Centerline Construction Inc

"Customer understands full well why the work came to a stop -- the HOT weather in July and August, which makes working inside a greenhouse unbearable. We have been in regular contact with this customer since we started the project. Customer has been growing an adjacent outdoor garden all season -- IOW, they wouldn't use the greenhouse in August, anyway. We explained our position repeatedly, and assured customer we would return to complete the work once the weather cooled, which was only very recently. Work is 80-percent done -- new fans, new insulation, etc. are all completed! We'll return to install the new garage door and the few remaining items soon, and greenhouse will be ready for the cold-weather months, which is its intended purpose."

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"Homeowner requested a fix for his shower valve. We met with him almost immediately, on 9/20/2019 at the agreed-upon time, and have been in regular phone and email contact with him since. At the first meeting, it was clear the job was larger in scope than this homeowner described. In order to change the shower valve, it would be necessary to cut through two thick walls of his house. There's no easy-access panel, and homeowner wanted to save the existing tile. This is not a 3-hour job, as homeowner claims, but a project requiring three or four DAYS, possibly longer. Homeowner agreed to the work and wanted it done right away, however, he only wanted us to work nights and weekends, which we explained we cannot do, as the job is not an emergency. Meanwhile, he won't schedule the work during regular hours. We purchased $ 400 in materials (special-order tile, new shower valve, plumbing parts, etc) for this homeowner, which took about 10 days to come in. We haven't charged him a dime -- technically, he's not a customer and has no right posting a review -- he hasn't paid us a penny or even signed a contract. Homeowner is highly unrealistic about how the world works and a complete idiot about normal business behavior. Chuck and I (Shawn) have 9 phone calls, 6 texts and at least 4 emails to this homeowner between Sept 20 and Oct 5 -- how is that "bad" customer service??? Also, we had 3 men on this job site working after normal hours to do the exploratory work -- NEVER did we "blow him off." We scheduled our workers for the exploratory work around this homeowner's availability (he works, too) because he wouldn't leave us a key or make another arrangement for us to access his house, which is the whole point of Home Advisor (namely that Home Advisor approves only trusted pros you can safely let into your home). We have bent over backward to accommodate homeowner's own work schedule, but I told him going forward we needed to work during normal business hours (not nights and weekends, which is what he demanded). Homeowner got angry and arrogant and cancelled the job on Oct 5. From 9/20 to 10/5 is NOT "weeks and weeks" -- during this period, we located and ordered extra tile to match his existing tile and planned out the project. My emails to homeowner were to schedule the work -- it defies common sense to think scheduling work at a customer's house is a form of harassment. Customer is impossible and cannot see his own ridiculous, contradictory and possibly paranoid behavior."

"Ari and his lovely professional family listened to us and appreciated our knowledge, insight and experience. Great people to work for!"

"Lovely customer -- We (Chuck and Shawn) visited customer at his home on Friday, May 3, where we gave him an estimate on some needed roof and fascia repairs, then scheduled our crew chief (Elbie) to do the repairs on Sat, May 4. We pride ourselves on fast and efficient service."

