CW Custom Builders Stinks

Improper Drainage

2008-06-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

The back yard of our home has been a bit of a sore subject. As I discussed previously, the method CW Custom Builders chose to employ to prevent erosion left something to be desired. We have since compensated for their incompetence by constructing a retaining wall and completely overhauling the grading and drainage. This included tieing the gutters into the rest of the drainage system so that the water dumps into underground pipes, rather than dumping onto the lawn. We now have a nearly water- and mosquito-free backyard to enjoy, thanks to the terrific work of the contractor we brought in to fix the issue.

CW Customer Builders, in their own words, had this to say about our new drainage system:

"CW did install many storm water prevention techniques to alleviate any standing water issues. CW did find an addition curtain drain which must have been installed during Mr. Pelli’s retaining wall. This curtain drain not only was draining into the property next to his, but was not installed properly. This drain is also tied into his gutter system, which when installed this way will not be an affective draining method."

The first sentence is, frankly, an admission of faulty work. The second sentence is first false (it was installed correctly by a professional) and then true (it extended about 3 feet beyond the property line due to my own error in calculation). I've talked to the neighbors (who are wonderful people by the way) and they are completely fine with it, especially since it reduces the amount of water that is up hill from their yard, giving them a benefit as well. Keep in mind that it was a completely buried pipe...it wasn't exactly spewing water onto their lawn.

The last sentence it the best though. If it is not an effective method of draining the water, then why is the drainage problem completely gone? Furthermore, why are they employing the exact same strategy on attempt number 3 to correct the drainage problem in my neighbor's yard?

Interesting isn't it? They constructed his backyard in the shape of bowl and have tried now 3 times to stop the water from pooling in massive amounts right in the middle. I've seen my neighbors out at all hours of the day and night having to pump water off the back yard because the area in front of the back steps is a low point that collects gallons and gallons of water every time it rains. In this, their third attempt at correction, they have ripped up the sod that was there and made yet another attempt that's already showing signs that it did not work. With just a sprinkling of rain last night, there's already some pooling. Someone should explain to them that water runs DOWN hill.

It's Not Just My House...

2008-06-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

If you're thinking that CW Custom Builders only did a lousy job on my home, then you should see the workmanship done on the house next to mine.

They apparently forgot to measure twice and cut once on the beam that runs along the roof peak because it's clearly just a little bit too long. What's the CW Builders solution? Smash a hole in the OSB of course!

The first picture was taken more than a month prior to the second. I held out hope that they'd do something about it before the siding went on...

This is the high standard of quality that CW Custom Builders holds themselves to. In keeping with the theme, you can see that the high quality standards extend to the weather wrap. Just as they improperly installed the weather wrap on my house, they did almost as poor a job on my neighbor's home as well. Water running down the top layer will have every opportunity to run behind the second because they failed, again, to overlap the layers.

CW Refuses to be Reasonable

2008-05-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

As I review CW Custom Builders' response website, I notce that they make every effort to paint me as completely unreasonable. Whether it's through total fabrications such as suggesting that I wanted a flat driveway or just misleading statements, they really want you to think that I am basically insane. I suppose this is not surprising because this is about all you are left with when the facts and evidence all show that they haven't got a leg to stand on.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to show you just how reasonable we've tried to be by sharing an email thread with you. As always, it's in reverse chronological order so you'll have to read it from the bottom to the top, but you'll notice a few things:

The long delays between some of the responses. Specifically from 5/10/07 - 5/30/07 and then 5/30/07 to 9/26/07
Notice that we tried to negotiate a reasonable resolution to the situation.
Note that at no point was CW Custom Builders willing to make things right despite overwhelming proof that the workmanship on the driveway and drainage (among many other things) was completely sub-standard.
By agreeing to pay for the drainage work we hired another contractor to perform, they are admitting (finally) that there is a problem.

Read the email thread here.

Unusable Driveway

2008-05-28T10:18:00.001-07:00

Of all the problems we've had with CW Custom Builders, possibly the most ridiculous to me is the driveway. There is no doubt that the driveway is destined to be steep, but it still needs to function as a driveway, i.e. I need to be able to get vehicles in and out of it without a crane, ramp, or 6" lift kit.

CW Custom Builders installed our driveway just days before the closing date. As you would expect, by that time we were frequently visiting the house, and we saw that the driveway was installed the day after it was done. Noticing that it was quite steep, I decided to try it out with our 1995 Toyota Camry, which everyone can agree is as average of a vehicle as it gets. Much to our dismay we could not get in or out of the driveway without scraping the bottom of the nose and tail. In fact, the only way I could manage to successfully navigate the driveway was to approach at an angle nearly parallel to the road, let the dog and wife out at the bottom, and then inch my way up.

