Ziegwied Construction

He always showed up on time or early, he was reliable, honest, a clear communicator on the timeline and price. He was very fastidious with paperwork, producing a professional invoice, including an itemized receipt and store receipts for all supplies purchased for the job. He was adept at asking the right questions so that he knew what I needed done and he completed everything on time. He is reasonably priced, incredibly dependable and I will be calling him again!

Ziegwied presents himself as very honest, conscientious, trustworthy and competent builder. We did not find him to be any of those things We found that the way he presents himself and the way he operates are two very different things. We have photographs and other documentation to substantiate everything that is indicated in this report. The following only represents a sampling of what happened. Construction was "completed" in July of 2007. We have not filed this on Angie's list previously because we continue to discover additional examples of poor workmanship and/or materials. During construction,a lot of shoddy workmanship/materials were discovered by us or the architect and we insisted on correction before the next payment was made. From the excavation for footings until the final clean-up we had serious problems. The architect and I had to be on-site a great deal of time because Ziegwied was not on-site enough to properly oversee the construction. I don't recall that he ever corrected any problems unless I or the architect pointed them out. He was supposed to start work shortly after the signing of the contract. He said that this was to be his #1 construction priority. A month later, nothing had been done. During construction, he took at least five, approximately week long vacations . He said that they were for boating trips near Las Vegas. One of those boating vacations even occurred after the due-date for completion. The one-year contract he signed with us turned into eighteen months. We had an AIA (American Institute of Architects) contract with Ziegwied. Our only way to enforce the contract was through arbitration/mediation. We talked with our attorney and he said that the process is neither that simple nor inexpensive. Ziegwied's attorney wrote that if we were awarded something as a result of the process, Ziegwied would file to have it set aside and probably file bankruptcy. Don't ever sign away your right to file suit against this kind of contractor. We are left with approximately $40,000 worth of shoddy work that was not in compliance with the contract. Washington State is one of the very worst states when it comes to consumer protection from shoddy contractors. We filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and later with the Washington State Attorney General. Ziegwied would not respond to either of those complaints. Our attorney sent a strongly worded letter to Ziegwied regarding his contractual responsibility to correct construction faults. Those issues were specified in the letter. His attorney responded with a strongly worded letter that contained untrue information that Ziegwied had given him. We sent proof that Ziegiwed had lied to him, his own attorney. His attorney responded that we were correct, Ziegwied had not told him the truth. He was very displeased. Repeatedly, the architect said that maybe Chad has finally gotten the message and will begin to comply with his contractual obligations. But there was never any change in Ziegwied's conduct. Ziegwied submitted lien releases prior to each monthly payment. Prior to the final payment, he signed a document stating that all suppliers and sub-contractors had been paid. That was not true. He had not made full payment to all materials suppliers and sub-contractors. Not long after he received final payment from us, he filed bankruptcy. Had those materials suppliers and sub-contractors chosen to do so, we would have been made financially liable for that full unpaid amount. Fortunately they understood that we had paid Ziegwied in full and he then used the money for other purposes.... (like the five boating trips ?) Prior to filing for bankruptcy, he formed a "new" construction business, Ziegwied Construction, Inc. That allowed his existing construction business to go into bankruptcy and his new construction business to immediately begin operation with no break in work/income to him, while his suppliers, sub-contractors and we were left holding the bag. The following is only a small and prtial listing of things that we done very badly. FOOTINGS; Poured 18" to 20" out-of-square. He didn't know that until the workmen came to set the forms for the foundation. They left and would not come back. The architect and I had a long talk with Ziegwied and told him that he absolutely must be more responsible to do his job and comply with the contract. He said he would do so. It didn't happen. FOUNDATION; Waste lumber was used to make the forms. It was so rough and pock marked, that it had to be re-surfaced, and some of that is a real mess. We and the architect had to point out the bad concrete work to him. In addition, all of the concrete walls were of the wrong thickness; either too narrow or too wide. That created big problems for the framers and brick layers. For example, at one corner the brickwork extends the full width of a brick beyond the foundation. ...again,a lack of oversight SIDING; He had siding installers that were not covered by State Industrial Insurance. Both Ziegwied and the siding supervisor said that all workmen were covered by State Industrial Insurance. Abolutely untrue. I immediately made the workers stop work when I found out that they were not insured. ROOFING; The roofing was not installed properly and it was patched up with a metal strip inserted under the first row of shingles. About 6 to 8 feet of that strip fell out and was hangind down from the roof. It had never been attached, just slipped under the shingles. We paid to have a competent workman come and fix the problem. INSULATION; Ziegwied submitted a fraudulent lien release, listing the name of a business that did not do the work. The business owner was very upset. Ziegwied had a young man, not a business, install the ceiling insulation. We discovered during the first winter that a very large area was not insulated. That was when we found that the lien release was fraudulent and that the young installer did not have a business license nor was he covered by State Industrial Insurance.. If he, or one of the siding installers had been injured, they could have taken us to court and put us in absolute financial ruin. At the bankruptcy hearing I asked him if he had ever submitted a fraudulent lien release to me. He said he didn't remember. TILE; Water on the tile floor in the master bathroom shower puddles in the corners and also puddles next to the drain. Much of the tile work is sloppy and looks like it was done by a first-time amateur. WATER IN THE BASEMENT; Water from the front porch ran directly down the inside of the basement wall. Ziegwied didn't know how to fix it. I talked to a professional who explained exactly what need to be done. That advice was quite expensive. I told Ziegwied and the architect that I would provide that information, but Ziegwied would have to reimburse me.. He got the information, I suppose from the architect,and did the fix as indicated. We were never reimbursed. EXTERIOR PAINT; The contract specified a prime coat and two color-coats. The painters arrived and began to put a color coat on the house. I stopped them and told them what the contract specified. They said Ziegwied had only specified a one coat paint job. Shortly after "final completion", long strips of dried paint came loose and were hanging down (some were up to 2 feet in length) from the ceilings over the front porch and rear deck. It was caused by Ziegwied using the wrong kind of caulking material between the outdoor ceiling panels. Ziegwied didn't correct it and we had to have a competent contractor come in and re-do the job. FLOOR TRANSITIONS; The floor transitions from room-to-room are uneven. He covered up the unevenness in an attempt make things look ok. They are not ok. He also installed a strip of wood in front of the sliding glass door to cover up a gap. As a result, the screen door cannot be removed. CONCRETE FLOOR IN BASEMENT; In addition to concrete chatter marks and the unevenness of the floor, water flows AWAY from the floor drain that is located in an area where the hot water tank and water lines are located. Water that gets on the floor, flows into adjacent rooms. That is one of the many expensive things that we have not yet been able to correct. At one point he agreed to do a few very minor repairs but he would not agree to fix the main problems. We said that was not acceptable. We paid him the full contractual amount when due and we expected him to comply fully with the contract. He filed for bankruptcy. These items only scratch the surface of the number and severity of problems that we faced. I have lived in Spokane all of my life and have never encountered anyone in business like Ziegwied. He would never accept responsibility for anything. It is always someone elses fault. Based on my past experiences with him, I believe that he would now say that none of the shoddy work and none of the problems were his fault. I wonder who he will blame now?