ComplaintsforBee Smart Building, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  09/16/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Smart built a home for us and there are several problems/issues in the home that need to be repaired or replaced. We want them to stand behind their commitment to us in getting them taken care of.

  

  Business response

  12/13/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/09/30) */ Bee Smart Building, LLC (hereafter Bee Smart) built a house for ***** and ****** ******, starting in January and finishing the project in June of 2020. As the ******s have stated, during the initial reaction to COVID-19, Bee Smart Building offered to all prior clients to extend the warranty process 3 additional months. After this period expired, Bee Smart and its subcontractors made several trips to explore issues at the ******'s residence. The ******s complained of a smell coming from their bathroom plumbing. On multiple separate occasions, Bee Smart brought out the plumber on site, the septic system installer, and the Health Department to examine the problem. The septic system was performing as intended, and the vent pipes and P traps were snaked with cameras and examined for potential breaks or punctures. None were found. The floating LVP flooring was also examined as the ******s complained of a "hollow sound" that emanated from either a defect in the material or a low spot in the slab itself. The floor and quarter round were removed and replaced. Floating floors can and do move by design. The ******s also complained that the built-in miniblinds in their back door would involuntarily close when the door was shut with any force. A Bee Smart reprensentative went on site to observe the defect. The door was closed repeatedly with normal force, then slammed, and the blinds did not close. Since the miniblinds were not shown to be defective, the representative declined to replace a door that was working correctly. 6 months after the extended warranty period, the ******s sent a video of the door blinds slightly closing when the door was slammed. To be clear, the miniblinds would still adjust and slide up and down correctly, they only partially turned down once in the video. Bee Smart did not deem this a sufficient problem to replace the entire door, especially nearly 2 years after the house was completed. The countertop that was cut out of square was part of the extended warranty. Bee Smart Building did reach out to the vendor on several occasions and thought that problem was resolved earlier on. The vendor has since corrected the issue. There were the usual drywall issues such as nail-pops and paint touch-ups that are part and parcel to any house constructed of wood in this climate. Wood moves with changes in temperature and humidity. As with all houses built by Bee Smart, the paint issues were addressed and repaired a part of the extended warranty. To correct the record, Bee Smart Building was not founded by one of the partner's father. It was founded by one of the partners as a sole proprietorship in 2010 and was incorporated as a partnership in 2016. Bee Smart Building, LLC stands behind every house it builds. The company warranties all problems, within reason and sometimes outside reason as an act of good faith. However, this good faith is sometimes abused by those who would have Bee Smart perform regular home maintenance in perpetuity. Consumer Response /* (2000, 7, 2022/10/04) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Consumer Response /* (3000, 9, 2022/10/05) */ According 0.to Bee Smart's reply to our complaint the building of our home wasn't started until January 2020 and was completed in June 2020 therefore it actually took them less than five months to build it. I say less than five months because COVID, and the supplies and labor shortages they went through held things up some during this time frame. We were not told about the warranty period being extended by three months and the COVID letter we received on ********** doesn't mention it but I guess that doesn't matter since it's now October 2022 and the repairs we thought would be taken care of, still aren't. We don't know why the septic smell problem was brought up by Bee Smart in their reply but since it was I will give a little background on it. On***********, approximately 7 weeks after moving in, there was a septic smell in the master bathroom sink and it eventually went to the laundry room. The project manager, with other people, did come out two maybe three times between ********** and ********** when a smoke test was performed and a gasket was replaced. That didn't stop the smell and it went on until ********** when the project manager and another man came and cut out a section of the outside wall to see if there was a nail in a pipe. They told me they didn't find any damage but the smell went away after they did this. We smelled septic gas off and on for almost eight months and it took several text messages, which I still have, to get the problem fixed. We are aware that floating floors can and do move by design because they aren't glued or nailed down but they shouldn't sound hollow or move up and down when walking on them. As annotated in the initial complaint, Bee Smart's floor guys had to come and work on a large area because of this same issue and I was told it was because the slab was not level. We did wonder why the floor was even laid when the house was being built because surely they had to notice the slab wasn't level while installing it. Things like this makes us feel our home was built too quickly. We never said the blinds in the glass door would close with any force, but we did say they shut when closing the door. We don't know where the person who replied to our complaint got their information but as mentioned in the initial complaint we submitted, the blinds started closing within a couple of months after moving in and have done this ever since then. The initial project manager saw it happen, he made an adjustment and said they might have to be replaced if the problem continued, and he told me to put it on the warranty list which I did. It has been on every warranty list that was requested by and sent to Bee Smart since the end of the warranty period. On the morning of *******2 one of the owners and a project manager came to our home and I brought up the blinds still closing. They arrived around 8:30 AM and it was damp outside so I made a point in telling them that the blinds closed when it was warm and the humidity was low outside so of course when the owner shut and not slammed the door, the blinds didn't close. A video was taken and sent to the owner on ******** showing the blinds closing and he has never replied regarding it. A project manager came to our home on ******** and he saw the blinds closing, and when he came back the next day he told me a new glass with blinds was ordered and would be delivered in 4-6 weeks. It doesn't make sense that the owner won't