Bullock Garages

The salesman for Bullock Garages, Alan Stoltman, was a wheeler-dealer when he wanted access to my property in order for his subcontractors and workers to demolish my neighbors' 70-year-old garage, and then pour a concrete slab for their new garage before finally building the new garage from prefabricated pieces. He gave me his business card and asked me to call him with any concerns. So I was quite surprised when the cleanup following the demolition was incomplete. I spent much time picking up the many sharp shards of splintered wood and other pieces of debris that were left on our shared driveway following the demolition. I kept waiting for the crew to return and finish the cleanup before they poured the new slab, but they never did.

In April, my daughter and I both parked our cars on the street for 4-5 days in order for Bullock and their workers to have unencumbered access to both our driveway and our property. None of the work (demolition, pouring of the concrete slab, or building of the new garage) could have occurred without my neighborly cooperation, and I was happy to be of assistance. But the crew did not do an even semi-adequate job of retrieving dangerous or hazardous materials from the area after the new garage was built.

On Monday, April 27, 2015, I called Mr. Stoltman to inform him that the workers building the garage the previous week had left a mess at the site. He responded by telling me that I was "being nitpicky" and "unreasonable." He told me with a chuckle that I must be using a magnifying glass to find these pieces of debris that I deemed unsafe and wanted him to remove. Several times, he said that I must be unfamiliar with construction sites because, in his opinion, this one was left in fine shape because he and his boss had both signed off on it. When I told him that I had photographed the mess, including taking a picture of a large nail left next to the new garage, he said that he wondered whether I put that nail there. He also said that there were two sides to every story, in this case his side and my side. I pointed out that I was in fact his customer, trying to deal with the mess left behind by his crew, and that the customer's story usually trumps the salesman's tale. But there was no convincing this person that I deserved his attention or even minimal courtesy or basic follow-up customer service. He insisted that my neighbors, who left the country the day after their garage was installed, had signed off on the suitability of the work site and that was good enough for him.  

When I was persistent, Mr. Stoltman said he'd come out to look at the site on that Monday afternoon. But he never followed up with me regarding his findings, so I called him again on Tuesday, April 28. He said he'd been out to the site on Monday afternoon and had found a single nail, which happened to be one of several that I had photographed. He reiterated again that I didn't know what construction sites looked like. I responded by saying that my husband was an ironworker, and that in fact, I knew that residential construction sites had to be cleaned up properly after every job. Mr. Stoltman's disrespect to me as a customer was absolutely astounding, especially considering that my neighbors paid many thousands of dollars for their new garage. Mr. Stoltman actually tried to tell me that since my neighbors didn't object to the debris left behind, that neither should I. I reminded him that my neighbors left for a 6-month trip abroad the day after the garage was installed and that they hadn't taken the time to examine their property carefully. So they weren't aware of the mess left behind to migrate to my yard -- numerous pieces of broken glass, lots of nails, screws, large and small splinters of sharp wood, etc.

Mr. Stoltman finally agreed to come out to the site on Wed., April 29, where he grudgingly picked up debris, including nails, screws, and broken glass left by his crew. He filled a whole bucket with the debris. When he left after completing the task, he ignored me and shook hands with my friend, who was there to provide a third set of eyes. The Bullock building crew returned on Friday, May 22, and left behind another mess, with many long nails clearly visible at the site. Since it was Memorial Day weekend, I received a complete blow-off from Mr. Stoltman, and his supervisor, Jim Bosie, when I called and asked that the crew return that afternoon with a magnet to collect the numerous screws and nails left behind. I was told by Mr. Bosie, the plant manager located in Springfield, that since it was Memorial Day weekend, nothing could be done to clean up the mess since the crew was already working at another site outside of Champaign. When I asked to speak to the owner of the company, Terry Bullock, I was told that he was gone for the holiday weekend. I informed Mr. Bosie and the company's receptionist that I would call Mr. Bullock on Tuesday, May 26, which I did. Once again, I was stonewalled. I was again told that Mr. Bullock was not in the office, and the staff asked me to send them photos documenting the mess left behind by the crew on May 22. I complied, sending a number of color photos to their receptionist showing the mess (long nails, screws, other debris) left at the site. I heard nothing for three days, so I called the Springfield office back on Friday, May 29. This time I was told that the owner, Mr. Bullock, had no intention of speaking with me about this serious customer service problem. Instead, I was told that he had informed his managers to handle the issue. In other words, I was stuck with Mr. Bosie, the plant manager, who told me that the best that the company could do was to send out Mr. Stoltman, the salesman, once again. Mr. Bosie chuckled that he didn't even know if Mr. Stoltman had a worksite sized magnet in his possession, but he would see if he could get ahold of one. Waiting for Bullock Garages to demonstrate one iota of concern about their dangerous, unsightly mess was clearly a losing proposition. After hearing nothing from the company after my call to them on May 29, I finally decided on Thursday, June 4, to clean up the mess myself. I took extensive photographs of the dangerous items (many long nails, screws, broken glass, etc.) that I removed and have kept them as evidence of Bullock's slovenly work and total disregard for the safety of me and my family. For example, Mr. Bosie and Mr. Stoltman were completely unmoved when I pointed out that due to their negligence, a nail left behind by their workers could easily find its way in to my handyman's lawnmower, with tragic results.

With my neighbors safely in Europe for six months and their new garage paid for, Bullock Garages felt no obligation whatsoever to clean up the dangerous and slovenly work site their workers left behind, nor did they feel compelled to treat me, their other customer, with even minimal courtesy or respect. There are other companies in town that build garages. Take your business to any one of them.

The garage went up fine but the sales person told us that the garage would be built so that we could store things up above in the rafter space.  After the garage was built we found out we could not even put a piece of plywood up there because the rafters would not support it and we would have to have them come out in the spring and add additional supports costing us more money.  WE WILL DO IT OURSELVES!!  The sales person was DISHONEST and LIED!!   The workers left about 50 nails all over our driveway and did not clean up their mess!!   They left plastic, straw, and garbage beside the garage and a little inside!!   I WOULD NOT RECOMEND THIS COMPANY.  We have had problems with the garage door they installed too, it came off the track and the cable connecting to it came unraveled which took us 2 hours to put back on!!

A representative of the company contacted me within a day of my inquiry, both in 2008 and again this year.  But neither time did an actual site visit occur or a quote be received.  I would have liked to have had more than one bid, so I could compare.  But this company's sales follow-up was poor.

They were very thorough and helpful.  I just decided not to spend the money on that work.  The owner of the company came to give the quote.  He spent about 45 minutes with me discussing options and what various costs would be.  He did not pester me afterwards.  He gave me his estimate and I did not get any pestering phone calls after that.  He was very good that way.  He was very punctual.  He was here when he said he would be here.  He gave me all the options and told me what he could do and what he could not do.  I will use him if I decide to get the garage built in which he specialized in.