Complaint Review: Garn Restoration

Lansing Fire - I totally agree that "Happy Customer" is either an employee, Ryan Garn or other family member.  I posted photos of the damage as proof of my legitimate complaint.  I have also invited anyone that questioned my complaint, proof or accusations into my home to see and "smell the odor" for themselves.  Everyone was appalled at the "restoration" job.  Other restoration companies that gave me estimates to repair the home correctly, knew who did the restoration without me telling them!  That tells me alot when their peers knew who did the restoration job.  You are correct in your statement that their reputation among many people is well known and not good.

I gave Ryan Garn every opportunity to make this right, however, he and Scott could only deny responsibility, so the courts and a jury of their peers can decide who is correct.  When all the evidence comes out, the people in our county and state will be made fully aware of their work ethics.

You clearly are a friend of the company or an employee. You are judging the lady for going on every website to let people know what Garn is really made of. Well clearly, you must be spending time looking as well. Also, you talk about how many people they employ and how the people need the jobs. One of these people glued my window shut!!!!!! Clearly the people who work for Garn are not qualified to be in the business.

In fact, Garn has so much bad press out there they are getting no business. The reason I know this is because Mr Garn himself went to my agent and lied about how happy I was and that he had fixed everything. He wanted state farm to give him more business. Well, my agent knew better. Garn will not get any more business. thanks to my friends in the Michigan Legislature, Garn is getting a lot of bad press. Also every state agency that had some contact with my friends in the legislature know how bad Garn is. Garn...You might as well file bankruptcy and or close up and open under a new name. Your reputation is ruined.

Pat, sorry that you seam to be having so much trouble with Garn Restoration but I couldn't be happier with the work that they did on my home.  They went out of there way to make sure that I had every thing I needed after my fire including housing.  The work that was done on my home was very good and we have no smoke oder and couldn't be happier and will refer them to all our friends and family. 

You really must have a lot of time on your hands because I see that you are posting on any site you can to try and destroy this company.  I have friends that have used them in the past and all have had great experiences with them also.  You should probably let your attorney deal with there insurance company and just realize that these guys are humans and they are just trying to make a living as we all are.  From my understanding they employ many employees who I am sure need there jobs to survive. 

Ryan Garn of Garn Restoration continues to deny responsibility for their actions in NOT sealing around the INSIDE main sewer pipe in our basement.  We have shown him pictures of the pipe being replaced, the date code on the pipe which proves it was replaced, pictures of water pouring down the basement wall from around the unsealed pipe and all the damage it caused. He blames the original builder for the outside pipe not being sealed.  Not having a leak prior to the fire, it's obviously NOT from the outer boot unless Garn or the plumber disturbed it when they replaced the inner pipe. Apparently he doesn't know that there is a reason why building codes require the pipe to be sealed around the inside too.







An independent engineer that Garn's insurance company hired also stated the pipe was NOT sealed around at the time of installation. causing the damage and he has a copy of that report.  Yet he refuses to admit responsibility for HIS mistakes.







We have discovered several other issues with their work, and again they deny responsibility.  It's always someone else's fault.  Our basement reeks of smoke odor from the house fire over two years ago.  He blames it on "faulty Kilz".  They never cleaned the smoke damage from the home, only sprayed Kilz over it.  The black smoke damage has penetrated the thin coat of Kilz they sprayed on it. Our basement has many black patches from where they never even sprayed Kilz in addition to everywhere the smoke damage has penetrated.







There are many issues with our home from their work, however, since they refuse to deny responsibility, it's time to allow the legal system to determine their responsibility.  Keep our experience in mind when deciding to hire a contractor.

The reason Garn Restoration's insurance company denied her claim of our liability is because it is unsubstantiated.  The issue with the pipe was it wasn't sealed on the OUTSIDE of the house.  Garn has work orders from the insurance company stating only inside pipes to be replaced.  We fixed the leak that her builder never sealed when her septic system was put in. Its disappointing when you help someone with their problem and they try to stick you for all of their problems.

I feel for you too after having to endure a similar nightmare.  Unfortunately, we ended up having to hire an attorney to handle this fiasco with Garn Restoration since they refused to accept responsibility and pay for damages.  It may he helpful for you to do the same.   Everyone that has inspected our basement after Garn's work has been shocked and disgusted with the end result.   Also, check the Better Business Bureau on all the complaints against Garn.  We have also filed complaints at the state and county level...another avenue you may wish to explore.

Good luck to you!

I wanted to let you know that I feel your pain. I had work done by Garn restoration and had to work with Mr Garn on one occasion. He is very rude and intimidating.  I also had to work with Terry, who is always in a hurry and never fully answers your questions. He just says Yep, or Ill see.

