Terraferma Construction Co

Do you work for this business? Unlock this free profile to update company info and see who's viewing your profile.

• By Kevin H.

  September 10, 2014

  Action Construction was hired to build an addition to my home. His responsibilities were to build the addition according to the Department of Buildings approved plans, to follow the DOB building codes and to have the DOB approve and sign off on the completed project. Approximately 6 DOB Controlled Inspections are a required for this project. Licensed sub-contractors were part of the contract and listed in the DOB plans.
  The addition was never completed by Action Construction Inc. Controlled Inspections required by the DOB and filing the permits for the electrical work and the plumbing was never submitted nor were the controlled inspection ever requested by Action Construction even though they did the work. Action Construction is not a licensed plumbing company nor are they a licensed electrical company. Action Construction installed new electrical work and new plumbing in the addition without the licenses and without the permits.
  Correcting the errors made by Action Construction took years to complete because the errors were concealed and took time to discover.
  Action Construction used his own employees and did not use licensed sub contractors for the plumbing and the electrical work. Both the electrical and plumbing work were later corrected by licensed contractors who filed the permits and arranged with the DOB the controlled inspections. Only one DOB construction violation for working without a permit was issued. Violations could have been issued for both the electrical and the plumbing work installed by Action Construction. Liability for the violation is the building owners responsibility and not the contractor who did the work. Action Construction was hired and paid to hire licensed sub-contractors. The default penalty at the time was $8000. This is a standard penalty amount. Note: A contractor is allowed 3 days to file a work permit after starting the work. This is to cover jobs that start on a Friday and must be filed on the following work day which is Monday.
  Examples of the repairs required after Action Construction abandoned the project were:
  Rewire the addition. Repair the sheet rocked walls and re-paint all 4 floors in the addition.
  Replace the plumbing in the new kitchen ,which required adding a vent line and repair the broken pipe connecting the kitchen drain to the sewer system.
  Replace the steam riser which started in the basement and went up 4 floors. The contractor attached the steam riser to the return steam line in the basement and not the main steam line. Copper pipe was used instead of the traditional black steam pipe. The riser had numerous 90 degree elbows. 90 degree elbows are not supposed to be used in steam heat. The water line froze because lack of heat several times.
  Repair the boiler damaged by Action Construction after altering the steam risers.
  Replace the ~ 10 foot kitchen header because the beam was not supported by a post. Header started to fall due to the weight load from the walls above. The Support Post installed was cut too short and did not touch beam.
  Replace kitchen tile floor and sub flooring. ( sub floor was not attached correctly)
  Replace wood floors not installed correctly on a concrete floor.
  Replace parquet wood floors damaged during renovation. Workers watered the construction debris on the parquet floor to limit the dust before removing the construction debris. Protecting the parquet wood floors was not done. Shovels were used to remove the plaster wall debris off the parquet floor. This also scratched the wood floor.
  Contractor installed the wrong wood floor as per contract and refused to remove it.
  Add insulation to the roof to bring it up to code and install wall insulation to meet code minimums.
  Replace glass block windows not installed correctly. Windows leaked and grout lines between glass blocks were uneven and had a range between 1 inch thick to ¼ inch thick. Installation Spacers were not used by the contractor nor was the correct block grout used by the contractor. Greg Toledo started the installation of 1 window and his worker the following day removed most of his work.
  Reframe stair well not supported correctly. Installed support post in the basement for the stairs on the first floor. Rebuild to spiral stairs since stairs were not supported correctly.
  Replace back yard retaining wall removed by contractor.
  Reframe windows which were missing top sill plates.
  Build and install the fire escape, finish the exterior trim and finish the 2 40 ft. plus vertical holes in the exterior.
  Sound proofing is missing.
  These are only some of the errors made by Action Construction. Action Construction was paid for his work.

  Read more