Central Coast Builders Inc

Not well. I filed an Oregon CCB complaint against Central Coast Builders owned by Jim Davis. I prevailed at the Dec 20 CCB mediation, the result of which applied a permanent complaint against contractor license number 155592. On Dec 21 an Angie’s list Project Advisor requested my feedback because I had used their service to solicit contractors to make repairs resulting from an unethical contractor. I forwarded a copy of the letter I sent to licensed contractors who anonymously educated me on the lingo of construction to prepare me for the mediation. Here it is, Jan 25, and Central Coast Builders continues to be recommended by Angie’s List and Home Advisor. I am writing an OpEd on my experience and the failure of Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor to protect consumers will be addressed.

Jim Davis listened to our wishes, suggested energy efficient options, and designed in the quality features we wanted. He was patient with us as we worked through all the necessary decisions then searched for the most economical options available. His design is perfect for us, light and bright, handicap accessible, climate conscious, low maintenance, built to last on the Oregon coast. Jim demonstrated his ability to design and build a house within our budget, even as our needs changed. His employees are a delight, each is a craftsman with years of experience who takes pride in his finished product. They were as unobtrusive as possible in the neighborhood, worked the hours required by our HOA, and were friendly to neighbors who stopped by to take a look at their progress. We still count them as friends. The subcontractors are all well known in the community for quality service. We've been in the house for months now and have found it to be everything we hoped. No problems. Central Coast Builders builds a quality house to meet your needs, within your budget and on time.

We had used central coast previously for an upstairs addition (mostly because they were the only ones that actually returned a bid) and though he did not complete that work exactly as ordered or in the time frame promised we thought he could fulfill ours needs on the kitchen remodel with more oversight on our part. The project seemed to go ok at the start. Soon however he started making decisions without consulting us and charging us above and beyond market price for some items. When confronted with the incorrect product purchases and inflated prices he did relent and provide the correct product for the price we had found but that left a bad taste in our mouth. We then decided we needed to make a greater presence thru out the project (even though each invoice added a flat 17%above and beyond charges to cover his oversight of project). The work progressed with multiple errors (cabinets painted wrong colors, cabinet drawers falling apart, etc) which were corrected to the best of our knowledge (since this was not our primary residence but our second home several miles away)Not being contractors ourselves we were as observant as we could be for problems. Finally after finishing roughly 3 months over schedule we were glad to see project completed and get our home back. This year however we put our home on the market. It was actually sold until an inspector found several problems related to the work Central Coast had done. A Renaii tankless water heater had been installed in a haphazard manner and without a permit. We actually had to buy a permit ourselves 3-4 yrs later when we found out it was not correctly installed (part of our contract with Jim Davis) . Then with proper permit the inspector was able to get work corrected and brought to code. The electrical in the attic and under house had exposed splices, the circuit breaker box had loose wires and electrical into house had been pulled loose to install gas line and never patched so water could now leak into main box. A toilet had been installed improperly. These were all items that Mr Davis was charging us 17% above costs to oversee. Then the inspector noted the front porch overhang appeared to be dropping and pointed out its structural integrity was in question( this was put on by Central Coast with our first project in '07 or ' 08. We wrote to Mr Davis requesting him to state porch was attached properly (to ease mind of future homeowner) or identify what needed to be done to make it structurally sound and asking for reimbursement for our expenses incurred in correcting these problems that we had been unaware of. His response was more or less too bad, should have said something within 1st year(except we had not inspected attic, under house, electrical and building support system expecting that this was what we were paying him for). He also said in his response that had we mentioned it earlier he would have given us names of subcontractors so we could follow up and get them to correct work ourselves(again we were paying 17% for him to oversee work done) We would strongly suggest no one do business with this firm !! Though they were pleasant to speak with at first, the quality of their work is abysmal! And their customer service is even worse. Our cost to correct mistakes made is in the thousands!! And besides all of this we lost the sale of our home,

Seemed nice to start. Then he made a mistake on the window style and ordered the wrong shaped windows and wanted us to keep them and EAT his mistake. We declined and that's when things went bad. We wanted the originally designed windows, He did the design! Then he sent out the wrong pland to ALL the sub contractors like tile, carpet, etc. The bids came back all incorrect because he sent plans out for a larger home for another customer and the costs we're coming back were 5X-7X too high. When we questioned the costs, he replied "I'm a good contractor with 15 years experience...." and didn't even check for us. He would not allow us to contact the subs to ask questions regarding the outrageous pricing. For example he quoted us $27.00 per Sq ft. to install title, the bid came in at $145.00 per sq ft and he said his guy is worth the cost, without looking at the bid or costs that were in the bid. After questioning him 3 more times and getting our own bids from big box stores, he FINELY looked and saw he had the wrong house plans intended for another customer I presume. Same with the carpet, paint. He made a mistake in the entryway leaving out a door!, A DOOR! HE pushed the garage 2 ft into the entryway that I had to hire another contractor to fix after he finished that cost $$$$$$. HE REFUSED TO CHANGE IT!!!!! HE put on the deck rails AFTER I ASKED HIM NOT TO screw the top hand pail from the top and he did it anyway!!! He was a jerk. TOOK US TO COURT OVER 127.00 faucet he said we did pay for and placed a lein on the house for the faucet that HE OVER CHARGED US FOR AND WE WON IN COURT BUT WHAT A HASSLE!!!! THE WORST BUSINESS TRANSACTION I"VE EVER HAD. HE's jerk, mistake maker, just plain the worst kind of contractor EVER! We found out after he has changed his contractors no# because of a previous complainant who was ALSO VERY DISSATISFIED LIKE WE WERE AND MADE A COMPLAINT with the contractors board witch is in business for the benefit of the CONTRACTORS NOT CONSUMERS.

As soon as we looked closely at the 3rd invoice, 40,000.00 draw we noticed problems. From then on we were treated like suckers.e made us sign additional change orders or he refused to work, as he had done, costing us thousands in interest costs per month. He made us sign a contract with his buddy for a road or he wouldn't work anymore. He didn't do any of the warranty items leaving us holding the bag and also costing us thousands more as an insult.