Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  05/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Good evening,According to several inspectors and contractors who have come to our house post-**** **** Construction has severely price gouged ** for **************** Services. Every professional who came into our house said that not only did they do an extremely unprofessional and sloppy job, but they did not provide a detailed quote beforehand. They have also done no work since early January with non-excusable delays. Here are some of the inspectors quotes which I noted by permission: Why were you sent a bill for a job that wasn't complete?" Both said that it was a glaring error to not have removed the vinyl flooring, which visibly has mold. "It should have very easily been done while the rooms were still contained." Why did they perform a PRV when the entire job wasnt done, and only half the house was completed? Why havent they been back to finish the job? "You were grossly overcharged for this work, and it should have all been done in one day. When the job was actually completed, it should have been billed maybe at $10,000, but that's still too high." "Did you get photos of all the drywall that was removed to see evidence of mold? They should have taken tons of photos to document the work being done, especially when working with insurance." I've never seen photos of what was removed from our ceilings and walls. "Was the dry wall sagging or were there visual signs that the ceiling was close to collapse? You need to know why you had holes cut into your ceiling when its very possible that it could have been dried. Labor is supposed to be wrapped into the total cost. Why is there a several thousand dollar supervisor cost?!I have been keeping a diligent paper trail of all interactions between NOVAs staff and our family. I can provide any documentation that you may need. Thank you,***** and ***************************

  

  Business response

  05/17/2023

  We have preformed the work that was necessary for the mitigation portion at the Wiradilaga's home, but we never performed any mold remediation. This is why we never had any pictures of mold, if we find mold we refer a mold remediation company as that is not work that we perform. We requested for them to have pack out prior to starting the mitigation and they refused to do so. The only delays have been on behalf of the Wiradilga's as they rescheduled with us because of personal issues, once they contacted us to get back on the schedule we made them a priority. We requested that they keep all containment area's up until all testing was complete. They wanted to have construction completed prior to having the proper air quality clearance necessary. They have been impatient and not willing to follow the proper processes that are necessary to make sure that the project is done properly and safe. The work was clean and not sloppy, the home was cleaner when we left than when we started. The mold that they are referring to on the flooring was not noticed by Nova's employees nor was it pointed out by the Wiradilaga's. If they would have told us that there was mold present we would have stopped the work and referred them to a mold remediation company as I have stated previously. ***************************** father stopped in our office and stated that one company stated that there was mold under the *** flooring in question and the other company stated that it could have been dirt. We were not aware of any mold issues and that is why we referred them to a testing company to find out if there was mold present prior to putting the home back together. The pricing issue is unfounded and not price gouging in any way. We do the work for the insurance proceeds and don't charge the homeowner anything other than their deductible. Our estimate is written in Xactimate which is insurance industry standard estimating software, we don't even make the pricing, the pricing is based upon the line items selected for the work that we completed. Furthermore the insurance company has paid our invoice in full and issued payment to the Wiradilaga's with no out of pocket expense to the Wiradilaga's at all. I have spoke with the insurance company and they have advised that the Wiradilaga's haven't disputed our invoice and have cashed the check. They have the funds from our invoice that was paid in full and until they received the funds paid out by the insurance company didn't have an issue regarding the amount of the bill. Having someone else come in and state that our pricing is not correct as it is irrelevant, as the insurance company paid the bill in full and the insurance company reviews the invoice prior to payment. I have personally spoken with ***************************** who is a desk adjuster with ******************** He stated that our estimate was sent for pier review prior to them releasing payment. Upon completion of pier review Frontline determined that our estimate was reasonable and correct. **************** stated that he would be happy to assist if we needed any further information. His phone number is ************. Further more if the invoice was not correct the insurance company would contact ** to question line items and have us make revisions. The invoice that was sent to the carrier was for all of the work that we performed and if there was something that was unnecessary it would have been addressed prior to the release of payment. The Wiradilaga's put a letter on our office door that was threatening and borderline extortion. I have sent all communication to our attorney to review and he has stated that they're basically attempting to extort money from us, as they've been paid $18,823.40 and want ** to accept $10,000.00 for our services, otherwise they would go to the news and bad mouth us on social media. The letter with my response is attached, I have highlighted my response to their complaints in yellow. I have attached the my response for review. I have attempted several times to contact the Wiradilaga's to come to some kind of solution but they wont return my calls or respond. In closing I believe that they are attempting profit off of an insurance loss. My bases for this conclusion is that they have received payment from the insurance company in full, until this time they were difficult to work with but not threatening, they've not contacted the insurance company to indicate that we were over paid or that we billed for services not performed and lastly they have the check that was paid to them for our services. If they had an issue with the cost of our invoice why would they not simply contact me in a non-threatening manor to resolve the billing discrepancy? I have attached the statement of loss and payment letter which shows that they've received payment for our services. We will be pursuing legal action against the Wiradilga's for non payment and insurance fraud. All of the accusations made are false and out right lies in most cases.
  Thank you, *******************;

