Sawgrass Properties & Construction

Contract with Sawgrass owned by Dan Burgess was signed in February Dan did not have the escavation completed until June and the slab poured in July. The framing contractor eventually began to work with me, since Dan was so unresponsive. Sub Contractors would call me direct and agree to contract with me for the work, but refused to go through Dan for contracting. His attitude was less than professional, evidenced by the fact that he walked off the job site in December, nine months following the contract with only the slab, framing and shingle roof in place.

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We felt that we had made a well informed decision when we hired this builder over a year ago. We interviewed several companies, used all the tools we knew to verify what we were told and to gather background information to be sure that we had hired an honest company that would assist us with this long distance project. At the time I did the research ( over a period of about 3 months) there was only one complaint against this company, at the licensing bureau, and it was deemed unfounded upon their investigation. When we hired him, the builder claimed that he had only one other house he was working on so there would be no problem in managing our project. There is litigation involved with this situation, so I am limited in what I can say publically, but I can say that what started out as a seemingly ideal working relationship turned into a dismal disappointment. The following addresses the categories that are called for on this form: Responsiveness- Poor to non-existant We literally BEGGED for weekly reports from the first month and never received one...ever. It was one of the most important points for us as out of town owners and was reiterated numerous times during the planning process and we thought it was part of his operations method ( per his website) but the only "reports" we got we a few e-mailed words that gave no detail about progress and were only received after constant requests. After the initial good show where no questions were too bothersome, no call or e-mail was left unanswered, and every greeting was with a smile and a handshake; phone calls and e-mails were ritually ignored, and our requests to come to the site to explain what was wrong and why no work was happening were refused or ignored. At one point, we became concerned enough about his unresponsiveness that my husband actually went to his home to see if he was ill or in some way incapacitated and unable to respond. Quality of work- has been dependent upon who did the work. Multiple sub contractors have been on the site and the work of some is good and of others has required remediation by order of the county building officials. We have learned from the neighbors that the builder was rarely on site to oversee the work being done, which may explain why remediation was needed. Our difficulty in getting him to the site when we were visiting( nearly every other week) supports this. An example of this inattention is the open hole in the roof which has been there since the stove vent was installed at least 6 weeks ago- and the vent was never installed. So, every time it rains, all the water dumps onto our uncovered kitchen floor. Punctuality- We were told that the house would be ready for occupancy by June of 2013; it is now September of 2013 and there is not even sheetrock in our home; it is still a framework with unfinished aspects which the builder has chosen not to complete. I think that statement speaks for itself. Professionalism- Completely lacking. In the face of problems, the builder has chosen to ignore issues and stop communicating instead of answering questions and taking responsibility for fixing the problems. When confronted with upsetting situations with contractors and others, he chooses to s*** profanity and yell. The builder has repeatedly placed blame for the problems with this project on others, not admitting that as the contractor the responsibility is ultimately his. His lack of professional decorum has created an awkward situation with our Homeowners' Association, local vendors and some subcontractors that we still need to finish work on the house. I would never recommend this company under any circumstance.