ComplaintsforMax Construction Group

• Initial Complaint

  07/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Max Construction was contracted to renovate **** *** ******, a residential and storefront building. He was paid approximately 2.6 million dollars. On 9/6/23, my management company met with Max Construction and opened a work order. This date was during the one year warranty provided in our contract with Max. Work order number *****. The issue was severe condensation lines (in the storefront) leaving ponds of algae in the alleyway. Also severe condensation in basement under unit 1 with lots of water. Have many pictures of the issues if needed. Brandin and Halley from Max met with ********, my management company and acknowledged a serious problem and committed to redoing the lines for storefront, alleyway and basement. After repeated calls to Max, they refused to return and remedy the situation. As of July 1, 2024 , there is severe ponding in basement and alleyway. I have written to Max about this problem and he refuses to respond. He also refuses to disclose the contracter he hired to install the lines and air conditioning units. We need Max Construction to contact ********, **** *********, to schedule a time to resolve the issue. We paid Max millions of dollars and he will not respond to a contracted warranty. Our management company ******** attempted to contact Max several times during 2023 and 2024 with no response.

  Business response

  07/12/2024

  The Max Construction Group, LLC (MCG) was originally contracted in Aug '22 to take over the general trades scopes and help with coordination of existing MEP contractors that were being managed by this developer's original GC / CM, who began the project over 1 year prior. 
  
  The **** *** *** project was in poor standing at that time with the bank, city, and state, because of loans backed by Historic Tax Credits being in jeopardy due to poor management. Ultimately, the project had been billed and paid at ~51%, despite being less than 25% complete. The site was the worst I’ve ever seen. Materials scattered everywhere. Zero management on site. Too many framing issues to even fully assess. Virtually no workers on a multi-million-dollar project. Building inspectors were coming down on the work, listing dozens of deficiencies with work that had been done previously and forcing corrections before anything could resume. In short, this project was a mess, and we were being asked to help straighten it up, complete, and salvage the tax credits and relationship with lender in a very limited / unrealistic timeline. But we decided to get involved and help, as we had been recommended by a very well-known developer and the bank.
  
  After less than one month on site correcting the countless deficiencies, the developer and prior GC / CM dissolved their relationship and took legal action against one another. MCG was then asked to take over the roll as GC with the emphatic understanding that completing this project and not losing the tax credits was paramount, as they stood to lose much more money. The main issue with taking over as the GC was with the work that had been installed by the existing subcontractors. The work was not passing inspections and the companies performing the work were way beyond their capabilities. We met with dozens of other subs to have the work supplemented, but no one would assume that any of the existing work in-place was done properly. So, the only way anyone would be willing to do any of these scopes was by removing and replacing existing with their own new work. 
  
  With the budget being tight, the developer did not have the funds available to replace the existing MEP contractors and their work on site. We had to try and make it work with what we inherited. For months we struggled to help these trades complete their scopes so we could complete our own. In fact, the HVAC subcontractor filed an absurd lien because of the prior GC / CM, yet MCG help bond over this lien by paying ½ to keep the project moving! These companies didn’t have lines of credit with material vendors for their scopes. No credit with anyone. Just minority owner / operators who were being manipulated by a greedy underhanded GC / CM and a developer who believed they were getting a market-rate property for much less than anyone else in our market. It backfired and now they don’t want to be held accountable for their own decisions.
  
  Ultimately, MCG finished the nightmare on *** *** over 1 year ago. All work was inspected by local officials and met / exceeded code. The Certificate of Occupancy was granted. The tax credits and tax abatements kicked in. The developer has the building fully rented. Yet now, the developer wants to come back and slap MCG for not doing something that wasn’t in the construction docs, wasn’t a code requirement, had been inspected and approved, and we weren’t paid to do beyond what was provided. Furthermore, they’ve hired a property manager that’s on par with their original GC. We have NEVER received a work order, but we have fixed several items under warranty in the first year (including HVAC). The accusations in this complaint are defamatory and without merit. This is a simple bullying tactic to make a great contractor bend to the will of those who won’t be held accountable for their own decisions and actions that proceeded any involvement with MCG. 
  
  Furthermore, this developer and his property manager have doggedly harassed and slandered myself and my employees via electronic communications and phone for weeks. Despite the explanation of the facts and existing conditions, they’ve continued to spread rewrites of history and should expect legal action if these false claims aren’t removed. 

