HHC misrepresented the manner in which we would be permitted to select our granite. Their misrepresentation caused the final countertop to have an ugly seam. In addition, HHC's substandard work resulted in several additional defects, further detracting from the quality of the final product.

HHC denies the misrepresentation and refuses to acknowledge all but the most obvious defect in workmanship. Even if HHC were to admit all of their defects, fixing them would require tearing out the countertops and starting over. My wife and I are reluctant to allow rework because of the additional disruption it would cause and because HHC has not shown good faith in making this right thus far. The contractor's contact information is as follows:

Heartland Home Center, Inc.
13852 Carole Dr.
Bloomington, IL 61705

A summary of HHC's misrepresentations and errors in workmanship is as follows:

The sink faucet was installed off center, noticeably to the left. Because the sink has a twin basin with a divider running up the middle, this defect is very noticeable.

The seam in our countertop is aesthetically mismatched. The natural flow of the granite on both sides of the seam is sharply interrupted.

The following sections contain a detailed description of HHC's misrepresentations and defects in workmanship, a detailed timeline of the dispute, photographic evidence of the defects, and copies of the correspondence between us.

In summary, the contractor admits only to the off-center faucet, admits that any attempt to adjust the faucet would require substantial rework, and admits that such rework would likely not fix the issue. I have offered to forego rework and all other complaints in exchange for a 15% refund and a waiver of lien. They have refused.

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Detail of Misrepresentations and Defects in Workmanship

The sink faucet was installed approximately 1/2 inch to the left of center, behind the sink. This is both noticeable and simply inexcusable as everything about the faucet hole was within their control. They sold the granite, sold the sink, and cut the hole. Heartland Home Center (hereafter HHC) admits to this defect.

Mike Hadden, one of HHC's installers, admits that rework cannot center the faucet but might get it closer. The work necessary to attempt this requires that the faucet be removed and the granite slab be re-drilled while being constantly irrigated, which risks water damage. Further, HHC is unable to guarantee that re-drilling the slab won't crack or otherwise damage it. Any such damage would require that the entire countertop and backsplash be removed and replaced starting from scratch.

Given that rework will not fix the problem and might cause significant additional damage, we are hesitant to allow HHC to do rework.

The sink reveal (the distance that the countertop surface overhangs the sink basin) is uneven. It varies from 2/32 of an inch (practically flush) at the rear right to 10/32 of an inch (a clear overhang and 1/4 inch of difference) in the rear left.

This defect was discovered later than the others and we hesitated to mention it because negotiations with regard to the defects already reported were going poorly. However, subsequent consultation with another remodeling contractor has verified that this is a workmanship defect beyond what is acceptable for a professional installation. Fixing it would require that the sink be removed, re-seated, and re-caulked which would additionally require a plumber for removal and re-installation of the faucet.

As part of the countertop design process, we were promised that HHC would produce templates for use in selecting the sections of our granite slabs that would be used for fabrication. We made it very clear to HHC that the appearance of the seam was important to us as it is the only place where the natural look of the granite can be disrupted.

My wife took an afternoon off of work to visit HHC's fabrication facility and lay out the promised templates to select the sections of our slabs to be used. When she arrived, she spoke with the owner (Linda Hadden) and found that there were no templates. When she inquired about the missing templates, my wife was told that they would select the sections of granite visually, using only a tape measure for visualization. The granite slabs we chose have a lot of natural movement, which meant that a matched seam relied on being able to lay out the promised templates like a sewing pattern to make sure that the two pieces of granite that met at the seam would match one another.

Aside: The production of templates to be laid out like a sewing pattern had been part of our discussion from the beginning, HHC contends that when they said template they meant simply walking around the slabs with a tape measure to eyeball where the pieces would be cut. However, if that's the case, why wasn't it mentioned when my wife scheduled an afternoon at their facility to lay out the templates? In other words, why would eyeballing take all afternoon, and why wouldn't a customer's request to lay out the templates be met with clarification that there would be nothing to lay out?

Additionally, the two slabs of granite we had selected were suspended vertically, one behind the other, so that it was impossible to view the surface of both slabs at the same time. My wife voiced this concern to the owner, but the slabs weren't moved.

Further, the owner informed my wife that our granite had arrived from the warehouse on the previous day and that one of the two slabs had been damaged in transit. This reduced the amount of granite available to choose from. HHC offered to return the granite to the factory for replacement slabs, but doing so would take a week. Since HHC tore out our kitchen countertops on the previous day, replacing the slabs would have left our kitchen unusable for another week and forced our family to incur additional meal expense while we waited.

Aside: If the damaged slabs had arrived on the previous day, why did HHC wait until after they tore out our kitchen to mention the damage if not to pressure us into accepting the granite and avoiding the replacement delay? Further, even if we assume that the damage was noticed after the kitchen tear-out, why would a competent contractor knowing that the fragility of granite lends itself to transportation damage allow a kitchen to be torn apart before verifying that the necessary materials to continue were on hand and undamaged?

Finally, the owner told my wife that the granite we selected had to be chosen in such a way as to maximize the remaining scrap granite so that HHC could resell the scrap. This restriction had never been disclosed to us prior to this point. This further limited the already reduced amount of granite from which we could choose.

Aside: After installation, when I called to complain about the job on the night it was finished. I asked that HHC save the scrap from our slabs in case there needed to be any rework. We were told that the remaining scrap was unavailable because it had already been sold and fabricated for delivery on the following day. Working backward, if the scrap had already been sold and fabricated, then HHC's owner must have already had the buyer lined up when my wife was there selecting the granite to be used. Thus, we suspect that HHC's owner made up the previously undisclosed maximum scrap restriction on the spot so that my wife would not select sections of the slab that would jeopardize the sale to the other buyer.

At this point, our countertops were already torn out, there was no running water in our kitchen, and installation was supposed to begin on the very next day. One of our slabs had been damaged; HHC imposed additional restrictions on what we were allowed to choose; they failed to produce the promised templates; and they displayed the granite so that side-by-side viewing was impossible.

After the owner vetoed several of my wife's attempts to select the granite to be used, the hour was late and my wife was coerced into accepting granite that left her uncertain as to how the finished seam would look. The next defect listed the mismatched seam is a direct result of our having been prevented from selecting our granite using the templates we were promised. My wife voiced her fear that this might happen several times before leaving HHC's facility that night.

The aesthetics of the seam in our granite countertops is poor. The granite on either side of the seam is mismatched. Blotches of light-colored stone were bisected during fabrication and abutted with plain black granite on the opposite side of the seam.

HHC contends that they're not to blame for the mismatched seam since they used the granite my wife selected when she visited their facility. However, for reasons explained at length in the section immediately above, my wife's selection was made under duress. HHC prevented her from making the selection as they had promised and, as HHC had already torn out our existing countertops, we were under pressure to accept HHC's new restrictions on what we were allowed to select.

The same seam is uneven with regard to its texture. In other words, it is not as smooth as one might expect of a professional installation. Whether this is a problem with the filling material or the level of the granite on either side is unknown to us, but it is not smooth. This defect came to our attention when we had another remodeling contractor come into our home to give us a second opinion about the quality of the work HHC did for us.