Starcom Design Build

Starcom Design Build Shoddy workmanship, horrendous customer service Columbia, Maryland

6th of Jun, 2011 by User355142

Starcom Design Build installed a kitchen for us last year. They started in September and I believe finished in February of this year! We are not unhappy with the price or the way the kitchen looks or the customer service we received. Following is a list of grievances is sent to the owner of the company. Your foreman, Rick got into a screaming match with my wife on the second or third day of the project, and by the way, if we do come to terms, I dont want that man anywhere near my house, nor do I want to talk to him. This job started with demolition. We were told that everything would be blocked off with something like a zip wall. After 2 to 3 days of demolition, Rick and my wife got into it. There was damaged wood on one wall and he was planning on just drywalling over it. Tim and I came to an agreement on how it would be handled, but I was never happy with the solution for two reasons. The first was that he was going to leave rotted wood in place and the second was that nothing was being done to address the mold that was going to be covered up. I dont believe anything was done at all regarding either situation. I was told that if you were going to do carpentry work, the drywall would not be able to be installed that day. I went back to work and miraculously, when I got home that night the drywall was up and had already been taped so I could not check on it. At that same meeting I expressed my displeasure with the dust level. Floor protection had been installed, but NOTHING had been done to control the dust. We had to hire a professional cleaning company to get our house back. There was dust everywhere! We had numerous times when no one showed up to work for 2 and 3 days at a time. We were told by Tim that once our project started there would be a full time presence at our house until the job was complete. He said there would be a day here or there when you wouldnt work but that would be few and far between. Your company was on site less than 50% of the time from the start to what you call substantial completion. That was totally unacceptable. NO one cleaned up after themselves at the end of each day, not even with a broom. We always had to do it and we were told for a week someone would come and clean up the cupboards and my wife finally just did it herself. Your workmen constantly used our hose (which is fine), but it would have been nice if they had asked. Regardless of that, they never cleaned it up OR put it away. It is now covered with some crud. I put the hose away myself on numerous occasions. My wife came home from work one night and the plumbers were in our bedroom. Your mason moved my extension ladder out of his way to brick up the window. Where did he put it, ON TOP OF my air conditioning unit. One Saturday, my wife walked out of our front door to go shopping and she looked down and saw your lock box sitting there wide open with our front door key staring up at her. Your people cut the chair rail in the dining room and I ended up replacing it my self because they could not find chair rail to match mine. The project dragged on so long that I ended up finishing the ceiling drywall myself to move the project along. The cupboards sat in our dining room for 3-4 weeks before they were installed there was no reason for this. We were promised that we would only go 1 day without sink, but of course this was incorrect, as we were without one for over a week. We complained about that spice rack from day one and no one did anything about it. Your people constantly left trash in a pile in the dining room. We were told that trash would be removed from the driveway EVERY day, yet sometimes it sat in the driveway for as long as a week. Our driveway was even used as a dump site for other jobs. As I pointed out to Tim one day, we had a new kitchen installed, so why was there a box for a toilet tank in my driveway? This job should have taken the amount of time but we were used as a filler job for other larger jobs and they just showed up when they had a few hours of time here and there. Youre quick to point out extras that you did, but first of all you did charge us for extras in the form of a change order. And while youre at it, what about reductions for things you didnt do? The plans called for more light fixtures that werent installed. Aside from this if we really want to get nasty we could point out the things you ignored. Do permits ring a bell? Do hiding electrical boxes behind drywall without an access panel ring a bell? After this letter to the owner, he graciously agreed to take $2500 off the price of the $60,000 job. We were thrilled. We got all new appliances except for our dishwasher. The dishwasher was only 3 years old so we didn't replace it. Now, in June of 2011, we have a dishwasher that was installed by using a screw on each side of the unit through the rubber gasket on each side. Now the unit is free because it ripped through the gasket. Another example of the shoddy workmanship. At this point, we are done with them.

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