Complaint Review: Shirey Contracting - Issaquah Washington

We want to be judged by our many successes over the past 27 years of business with hundreds of clients. We are available to answer any questions or concerns about how we perform our work. The next section is an overview of Lynns remodel and after that, we have added details of the project for those who want to understand in more depth, how this job changed.

Early in this process we knew there were budget issues and worked diligently to stick to the original design specifications. All through the project, Lynn & Sean Dillon changed materials. We have listed below, the changes to help you understand that nearly every specification was upgraded from standard material selections to high end material selections.  

Our challenge with Lynn was to listen to what she wanted and guide her to products within her budget. She had definite ideas of the materials she wanted (after the project started) even when we explained they were out of her budget range.

 We want you to understand how we work with our customers to determine a budget and how we work to stay within the budget. The end decision, however, is the customers.

Sincerely,

Donna Shirey

Cell: 206-605-7211

The following additions made to the scope of work during the project were as follows:

(These are our costs without sales tax)

• Geothermal HVAC system was $22, 000
• Gravel for the above $500
• Additional rough in electrical work such as dimmers, specialty lighting, lighting at toe kicks in bathrooms etc totaled $10,626
• Vintage timbers used, these needed to be hand sanded and each dimension needed to be calculated separately:
• Rather than using standard lumber for her entry and side porch she changed to vintage timbers and Mortise & Tennon (each post and beam is cut so it will fit together without nails)
• Selected vintage timbers for interior support posts as well
• This also required extra work to blend beams, rafters & facia (where the standard lumber joined with the vintage timber

• Upgraded to Cedar under the soffits and rafters rather than the specified simple to install bead board
• All interior doors were changed to solid core doors and the old doors were not reused as planned.
• Office door, she wanted double pocket doors rather than re-use the existing double doors as planned (this means the whole wall had to be removed to allow for the space where the door goes when the pocket doors are open and recessed into the wall)
• She wanted a pocket door at the upstairs laundry room (wall removed & replaced to accommodate)
• Selected a kitchen island design that required a custom radius wall to be created and the finish skin to be custom bent. 
• Countertop: The allowance given at the start of the job was based on a simple countertop ($1,000).  For the countertop she selected a raised eating bar with a radius.  The tile selected for the backsplash was about $40 per sq. ft. glass mosaic and the installation was more expensive because of the radius backsplash.  The backsplash and custom radius Caesar stone countertop alone added $6,838.
• She added the same glass mosaic backsplash at the main countertops (originally to be left as is with the wood backsplash)
• The vanity for the upstairs bath was customer supplied and it took 4 men to carry it upstairs.  Then extra hours were required to custom fit.
• She re-selected a tub for the kids bath that was over the budgeted allowance and was a specialty 3 piece tub.  It required us to build a wall and frame a special ceiling.  This was a change that was made after the plumber had roughed in for the original selection requiring a second visit  by the plumber.
• A closet in the upstairs bath was added (new door, etc)
• 11 new windows were added to the scope of work
• Upgraded from vinyl to marmoleum flooring in large mud room
• Upgraded from vinyl to ceramic tile in the upstairs kids bath
• Upgraded to radius tile at entry
• The carpet was upgraded
• Saved kitchen cabinets and re-installed in the mud room
• Plumbing installed per drawings at upstairs bath then customer changed vanity & we had to re-rough in the sinks to fit (this was a third visit for the plumber)
• Customer supplied custom wood fireplace mantle
• Flooring was glued down making demolition difficult, adding to labor costs
• Sink was added in the utility room
• Plumbing leak was fixed in the kitchen drywall was repaired (this was done at off hours)
• Plumbing problem located at entry where old screw punctured old pipe
• Reworked shelf at powder room cabinet
• Reworked sliding drawers in cabinet at upper vanity
• Upgraded to Trex  at decking and railing
• Closet organizers were added $5,224 our cost
• The Dillons did not move into the basement or out of the house as promised

Our suggestion of a hold on the job was not meant to make Lynn upset.  We were at a loss to figure out what to do with a customer that was so upset at the budget and was adding to the scope of work in the same meeting.  We were hoping it would allow some time to evaluate budget decisions.

