OWNER BUILDER ALLIANCES INC

Terrible. This company was used by my friend to replace all kitchen cabinets with painted wood cabinetry. The process was very long, they felt that they were being deceived and OBA was unresponsive with weeks of waiting and being given the run-around. 5 months later several cabinets are chipping and they will not return calls and emails. They were supposed to come back in a month after completion of the project and never did. Very poor workmanship.

We signed the contract on 8/15/12. There was a lot of activity the first few days and by 8/20/12 we had paid 90% of the contract price. That is when the problems began. There were long periods without contact. Our calls were unanswered. We visited the office and got many excuses. Worker's would arrive on short notice and often have to leave without finishing. Their assurances that they would return the next day were false. The shower and toilet were installed in October, but because of incorrect installation of the shower doors, the shower was unusable. There were delays in the arrival of the cabinets, so we were without a sink. We tried to be patient and understanding of their problems, but in January we sent them an email listing our concerns. We received a reply listing several excuses for the delays and apologizing for the poor communications. February of 2013 brought a flurry of activity. The granite worker was a breath of fresh air. He arrived on time and finished work from template to installation in two days. He also corrected some tile errors and cut and installed tile baseboards in that time. However, problems continued when a worker (plumber?) came to install the sink fixtures. When he shut the water off, he broke the valve. He installed a new one. But, it being Friday afternoon, he left a mess. He promised he would return on Monday to finish and clean up. After he left, we discoved that the water pressure was very low and that our lawn sprinker system had a problem. I had to shut the valve to the system off. A neighbor discovered that the worker had not turned the street shutoff fully on. That corrected the pressure problem. On Tuesday new worker arrived and addressed all of concerns. He installed the shower doors correctly and replaced a valve in the sprinkler system which the Friday worker had damaged. Finally the project was complete (we thought) and we paid the final 10% on 2/26/13. About two weeks later, we noticed that our sprinklers had low pressure. A connector installed by the worker on 2/26, had a crack and water was spraying from the crack. At that time I noticed that the pipe installed by the Friday worker had a slow leak. I informed Owner Builders of the problem, asking for a response. They did not respond. We finally called a real plumber and had the problems fixed. We are not optimistic about being reimbursed.

It is now my belief that the contractor Owner Builder Alliances never intended to complete this work. After approximately three weeks had passed the contractor had a subcontractor tear out the old vanities and cut off the water to the bathrooms, and then ceased work on the project. I called his office approximately twenty times in the first six weeks of the contract, always recieving a curteous response from his staff with assurances that he would return a call within an hour. Of course the return calls never occured. After I went to the Contractor's office he did have a subcontractor come to our home and partially install the framework for two of the vanities. He then requested the payment of a further 20% of the contract amount (as laid out in the contract agreement) with the understanding that the rest of the work would be completed the following week. I agreed to make the payment with the firm assurances work would proceed quickly. No such luck....the check was cashed that afternoon and the contractor has never been heard from again. We have now been without fully functional bathrooms in this house for six months. I sent certified letters to his office and to the license holder for the company (Eric Roby) and they refused delivery of the letters. I had an attorney deliver letters by currier to the contractor and his license holder, they attempted to refuse delivery. Bottom line...this guy appears to be a crook who has taken me for approximately $7000 and I am going to have to pursue redress through the court system (which has cost $2000 so far). Now...before I contracted I checked this guy out on Angie's list (no mention) and the State and County websites via his contract license number. He had what appeared to be a clear listing. WHAT I LEARNED FROM ONE OF THE ATTORNEYS I SPOKE TO WAS TO IGNORE THE STATE AND COUNTY WEBSITES AND SEARCH THE CLERK OF THE COURT WEBSITE. WHEN I DID THAT I LEARNED THAT THIS DOG HAD 30 ACTIONS IN PROCESS AGAINST HIS COMPANY!!! This particular lesson has cost me $9000 so far....you get it for free....search the Clerk of the Court website for reference to your contractor's name. Claims and actions against a contractor are listed there when they enter the legal process, the other state and county sites list only the final outcome of a dispute if and when it is settled, even then they lag by years.

This company and Michael Fanelli / Ed Roby are nothing but a SCAM!!!!!!! They take 50% deposit at contract signing, start work, collect the next 40% of money after demo, plumbing rough and tile delivery then disappear. Our Master and Guest Bath remodel was estimated to be completed in 6 to 8 weeks. Started in Aug 2012 and after 5 months of Lies and many, many delays, they abandoned our job. The contractor was terminated in Jan 2013 with about 60% work complete and $5000 worth of parts still needed. Subcontractors were not paid for services, Work that was done was done poorly and needed to be redone in many areas. They refused to take phone calls and took weeks to return emails. When I visited showroom and demanded to talk to Michael (company President), they refused to talk to me because I did not have an appointment. They refused to schedule an appointment and demanded I leave the showroom. When i did not leave instantly office staff called the police. We had to finish and fix this job at an additional expense on our own. Run from this contractor!!!!! They are deceitful and should have their contractors license revoked.