  Customer response

  05/17/2023

   
  Complaint: 20056718
  
  I am rejecting this response because of the absolute false allegations and lies contained within NOVA owner ************************* response.  I've attached a PDF of the email that I just sent ******** ********************* Frontline about ************************* response.  I'll also copy and paste the email below.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  --

  Good afternoon ********,
  
  
  
  I need to reach out to you after I was sent absolute false allegations in NOVAs response to a BBB complaint that we made.  I've attached the **** but I'll copy and paste their false allegations which refer to conversations with you and some other key false allegations.  The quotes in black italics have been made by ****, and the red text is my response.
  
  Dear *******************************:
  
  This message is in regard to your complaint submitted on 5/14/2023 against Nova Construction & Roofing.  Your complaint was assigned ID ********. 
   
  BBB has received a formal response from Nova Construction & Roofing. We ask that you review the response and understand that BBB is here to assist both parties in reaching a fair and reasonable resolution.
  
  The main comment made by the owner of **** regarding speaking with you is this:
  
  "Furthermore the insurance company has paid our invoice in full and issued payment to the Wiradilaga's with no out of pocket expense to the Wiradilaga's at all. I have spoke with the insurance company and they have advised that the Wiradilaga's haven't disputed our invoice and have cashed the check."
  
  We absolutely have NOT cashed the check.  The check needs to be sent to the mortgage company.  I honestly don't believe that you or anyone from Frontline would say that the check was cashed.  You would have record of the check being cashed.  
  
  The "Wiradilaga's haven't disputed our invoice and have cashed the check" obviously is wrong.  I've emailed you about the issues and spoke to you at length about our issues with *************** even mentioned that we may want to look into mediation.  
  
  "They have the funds from our invoice that was paid in full and until they received the funds paid out by the insurance company didn't have an issue regarding the amount of the bill. Having someone else come in and state that our pricing is not correct as it is irrelevant, as the insurance company paid the bill in full and the insurance company reviews the invoice prior to payment."
  
  Again, we do not have the funds from the check.  My concern is that we won't have enough money to complete all of the repairs on the house if we get gouged and run through the money unnecessarily quickly.  We obviously have no problem paying for work done to the house.  That's what insurance is for.  
  
  "I have personally spoken with ***************************** who is a desk adjuster with ******************** He stated that our estimate was sent for pier review prior to them releasing payment. Upon completion of pier review Frontline determined that our estimate was reasonable and correct. **************** stated that he would be happy to assist if we needed any further information. His phone number is ************. Further more if the invoice was not correct the insurance company would contact ** to question line items and have ** make revisions"
  
  I don't know about any "pier review" (I assume he's trying to say peer review), but I contacted you immediately after independent inspectors made unsolicited comments about the price that we were charged.  Was there a peer review done after I questioned the pricing with you?
  
  "We requested for them to have pack out prior to starting the mitigation and they refused to do so. The only delays have been on behalf of the Wiradilga's as they rescheduled with us because of personal issues, once they contacted us to get back on the schedule we made them a priority. We requested that they keep all containment area's up until all testing was complete."
  
  All that they have done inside the house since ******* is the original water mitigation, and cut out drywall.  "The only delays" comment is an absolute lie.  It doesn't take 7 months to get work done.  They told me that they fired *****, who took the first moisture measurements in the last months of 2022.  ***** told us that there were only 2 people in front of us and they would be done within the week.  We were told our house was to be started shortly after they were done, but we never heard back from *****.  On November 16, I messaged ***** to see when they were going to start.  I messaged him again on December 9, but didn't get a response from him either time.  There's the first inexcusable three month delay.
  
  After finally finding out that they fired *****, ****** from **** told me that they would do what they needed to in order to make things right for us.  Making things right never happened.
  
  We didn't do the pack out because we just moved room contents to the sunroom.  They gave no timelines or milestones for any of their work, which gave us no opportunity to prepare for their work.  The second delay was when we needed a day to clear out the other rooms, since they never gave us any timelines for their work.  They were supposed to come back the following day, and we got a call saying that "we moved on to another job, and will be returning to your job in a week."  That delay was completely their decision, and by law, is considered inexcusable.  
  
  We never removed any containment, nor did we request them to remove anything before the job was properly done.  My 7 year-old and 10 year-old sleep in those rooms.  Even **** from **** originally said that she was very concerned for the children in those rooms.  Now he's claiming that we'd endanger our family to complete construction?  More ridiculous false allegations which have no base in reality.
  
  "They wanted to have construction completed prior to having the proper air quality clearance necessary. They have been impatient and not willing to follow the proper processes that are necessary to make sure that the project is done properly and safe."
  
