Mindbuilt, Inc, dba Basic Construction Services, San Jose, CA - In May, 2002 I awarded Basic Construction the bid to remodel my home

Mindbuilt, Inc, dba Basic Construction Services, San Jose, CA - In May, 2002 I awarded Basic Construction the bid to remodel my home

Mindbuilt, Inc, dba Basic Construction Services

15197 Dickens Avenue

San Jose, CA 95124

Brian Heggen, Owner

Phone: 408-369-0257 / 800-499-4917

Lic# 473173

In May, 2002 I awarded Basic Construction the bid to remodel my home. Bids went out to three contractors. This included a copy of the blueprint and a detailed descriptive specification. The work began September, 2002. I was given a completion date of Dec 9th. Problems began from the very beginning. The general manager stopped showing up three weeks into the project.

I was told that the framing guy was the "Foreman" only to find out later that Steve was no longer with Basic and the framing person, Micheal Thierry, was a subcontractor, not an employee of Basic construction. It was only after my repeated inquiries that Brian admitted that Steve was no longer there. He also assured me that HE would be on the job sight each day to manage and supervise. That never happened. There were two non-English speaking workers, many times left alone; my home was left unsecured on many occasions. The pool was to have been covered; I found excessive amounts of debris and rock because the tarp was secured by brick found in my yard.

My kitchen was deemed off-limits and was sealed off. I found dirty hand prints on the refrigerator door, a stool was removed from the pantry, paper towels and a flash light was taken, workers were caught playing on my son's toys, a toilet seat was broken and the water hose was damaged. Things continued to go downhill. As a result of the lack of management and supervision and no field coordination (as specified), no one bothered to read the blue prints: vents were put in the wrong place, an electrical unit was placed on the wrong wall, electrical units were removed in error. A certified letter was sent to BCS Nov 14th. The schedule completion dates of the job continued to change due to the lack of proper equipment. Information requested of BCS was not forhright in coming. On Dec 2, 2002, my designer,Nathaniel Walker, sent another certified letter to BCS detailing the results of his walkthru. Items noted included the excessive amounts of trash left on the premises including the driveway, a gas can filled with an unknown liquid left on the side of the house, the pool was only partially covered by the tarp, the bricks had fallen into the pool, damaged sidewalk, the home, again, left unsecured, electrical blunders--light fixtures not centered, electrical outlets moved without authorization, a tree was cut in error and as a result had to be completely removed. This is a short list. A sprinkler water pipe was broken and left sticking out of the ground. When I spoke to Brian about it, he said he was told that the pipe was not used for anything. I turned the water on to show him that the pipe was part of the new sprinkler system I had installed. The water for the pool was turned on and left on over the weekend. It overflowed and ran down the side of the house. I received telephone chgs on my bill from places that I have no connections. My large screen TV was plugged in in the kitchen. Mold was found growing on the walls and ceilings in the rooms upstairs. Brian never made good on his agreement to be onsight and to supervise, manage and coordinate the project. While the completion dates continued to change, there was very little progress. On De 12th, I received an email from Brian stating that the painting, flooring, tile work and plumbing would be completed by the end of the month. By the end of Dec: The laminate and bathroom plumbing materials had been in the garage for over three months.

At the last minute I was called by Basic to say that the laminate installer had backed out because I was supplying my own materials--a fact known by Basic from the beginning. I was also told that I needed a "deck mount" for my jacuzzi. The painting was not completed, doors were still sitting on the floor, ceiling lights were still in the boxes, the changeroom was nowhere near completion, window aprons were not installed, the pocketdoor in the master bedroom had problems, nailholes in the baseboards had not been filled and painted, and the list goes on and on. I hired people to complete the lamination job and the jacuzzi install--there was no need for a deck mount. I also hired a stair installer because, Brian, once again, informed me at the last minute that his sub had backed out because I was supplying the materials. My stair installer arrived on Friday, Jan 3, 2003 around 8:00 a.m. He found both sliding doors unlocked. Conditioned Air arrived the same day to install the registers only to find out that one was not going to fit over a door. Our attempts to contact Brian were fruitless. There has been no end in sight. I've attempted to reach an agreement with Brian. On May 7th, we reached an agreement based on the claims I submitted to him. Final payment to Basic was $13,909. I wrote a check for half that amount--$6954.50. The last payment would be given after final inspection. During that meeting in my home, I asked and got confirmation from Brian a 2 year warranty for the work done that was not included in my claim. My friend, Robert Woodson, was witness to this. I had not been in my home for six months at this time. Not more than two weeks later, a pipe burst in the wall near the water heater. A nail had penetrated the pipe. During the course of repair, the water heater was dented in three different places. Brian doesn't feel he should compensate me for this. Not much later I informed Brian of the warped pocketdoor. During further inspection, we found that the doors had not been painted on all sides. We even found one set of doors not painted at all on one side. Brian attempted to repair the pocketdoor himself. He cut the door too short. Later, he brought another guy with another door. That individual put the lock on the inside of the door. He moved the locking mechanism on the jam further down. The fill-in looks like patch work.

The door now wobbles; it's scored in two places and I'm told that this may be because there are nails inside that wall that may be sticking out too far to the wall has to be cut. The locking mechanism is not aligned and I now have to juggle the door to get it to hook properly. I told Brian that I would now use professionals for the door and would deduct it from final payment, along with a percentage for the damaged water heater. He became angry and decided to place liens on my home far in excess what I potentially owe him. He has not completed the other work he agreed to do: the porch has a huge crack and it continuing to crack, the stucco on the front of the house is cracking everywhere, two stray tiles were to be corrected and the cracks and caulking downstairs were to be completed. There is so much, I've not the energy to give all the details. Working with this man has been a total nightmare and I would never recommend him. Yvonne Y

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