Response from Springhill Builders LLC
My company received a call from [member name removed] a week or so ago regarding the building a home in Kingsland Georgia which is approximately 1 hour from Jacksonville where we are based. The customer stated that she was going to act as the Owner/Contractor and manage the project herself. She informed us that she did not want a Turnkey Bid for the entire project but requested that we provide her with individual bids for each individual trade and scope of work. I explained to [member name removed] that our company is a General Contracting company that bids on entire construction projects and provides construction management services to owners and we do not have employees that provide the manual labor for each individual scope of work required for the construction of a home. I explained that in either case, my company typically acts as a Prime Contractor, creates detailed scope of work estimates and material takeoffs, then solicits for and hires concrete, framing, drywall, insulation, cabinets, flooring, mechanical contractors, and any other trades required for the project. In addition we contract with material suppliers and then manage the job scheduling, progress, quality assurance, and financial management of the project. Since [member name removed] was not interested in a Turnkey Bid or a Proposal for Construction Management Services, I stated that I would contact my trades and to see if any of them were interested in bidding on the job. After a few days had passed, I reached out to the trades and found out that only one of them was willing to absorb the cost to travel that far outside of the Jacksonville area and incur other costs associated with doing work in Georgia. Instead of marking up a single trade estimate, I referred them to the customer so they could work out the details together to reduce the amount of the bid without my company in the middle. When I conveyed this and the lack of interest that I found with the local Trade Partners that I typically work with, [member name removed] became irate, abusive and said that I had wasted her time. The construction of a home is a very involved and detailed process. Typically bid turnaround for new home construction takes 30 to 45 days to create detailed estimates and takeoffs, distribute them to the appropriate Trade Contractors, receive their proposals, then evaluate them with regard to quality of work or product, value with regard to cost, and impact on schedule and overall project duration. In my opinion, [member name removed] contacted my company with the hope that we would provide her with what amounts to a free estimating service by providing her with estimates, scopes of work, and individual trade proposals she could then use to either Contract directly with the supplier or trade contractor or to obtain competitive bids and proposals from alternate vendors and trade contractors. When [member name removed] realized that she was not going to be able to obtain the benefits of using a Certified Building Contractor without entering into an agreement or providing compensation for the value received, she decided to retaliate by posting a deceptive, inaccurate review.