Home Building Awards and Hall of Shame

I know you should build up to the best awards, but I am starting with the Best of the Best award.

“Best of the Best” Award

Here are the nominees: (note if they were a nominee then they did good)

- Dave - The Trim Man
- Ziegler Landscape (The Second Landscaper)
- Sergenian’s – flooring Vic Ripp
- The Stone Mason
- American TV
- Capital Lawn Sprinkler
- American TV
- Madison Fireplace

And the winner is:

Sergenian’s – Vic Ripp

Vic Ripp provided the best service of anyone working on our house. Vic was patient, helpful, funny, and went the extra mile to make sure we got what we wanted and needed. The Sergenian’s crew, while not the fastest, had ZERO defects and did a great job. Above simply doing a great job, Vic went out of his way to make sure things went well. He made multiple trips to the house before and during construction, and after we were moving in he brought backsplash samples – perfect ones that match exactly to what we want to do – to our house and set them up for us to look at. Sergenian’s is NOT close to our house. It would be at least a 20 minute drive and he does not live out here either. This is just great, far exceeds my expectations, service.

“I Stand Behind my Product” Award

Here are the nominees:

- American TV
- Madison Fireplace
- Exterior Stucco and Stone

And the winner is:

American TV

Whaaaa? Yes American. We do buy a lot from American, and for this house we purchased our appliances and TVs from them. Because the cabinet people sent out the wrong shelf for the microwave we needed to get a trim kit. This was going to be $200. Plus during the move the refrigerator doors were scratched. The representative from American brought the trim kit to the house and worked to get the scratch off of the door. While working of the scratch, he noticed the doors were a little warped – it was noticeable but I was not going to ask to have them replaced. He immediately said that he was going to order new doors for the refrigerator and that there was no charge for the trim kit. We received good service from American through the whole process, and with this kind of great service they will continue to be our first option. You know that Best Buy and Home Depot would not have done the same thing for us.

“Charlie Hustle” Award

The nominees are:

- The stucco crew
- Ziegler Landscaping - Brandon
- Matt and Lucas on the sound system

And the Winner is:

Brandon from Ziegler Landscape.

Brandon is in his early 20’s but he has learned how to work and how to get others to work. In a very natural manner he got his crew to hustle and made sure they were doing a really good job. I ended up asking Brandon a few questions and he would always hustle over listen and make sure he understood the question and would make sure I got want I wanted. Good work, hard work, and getting the most out of his crew made Brandon one of the best we met.

“No Hassle just get my work done” Award

The nominees are:

- Dave - The Trim Man
- Capitol Lawn Sprinkler
- Sergenian’s
- The stain man
- Dave Jones Plumbing
- The Stucco Crew
- The Stone Mason
- Giese Concrete

And the Winner is:

All of the above. Cheap easy way out I know. But all of these people simply just did their jobs. There were mistakes, especially with the office staff at Dave Jones, but that has to be expected. Overall, all of these people / companies did a good job and did it without much fanfare or hoopla.

“You have got to be kidding me” Award

The nominees are:

- Dennis Acker Landscaping
- FEI Electric
- FEI Sound System


And the award goes to:

FEI Sound System

This may seem like an upset and in some ways it is; but Dennis still has an award coming. By award, this is not a good thing. While Dan Flanders at FEI made a few silly errors on the electrical that he will not own up to, the sound system is getting to be really strange. TVs that require separate controls for video versus sound, a master bath with FULL control and FULL sound, and a lower level with nada, zip, zero sound are at the top of the list. I should also throw in the part about taking up an entire closet with equipment when they should have only taken half. Matt and Lucas the installers worked hard and were even nominated for an award, but they could not overcome the bad design that Dan put together.

So Dan, you can say whatever you want but here is what I asked for versus what you delivered:

Wanted: Whole house sound
Got: Nothing in the basement

Wanted: A sound knob for the music in the master bath
Got: Overly expensive complicated equipment that should have gone in the basement

Wanted: Video and sound on my TVs with one click
Got: Not that

Wanted: The screen porch and patio on the same control because they will NEVER ever play anything different
Got: One control upstairs and another control in the basement wasting another expensive wall controller

Wanted: A control I could use in the Hearth room
Got: A control I can use only if I am sitting in one certain place in the Hearth room

“Mr. Weasel” Award

The nominees are:

- FEI Electric
- FEI Sound
- Dennis Acker Landscape
- Marling Cabinets, Dave Jones Plumbing, Devorak Countertops for the sink episode

And the award goes to:

FEI Electric

Come on, I can only turn on half the lights in the kitchen from the main switch? And apparently it was your “design” that I can turn on the lights under the cabinets from the main switch, but I have to turn on the main lights from the switch under the cabinets, hmmm. Dan this was not a design problem but an installation problem and you should fix it.

UPDATE ON THE TWO ABOVE AWARDS

I gave FEI the opportunity to step up and admit that what they did was kind of stupid and to make thing right with me. Nope, they will not even admit they made a mistake. Fine, I just want it fixed, so it is $200 to fix the kitchen switch. Then I asked that they give me a proposal for 2 wall speakers and a sound control knob in the basement. This is on a wall where the sheetrock is unfinished in the storage area and a speaker wire runs directly past where I want the speakers. Easy access!

What I got was a $2300 proposal (even though the total said $1500) for ceiling speakers (I didn’t ask for these), a full control expensive keypad (I didn’t ask for this), and other crap. No explanation, only a note that I can call them if I want to know more. Well actually, I am busy, so I asked for a write up on what they are proposing. What I got was two more proposals, one with the math fixed and now a real $1500 proposal for speakers in the wall. What is the functionality difference? I don’t know, I was told they are too busy to describe their proposal. Huh? Right, they are just too busy to put in writing what they are proposing other than a list of equipment.
After all of their errors I will not give them a dime until they describe what they are going to do.

In my humble opinion, Flanders Electric dba FEI in Cottage Grove, WI sux.

“I am going to do what I want instead of what you want” Award

The nominees are:

- Dennis Acker

And the Award goes to:

Dennis Acker Landscaping

Thanks Dennis for everything you did. Thanks for using the wrong stones despite every example we talked about being something different. Thanks for putting the wall where I said I did NOT want the wall. And most of all, thanks for the holes in the stucco.


“Most Unexpected Builder Comment” Award

The nominees are:

- Call my wife Mrs. Lucky
- I was just walking and “boom” I fell off the roof
- I cut the bottoms of my pockets out so I can scratch my privates
- No charge

And the winner is:

No charge

All of the above can be associated with our builder. He is quite a character. Even though the building process did not go as well as we would have liked, Wayne is as honest as they come in the building business. After seeing the work that Wayne’s brother Dennis did (see previous award) I asked Wayne how much it was going to cost us to get the wrong stone removed the and area graded again. As usual I did have culpability. He responded “no charge” we’ll take care of it. I could give several reasons why that was the right thing to do, but ultimately I had mistakenly signed a document with the wrong stone written in. He could have told me that I needed to pay for it, but instead Wayne took care of it. It was unexpected and appreciated.