We hired Rob Martin CBS for a $50,000 plus foundation stability project. We have never had a worse experience with a company. If your project requires engineering consultation and extensive communication between CBS’ management and it’s on site workers, we highly advise that you do not hire CBS. Their fundamental problem is communication within their organization. From a consumer stand point, we experienced little customer service and sometimes their communication bordered on bullying. My review is designed to be completely objective so that you may read the facts and decide for yourself.
Concerns started when they modified our engineer’s original plan but did not provide a change order so that the new price point could be considered. CBS recommended a sump pump. I stated it might be an acceptable change BUT first I I wanted to consult the engineer and see the price BEFORE agreeing. Within a week of this conversation, to my surprise, the sump pump had been installed. They sent a bill, three weeks later, for $6K. This was our first objection. No change order had ever been presented nor signed off. When we finally got the bill, Rob called and asked that I come into their office to discuss the bill. The phone conversations that ensued became increasingly hostile. I suggested that we meet at the project site and they were dismayed that I wanted to bring my wife, my real estate agent and the project engineer. At the meeting, our main point of contention is simple: No change order was presented, no pricing was reviewed and no agreement was ever obtained from us, the customer, for the sump pump. CBS was not prepared to own this mistake. In our group meeting, Jason actually turned to the employee, Augustine, who installed the sump pump, looked at me, and asked if I was prepared to tell Augustine that he needed to take the $6000 from his pay check to cover the cost of this sump pump. At which point, my wife became very angry at the notion that CBS would bully an employee and essentially use them as a bargaining chip. Ultimately, CBS covered the cost of their mistake. But this incidence, seemed to be the catalyst of ongoing dysfunction.
In this same meeting, negligent work or “short cuts” had been identified. But if this is a company of integrity, why were there short cuts?
* In the original foundation design, the French Drain was to be dug to 3-4’ feet deep. The French Drain had already been dug and it had only been dug to 6-12 inches which does not allow for proper drainage.
*When digging the French Drain, instead of respecting our property and simply removing the patio pavers, the crew completely destroyed the patio by sawing, literally, down the middle of the patio pavers. The concession cost that CBS gave is insufficient to repair the patio.
The work continued and our property continued to be disregarded.
•A window was broken by the CBS concrete crew. Four weeks later, with winter approaching and temperatures dropping, the window had still not been repaired despite their awareness.
•When they went back to dig the French Drain, to the appropriate specification, they cut through a sprinkler line disabling the system.
•When they replaced the dirt, after digging the trench, they did not tamp it down correctly and that portion of the yard began to sink. They never brought this to our attention.
•The French Drain needs a pressure release cap to allow the system to function appropriately. They utilized solid caps which would have rendered the system ineffective should it ever be employed, demonstrating their lack of knowledge.
•There was a window flower box that one of the workers disengaged and just left it there, never acknowledging nor apologizing.
•We were responsible for moving the furnace so that they could build a cement retaining wall. CBS built the wall higher than the “verified” height, as specified on the engineer’s original plan. On the original plan it was to be “verified” with the engineer. This was verified with the engineer and the construction manager, Jose. Unfortunately, the CBS’ concrete guy, Efram, built the wall above the “verified” height. The wall was too high thus making it impossible to re-install the furnace. The “verified” height was essential to reinstalling the furnace. The concrete guy also sprayed cement all over the furnace vents which solidified the vents to the crawl space. Ultimately the concrete guy failed to show twice and did not even have the courtesy to call me and tell me he was not showing. At this point, in frustration, we told Jose we were going to hire our own contractor, to repair these problems and that we would bill CBS for the cost. Jose said ok. We had to hire a furnace company who had to replace and reconfigure the furnace parts and vents so that it could be operational over the wall. They had to reconfigure the entire furnace because of CBS’ gross negligence. CBS will not take responsibility for the cost to reconfigure the furnace to proper functioning status.
We had to use our time and resources to repair the items identified above. We subtracted these cost of repairs from the final bill.
In the final walk through, it was discovered by the engineer, that when CBS excavated next to the foundation, they potentially undermined the integrity of the foundation wall. He required that cement be put between the pads and the foundation for support and to mitigate this problem that CBS created. We had to contract this out ourselves.
CBS’ integrity regarding the city permit is also precarious. The permit CBS purchased from the city showed that the total fees and taxes paid by CBS was for $466.68. CBS, on the original itemized contract, charged us $990. It was later discovered that they did not obtain a permit until construction had been under way for three weeks, they paid for a permit totaling $466.68. This is a dishonest difference of $523.32 which we have pointed out and still not received a credit.
The sum total of all of the repairs identified above came to $4,049.74. We subtracted this from the remaining balance owed and sent a check for the remaining balance of $2,062.76.
Astoundingly, several months later, we received another bill for a new unpaid balance of $5011. This new bill does not show a proper credit for the repairs identified, nor does it show a correct bill for what was ultimately paid for by us for the entire project.
UPDATE _
Since the original posting of this review. We were contacted by Travis. We are grateful that someone reached out from Rod Martin and apologized, Travis and Rod Martin took these complaints very seriously. They credited us for the damages we have incurred and negated the remaining balance we owed. We believed this was the appropriate action. Thank you Travis and Rod.
