When our home burned last May, we were referred to Premiere Restoration, PRR to build our new home. Jerry Sulzby showed up and seemed very genuine and very helpful. He was going to build our dream house for what the insurance would pay and repeatedly said it would not take one red cent out of my pocket. He promised we would be in the house for Christmas, and this was the number one condition we required before we would commit to Premiere. He promised the house would be built to certain specs and with contents of our choosing.
He sent us to cabinet makers, hardware stores, and numerous places to select the items we wanted. He started a small feud with our insurance company that in my opinion was to separate us from having amicable communications with the Travelers adjuster. Then the delays got ridiculous. They tried to get a city permit and spent weeks "working on that", then there were delays of weeks for permits that actually take one to two days. Four months after the fire, the city found out our house was not in the city but in the county, a fact that was discussed from the first day with Sulzby. The county building permit was finally issued in late September.
Premiere was constantly demanding more money in order to continue working at all even tho they were averaging less than 2 days of work per week. I had to write a $5200 check out of my personal money or they were going to stop working on the foundation. I showed up with a camera one day and half the Hispanic framing crew scattered and I never saw them again. The framing was eventually "completed", but now we have to redo several sections in order to meet building codes. We have to replace the heating and cooling ductwork because it was improperly installed. Premiere's HVAC man insisted that I use a specific system that I didn't want.
Before the plumbing was roughed in, Premiere installed a fiberglass tub enclosure that was not close to anything we ordered and wouldn't remove it. The concrete blocks on the outer walls of the basement were supposed to be filled with concrete and have rebar. They have neither. The list of offenses is too long for the space I have here. They rarely if ever dealt with things I mentioned in numerous e-mails to them. After 6 months of being the nice guy, I started standing up to them and they stopped answering my phone calls and any e-mails I got from them didn't respond to issues in my e-mails. after a 90 minute meeting with Rodney Bates or PRR he didn't remember any of the things we had discussed and flatly denied that we had discussed these items. I still have his sketches on paper from that meeting.
From that point, things got hostile and they said that if we didn't send them more money, they were going to stop working on our house. We had 2 inspections to see if the house was up to 50% finished so we could get another draw (cash). First inspection was 28% and second inspection was 30% completion. Premiere blamed it on the inspector and fabricated a tale to diss the inspector. Then they said no cash no house and quit, but still sent an electrical crew and a plumbing crew that they hadn't ever used before out. The plumbers and electricians didn't know PRR and went to work with no cash deposit or security, leaving me holding the bag. the best I can figure, Premiere Restoration has been paid about $125,000 and has done about $65000 to $70,000 worth of shoddy work.
I'm tired so I'll quit for now, but if you live anywhere near Birmingham, Alabama, and are looking for a remodeling, flooring, reconstruction or contracting watch out for PRR, PRRAL, Premiere Restoration, Premiere Flooring, and be on guard for the names Jerry Sulzby and Rodney Bates.
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