Complaint Review: Mountain State Constructions & Development - Chris Sutherland

I entered into a contract with Mountain State Construction on August 2007, to redo my garage and remodel my house. I did all the research to make sure everything was okay and I couldn't find anything about them. The garage went up with no problem, but they said they would do the driveway when the house was finished. We amended the contract in Oct 2007 for additional costs to redo the basement and changes the architect made. Chris Sutherland agreed to the changes and started the demolition in December - January, then my house sat empty until March 19th 2008.

I paid each draw that was asked of me, the work was done slowly, but by April I was asked for $5,000 for windows and bricks to the back of the house. I was later told no bricks matched my house, and the windows were ordered.

I gave the final draw on May 9th, it was suppose to go to heating and air, insulation and sheetrock. Then two weeks later Chris Sutherland calls me and says he needs more money, there was a lot of extras on the house and he would need an additional $23K. I told him we had a contract price, we tried to work things out, and I agreed to pay some subs with the money for the final payment. I paid the Stucco guy and I paid for the electrician. Chris Sutherland said the concrete guy would be putting in the driveway and he had already paid him (The guy still hasn't shown up) and he would get the heating and air put in, if I agreed to have only one central air unit and put baseboard heating in the basement.

After that meeting Chris Sutherland had his plumber and showing up sporadically and he kept promising the concrete guy and the heating and air guy would show up tomorrow except no one ever showed up. When I questioned why they don't show up on day he will be nice and say he has a guy showing up the next day. Then the next time, he tries to blame me and say that if I would just pay more, and pay for all the extras it wouldn't be a problem. But he told me during the process that we were in budget, and he never made me fill out a work change order.

A letter was sent to Chris and Kent for notice to cure Breach of Contract. Later, I find out that he is using Kent Neilson's contract license and Kent has never discussed the house with me. Also, the inspector had a question on the plumbing he tried the plumber on file only to find he didn't do the work, and Chris had someone else using his permit. In addition, I found out that he never paid for the windows. He paid 1/3 down and was suppose to pay the rest when they arrived. However, he was not there when the window were brought in.

When I questioned him about this he said he was going to pay for the windows. He delayed saying he was busy and he would take care of it. I told him that the budget for windows was $4,400 and the window bill only came to $3,341.66 so he was getting a nice profit. He had a guy clean up part of my yard, and the guy stole the bathroom counter with sink. The same guy tried to build the deck but did such a bad job that the inspector said it would never pass. I then had someone else redo the deck and finish framing that wasn't done in the basement.

An additional letter was sent saying he was in Breach of Contract and it was his responsibility to pay for the windows as well as all the other unfinished work and property damage his crew did. I did get the sprinkler fixed August 8, 2008. and he promised to pay for the windows, and the fences and put in a new screen door. And he said he had guys coming to put in the soffit/facia, heat/air, and the driveway. Of course no one showed up.

He doesn't return any of my calls and has no one showing up. The sub's that I have numbers for say they won't work until he pays them.

I have reported him to the BBB, and he didn't respond to them and I have reported him to DOPL but he still doesn't do anything and hasn't finished my house.

Anonymous
Salt Lake City, Utah
U.S.A.