealer with whom this homeowner contracted is responsible for installation. Our company offers free installation training to all of our dealers and makes recommendations to the dealership regarding the competency of their installers. However, the dealers are independent businesses, and we do not control their hiring practices or employees. As part of our support, we send a member of our training team to observe our dealers installers at work, and made recommendations to the owners for continuous improvement.  However, we are not on site
to provide ongoing supervision of the dealerships.

We are compelled to advise consumers who turn to this website for recommendations that the site specifically states:  While we encourage and even require authors to only file truthful reports, Ripoff Report does not guarantee that all reports are authentic or accurate. Be an educated consumer. Read what you can and make your decision based upon an examination of all available information.Consumers, just because a company or individual is reported on Rip-off Report does not necessarily mean you should not do business with them. In many cases, its just the opposite. Just because a company is posted on Rip-off Report does not mean they are "bad". At some point in time, everyone has felt like they've been ripped off, when that may not have been the case. 

As a manufacturer, we are in communication with the homeowners who purchase our products only when they register their manufacturers warranty with our company.  We immediately address any complaints cited by consumers with the installing dealer.  Product warranty claims are taken care of immediately by us, but installation issues such as leaks are not manufacturing issues, and must be addressed by the installing dealer.

In cases such as the one described above, if the dealer has an excessive number of consumer complaints, we may rescind the dealers authorization to carry our products.  We make efforts to replace dealers quickly who have been removed from our network, or who go out of business, so that consumers have an authorized company to turn to in case of questions or concerns.

Our Manufacturers Warranty remains one of the strongest and most inclusive in the industry, backed by a company that has been in the business since 1946.  



 

Feb. 2008, Betterliving Sunrooms of Central Indiana (AKA: Sho-Pro of Indiana) an authorized dealer and installer of Betterliving Sunrooms (AKA: Craft-Bilt) installed what was sold as a four season room to my sister.  The structure was not properly installed.  At the time of completion water damage was occurring which has resulted in interior damage to the home and the growth of mold in the area of the water intrusion.  The contractor was asked to take care of this multiple times but has failed to do anything.  As mentioned, it took 18 months and many phone calls to get the contractor finally out to the house to repair the roof, but they failed to follow instructions of the roofing material manufacture (and those of a professional roofing company whom they talked to on the phone while performing the job) and as a result the roof now leaks even worse and shingles that were new just a year or so before are now damaged.  The structure was not installed correctly: not attached to the house, leaving as much as a air gap that leads out directly under the vinyl siding.  Thus it can not be heated in the winter and anything such as rodents, insects, and spiders can enter the home.  This room was to be an extension of the living roomit is useless! 

I agree that most of the issues are indeed installation issues; however, according to the contractor there was an installation representative from Craft-Bilt on site instructing the contractor as to how to install the product.  Craft-Bilt has not sent anyone out to look at the structure (as we had asked for them to do).  The building has failed multiple inspections and the only way to fix the parts that need to be fixed is to tear the structure off and start over (this has been stated by the City Inspector, a private inspector hired by the finance company, two roofing contractors, and at least five building contractors, as well as various other individuals in the construction field).  All the local contractor has offered to do was fix the electrical which is currently not to code and presents a fire hazard (as inspected by the city, independent inspector and a representative of the local fire department as well as the other construction contractors), and attempt to fix the roof again (by patching it).  These two issues are not all that needs to be addressed.  The entire roof on the front of the home needs to be torn off, boards that are now water damaged need to be replaced, where the roof of the structure meets the home needs to be replaced as there are low spots where water settles and travels under the shingles (this is how it is getting in), damaged drywall, insulation, insulation board and siding need to be replaced along with damaged flooring materials.  Mold remediation is a must!  Flashing needs to be installed under the structure which can only be installed by removing the structurethis is required to keep water from coming under the walls and into the room.  The walls need to be sealed to the pad to keep bugs and spiders out (it is obvious they are coming in under the walls and a cable tie can be pushed under the walls in many places indicating there is no barrier).  The pad is oversized and adds to the water coming under the wallsif it were properly sized and flashing was in place as shown on the approved drawings, this wouldnt happen (the concrete pad is also not sealed). The structure was butted up against the old wood lap siding, not the house, and only attached to the house at possibly the top and bottom of the walls (if thatscrews we see that missed the boards would only go into the lap siding about 1/8 of an inch and are not attached to any studs).  The local dealer who is representing Craft-Bilt has made no effort to fix any of this, and due to their evident lack of ability I dont think anyone in their right mind would want them even coming close to the home again! 

The expectations of the homeowner are not out of line. You wouldnt want this on your home causing these problemstrust me!  If this was on Andy Stones home (the owner of Craft-Bilt) he would have the same complaints as we do, however Mr. Stone wont replay to our e-mails or requests for him to come out and see what his product looks like or how it was installed.  My sister has come down with some serious health problems since the structure was installedall related to mold and stress.  This has been a nightmare.  And I would like to point out that there are many complaints online in regard to Betterliving Sunrooms and the installation of the sunrooms by various local (other states) representatives and installation contractors. 

It is not only our expectations that a four season room be constructed in a proper manner and actually provide a living area that can be comfortably used year round without the worry of rodent and insect infestation, cold infiltration (one should not feel wind when inside of a building), and water damage, but also the expectations of all of those who have come out and looked at the structure.  It is more than obvious that things are wrong (even from the street!).  To say our expectations are impossible to meetnope, they arent.  Yes they are impossible to meet if what you are planning is to patch things as it will never work!  Had the building been installed the right way the first time, our expectations would have been met without complaint.  But with all the problems listed and the fact that parts are missing, sheet metal is bent and warped, vinyl is bent and warped, there are gaps in the building that you can see light thru, trim that seals the large windows at the top is pulling away from the windowsSorry Craft-Bilt, but if this is quality it sure doesnt seem like it! 

To my knowledge, nothing I have said is misleading or incorrect.  It is all based on facts, inspections by professionals, and documented with photos and statements.  Betterliving of Central Indiana/Sho-Pro, and Betterliving Sunrooms/Craft-Bilt can practice CYA but pointing fingers fixes nothing. 

There are two sides to every story, and the whole story is not being told by this consumer. While we regret that the homeowners are not satisfied with their sunroom, Craft-Bilt Manufacturing Company is the company who manufactures the components for the sunroom, but we are not the installing company.  The local dealer who sold the sunroom has made many efforts to address the problems but the expectations of the homeowner have been impossible to meet.  This homeonwer has made many misleading and incorrect statements about Craft-Bilt. Betterliving has thousands of delighted customers throughout the US and Canada. We have been in business since 1946 and offer a 50 year warranty on our sunroom products.  All of our sunrooms are engineered and meet code requirements in all 50 states.  I encourage homeowners who are considering sunrooms not be dissuaded by one or two complaints. Please contact your local dealer, or Craft-Bilt, for full details on this complaint. Thank you.