Garn ended up walking away from my job and taking the money with them.  I had an independent report done and they stated that they believe that only 60 percent of the job was done.  My insurance co has not worked with me at all.  There stance is that they are only a customer with me and that I hired Garn, so if I have a problem with them, then its my problem.  No calls or any thing have been returned by my insurance because "its not there problem".

My mortgage co. however has been working with me.  I am trying to get them to help me get some of that money back so I  can get a new contractor to do the work.

I also wanted to comment on the paint peeling.  I did not move back into my house because of "bad Vibes" and let my brother and his family move in instead.  He truely believes that most of the walls in my house were not painted but just primed.  Once he mentioned this it kind of makes since.  The walls colors are not like any paint I have ever seen.  Garn restoration did ABSOLUTELY no clean up after they were done.  So it would not shock me if when the sprayed the Kills or what not, that the area was not prep.  Funny story that had to spray my entire house with some white stuff to get the smoke smell to go away.  They were so messy with it that they sprayed a window that was not damaged and not going to be replaced by the insurance co.  The ended up trying to get me to pay for it but for some reason my dump a** insurance agent ended up giving them money!!

The engineer/investigator that was hired by Garn's insurance adjuster verified the pipe was replaced and water leaked in around pipe.  He also verified my other complaints regarding their workmanship, however payment for damages were denied.  The matter continues...

We NEVER had a leak in the basement before our house fire.  The sewer pipe WAS replaced by Plumb Crazy, who was hired by Garn Restoration and I have the photos to prove it.  While Ryan Garn continues to claim the water came from an exterior pipe, that is FALSE!  The ground water came into the basement around the main sewer pipe that was replaced after the fire, but no one sealed around it after it was replaced.  While the Building Inspector may have written Garn Restoration a letter that states they were not responsible, I don't give much weight to that letter as the Building Inspector "passed" the plumbing on the house.  Besides, the building inspector told me that it was the plumber's responsibility to seal around the pipe, but the ultimate responsibility was Garn Restoration's as they were the general contractor and hired the plumber.

The new interior pipe was connected to the existing exterior pipe through the poured concrete wall.  In order to remove the interior pipe to replace it, the old sealant had to be removed from around it to disconnect the smoke damaged pipe.  The new pipe was then connected to the exterior pipe, but it was never sealed around it.  Independent inspectors have found other areas of our basement that was also not sealed after parts were replaced, as well as other code violations in our home from the re-build.  These will also have to be corrected, which will cost money.

While Ryan claims this is two years old, we have not lived in our home for two years since the fire.  The reason the water leak was not discovered earlier is because the sewer pipe was located between the poured concrete wall and new drywall that was replaced by Garn in the process of finishing our basement after the fire.  The water came into the basement behind the drywall and absorbed into the drywall, carpet and padding unnoticed until mushrooms began growing out of our less than two year old carpet.

The main probable reason why the Kilz is peeling off is due to the fact that Garn never cleaned the smoke damage from the basement before spraying Kilz over it.  Now we have to have a new company come into our home, gut out our basement, soda blast it to remove the smoke damage, re-seal it and rebuild it, which is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Ryan Garn is also incorrect in stating that they had scheduled to correct the basement, however, I did not want to do that.  Ryan contacted me to tell me that his insurance adjuster stated Garn Restoration was not responsible for the leak, (without actually inspecting our basement), and Garn was through with our basement.  He then sent me a bill for over $2500.00!

Garn also took items to clean that were in the mold, however, many items were destroyed when they washed new blue jeans with light colored clothes.  The items now have blue jean dye stains on them and are ruined.  Therefore, I am turning to a new company to correct the damage that was done to our home.

There are 2 issues that Pat is trying to communicate.

1. She has a leak

2. she has paint failure in her basement and garage

Garn Restoration's response

1. We turned in a claim to our liability insurance.  The information Pat has supplied in not accurate.  There was some discussion as to responsibility due to Michigan State law that allows a home owner to hold all "sub-contractors" responsible for poor work.  We don't know if this is our issue or someone elses, so we turned it into our insurance company and they are investigationg negligence.  We have a written letter from the buiding inspector that says it was not our fault.  This water penetration is some 2 years after the work we did was complete, so it's unlikely it is anything we did wrong.  Certainly with the amount of rain and snow we get in Michigan, she would of had damage long before 2 years.  The pipe that leaked was an exterior pipe coming through the foundation wall.  We didn't do any plumbing on the exterior of the foundation wall thus making it really unlikely it is our subcontractor's error.  Irregardless, we have taken this to our liability insurance to see if we can help out.

2. It is possible the liability company will take care of this too.  Let it be noted that we had this scheduled, but Pat Cook put a stop work order on us.  We aren't really sure why she didn't want this fixed.  This too is 2 years old and outside of our 1 year guarantee.  We believe it is a product failure with Kilz.

I'm adding photos of the sewer pipe that was not sealed after it was replaced