I feel for this client; I saw this happen over and over again. The jobs bid are based on time & materials and it is difficult to gauge how much a project will actually cost. Again, it is an "estimate". However, they should respect your budget constraints and work around that. It is easy to blame the estimator and/or the person running the project, which takes the weight off the owners. Bottom line, the owners are ultimately responsible for monitoring the actions of its employees and when they don't and things go wrong, they blame the employees and get rid of them and find more "incompetent" employees to fill the empty positions. The faithful, hard-working employees end up taking the fall so the owner's can still shine. That is not right! I had seen many talented, bright employees treated with great disrespect and beat down to a point where they either quit because they could not take it anymore or were fired. No explanations were offered. I agree that they are disorganized and sloppy and had and still have many discrepencies in their billings and when things go wrong they point the finger at everyone but themselves! You are so dead on with your remarks! It doesn't surprise me you did not hear back from them with an apology and ended up with a fruit basket. That would be admitting guilt and that will never happen! Some of the best workers I have seen are now gone; the field personnel were wonderful and worked so hard to make a homeowner's dream come true! It is definitely the Owners and the Manager that are the problem and still remain the problem to this day. All the classes, management training, and sales training in the world will not help this company. They definitely need some training in social skills and need to learn to appreciate true talent. They have good intentions of hiring quality people but are too critical and when one thing goes wrong, instead of working through it, they treat you terrible and then eliminate your position and make it look like you were incompetent. No employee in the office is ever good enough for them. There is only one person in that office besides the Owner's that has been there from the beginning and that is the Manager; only because that person is not smart enough to get the heck out and find something better. This company overextends themselves in their personal endeavors and in return have to charge exhorbitant amounts of money to their clients just to support their lifestyle and pay their overpaid incompetent manager. I only wish more clients would come forward and tell their horrible experience! I would not recommend them either! Hats off to you L. Dillon!!

I feel for this client; I saw this happen over and over again. The jobs bid are based on time & materials and it is difficult to gauge how much a project will actually cost. Again, it is an "estimate". However, they should respect your budget constraints and work around that. It is easy to blame the estimator and/or the person running the project, which takes the weight off the owners. Bottom line, the owners are ultimately responsible for monitoring the actions of its employees and when they don't and things go wrong, they blame the employees and get rid of them and find more "incompetent" employees to fill the empty positions. The faithful, hard-working employees end up taking the fall so the owner's can still shine. That is not right! I had seen many talented, bright employees treated with great disrespect and beat down to a point where they either quit because they could not take it anymore or were fired. No explanations were offered. I agree that they are disorganized and sloppy and had and still have many discrepencies in their billings and when things go wrong they point the finger at everyone but themselves! You are so dead on with your remarks! It doesn't surprise me you did not hear back from them with an apology and ended up with a fruit basket. That would be admitting guilt and that will never happen! Some of the best workers I have seen are now gone; the field personnel were wonderful and worked so hard to make a homeowner's dream come true! It is definitely the Owners and the Manager that are the problem and still remain the problem to this day. All the classes, management training, and sales training in the world will not help this company. They definitely need some training in social skills and need to learn to appreciate true talent. They have good intentions of hiring quality people but are too critical and when one thing goes wrong, instead of working through it, they treat you terrible and then eliminate your position and make it look like you were incompetent. No employee in the office is ever good enough for them. There is only one person in that office besides the Owner's that has been there from the beginning and that is the Manager; only because that person is not smart enough to get the heck out and find something better. This company overextends themselves in their personal endeavors and in return have to charge exhorbitant amounts of money to their clients just to support their lifestyle and pay their overpaid incompetent manager. I only wish more clients would come forward and tell their horrible experience! I would not recommend them either! Hats off to you L. Dillon!!