Viands Construction

The story with Bill is he says yes to everything but delivers on very little. My project was filled with false promises, average quality work and a complete lack of caring from Bill Viands. Be forewarned that he can charm you with Southern Hospitality but see the notes below for the real story. Some things I experienced with Bill: 1. Bill Viands promised to finish the house in December (10 months total) and it took 18 months. 2. In November, Bill Viands told us the house would be done in December?see #1. 3. Bill Viands never provided a schedule and any price he provided was not based in reality! 4. Bill Viands promised to coordinate installation of electric and gas utilities?he never did it. 5. Bill failed to pay some subs for almost a year. Even his sub contractors don?t like working with him. Metropolitan Fire and Tristate say they will never work with the man again because they view him as incompetent. 6. Bill Viands hired his brother at a premium price to work on my project. I came to the job 26 times (random times) while Bill?s brother was supposedly working and he was sitting in his car all 26 times. He had a pile of books in his cars with him. 7. Bills own employees said he was over staffing the job which was paid for on an hourly basis. Bill muzzled them but continued to overstaff the project. 8. Bill Viands promised me a 30% discount on a commission he was due ($30,000) and he changed his mind at the end of the job and held the house hostage until it was paid. 9. Bill Viands provided sub contractors with the wrong version of the plans which means they designed their solutions incorrectly. 10. Bill provided no change orders and made expensive substitutions without providing any guidance cost impact. He continued to tell us we would be able to keep it within budget. 11. During the project Bill provided an estimate on the remaining amount of cost for the project?it nearly cost double what he indicated. 12. Bill Viands over paid the going rate to have dirt removed by 100%. He paid $11,000 for a $5,500 job. 13. Bill Viands does not honor any warranty work. 14. Bill Viands charged $5,000 to clean the house!!! Worse part is that he did not clean it as promised. (one of hundreds of false promises) 15. Bill Viands did not show up for one meeting on time unless there was money due to him. In fact, he missed numerous meetings all together. 16. Bill Viands took it upon himself to change the windows that the architect specified. In reviewing the sizes, Bill incorrectly sized over 50% of them. In addition to a $40,000 increase he installed many of them incorrectly! 17. Bill Viands often needs to be given plans numerous times because he lost them routinely (electrical plans, kitchen appliance specs, landscape plans, etc) 18. Bill Viands prides himself on the quality of his workmanship but most architects who have seen the house rate the work as ordinary in many areas. Some parts are being redone because they are so bad. 19. Bill Viands admitted that he hired a painter for $25,000 and charged me $50,000?the worst part about this is that just two months after moving in the paint outside is peeling and there are numerous areas in the house that are not adequate. 20. Bill Viands admitted to us that it is okay to stretch the truth once in a while and to ignore subs. 21. Bill Viands surprised us at the end of the job with a $165,000 bill. Just two weeks before he believed the balance was $35,000 22. Bill installed the driveway incorrectly. It cost nearly $65,000 to repair the butcher job he did. In a nutshell, if you are building a house and want a turnkey builder, look elsewhere. Bill took two years of my life and made it miserable. He was a nightmare to work with and without a doubt gives contractors a bad name. For your own sanity look elsewhere.