Worst experiance of my life. The owner Mike Fanelli is a complete con man. asimple bathroom re-tile was suppose to take 1 week to 6 weeks to finsih. Horrible workmanship. Tiles bubbled out from the walls in shower. Grout lines not matching. Called 17 times and Mike never returned my calls. Stay clear of this company

I made a drawing of a floorplan for what we hoped to accomplish in the available space and had it reviewed by several contractors. The contractor selected indicated my drawing would work with minor alterations to accommodate available fixtures and local building code, the estimate was very close to other contractors so my wife and I visited their showroom, picked out fixtures and materials, agreeing to supply some lighting fixtures ourselves and signed a contract for about $23,000. Reasons for deciding on OBA beyond the price quoted included assurance that all work would be done by their employees with the exception of the electrical work. OBA expressed great pride indicating they are a “family” business that has been serving the community for many years and also that they build their own cabinets which allowed a wide selection of finishes. Per our request OBA agreed to begin work by doing the ceilings in the two adjacent rooms first which would quickly give us back some room to store furniture from the bedroom which we had jammed in the rest of the house. Having done previous remodeling while living in the house we insisted on covering existing flooring to prevent damage, sealing off the work areas with plastic to minimize dust intrusion to the rest of the house and also a strict no smoking policy inside the house. OBA promised to maintain a clean work area and remove all debris; estimated time of completion was 4 to 6 weeks after permits were obtained. We discussed the issue of communication and stated clearly that we feel it is the most important factor; we were assured that someone would always be available if we had concerns and were encouraged to provide feedback as the job progressed. Looking back I now realize that a “family” business simply means everyone in the family gets a job regardless of ability or work ethic. Certainly many OBA employees displayed exceptional talent, sadly others did not, and even some who had ability lacked motivation. Some work had to be redone several times to meet even minimal standards of quality or to pass inspection, persistence on our part eventually got an “acceptable” job but overall we were disappointed. Quality of the completed work is average at best even though some workmen were excellent, this was due mostly to poor planning, one tile crew started the job another finished it. As a consequence when the job was completed, tile on one side of the backsplash for the counter lined up perfectly, tile onthe other side however was an inch too high! The new jetted tub was installed first, directly below a window scheduled to be enlarged and replaced, we questioned this at the time but our concerns were ignored, of course the tub was damaged when concrete was cut for the window. Hot and cold water lines to one sink and the tub are reversed; several plumbing inspections failed and required rework before passing. Planning and communication was the worst we have ever encountered and we have done many, many such projects. Our request to finish ceiling work in the two adjacent rooms first was completely ignored, and in fact not even started for several weeks. The project took 15 weeks to complete, there were stretches as long as two weeks when no one came to work, even worse they did not call to let us know so we could handle normal household errands, rather we were stuck waiting, always expecting (hoping) for them to show up. We learned that OBA really only makes the shell of their “custom” cabinets, doors are purchased from an outside source, they gave this away inadvertently while making excuses for delays in the process. They also sublet the granite work, shower enclosure and window replacement, so much for all work being done in house except electrical. While on that subject the challenge of moving a single ceiling outlet box was declared impossible by their electrical subcontractor due to the flat roof overhead that allowed little room to work. Since it was an important piece of our finished project, my wife and I tackled it ourselves one Saturday and achieved the “impossible” in approximately two hours. Yes it was hot and cramped working in that space, but the look on the electrician’s face when he returned was priceless. Anything that is important to you concerning your project, especially the completion date should be in writing on the contract; all verbal agreements with OBA were completely ignored. The only thing OBA handled quickly was asking to be paid when installments were due or upgrades requested. We agreed to all such additional charges until they attempted to bill us $900 additional for subfloor needed to do a quality job on the hardwood installation. If they had listened to us at the beginning, the subfloor should have been included in the estimate as the issue was pointed out beforehand. I was home and witnessed an installation that required 8 sheets of sheathing grade plywood and took two workers about an hour and a half to complete, You do the math, we paid them $500 for what the job was worth, not what they billed. Calls to the office for status updates, to request promised cabinet drawings or provide feedback received one excuse after another ranging from employee illness to delays caused by unusual weather that prevented finishing cabinets, the owner was out of town and “unavailable” when needed, eventually they stopped taking calls and messages were not returned. Cleanup was slow and ineffective; we specifically requested that existing stone flooring be protected during construction, they covered it with heavy paper, but when they trimmed the paper with a box cutter they scratched the floor! I will be picking up cigarette butts outside for months. Ask yourself if you want to go through this h*** before signing that proposal, you have been warned.

This is one of the most disorganized, non-responsive companies we have ever dealt with. It took approximately two months to complete our bathroom remodeling. We came to believe that the only way we could count on their showing up for the next step in the remodeling process was to call them each morning to request a daily schedule. Even then, we would be assured that someone would show up that day or the next only to have them not show up and then be told that the person who gave us that information mis-spoke or misunderstood to whom they were speaking. There is no one in charge!! The office staff runs amuck. The information provided depends on who answers the phone. An example of delay relates to the tile portion of the job. They mis-measured the amount of tile that was required, significantly underestimating the number of tiles. They then had to stop all work while they ordered additional tile. Once it arrived, it didn't match, i.e., the tile came from a different manufacturing lot, not withstanding our having expressed our concern about that very possibility. They did not begin work on the cabinets and mirrors that we ordered in January until sometime toward the end of April and thus, they were not available for installation until the first week of May. Anyone who uses this company, does so at their own risk.

It has been a nightmare dealing with this company. see above

The work included Plumbing, electrical, installation of sinks,toilets a shower and a tub. Plus Putting down laminate flooring in three rooms and tile in the baths. Also install a dishwasher in kitchen

AFTER OVER 7 MONTHS OF PROMISES, THEY HAVE STOPPED ANSWERING MY CALLS. I AM AT MY WITS END. I'VE GONE TO BBB, DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS REGULATIONS, CITY OF DEERFIELD BEACH (TO ASK ABOUT EXPIRATION OF PERMITS) AND ANGIE'S LIST. THEY KNOW THIS AND JUST DON'T CARE. I HAVE HEALTH ISSUES AS WELL AND THIS IS ADDING STRESS WHEN I CAN LEAST AFFORD TO HAVE STRESS.