Complaint Review: Mark Whitting Construction - Warrensburg Missouri

I failed to mention that after talking with the county a couple of months ago that my septic never had its "final" inspection. Also I do not have a access pipe above ground on the tank in which to pump it from. Which is a requirement for final approval, I was told. Also my occupancy permit for my home listed that there was supposed to be a concerte pad at my deck stairs.... It was never done.

Looks like it was 7 sections not 10 as stated before that need replaced.

After taking off a couple of sheetrock sections upstairs, they found globs of glue behind the sheetrock. This glue was causing some of the walls to "bow". Making installation of crown molding and chair rail all but impossible.

One of the sections that was removed revealed a "bowed" wall stud causing the problem in the wall.

I am having a couple of questions in my mind after the problems upstairs:

1) The builder did my framing of my home. So the issues
with the floors and walls would be an issue he or his
crew caused. Why were these not caught and fixed? It's
not like you could have missed them???

2) Questions also arise about quality control throughout
the entire home. If obvious problems such as "bows" in
walls from subcontractor's work are not caught by
a "general contractor"... Then what if any supervision
was done to the quality of work throughout the entire
home? If they could not "police" themselves, why would
one think that they would or did have initiative
to "police" other subcontractors?

Until I received a letter from a lawyer representing the mentioned company. The letter refers to "tortiously interfered" and "false and defamatory report". Which boils down to say I am a liar. But as they say a picture is worth a thousand words..... Am guess what I got ALOT of them! Or better yet come see it in person.

I live at:
14611 Gammon Rd
Greenwood MO 64034
816 987 9953

I also have emails tracking most converstations that took place.

(P.S. Don't forget to scroll down to the bottom to see some public information about a current lawsuit against this company)

The letter from the lawyer reads as follows:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Wikel:

Please be advised that the above firm represents the interests of Marc Whiting Construction. It has been brought to our attention that you have caused to be published on the internet a false and defamatory report concerning Mr. Whiting's construction of your home. Mr. Whiting has received telephone calls from individuals who have read your article. This article has tortiously interfered with Mr. Whiting's home construction business. On behalf of Mr. Whiting and his construction business, I hereby demand that you immediately withdraw or delete the article that is contained in the "Rip-Off Report" which was submitted by you on May 11, 2000. If this is not withdrawn by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, we will take the necessary legal action to remedy this matter and we will seek damages on behalf of Marc Whiting Construction for your tortious conduct."

Well since I cannot delete this article.... I have no choice but to update it. I re-read my original posting after receiving the letter. Let me first apologize for the numerous misspelling and grammatical errors from the original post. It was written in the "heat" of the moment after a conversation with Mr. Whiting on May 11th 2000. So let me "re-post" a correction to the original post.

Home Construction Breach of Contract on Warranty work
The Original Rip-Off Report Text:

Mark Whiting Construction built my home, which came with a 1 year warranty on the structure. After repeated attempts to get items fixed in the home. Some items on the original "punch list" were fixed, while others were not. Here are some of the items that were NOT fixed. I still have issues with some outside doors not closing properly, including the $3k front door which was not only installed incorrectly; but also improperly finished (this was a fiberglass door which was stained, and you can see the original color in certain areas. This door also scrapes in the top right corner when u close it. In fact it has scraped so much that the stain has worn off in that area. I have a buckled wood floor near one of my outside doors where water leaked under the door during a rainstorm. To get the door to seal properly you have to close it and then push on it again to get it to latch.

Separation in wood flooring quarter "width" size gaps.
NOT THE BUILDERS FAULT. This has turned out to be "normal" expansion and shrinkage of the wood due to humidity reasons. But one of the builders workers told my wife to fill the gaps with wood putty and that would take care of it because it would expanded and contract. Of course that worked during the first winter, but during the summer when the humidity is higher, the wood expanded and pushed the putty out of the holes. And of course this winter the cracks are back. But since I was more proactive about turning on the humidifier this winter the separation between the boards has been minimized.