  This makes absolutely no sense.  In an email, they said that they were having issues getting an inspector to get the clearance.  I made a phone call and it happened in one day.  The inspector came in and said, "why would they have us come in and do an inspection?  They haven't done anything to fix the issue since the other inspector came.  As a matter of fact, my main concern was the safety of my children (whose rooms were being worked on).  
  
  "The work was clean and not sloppy, the home was cleaner when we left than when we started. The mold that they are referring to on the flooring was not noticed by ****'s employees nor was it pointed out by the Wiradilaga's"
  
  This was pointed out by the inspector they asked us to get.  We aren't inspectors.  A professional pointed this out.  These allegations are totally baseless.  "The home was cleaner when we left than when we started" is a frivolous comment made from a person who has never been to our house.
  
  "The pricing issue is unfounded and not price gouging in any way. We do the work for the insurance proceeds and don't charge the homeowner anything other than their deductible. Our estimate is written in Xactimate which is insurance industry standard estimating software, we don't even make the pricing, the pricing is based upon the line items selected for the work that we completed."
  
  The pricing issue is according to the two independent companies who made the comments totally unsolicited.  That's what made me question their billing.  They didn't give an "estimate" at all.  You can see that the billing was created in March, which is two months after they did the work.  
  
  We were only given a certain amount of money for the damages, which we are absolutely thankful for.  My questioning of the billing is making sure what we are paying is coming from an ************, and not a company who is gouging customers who have gotten insurance checks.  
  
  "The Wiradilaga's put a letter on our office door that was threatening and borderline extortion. I have sent all communication to our attorney to review and he has stated that they're basically attempting to extort money from **, as they've been paid $18,823.40 and want ** to accept $10,000.00 for our services, otherwise they would go to the news and bad mouth ** on social media."
  
  I did leave a letter on their door which was definitely not threatening and absolutely not extortion.  That is a very very serious allegation.  All that I mentioned is that I had independent inspectors come in and they said that the work should not have been anywhere near what they charged us, and that it should have been less than $10,000.  I NEVER said that they have to accept $10,000.00 for their services.  I said that they should make their pricing in-line with what others would charge, and not almost double what other companies would charge at the current time after a natural disaster.  That is the definition of price gouging.
  
  I did say speak to someone at a local news station in generalities while working an event, and the anchorwoman said that unfortunately, they have had many people mention that they have been getting dishonestly gouged, and that they have done investigations.  I didn't make any false accusations or make any lies.  All of my comments were based on the horrible experience that we've had in the last 9 months.  Any comments on social media would be 100% truthful.  However, at the current time, I have made no comments on social media about Nova.
  
  "In closing I believe that they are attempting profit off of an insurance loss. My bases (sic) for this conclusion is that they have received payment from the insurance company in full, until this time they were difficult to work with but not threatening, they've not contacted the insurance company to indicate that we were over paid or that we billed for services not performed and lastly they have the check that was paid to them for our services."
  
  This serious and false allegation is yet another lie in a string of ************************* lies.  We haven't cashed out the check, nor do we have any need to profit off of a catastrophic event.  We both are very gainfully employed (*** is a Dental Hygienist and I manage a Total Wine).  We are still living in a house full of holes that they made in *******.  Our primary concern is the safety of our family..  I am also very concerned that if I don't protect the money provided by Frontline from dishonest price gouging, we will spend it all before we have everything fixed from Hurricane Ian.  Florida Statute ******* was put into place to make it unlawful to have unconscionable pricing after a natural disaster. 
  
  ********************* is contradicting himself again in saying "and lastly they have the check that was paid to them for our services."  This statement clearly shows that he is aware that we haven't cashed the check.  However, he made the false accusation over and over that we have cashed the check and that we are attempting to profit off of an insurance claim.  His entire Better Business Bureau response was invalidated in that one statement.
  
  "If they had an issue with the cost of our invoice why would they not simply contact me in a non-threatening manor to resolve the billing discrepancy? I have attached the statement of loss and payment letter which shows that they've received payment for our services. We will be pursuing legal action against the Wiradilga's for non payment and insurance fraud. All of the accusations made are false and out right lies in most cases.
  Thank you, *********************"
  
  "All of the accusations made are false and out right lies in most cases."  Even though he's contradicting himself in this statement, there has never been a lie in any of our correspondence with *****  All that we have asked for since the beginning is for them to be forthright, to communicate effectively and to complete their work in a timely manner.  They have done none of it.  Again, we have NOT cashed the check he falsely alleges that we have, and Frontline will be able to research and corroborate that fact.
  
  I've written numerous emails to them over the course of the past nine months, of which we have kept careful record.  Saying that we have been difficult to work with is ridiculous, as we have been more than cordial even though we watched month after month go by without any progress from Nova.  **** from Nova would constantly put blame on my wife about any delays (just like *********************), and I called them out on it.
  
