JM Murray Construction

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• By Anonymous

  January 24, 2018

  Custom home build

  Internet search, thru BBB, google, etc., I couldn't find any info on JM Murray Construction. Meeting in person he seemed like a nice guy, and a single parent, so we gave him a chance. Got a build cost for our house, based on the plans we presented him, which we used to secure a construction loan. After getting loan, he met with us and raised the cost over $30k. Explained that we had a lot of features and that he had gone over the plans with other "professional builders" and they concurred. We hadn't signed a contract yet, so our options were to stay with him or start a new search for a builder. Throughout the build, the lot and home were filthy. Cigarettes all over, plastic bottles & cans thrown about and workers throwing trash into the undeveloped empty lot next door. We built in a nice HOA, so every time we(wife & I) visited the site(most weekends) we would spend 10-30mins cleaning the area, so we wouldn't be fined. Mentioned it to the builder several times , but didn't make any progress in having the behavior stopped. Two other homes under construction in our HOA: Completely opposite of ours; big trashcans inside, being used, no debris blowing around outside. A lot of the work seemed to mirror the workers' disregard for the jobsite. Throughout this build, my wife & I pointed out several things we thought were being done sloppily or incompletely. The builder would acknowledge many of them and give us the same response each time- "that's a punch-list item". He kept telling us that he had the best finisher in town and all those things would be taken care of at the end. Unfortunately, the finisher in a lot of cases is just sprucing up or covering bad work, and that was certainly the case here. Many times I'd point out big gaps or rough finishes, and his response would be "I thought you wanted a rustic look", as if it was some kind of excuse for sloppy work. Also, throughout the build, we would text or e-mail him different color/material choices, often with pictures of the SKU numbers. Many times he would tell us the build was slowed because he was waiting for us to make a decision on some item. I would pull up the e-mail or text on my phone, that had been sent to him several weeks before to show him, and he would just apologize and say he must have accidentally deleted it. At one point he requested that I just send texts, because he "gets so many e-mails, I just delete a lot of them". We were his only customers for the first 6 or 7mos of the build, so I would have expected him to save all e-mails regarding our build in one folder. When we finalized decisions on different materials, like tile, wood flooring, granite counters, etc. a lot of the vendors we talked to would relay odd exchanges they had with our builder, expressing concerns that "he doesn't seem to know what he's doing". My wife & I work for the biggest employer in this area, with a lot of employees being locals for decades or more. On several occasions, we had co-workers(who we had never talked to about our house) come up and tell us that we needed to be careful with our home, because our builder doesn't know what he's doing. Seven months into the project the builder certified to the bank that he was 97% complete, in order to get his last payment. It took almost 4mos to finish from that point(disclosure-a hurricane caused an additional 2wk delay). The project would sit dormant for weeks at a time. There was(and is) a construction boon in this area, so some of the delays were understandable. Others were just ridiculous: Tile in master shower took months; someone would start it, get 2 or 3ft up the wall, then stop. 2 or 3wks later someone else would be there working on it and make minimal progress. Then next week, a 3rd crew would be taking it down. Same with our stacked river rock facade around the front of the house; various crews there, week to week, putting it up, but no actual progress. During the last few months of the build Mr. Murray would call or text us, saying that an area was done. We would have to call or text him back, tell him we were standing in the house, and the work wasn't done. His response was usually dismay, that "they(the workers) told me they were done", or some other excuse. The builder wasn't checking/verifying the actual work being done by his crews. 3 different walk-thrus before we finally signed off on the house being complete. Many of the items on the punch-list we just gave up on; the finisher would overlook them(2 & 3rd time), make them worse or cause new problems(paint color, damage to walls, etc.). We decided anything that was just cosmetic, we would take care of ourselves. Moved in Nov 2016. Unable to lock back sliding-glass door, due to misalignment. It would lock in 1 out of 5 or 10 tries, but pop open with a slight tug. Pointed out this problem for several months before moving in. Had to use handcuffs thru the door pulls, to lock. **exceeded review space. MANY problems since moving in. **

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• Anonymous

  December 16, 2016

  JM Murray Construction is building my dream home right now, and I couldn't be happier with the whole thing. Working with Jim is great, he is the best contractor I have ever worked with. Very punctual, and attentive to our needs. Highly Recommend.

• By Frustrated O.

  June 2, 2011

  We signed a contract a Tuesday to build a 20'x12' concrete slab in my lot after Mr. Murray inspected the site. He was going to call the inpector for approval, was going to prep the space and lay the rebars, and install mudsill anchors every 18". He was going to use a free (for him) concrete pump to deliver the concrete from the street. Asked he said the work would start Wednesday.
  Thursday morning he said that he could not get hold of the free (for him) concrete pump, free rebars, and free mudsill anchors so he did not want to do the job, and he left.
  He said that his reason was that I have an attitude.
  A construction company worrying about attitudes? Since when?
  The real reason, I believe, is that without those freebies he was not going to have left much money.
  Apparently, a contract means nothing to this enterprise.