Too many cracks in sheetrock to mention:
This items should have read too many sheetrock issues to mention. Here is a quick list of the sheetrock problems: nail pops, sheetrock lines, pinched sheetrock. I have a crack in my sheetrock in the living room near the fireplace that is about 1 1/2 feet long. One of the builders workers came to fix it. He filled it with a solution he said that would expand and contract and that the crack should not come back. I talked with the builder and mentioned that it should have been cut out and replaced. He said if it reappears he would cut and replace. Of course the crack reappeared after a few months. And it is still not fixed.

Shotty ceiling texture installation:
The texture installation is sloppy in a couple of areas. First is the Master Bathroom Closet (walk-in). A sloppy job in that room. Second is the Master Bathroom. If you look hard enough you could see the sheetrock through the texture. It does not seem to cover the area very well.

Brick over hanging foundation footing:
This was a mistyped statement. The brick I was referring to was in a back corner of my home. And it over hangs my foundation wall not the footing. In this area of the county the "standard" is face brick. This brick is only 2 1/2 inches wide. The brick in that area of my home over hangs the foundation wall by 1 1/2 inches, leaving only 1 inch on the wall.

Splintered joists:
I have a few joist problems in my basement. Some of these issues include a joist which is "doubled" and one of the pair has a large crack and split. I also have other issues with some "doubled" joists. Most of the ones I can still see in the unfinished part of my basement are separating from each other. And as I have been told that they may no longer be classified as a "double" joist. But two singles.

Incomplete lighting installation:
Most of my floodlights on the side and back of the home do not work. Only one of them works. And I have never seen the others work.

Improper grading:
I need additional gravel for my driveway. The builder brought in more. And instead of spreading it where it was needed, it was spread out right in front of my driveway pad, which raised the level of the driveway higher than my concrete pad. Water has a difficult time draining away from my concrete pad. After a rain I always have a nice film of gravel dust on my concrete. Also the contract stated "final grade" well in the builders opionion "final grade" meant removing a hill in my back yard which was gray clay and spreading it all around my home. I have since had to pay to remove this material and replace it with usable soil.

Improper drainage:
See above with grading.

Defective screen holder on screen porch:
Most of the screen of my porch is wavy and distorted, a.k.a not tight anymore. A couple of spots have completely disconnected from the "ripped" wood strip that was holding them on.

After almost a year of dealing with this company trying to get these items fixed, I was told to "Fu*k Off".:
To clarify this statement, let me first say that it was not "Fu*k Off" but instead it was "Fu*k You". Let me also clarify this statement by pasting in a email I sent the builder after that had taken place. He insisted on linking a separate transaction that was outside the home construction contract and having full payment (after aranngements had already be discussed previously to fixing items in my home. The conservation went something like this:

(Cory) The warranty is almost over, I need you to come and fix the items in my home.

(Mark) Well if you want me to the items fixed now... I want my money for the furnance now.

(Cory) You will get your money when you fix the items in my home. [Year contract on home almost expired]

(Mark) Fu*k You

(Cory) [Hung up the phone]

The $ amount here is separate work he did outside of the original home construction. He put in a wood furnace for me. Here the email I sent after the converstation. He replied and I replied back.

1) Email I sent the builder after conversation.

> > I think that I have been overly flexible with the situation. (The situation I am referring too is that I could wait until he finishes building the house next door.) But after
>our conversation tonight, I see that you are refusing to fix the defective items in the home. I have no other choice but to pursue legal resolution to this matter."


2) His response

>From: "Marc Whiting"
>To: "Cory Wikel"
>Subject: Re: Information
>Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 22:46:12 -0500
>
>Cory, Nothing has been refused except your $2500-payment to us.If you want to meet tomorrow and resolve this and your list,I will be next door till 3:30.Marc

>To:
>Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 8:38 PM
>Subject: Information

3) My counter response The extention I mention is he was building a house next door.

