HAREN & LAUGHLIN CONSTRUCTION

This work was ordered due to a catastrophic loss that occurred in August 2011; a supply line on a toilet on the second story failed while we were at work sending about 6,000 gallons of water through the structure. The damage was bad enough that we had to move out of the home during the repairs. Initially we met with Duane and Keith from the Lenexa, KS Haren-Laughlin office and were assured that HL (Haren-Laughlin) could easily handle the job. During this meeting I emphasized that I was extremely picky about the quality of work to be performed - - and that I would visit the job site daily to inspect the work and review progress. The company was very slow to actually begin the work (the house sat vacant for at least two weeks after Service Master, a different company), completed the drying of the premises. The quality of the work was quite variable - - HL uses a variety of subcontractors to complete various phases of the work. The sheet rock work was generally OK, with the exception of a very large gap left around a light switch in the entry hall. The carpentry and wood work were fair - - whoever was doing it really struggled to get the wood stained and matched consistently, and left a few nails and pockmarks behind that had to be corrected. HL argued with us quite forcefully about the staining of the woodwork, stating that the color variations were "natural" and not possible for them to correct, but they would try. They did eventually correct this. The contractor used a peel-and-stick flooring tile in the finished basement (we chose the style and asked beforehand if it was a suitable material for use on a concrete floor, HL did not advise against it). The flooring did not stick at all to the concrete surface and peeled in many areas as soon as it had been applied; HL claimed that a proper sealant was applied to the floor beforehand, and said that they flooring sub-contractor would come back to try to fix it in a few days. They did have the flooring subcontractor back out, and were unable to correct the peeling, so I asked them to remove all material used for the basement floor and credit my account, which they did - - but only after I escalated the issue to higher-level management. HL did not listen to us well during the work. As an example, the sheetrock was stripped from the stairway newel post on the first story. The newel post was very loose, so I noted to Keith several times that this would be a great time to reinforce it while the structure was open. Nothing was attempted to fix the newel post until the sheetrock had been replaced - - and then it was too late to do a correct repair. They did improve it, but it required more labor than would have been necessary had it been completed at the right time. HL used a combination of subcontractors (and cleaners such as Rhyno Wrecking) and obviously untrained, minimum-wage labor to complete a great deal of the finish work, which turned out to be very substandard. For example, A/C vent covers were installed in the basement with the retaining screws protruding more than 1/2" from the covers at odd angles - - very strange. One of the subcontractors decided to use our kitchen sink to clean blinds and dropped screws down the disposal, which wrecked it when we turned it on. (HL replaced the kitchen disposal, but only when we again escalated the issue.) As this job progressed it became very evident that Keith was very new to project management. He struggled with scheduling work on time, interfacing with contractors, and managing the customer relationship. Near the end of the work we could tell that he was just overwhelmed and way out of his element, especially when it came to professionalism in his e-mail communications with us, where he eventually got quite argumentative and rude. In summary, this was a fairly complicated job with a lot of details. HL got some of the big items OK (such as sheetrock), but really did poorly when it came to getting the work completed on time (they ran about a month late) and in a quality manner. I easily spent more than 100 hours over the next six months cleaning up the work - - knowing that it was easier for me to do this than argue with them further, or worse, have one of their untrained folks come back and actually try to work on anything in our home.

The followig statement is the email that was sent to me before signed the final check over to this company: Jessie, Since we haven?t had time to meet in the last couple weeks I figured I would just send a email with the amount that will be credited back to you. After going over the change orders and scope of work the final number on credits will be $3482.75 as per our discussions throughout the project. This means that the insurance company will send you a check for the remaining balance owed to Haren Laughlin after they collect the completion form from us saying that the work is done. Out of that final check amount you will keep the $3482.75 credits. If you have concerns with the amount credited back to you I can meet with you next week at anytime to go over all the details. If you agree to this final amount I will need to meet with you early next week to get the completion form signed saying so. If I don?t hear back from you by Monday afternoon I will assume we are in agreement and I will send it to the insurance company to get the money on its way. Thanks Tom Stean Haren Laughlin Restoration I took the company to court but, they were represented with an attorney. I nerver recieved any of the monies outined Don't ever, assume that the contractor is on your side. This company only saw dollar bills.