"Every claim made by this couple, Barbara and Chris E., is a flat-out lie. Customers themselves chose all makes, models and colors of ALL materials used at their lake house. We offered design guidance for free, as we do on every job, and they gladly accepted. Customers hired us to install new whole-house vinyl siding on their vacation lake house, a project we began on October 25 and completed before Thanksgiving 2018, well within the agreed-upon time frame. We used high-quality Monogram CertainTeed brand vinyl siding. Once the siding project was underway, customers added $15,000 of additional projects, each one priced for and accepted by customer before we started. These extras included a new porch enclosure, new exterior lights, interior paneling and painting, a new entry overhang, and others. Customers were pleased with our work and expressed their happiness throughout -- they only started singing a different tune when we presented the bill for the additional work. That said, customers were unrealistic about completion dates, expecting the extra projects to be completed when the siding was completed, which defies logic and common sense (as well as the contract) because they added these items well into November, some as late as early December. Customers could not make the mental adjustment and accept that good progress was being made, and we would be done soon. They just wanted to complain about something, a tactic used by some customers to reinforce their power and control. Meanwhile, our crew was on site daily from Oct 25, 2018, through late Dec 2018 / early Jan 2019, and made steady and measurable progress on both the siding and the extra projects every day. By the end of December, almost all of the extra work was complete. By then, our crew was being abused, AND we were not being paid -- two more violations of the contract. Customers have owed us more than $10,000 since early December 2018, which is the real reason for their negative review. Customers lied about promised payments both before and after Christmas (disgusting). We left the job in early Jan 2019 for non-payment, which is our right. By mid-Feb 2019, customer was still dodging us and had not paid their back balance. Customers grew more and more abusive and strange as the work progressed, referring to us by another company name and claiming we had been at their house for years. Even more bizarre, they took back their house key but still expected us to complete interior work on time, and restricted our lovely and responsible crew from working AT ALL unless they were present at the house -- this is a vacation home and customers are gone for long periods. Throughout, customers changed their minds about many finishes, some very simple like the exterior motion lights, which took them more than a month to select. Their own strange and contradictory behavior dragged out the extra work projects, but they blame us. They have demanded we return to complete the work, but construction work is hard enough without working with a gun to our heads! Or working for free! Throughout November, homeowner Barbara would scream at people all day on the phone, then come outside to scream at our crew. Just terrible. The fact is Centerline did a lovely job on customers siding, and their house looks a thousand times better -- see the photos on our Home Advisor home page. We take pride in our work, and this was an excellent project. The other projects we did for this customer are excellent, too, and customers said so many times! We would be happy to complete the few small items left to do, but customers are intolerable to work for and owe us significant money from months ago. Customers need to pay their long overdue invoice, take stock of their behavior and reconcile their contradictory demands."

"Customers currently owe us $85K, the balance on a $ 160K project they undertook to upgrade their lake house in summer 2018. Customers breached their contract in multiple ways, including misappropriating funds, and other criminal acts. The FACTS: Project started July 3, and we were fired on Sept, 14, just 2-3 weeks from finishing. Project was elaborate, gorgeous and was on time and on budget -- almost perfect! By mid-August, customers had started slow paying (missing payments, making half payments), and were soon in the hole to us by more than $50,000. We gently confronted them, and they fired us. Then customer posted an ugly review (to justify their bad behavior). Nothing they claim is even remotely true. In mid-August, halfway through the work we were doing on their lake house, customers bought a third home and were suddenly over-leveraged. Instead of explaining this and asking us to either stop work or work out a payment plan, they behaved irresponsibly, even criminally, and they did so intentionally, by stringing us along with promises of payment. This is real money they owe us as we kept working at their job for weeks on the expectation they would pay us what they owe. No joke: Home Advisor ought to prohibit such vindictive reviews posted only to damage a business, not explain or illuminate a customers actual experience. The lawsuit will resolve in our favor, but in the meantime, customer gets to give us a black eye we don't deserve. IOW, we are being victimized twice! They've stolen from us and also want to say their unfinished lake house is our fault! Customers choose all the materials and finishes themselves in elaborate shopping trips. We provided design assistance, which customer appreciated. All work was itemized and materials specified. No confusion about what was owed, or for what. Customers loved the transformation happening at their house. Customers had not PAID for finish materials, but all finishes had been ordered, as our vendors confirm. Tile was in process of being installed; all interior paint was complete. For any construction project to get finished, payments need to keep pace with the progress being made. When it was obvious customer could not pay us, we offered them a payment plan. Customers inexplicably chose to fire us instead of accepting this. Their unfinished lake house is a problem of their own making. Both our design work and construction are flawless. Customer told us so many, many times, and our own photos prove it! Our crew worked daily, often on Saturdays, forging ahead and making great progress to finish on schedule at the end of Sept. We were committed and engaged and the work was great! But we can't make payroll if customers fail to pay invoices! These customers took tremendous advantage of our good nature and goodwill. They are probably sorry they fired us when the finish line was so close, but they are big fat liars who could not pay their bill and who HAD NO INTENTION OF PAYING or of honoring the contract! Since we left the job, customers behavior has been reprehensible and beyond disgusting. In addition to harassing phone calls, texts and emails at all hours of the day and night, they continue trying to ruin our business in a number of forums, including here on H.A., also on Houzz.com, the BBB, and in false complaints to the state attorney general, where they represent themselves as pathetic victims of a scam, rather than the sophisticated professionals they are who, from the start, drove their entire renovation project and stole from their trusting builder! These customers scammed us out of more than $50,000 in free materials and labor! And as long as their ugly and false "review" stays up on Home Advisor, they get to continue damaging our business and our reputation, too! We are beyond disgusted."