As you can expect, we immediately raised this concern to CW to which they responded saying the driveway was "satisfactory." I beg to differ, and here's why:

As these photos will show:

the Camry had just under 2" of clearance with no one in the car
The Tbird had less than 1" of clearance with no on in the car
The 24' moving truck couldn't navigate the driveway without putting deep gouges into it.

California and Iowa have posted publications concerning the acceptable slopes of driveways and the safety implications. CW Custom Builders installed our driveway WAY outside these or any other specs I was able to find. In fact, I've only ever seen numbers on up to 15 degrees of slope, but our driveway was 18 degrees as you can see with these measurements.

As you can see from the graphic below, taken from the Iowa publication citing research from the Oregon State University, the driveway should decrease in slope as it approaches the road so that cars can get in and out.

These tables show you the real-world implications of steep driveways. Notice that the 18.33 degrees of slope that my original driveway had is completely off the charts. This was also taken from the same Iowa publication (pg 6).

To address CW Custom Builders' response to this issue:

"Lake Meadows is a development that consists of houses being built at different elevations due to the hilly terrain. This is the cause for all of the driveways in the development to be at a greater elevation than a flat building lot. "

The development is hilly, I get it. My driveway is still steep, which is fine because it's now usable. The contractor that installed it removed and entire dump truck full of dirt from the middle of the driveway in order to make the slope more consistent, and therefore usable...which was all I was asking for.

"The driveway was installed in the same manner as every other driveway in that development."

If they mean without the proper layers of crusher rock and only with finish-grade asphalt and nothing underneath, then yes, it was just as improperly installed as all the others.

"For Mr. Pelli to think that he would have a flat driveway is unreasonable and physically impossible."

Coming back to reality... I never asked for a flat driveway. I just wanted to be able to get my cars in and out of it like any other driveway.

"It is also physically impossible to change the slope of his driveway by repaving, unless you lengthen the distance from the road to the garage."

Judging from this idiotic statement, it seems clear that the useless driveway was not the result of malicious intent, but plain old incompetence. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you make the slope of the driveway increase as it approaches the road (the way the original one did) you can fix it by removing the "hump" in the middle of it and make it closer to an even slope from the garage to the street. If you still don't believe me, just drive on by any time and take a look...

"Mr. Pelli’s driveway not only passed all building codes,..."

I looked into the codes. In North Greenbush there is only a minimum slope requirement because they are concerned with water run-off. Technically a 90 degree brick wall would pass code, but it still does not mean it's usable. A reasonable person would not think that a contract has to specify that cars can be moved in and out of a driveway as that is the sole purpose of installing one.

"...but in fact was never perceived to be an issue to the Pelli’s at any point until after the closing. CW’s attorney never received any letters from Mr. Pelli’s attorney in regards to his driveway. It was not clear there was an issue until Mr. Pelli posted his issues on the website."

We didn't raise the issue? Really? This email thread shows that we contacted them 10/15/06 @ 4:03PM which was 6 days prior to closing. The driveway was only put in 24 hours prior. We even tried to just have them widen the bottom so that we could approach from a more shallow angle, but that was, of course, rejected. Read the thread and decide for yourself if CW Custom Builders lies to cover up problems.

The PROOF doesn't lie. I have photos, full email threads and measurements. What does CW Custom Builders have? Just LIES!

CW Builders' Laziness

2008-05-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

One of the single most appalling actions CW Custom Builders took during the building of the house was in the dumping of copious quantities of hideous and dangerous rocks in our back yard.

As you might guess, this was not something we asked them to do. It actually caused a few problems.

Visually, this is an eye-sore
The loose rock is a hazard for any children that might try to play on/near it, leaving me with a major liability risk.
They do nothing to combat the major drainage problems we've experienced in the back yard. The water just runs down the hill and through the rocks, ultimately collecting the improperly graded back yard leaving significant standing water that's breeding excessive quantities of insects.
They are sliding down the hill (see photo below) so clearly they are not properly stopping erosion if they are eroding themselves!
Fixing the problem is going to be 100 times more difficult now that I have to remove several metric tons of rock, and build the retaining wall around it.

All they had to do here was to email or call us to give us an option or two. Simply ask if we want to have rocks from the side of a local highway for free, or pay for a retaining wall. We even asked Linda the day that we saw it what our options where and she gave us none...just some idiotic rambling about DEC requiring that "something" be done to prevent erosion and that this is what the builder decided to do.