  In the letter that I left on their office door, I gave *** an opportunity to make things right on his end before I would take this to the Florida ************************* and the Better Business Bureau.  His indignant responses, as well as calling ** a liar forced my hand in taking this to the ************************* and the BBB.  Believe me, we much would have rather to deal with a company who completed work in a timely fashion and didn't charge an unconscionable amount for work which they never provided an estimate for.  You could request an estimate that's dated before they did the work, but you won't get one.  Nor will you get any timelines or milestone of when they planned on completing their work.
  
  I'll be sending a copy of this to the ************************* as well as the Better Business Bureau.  I appreciate your time spent on our case, and felt the need to keep you and ******************* informed about the proceedings.  I also wanted you to be aware of the false allegations which the owner of Nova Construction and Roofing has been making.
  
  Thank you,
  
  *******************************
  1337 ************
  ***********, ** 33983
  ************
  
  

  

  Business response

  05/26/2023

  I apologize for stating that the Wiradilga's have cashed the check if that is not true, my point was that they have the check that was paid out for our services and will not pay us for the work that we have completed. I also apologize for making any assumptions as to what the Wiradilga's intentions are regarding holding on to the funds that were paid for our invoice. I have never stated that they were not employed or having any financial troubles. We have done everything as outlined in our scope that was approved by Frontline and their peer review. Frontline has paid our scope in full, and I believe that if anyone is in the position to decide if we are "price gouging" it would be the insurance carrier. We have many customers in which we work with their insurance companies and understand that the insurance company does an independent audit or comparative estimate to justify our scope.The fact that the Wiradilga's are now stating that they're worried about maxing out their coverage is absurd, their coverage on the dwelling of their home is $388,863.00 and that doesn't include mold and code upgrades. At his point their total claim is $150,073.74 meaning that they have $238,789.26 remaining before they reach their limits. Within the $150,073.74 that they have received their screen enclosure, roof, mitigation and other repairs have been paid to be replaced or repaired. As a general contractor who knows what the cost is to complete the necessary repairs to their home, they have more than enough funds remaining to repair their home. I find it ironic that the Wiradilga's have only disputed the amount of our scope with Nova and not with their insurance company who has paid our scope in full.
  When they state that they're not threatening ** or that the letter left on our office door was not threatening in nature is simply not true. Please see the paragraph of the letter ***** and ********; Wiradilga left at our office below.
  
  "I am to the point where I am going to start broadcasting these issues on every single community page possible, as well as my website that gets well over a million hits a month, my verified Instagram and TikTok pages,and any other venue I can. **** is taking advantage of **, and we're absolutely livid at the utter lack of professionalism your company has shown. I also know broadcasters from SWFL TV stations, who would be interested in investigating our issues."
  "The pricing on the work done needs to be revisited asap,as there is a gross disparity between your billing and anyone else. Pursuant to price gouging law Florida Statue ******* after a state of emergency, I will be in contact with the ************************* and the Florida ********** of *********** and ******** Services if we don't
  see appropriate pricing and correction of your "work."
  I find both statements above to be threatening in nature.
  They have never mentioned that they were concerned about maxing out their policy throughout our conversations until this point. If this was a concern that they had and brought to my attention, I would have happily reviewed their policy and if that was true, I would have done what I could to help them. In all of the years of doing business I have never had to file a lien on someone's home or file a lawsuit against a homeowner. I am not an unreasonable person, and I don't like conflict or contention in my life. I would have been happy to discuss what would work best for everyone involved, if they didnt make threats to try and harm my business, in which I have invested my life's savings and is my livelihood. I have a family with two small children and one on the way and this business is how I support them, so when someone threatens to harm my business, they're threatening my family and livelihood. I would be happy to have a conversation to resolve this complaint as I have made several attempts to contact the Wiradilga's to which they have had no response. I feel that if they truly wanted to resolve this matter, they would've responded to me by now. If they're not attempting to resolve the issue that they have with Nova it seems that they are only carrying out the threats that they made in their letter to ****. This is simply an attempt to cause damage to ****'s credibility and slander Nova in a public forum. I have no problem with them contacting the Attorney General as their accusations are false and simply not true. Again, I note that the insurance company is who approved the payment of our scope of repairs and paid in full.At this time it seems that we are at an impasse because the Wiradilga's will not respond or communicate. I have already consulted with my attorney who has stated that this BBB complaint and the actions of the Wiradilga's is nefarious and slanderous in nature. If this complaint is filed and the Wiradilga's will not communicate with me in regards to resolving the complaint, I will be pursuing legal action and  whatever means necessary to collect payment for the services we have completed and for the harm that they are attempting to cause Nova Construction. 
  Thank you, *********************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