Kraus Group Inc

I called the office on Friday and talked to Sandy. She was very helpful and patient with me and we set an appointment for Monday (today) between 10 and 10:30 AM. The crew was right on time at 10AM and consisted of three inspectors: Ryan, Kurt, and Andrew. They were all very kind and professional. They were extremely thorough and they took time to point out issues with the house. While the news wasn't all good, the process was a pleasure. Each issue was presented to me along with suggestions on how to remedy them, what sort of professional I should contact, and when they knew, a ballpark figure of what it might cost. They took their time to answer all of my questions and encouraged me to call them if I have more. The inspections took a little under two hours with three men working. They were so thorough and knowledgeable that I didn't balk at the higher than I have paid before price of $700.00. They were wonderful and worth every penny. I stopped at the store on my way home and the reports were already in my email when I got home! If the deal on this house doesn't go through I will call them again for my next home inspection and I will recommend them to everyone. This was an excellent experience!

Extremely dissatisfied with the things they missed. They missed things that would have affected my offer on purchase of my home as well as allowed me to properly forecast and budget home remediation. And while they entertained an internal complaint, and fully agreed that certain things were obvious and that they should have caught them, they refused to do anything about it. Mostly a family operation, the gentlemen who actually inspected the home were clean, friendly, and apparently able and intelligent. That said, they were the ones who missed the things that they themselves agreed would have been caught. However, management was a completely different story. They had me tell the same story over and over to each next person, as if a list of missed items would not be enough to circulate than waste my time and aggravation while tending to other matters related to moving in to a new home that requires work. The further up the chain I got, the less courtesy and reasonability I received. One Kraus, Andrew, actually spoke using (I?ll be kind and say, borderline) fighting tone/words and proceeded to curse me out in a typical bully manner, overtaking the conversation until he hung up on me. Some glaring items missed: - Awning windows. Screwed shut, from the outside. Screws are white contrasted against the aluminum color window fame. Their excuse for themselves, after the fact, was that the window was not visible from the inside. It was clearly visible from the outside, e.g., perimeter of the single level home. - Storm door. Glass/Screen inoperable due to being glued open. The glue is an old yellow that goes up the frame. Had they even once attempted to operate the door, they would have quickly discovered it. That is, the fact that it wasn't caught can only mean that it wasn't done. - Source of Leak. Inspection was on a dry day, and dry for days before. But a flat part of the roof was wet, with puddle, and slowly leaking from a corner to the pool deck causing that moldy residue on pool deck. An eye-line could have been drawn to easily figure out that the solar heater for the pool was leaking chlorine water into the plant below and that rain water does not last that long in Florida for that many consecutive dry days. I didn't know that a pool doesn't normally lose water so fast, but I figured it out myself when I later went on the roof to check things out myself. My water bill was enormous until I discovered it and turned it off. I was so bummed out about moving into my home and not being able to use my own first pool in those winter months, and these upcoming winter months, until I can have the solar leak fixed. I paid for it and got no value from it. - Fireplace. There is a chimney on the roof. I did not know that it was faux. Kraus told me that I could " reintroduce" the fireplace to the home. Now, Kraus also advertises that they perform construction services. Motive or not, they were way off. A few contractors could not keep from laughing after they crawled the attic to check behind Kraus. This was a huge selling point for me that I thought the seller missed because I relied on Kraus' word. This was huge, as I would have indeed reintroduced a fireplace to the house if it were possible. Any other defect that was found I requested that the seller must repair prior to closing. Each and every repair that I requested was in fact repaired by the seller prior to closing or the seller bought the parts for me and I had my contractor repair. Had Kraus caught these glaring defects, I would have requested repair on those as well and positioned myself accordingly on the front of the sale so that I could absorb any further repairs and remediation on the back of the sale. Because of Kraus, in my first single family home, from a perspective of creating dreams, I am still forced to not have certain windows that are ideal for cross-draft as functioning, or a heated pool that I paid for, let alone the promise of a fireplace, during the winter months that makes Sarasota the paradise that it is. Kraus tarnished the dream and I continue to live with it. After they wasted so much of my time for naught, I grew even more frustrated. I could have spent the time that I did with them, trying to be neighborly as most locals are, simply drafting a complaint to the BBB instead of calls and various emails with them. I informed them that I would write reviews, file a complaint with the BBB, possibly their insurance, and then file suit. I think they may get enough bluffs to not take me seriously. Response was cold and felt automatic, rather than concerned. People can only be nice for so long before being forced to call upon Consequence. Time's up. This review will now be helpful in drafting a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the Florida Association of Building Inspectors (FABI), any other relevant organization, and it will save me much time in drafting a complaint for lawsuit, which I will advise their insurance of its existence. They don't appreciate nice or neighborly, so they will get formal and legal. These are not issues that you would want to deal with when creating brand new beautiful memories. I recommend that you use Angie's List to find another company with stellar rating and reviews at a fraction of the cost that Kraus Group, Inc will charge you for work that they don't stand behind.