This is CW Custom Builders' response to this situation:

"When building in Lake Meadows we must first submit a plan to the DEC for storm water prevention and grading. This plan is then revised and approved by the DEC, which then ultimately gives CW the approval to excavate. The rocks in question were placed during the stabilization of the soil around the home, which is completed in the first few stages of construction. Mrs. Pelli did request a quote for a retaining wall to pass DEC regulations, however was turned down by CW. We turned down her request due to the proximity to the closing date. As I stated before, it takes weeks to receive DEC approval on plan revisions and she requested this quote 3 weeks prior to closing. Obviously, this would have held up the closing even longer due to this approval and installation process. A wall was installed by the Pelli’s following the closing."
Here's the key points to this ridiculous response:

Even if the request was made too close to the closing date (which it was NOT), some options could still have been given. For example tell us we have to pay an extra $3,000 to delay closing. The builder only pays tax on the property, not the house so his holding costs are not exactly astronomical, and a wall can be put in in 2 days. I know this is true because that's how long the contractor took to do the wall after the fact.
Once again, the delay is not the issue. Go ahead and submit whatever needed to DEC. If it doesn't come back until after the closing, so what...then you do it once we're moved in. We never said it had to be completed before the closing date.
The real issue is the lack of customer service. If they cannot be bothered to present one or two options to the homeowner, just imagine how the rest of the process must have gone.

I am just grateful that I don't have any children because there is no way I could have let them play in that backyard. In fact, my newest neighbor specifically told CW Custom Builders that dumping rocks in his backyard was NOT an option because of his 3 yr old son...so it looks like I am not alone in my concern.

There's no "Custom" in CW Custom Builders

2008-05-28T09:15:00.001-07:00

At my last house, I maintained a lush, green carpet of a lawn. I wanted to have the same thing at this house, but CW Custom Builders took the opportunity to show me what false advertising their name really is.

We asked in the beginning to have our own seed used on the lawn. This was rejected. We offered to do it ourselves...also rejected. Then we offered to hire another contractor to do it at our expense. Still rejected. We tried every option we could think of to get the Kentucky Bluegrass that I wanted but they would not do any of it. All of it was flatly rejected without any explanation. No matter what, they would only use their seed, and would only allow their subcontractor to do it.

At no point did they give us any indication that they were in any way willing to help us find a way to get the Kentucky Bluegrass lawn I was looking for despite making it clear that I would happily incur all the expense.

This is now CW Custom Builders' stance on this:

"It was explained to Mr. Pelli that the type of seed used in seeding and stabilizing his future lawn was submitted and approved by the DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION. To use Mr. Pelli’s type of seed and contractor CW would have needed to re-submit to the DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION for revised approval. Significant time would have been lost due to this re-submission, which was also explained to Mr. Pelli at the time he requested his own seed be used."

As you can guess from my statements above, the "explanation" they are referring to is a total fabrication. In fact, until I read about it on their website, I had no idea why it was turned down.

The most obvious way to figure out the truth here is to ask yourself, "Why would the homeowner have banged his head into the wall for so long if they had explained what was going on?" Furthermore, why wouldn't I have simply approved the resubmittion to DEC, especially when we've already determined that I was in no particular hurry? This story just doesn't even make sense.

Linda, CW Custom Builder's Incompetent Realtor

2008-05-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

I'll start by saying that while my wife and I found Linda to be far more of a problem than a help every single step of the way, we are by no means the only ones. Literally EVERY neighbor I have talked to has said the same thing. Most people found that simply circumventing her was the best policy, and I again challenge CW to find neighbors that feel otherwise.

I cited a particular situation where Linda gave us the option to place the ledger board either on one side of the back door or the other. As this was still at the very beginning of the process we still thought she knew what she was doing and therefore assumed that when she presented two options, those were truly the options. When we did the final walk-through, the person conducting the walk-through asked us why we put the entire 12' board where we did, and said that the workers were confused as to why we had done this since there was no way to connect the deck to the back door. He told us that we could have split that 12' length into smaller segments to more appropriately join the deck to the house.

There is so much fiction worked into CW Custom Builders' response to this matter that I'll have to pick it apart line by line...

"Linda Tidd-Dickstein has been the primary listing agent for most of Lake Meadows subdivision for a reason...she is a great real estate agent. "

We all know that there are many reasons why someone might have gotten an opportunity like this that has nothing to do with job skill or work-related merits. Given my opening statements, I see no evidence that she is even an average Realtor...a sentiment shared by (and I cannot stress this enough) literally every single person I've talked to in this development.

"She not only listed Lake Meadows for CW, but many other builders contracted to build in the development."

This is true.

"She not only cares about her customers, but also repeatedly sells their homes."