"The $2434.72 has nothing to do with the warranty work on the home you built. (That was discussed previously about payment, and we have never been late on a bill before. In fact after our tax return came in about $1k we had already agreed to give you at least $1500 of the $2434.72 which should show up in our account next week.) Your track record for
showing up / completing promised work anywhere near the agreed upon time is spotty at best. (Couple of weeks has turned into almost a year) You should not be worried about getting paid, and that should not be a come back when I wanted a extension to assist "your schedule" in finishing the work here. And I am only after the extension because it would be more convenient for you to get the people over here after they completed work at Greg's house.

Extension does not lock you into fixing all items on the list I gave you. And it does not symbolize agreement of who is the responsible person to pay for the items. But will take the pressure of me to initiate another process (which neither one of us has the time to deal with).

I would rather work this out, but cannot continue to be delayed by excuse this, excuse that. We are both busy, its been almost a year, its time to address the items here. I am willing to put forth an initiate effort to extend the warranty timeline until you can schedule the people coming to Greg's to come over here.

The conversation tonight should have never went the way it did. I called because the extension was "promised" to be delivered twice this week, with no showing by you. After I asked for the extension paper by tomorrow, you said you wanted paid tomorrow (Where in the hell did that come from? We had already agreed about payment.) How else am I supposed to respond to that? My wife has been on me to NOT pay you until the house has been completed. I don't like to work that way. You completed the work, I want to pay you for it. It just came out......

But you response was totally unacceptable, "F U"...... I will leave it at that......

Sunday is the final day. That is it.... Not waiting another day, End of Warranty is May 27th.....

Discussion of the items on the list is a separate issue, but we could hash it out if you come to deliver the extension this weekend."

End of the email track

I did get extensions from him for a couple for months but I can't remember if anything was fixed during the extensions.

HOT OFF THE PRESS: (Last couple of days worth of expenses)

I just had to spend about $4,000 dollars fixing the floors in my upstairs bedrooms. The plywood which was badly weathered needed to be torn out and the joists which did not match in height had to be planed down to level out the floors up stairs. One of the bedrooms had to have ALL of the plywood ripped out it was around 17 X 10 ft room. The guys spent 3 days dealing with the floor issues I had upstairs. In fact, in one of the bedrooms one joist was out of level (to high) by 1 INCH!. One of my items on the punch list that was not fixed was to fix the floors upstairs. In fact I told him to fix them before he put the carpet down during construction!

Also we were going to put up crown molding and chair rail upstairs while we did the other work. But come to find out quite a few of the walls are not even level. They have bows or other problems. So we now have to have the sheetrock removed and the walls fixed and new sheet rock reinstalled. More $$$ down the toliet.



It is 3:30 a.m. in the morning and I have gotten tired of typing, plus I have to proof read this doc so I don't make the same mistakes as last time.

Also one more quick note::::::::::::

The lawyer that sent me nice letter had listed a lawsuit on the letterhead. Looks like the company is getting SUED! This is public information and is searchable. Goto the following site and search.

http://casenet.osca.state.mo.us/casenet/

Under the circuit court drop down box select:
16th Judicial Circuit (Jackson County - Civil)
Hit GO

Under the Search Method drop down box select:
Case Number
Hit GO

Enter this case number 01CV224938
Hit FIND

When checking the walls upstairs last night I thought it was only a couple of spots that needed fixed. The guy I had fixing the upstairs floors came out this morning and tested the walls.

There are 10 sections of walls upstairs that have to be fixed.... I have no idea what this is going to cost me now....

I HAVE ALL OF THIS ON VIDEO AND WILL BE POSTING LINKS TO THIS "QUALITY" WORK IN THE NEAR FUTURE!

My wife recieved another letter from his lawyer today demanding removal of this posting or legal action will be started.

Well I have researched libel lawsuits and truth is the best defense. To have truth you have to have proof, and I have documented proof of problems within my home.

Since my costs to fix some of these issues are pushing into the multiples of $1000 dollars I will be filing a lawsuit for breach of contract.

All I have to say is go ahead and sue for libel. You will lose... Plus, now I will be counter-suing for breach of contract.

I am contacting an engineer to further inspect my home other possible issues that I may not even know about yet.