• Initial Complaint

  06/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I hired Matt and his crew after closing on our first commercial property in 2021. Matt seemed great at first. He assessed the building, and he made me feel comfortable enough to trust him with our project. This was our first experience with such a large scale project, so we put all our faith and trust into him. There were small jobs in the contract that were completed early in the project that didn't sit right with me. Our appraiser also pointed out some things. But I believed Matt would finish the work and do the things he promised. But unfinished work continued to pile up. Meanwhile, I paid the original contract off in full - minus a couple smaller additions we added along the way. We were clear with Matt throughout the project that meeting our deadline to reopen our business and security were our top two priorities. When a security door hadn't arrived on time, I asked Matt about it. He lied and said that the company he ordered the door from was delayed because of COVID. In reality, he hadn't ordered it. I spoke directly to the company to verify all conversations about the door and when it was ordered. Unfortunately, instead of being honest with us, Matt lied. We fired Matt and went through the contract line by line. We found thousands of dollars of unfinished work or things that weren't done up to standards (per the new folks we hired to finish these various jobs left undone by Matt). We attempted to mediate a fair reimbursement based on the unfinished work, while ensuring we paid for work that was done. Unfortunately, Matt refused to reimburse us, and threatened to take us to court and put a lien on our new property. Court would be too expensive for our small business that is in the middle of opening a newly renovated shop. So we decided to walk away. It's been less than 9 months since some of the repairs have been done that are now falling apart. Big plumbing issue came up today. The contractor that came through confirmed Matt never did what was in the contract

  Business response

  07/20/2022

  MCG was referred by a client, with whom we have an excellent relationship. We started by conducting site visits of potential properties and evaluating existing conditions vs customer's end-use requirements. After subject property was secured and loan docs were executed for the purchase, the loan for construction was not approved. Essentially, the budget needed to come down by approximately half, leaving many "wants" out of budget. We value-engineered to what the budget would allow and moved forward. It was a very small project from a commercial construction standpoint, but the owners were very inexperienced and needed help understanding the process with the bank and the phases of construction. The project became a “white box” buildout, which left many of the finishes and fixtures out of budget. Through this, I made the mistake of becoming too involved in a project, as the budget wouldn't allow for the overhead of a project manager. I answered phone calls, text messages, and emails all hours of the day to try and help them. Things would go well for a period, then confusion and lack of experience would force added communication. It's important to note, that MCG mobilized and began construction before the construction loan was approved or funded, as we understood the significance of finishing our scope before the end of 2021, which would allow them time to do their own finishes before opening. We worked without payment for almost 2 months and the clients were extremely happy. 

  
  As contracted work was completing, we were asked to provide additional items (security gate at storefront, fabricating and installing basement access). It was understood that these items were not in contract and would be additional money. I also raised concerns about a lockable roll-up security gate because it didn't meet egress code. There was a ton of correspondence regarding this added item, which I did not follow through with. Even though they requested this item, and I dropped the ball on ordering. The client wasn’t charged, and MCG paid a significant amount of money to cancel an order that was already started in January ’22. 

  
  Given the fact that I knew one of the clients had a propensity for volatile / violent behavior, I was afraid to tell them that I dropped the ball on ordering the gate in December. I thought the order was secured and didn’t realize that it hadn’t been released until making a call to the manufacturer in early January. It was a 5-week lead-time. It was only then that everything that had been done over the previous several months became an issue. Although I would conduct occasional site visits and correspond with the clients, I wasn’t on-site very often, and I don’t work in the field any longer. 

  
  These accusations make it sound as though I was fraudulent in previous monthly billing cycles. Work would take place over the course of a month, then we’d bill for work completed. Payments weren’t due for another two weeks. At no time was there ever a mention about us billing for something that wasn’t done, or something being done incorrectly. Considering the amount of communication between the client and I throughout a construction process that lasted almost 4 months, I believe there’s a false narrative that’s been created to make them the victims. Had the client not become so uncontrollably enraged, we would have completed anything that wasn’t up to their standards and executed a warranty for the work. However, they chose a path that created more problems for everyone, including their initial threats to litigate . Now, here we are 6 months later being accused (again) of something we have zero knowledge of, just a rant that was intended to harm, on a platform that we have an A+ rating with.

  
  Personally, and professionally, I strive to help other small businesses whenever possible. Even though these clients were very unconventional, they have a great business for the community they serve. I would never wish them harm or hardship. I want them to succeed! However, the harassment from someone who didn’t pay the Contract in-full; accepted deducts / no-charges from the amounts that were still open; engaged their attorney to threaten me, only to have the attorney agree with what was presented as being fair and equitable; continued to harass and slander  via text message; and, trying to bully another small business into paying for their own mistakes, despite their attorney agreeing that they wouldn’t. This is ridiculous. It’s a 100-year-old building and they didn’t have the funds available to fix everything. I have months of complimentary messages and positive social media posts to prove that they only soured after the issue with a non-contract gate came into play. If this issue goes any further, it will have to be litigated. This isn't acceptable. 

  Customer response

  07/21/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 

  NOTE I have to click on "accept this response" or expect litigation. Matt wins. Money trumps all. 
  
   
  
  ****** ********
  

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