stand by what their project managers tell their customers, especially since this problem started two months after we moved in and, yes, it's still ongoing two plus years later, and after two different Bee Smart representatives (project managers) observed it in person. Something else that was brought up in the reply to our complaint was about the nail-pops and paint touch-up they did. These things are caused because wood moves with changes in temperature and humidity, but these two things also affect the blinds in our back door. In regards to the granite being cut crooked, it has not been corrected to our satisfaction because the warranty period the granite company gives on their product and workmanship expired before they were notified about it. I found out who the granite company was and spoke with the owner on ********. I told her Bee Smart told me that they had contacted them several times with the last time being May, 2022. And, I also told her about the text I received on ******** from the Bee Smart owner where he said he was going to check with them because they were supposed to contact me to look at and fix the granite on the sides of our stove. She told me she had not spoken with anyone from Bee Smart and did not have any messages on file from them to contact me. She did make arrangements for a couple of guys to come here on ******** to cut the granite but they only cut one side so that the stove could be easily moved in and out if needed. The left side has a straight cut but the right side is not squared and we are not happy with this. Had Bee Smart contacted them before their warranty period expired, it would have been cut correctly on both sides. An item in our complaint that Bee Smart didn't address is the area from the grout going up between the side of the tub and wall in the guest bathroom. There are places that aren't painted, globs of paint on the wall, and the molding is chipped, scratched and half painted. There's also paint and grout on the tub in several places, and the grout between the tub and tile floor is two different colors. Everyone from the first project manager to one of the owners has been shown this area and nothing has ever been said or done about it. I was just told to include it on the warranty list and it would be fixed later. A video of this has been included with my reply to Bee Smart's comments so hopefully it will be uploaded on the BBB website. For the record, we never said Bee Smart was founded by the father of one of the partners. What was said is the current owners took over the company from their father, ***, when he retired. He himself told us this when we met him to look at a home they were working on before ours was started. Based on a comment from Bee Smart in their reply, we hope they're not trying to say that we are abusing their good faith on fulfilling warranty work because of the four items in our complaint, three of them (the granite, the blinds in the door and the area in the guest bathroom) were shown to Bee Smart representatives from the time we took over ownership, or within a few months from then, and has been included on all the warranty lists that have been sent to them so these are not new problems. The fourth problem (the floor) is actually a product of the original floor work that was found right after we moved in and has been fixed. If anyone is abused it's us because we paid good money for a better product and we've waited way too long for things to be repaired and/or replaced. Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2022/10/31) */ ***Document Attached*** The project manager and the owner do walkthroughs on the house prior to the owner moving into the house. Items such as the countertops, paint issues, caulk joints, etc. are addressed during this time. There is a final walkthrough after the issues have been resolved but prior to the owner moving in, so that the owner can be assured that the issues have been resolved. The floor was repaired to satisfy the owner, but floating floors can and do make noises over very minor irregularities in the slab. The material may also contribute to noise and movement. Consumer Response /* (3000, 20, 2022/11/03) */ In regards to Bee Smarts latest response, these issues ARE NOT resolved. According to their records, I would like for them to tell us when these problems were addressed and when they were resolved prior to our moving in. There were only two walk- through's before the house was turned over to us. On January ** 2020, Ben from Bee Smart, texted to let me know we would have an electrical and plumbing walk-through which would take place after the house was framed but before the sheet rock went up. The other walk-through was on June **,2020 which was the day we were given the keys to the house. The only problem we noticed at that time was the granite on both sides of the stove being cut crooked. As I've stated many times, the other problems were discovered within a couple of months after moving in which was within Bee Smarts one year warranty period. The original area of the floor was fixed but other areas didn't show up until after the repair. On November *, 2022 a representative from a carpet company in ************ came to inspect the floor and to give us a repair estimate. He also said the slab was uneven in places, and that the largest area that sounds hollow and sinks in when stepping on it can become a problem because the planks will wear out over time. I've submitted a copy of their estimate to the BBB. Bee Smart needs to acknowledge that there were mistakes made while building this house and to stop skirting around their obligations, and to stand behind their project managers and what they tell their customers regarding repairs and/or replacing defective products. Business Response /* (4000, 22, 2022/11/10) */ The signed walkthrough list the ******s allude to for the house that does not have the countertops issue on it. Bee Smart Building has made numerous trips to the ******s house to address these and other issues. The flooring that was replaced was fixed on October *** 2021. We have also done paint touch ups, minor repairs, and chased down perceived problems, some fruitful and some not, well after the one-year warranty and after the extended warranty, as recently as May of 2022. Consumer Response /* (3000, 25, 2022/11/21) */ The only signed walk through list we have is dated ******** and it does show the granite issue. As I stated before, the problem area on the floor that was discovered right after we moved in was repaired but other areas are now a problem. If the slab had been leveled when the concrete was poured then there wouldn't be more issues. Bee Smart has been to our home to take care of some repairs but not the ones we've addressed in our initial complaint. I have plenty of text messages and emails requesting when these would be taken care of and they still haven't been repaired and/or replaced.

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