Van Vleet Construction

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

• By Kelly A.

  September 1, 2023

  $166,000

  We hired Van Vleet to remodel 2.5 bathrooms, build a closet, move a laundry room upstairs and convert the existing laundry room to a mud room. I quoted the project with 3 companies of which VV was by far the most expensive. We chose VV since they had committed to living up to my high standards and stick to the timeline as I was pregnant. Unfortunately, this was not my experience.
  Regarding timeliness and communication, the overall project took ~3 months to mostly complete and in that period of time we had just as many project managers. I found VV to be very disorganized, mismanaged and uncommunicative. The final PM that was assigned to our project was minimally on site and when the trades had questions, they would direct them to us (we were on site) as the PM was unresponsive. When we raised this issue with the PM and owner, we were told to direct the tradespeople to the PM (who again was not responding to their queries and only worked 8-3 so if questions arose outside of those hours, they would receive a response the following day). The tradespeople would sometimes work until 10pm and weekends and needed responses immediately as it would delay their work. Due to the lack of PM response, I had to move my baby shower since they delayed the project by 2 weeks which greatly affected my out of town guests.
  As for the quality of workmanship, the tradespeople VV hired to complete intricate details such as installing ceiling tiles had admittedly never done so before and therefore damaged the dark wallpaper that had already been installed. VV then suggested to install edging to cover the damaged wallpaper from the ceiling tile which was not in the original design. We agreed and they complete the cornice install which did not cover all the damage to the wallpaper. Instead of taking the wallpaper down and reinstalling it, they then covered the damage spots with a paint marker. The damage and seams that do not line up are still noticeable today. Due to the poor workmanship, I withheld 1% payment and the last time the PM was here he said VV would issue a credit for the bathroom not being completed correctly. I then began reaching out to other companies to provide a quote to fix this bathroom. During this time the PM had reached out to see if I had a credit in mind. Next thing I know VV sends their office aid to issue a mechanic’s lien for withholding payment. When I reached out to them to ask what this was about, Rob (the owner) said they will not honor the warranty until they had paid in full.
  Another case of poor workmanship is when they were building out the laundry closet. This was designed to have a tile floor and be sloping toward the drain. This design is also what we were quoted on. When they discovered this was not possible, they installed a (ugly) shower pan without providing more aesthetic alternatives nor provided a credit for using cheaper materials nor for the decrease in labor hours.
  Due to them threatening a mechanic's lien on our property, I issued payment in full. Now I am trying to get VV to complete the works as originally designed and contracted, I am getting the run around that the quality of work they have delivered is industry standard. During our final walk through, they mentioned several times that if it looks fine standing 6 feet away, this is acceptable. The latest is that there is a crack in the tile grout along the entire corner seam and they advised that this is normal (less than 10 months after install) and are unwilling to correct this although everything is still under warranty. I have separately been reaching out to contractors to validate what VV is saying and it seems like the individual tradespeople strongly disagree and advised it needs to be caulked and re-grouted.
  A home remodel is something you often times only do once, so the intention of this review is to save someone else the heartache and stress of having to work with Van Vleet.

  Read more