As the Granite turns.......

[swquilts]

DH talked to the builder this AM. They are NOT going to replace the cr@ppy job that their subcontractor did. No problem...there's always small claims court!

(What a fine way to start the day.....:mad:

[buffygirl]

Ugh! That is just not right! Can you refuse to close??? That sucks. You should not have to pay premium price for granite for a shoddy installation.

There must be minimum standards for granite installation. I'm a registered interior designer, let me do some checking around.

This is not right!
Kim

[HejazSunKat]

I'm sorry to hear you're still having problems with these guys. When I read your original post I was wondering if you were going to have any success getting satisfaction based on the attitude they took about the way the granite looked in the first place. Clearly not.

I talked to a relative in the building trades and he said your options would first depend on how your contract with this outfit was worded. I don't know what kind of recourse is built into your contract (if any?) if you weren't happy with the finished product. He also mentioned small claims court as Kim did. Another thing you might be able to look into is whether or not this guy is bonded. Maybe you can recover something on his insurance if you can't come to an accomodation with him about the problems. I'm sure you've already told him you're not going to pay him his balance and/or will bad mouth him to everybody you know. If he were a good businessman he'd care about his reputation but most of them already have so much work they think the party's going to go on forever and they don't have to worry about one or two disgruntled homeowners because there's 20 more customers right behind you. They think.

If you can't reach an agreement with him to fix it I guess it's going to cost you some money - either on a lawyer to chase him or on another (better) contractor to do the job over. I hope you can find some leverage to use on him before it comes to that. Good luck and keep us posted on How The Granite Turns !

[swquilts]

Get this....he even told Darrell (DH) that we could go ahead and complain to the State Board of Contractors. You're right though, they have so much work right now they don't give 2 hoots about us. I'm going to call the loan company and let them know what's going on. We are also going to call other granite installers, have them come out and look at it and tell us if this would be acceptable to them. We will probably end up in small claims court, but believe me, I know how to dot my "I"s and cross my "T"s!!!

(I just want to mooovvveeeeeeeee.............we might just take possession and then sock it to them)

[Guest]

Susan, contacting the lender is a great idea. When we had our construction loan, the bank did periodic inspections to make sure the work was progressing before authorizing draws. They wanted to make sure that the work was progressing. Wouldn't it be great if the lender could demand that the granite be replace before authorizing payment? You have probably thought of this alreay, but take pictures and document all of your conversations regarding the granite. Keep us posted.

[swquilts]

Today Darrell talks to builder again. NOW (after D says he was sorry about being so pissed off...gee I wonder why?) builder is willing to see what they can do, especially about the sink problem. We are thinking about at least asking if they will replace the sink/breakfast bar part. That's the biggest ugly. So....at least we are talking and its not a total denial.....

Stay tuned!!

[HejazSunKat]

Originally posted by swquilts
We are thinking about at least asking if they will replace the sink/breakfast bar part. That's the biggest ugly. So....at least we are talking and its not a total denial.....

Stay tuned!!

Good! Maybe you can work together to at least get rid of the things you absolutely can't live with and hopefully save everybody a lot of headaches and money. Hope it works out. :)

[swquilts]

The Saga continues........

The builder actually called DH yesterday!! That's a shocker to begin with since we've always initiated the calls. I digress.....

Builder asks what kind of sink we bought so they maybe buy a bigger one and cut it out the RIGHT way. (This will be interesting since the faucet and aerator are set in the granite in their own seperate holes!), then he said that they are going to try to cut off the really bad part and replace that. But then said that they are having a hard time finding the same granite. DH proceeds to tell him that the original granite dudes said there was a lot of it in LA...HA, he can't use that excuse now.

Then DH suggests that perhaps they could just replace from the left seam on the large area to the whole breakfast bar. A much bigger area, but would truly fix the whole problem! Builder says "well, we're looking at a few options".

So, the door isn't completely shut yet....we'll see what they end up doing. BUT, if it isn't done to my liking, they can do it again!!!

I'll keep you all posted.......

[LaraW]

Well at least it seems like things are starting to move in the right direction for you.

Sorry you are dealing with this. Hope it works out!

[swquilts]

The latest......

Rumor has it the builder has found a sink, a wider one so that they will have to redo the corners. I wonder if I should leave them a picture of what the edges should look like? Also said that they are going to "try" and pop off the part of the countertop with the really bad seam and redo it also. This is going to be interesting since the "person" who installed it will be working on it AGAIN! I have to go to Vegas for a conference today and won't be back til Wed. I can hardly wait to see how it turns out! I'll let you all know!! Thanks for bearing with me on this.

Susan

[HejazSunKat]

That's great that they're working with you. Guess the builder thought better of letting his reputation get ruined after he'd cooled off. At least your husband will be home during the fix? Too bad you have to leave town right now. I'd want to be right up their nose while they're repairing it to make sure they do it right. Good luck and let us know how it turns out! Oh yeah, and have a good time in Sin City! :D

[swquilts]

Chapter 6

The sub came out Wed and redid the one bad seam, not as ugly as before, but still not what I would call great. At least you can't throw a cat through the seam now.

Sink...he didn't touch the sink area (sink had been removed last week), but it was sitting on the floor! WooHoooo! I digress.....

DH talked to foreman this AM. Says that we noticed granite idiot had been out, foreman says "yes, that was a sad day". "Huh?" says DH. Foreman, "the sink we bought is actually SMALLER than yours!" Ackkkkkk......will this DOODOO never cease???? Foreman then says, "We're working on this right now" Yeah right.....

I'm tempted to say, "we're moving in next weekend, it better be fixed by then!"

(Tearing my hair out in Reedley.......):( :( :( :mad: :mad:

[swquilts]

BTW...Thanks for letting me vent!!!! :)

[Peggy C.]

wow that just stinks that things still aren't up to snuff so to speak. However your comment about not being able to throw a cat...made me laugh.

[swquilts]

Well, it's been almost a year now since we moved in and our granite still has not been repaired/replaced. The story was basically always the same, "we can't find a matching piece, blah, blah....."

So, we contacted an expert in granite installations who in turn gave us the name of a construction attorney. Mr Attorney wrote a letter to our contractor and POOF, we have now have 2 options. Replace the entire granite (duh...) or get a refund of $3850! I almost croaked about the refund part considering we paid $4175, but we aren't using that option.

Now I have to go granite shopping again.

PS: I bet our contractor forgot that we have matching pieces of granite in our tile backsplash!!! :eek: :cool: :p

[karen w]

Susan,
I just noticed this thread now. It may not be reassuring now, but you are not alone in your granite woes. When we built our house('98), we got an excellent price on our granite, but unfortunately the granite guys did a really lousy job with the installation. At the time, we did not even notice the inferior workmanship. We were first time home owners, first time builders etc... and very excited to be building our dream home. Well, finally this past winter I had some more work done on the kitchen(some tile work on the backsplash and added more granite in additional areas). To make a long story short, the New granite dealer took a look at our old "problem" areas, and fixed EVERYTHING! He did a great job, and it did not cost an arm and a leg, nor did it take too much time. And fortunately, I have 2 sinks in my kitchen, so I could continue to cook during the repairs. I hope you end up with a happy conclusion eventually. I DO LOVE my granite!

Karen

[swquilts]

Thanks Karen! I'm hoping that our contractor does NOT use the same installer as before, but I'm not holding my breath. We'll see.