BROOKWATER CONSTRUCTION INC

We signed the Brookwater Group (or Construction) contract on 9/9/13 for them to manage the construction of our additions. It was their job to hire and supervise the subcontractors. Completion of renovation in its entirety was supposed to take 73 days to be completed by 11/22/13. The first delay was due to Brookwater not obtaining the permits in a timely fashion. They blamed the local inspector, but we discovered that they neglected to obtain the zoning permit WE had told them would be required. By the time they got around to contacting the inspector for the building permit he was on vacation and we had to await his return. We still haven't received the receipts for the permit and zoning fees as required by Brookwater's own contract as well as other documents promised in the contract. When the excavation was delayed due to the subcontractors excavating equipment failure, the date of completion was changed to 12/5/13 and we received a revised schedule. During the demolition phase of the old entry slab, concrete dust poured into the house due to no barriers being hung. We had to block the entry as best we could to prevent it entering the upper floors, but the basement was completely covered in concrete dust including our workshop equipment. Brookwater just laughed when told and provided no clean-up help. Once excavation was completed it was too late in the season to have the block basement we wanted to match the rest of the basement and we were forced to have a poured basement. Once this happened and carpentry began, the subcontracting carpenter started construction without his team because they were working on another job for Brookwater; unbeknownst to us until months later. He would work alone approximately 4 hours per day and then leave. Mistakes were made that WE caught and notified Brookwater about and from whom WE requested corrections. We requested repeatedly that Brookwater Construction, as the construction managers, talk to the carpenter to move this project forward and supervise his work as they were contracted to do because he was making errors. They claimed there was nothing they could do because of their contract with him. We were just promised that it would be completed "this year"! After he missed the December 5 deadline, we asked for a revised schedule to indicate the new deadline. To this date, we have never received an updated schedule. When the roofing began, the company had to order more roofing when they realized not all the house had been included on the original request for quote sent to them by Brookwater, causing another delay. The extreme cold temperatures caused additional delays for all trades. After the carpenter was a no-show for quite some time to complete indoor carpentry and due to errors, Brookwater told him not to return. Jeff, the project manager and co-owner from Brookwater came to complete some unfinished carpentry inside. Jeff made mistakes on the support column in the living room and WE had to redo it ourselves in order to have the drywalling continue even though we were assured in texts that it would get it taken care of immediately. The drywallers did not protect the living part of the house with plastic sheeting and ram board as they were supposed to and the entire house was covered in a thick layer of drywall dust on 3 separate occasions. We begged Brookwater to please supervise the drywallers (non-English speaking) because they left garbage, beverage containers, standing water in buckets, and a soiled pair of men's underwear in our new additions. We insisted that they not return after we found they had been snooping through our home and had removed the protective sheets from our electronics and went through our (closed door) workshop in the basement leaving fingerprints of drywall dust everywhere. Although we had supplied a metro for their use, they used and dirtied our bathrooms and did not flush toilets. At this point, WE took over the repairing of cracks and mudding mistakes on the drywall so WE could get the house cleaned up and the walls primed and painted. Brookwater did not help us with any cleanup and did not help us repair drywall to completion as promised. They sent someone in to inspect and repair drywall errors one day and after 45 minutes of minor sanding he left and told Brookwater we could prime. We sent Brookwater photos showing many areas that still needed work. They ignored all requests for help and all our requests for them to do the supervising they were being paid to do also went unanswered. They did however send invoices for payment in order to get money for the subcontractors, material suppliers, and themselves so we could get our Lien Waivers. The only one we didn't pay immediately was the drywaller because we were in dispute over the amount he should be paid since we completed the work ourselves. The HVAC subcontractor did a great job and in a short time. However we did have to assist with some revisions that needed to be done. The siding and roofing company came to remove old siding which we had to add to the project for an added expense; something we would have done ourselves before the extreme cold set in if we had been told it would cost extra and was not included in the original quote. Brookwater denied that we added the garage at the time of the initial contract signing, which we dispute since we matched the new siding colors to the garage doors with Brookwater using their sample books, so there was an additional delay in getting that completed due to lack of materials. What would be the purpose of matching materials to the garage if we didn't intend to side and roof the garage? We made it clear that the siding on the house and garage should match and had circled that on the expense sheet with additions since it had to be done. At the same time, in September, we requested insulated siding. This was an additional expense too, but Brookwater did remember this. The siding looks great other than a little buckling of the flashing. Also, one of the siding company's employees broke the exhaust on our furnace during the teardown phase and didn't report it. He hid it with silicone which clogged the exhaust and our furnace stopped working. Through the process of elimination, WE found the problem. Brookwater Group did not assist us with this and didn't even show any concern for the fact that we had no heat in subzero temperatures for two days. The siding company took off the expense of the repair and the HVAC man took care of the repairs for that after we insisted that Brookwater had to resolve the issue. The siders worked outside on some extremely cold days to keep the project moving forward and we were impressed with their finished work. The electrician did a good job but wasn't very timely and only came when he wasn't on other Brookwater projects. We did have to supervise his work ourselves since Brookwater wasn't willing because they were too busy on other projects. We became a side job to Brookwater. Brookwater admitted in a meeting with us that they were overextended with three other projects. The mason came and did a great job on the stone work. They worked quickly. If they had any questions or concerns they asked us since they were unable to get ahold of Brookwater after trying several times. Since it was a 2-day project, they needed immediate answers. Yet Brookwater again charged us for supervisory fees. After it was all said and done (9 months later), we were finally ready for final inspection with a mere two weeks from our permits expiring. However, the deck, which Jeff installed, failed the inspection and had to be reworked. Unfortunately, we had to have Jeff from Brookwater back to do the repairs due to the short amount of time left on the permits and no time to hire anyone else. His own engineer told him it wasn't acceptable after he hired one to dispute the inspector?s findings. The finished project is less than idea esthetically. Hurricane supports that were supposed to be under the flashing are now on top of the flashing and covered by a rather obnoxious box on the support column that we will have to look at for the next 30 years or until we pay someone to change it out at some point. We?ve worked hard to be able to afford this renovation, and Brookwater took what should have been an enjoyable experience and turned it into the project from H***. We dreaded even coming home at the end of the day. Our 73-day renovation turned into 279 days. I would never recommend OR use Brookwater Group for anything in the future. They were not worth the time and money we had to spend on dealing with their complete lack of regard for our home. I could go on and on with the things that we had to put up with during this renovation and I could include many images of what it took to get the job done. In the end, we're unhappy with the finished result and it's disappointing that we had to pay this company anything for the worse service we have every received. For the continuation of the renovation for floors and landscaping, we will do the work ourselves or do the hiring and managing of any trades ourselves. We will also only go with companies that have been reviewed in a positive light on Angie's List and BBB and not as referrals from friends or coworkers as we did with Brookwater Group, Inc. (also known as Brookwater Construction). In hind sight, we should have known we were in for it when they didn't put a construction sign in our yard advertising their company.