This is total fiction. If you've read any of this blog you know that she's only interested in money. Once she got our contract signed, she was nearly impossible to work with. And to say that she "repeatedly sells their homes" is total fiction. To the best of my knowledge, there is not one SINGLE person int he development that has used her to sell their home. I've seen many homes for sale in the development over the last couple years and NO ONE used her...which should be a strong indication.

"She has customers that have bought and sold houses through her many times over her real estate career."

I really cannot attest to the truth of this. I have only had the misfortune of knowing her for a short time and have no idea what her career has been like, but I can make some guesses based on her "popularity" in the development.

"Mr. Pelli did not bring this "issue" up to anyone prior to closing or even after closing. It was not until CW viewed it on cwstinks.com did they know his feelings on the matter."

Since I was not made aware that she sold me down the river until hours before closing, I am not sure how (other than time travel) I could have done much to affect any change in the situation. I guess that makes the statement true, though also absurd.

"Another instance where Mr. Pelli did not follow the proper punch list claim policy."

Again, still not sure how I could have done much here, nor am I sure how this becomes a punch list issue. Once the board is on the wall and the siding is on...you're quite committed.

CW Custom Builders Can't Read Blueprints

2008-05-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

This issue centers around a dividing wall that separates the dinning room from the kitchen. In the original design presented to us there was a wall with a doorway in the middle. We were fine with this as it gave us a good place to put our hanging pot rack.

One day we went to the house with Linda and found that they had failed to construct this wall. It was just simply not there. Linda told us that she suspected that CW Custom Builders had confused our blueprints with another couple's because the other house was not supposed to have the wall. While this seems silly, it was certainly not the biggest deal in the world.

We decided that since it opened up the space nicely, we would only ask for half the wall to be put up. We considered it both a mutually beneficial scenario since it meant half the work for CW and we got something we liked in return. To be clear, CW Custom Builders DID put this 2 foot wall in for us as we requested, and I do NOT recall much issue surrounding it. They did solve this problem to our satisfaction.

The remaining point of contention here is that they are now trying to call me a liar and stating that the wall was not on the blueprints.

"All customers at CW are to sign off on plans prior to any excavation. This policy is put into place to correct any errors prior to the construction of the home. The missing wall Mr. Pelli described in a prior comment was not on the blue prints that he signed. This is another reason why the "missing wall" was not installed during the framing process."

Here's Linda's unaltered response (other than bolding the important text) to the email where we asked about this missing wall:

On 6/24/06, *Linda Tidd-Dickstein COLDWELL BANKER* > wrote:

Hi Alex, I have forwarded your e-mail to Rob Lupe, as I have all
other e-mails regarding this issue. As far as me meeting you
every Sunday at 12:30, I am not available every Sunday at that
time. I will certainly do my best to meet you there when it is
suits both of our schedules. I have out of town buyers and
weekends are their only time. I am sure we can rectify this issue
so please do not stress over it and I am sure if you talk to all
your neighbors you will find they love their homes and are very
happy with the house they are living in.. We certainly have had
issues, but we do take care of them. The floor plan was changed
on one of the houses previously with the dining room wall
opened. That is what they wanted. I am not sure why it was the
same on your house. They may have decided they liked it this way
better. If you want that wall put back to the origonal black
lines I will talk to Rob about that too.
Linda

This seems to imply that the wall WAS supposed to be there...

I took this image from the CW Custom Builders website on 5/29/08 which quite clearly shows that the design of the "sandpiper" house calls for these walls to be there:

As mentioned before, we planned to put the pot rack just to the left of the pantry (the right wall segment). To say that the plans did not call for these walls is, as you can plainly see, a total LIE!

Bait & Switch, or just CW Builder's Incompetance?

2008-05-28T07:46:00.001-07:00

Right from the beginning of the process Linda instructed us not to take too long in selecting our flooring, fixtures, appliances, etc because she didn't want that to delay the build. This was stressed to us repeatedly by Linda, the Realtor. My wife and I simply wanted to check things off the to-do list as quickly as possible so we obliged and went ahead with the selections. Within 6 weeks we had selected the lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures + options and the flooring. We tried to select the appliances but the vendor wouldn't let us do it any more than 6 weeks ahead of the closing date. We tried, but they didn't want to commit to pricing and availability too far ahead and that's something I completely understand because they have costs associated with storing the items purchased.

As it turned out, the builder changed lighting vendors a month after we made the selections, but we were never notified. It wasn't until we asked Linda about the lighting that she mentioned this to us. Additionally, it meant we had to pick all the items out again, with the new vendor. If that wasn't bad enough, due to the fact that we had waited over a year since we selected our flooring, much of it was no longer available, so we had to make another trip to Schenectady (30+ minutes) to pick that out a second time as well. Topping this off...we would have had the same problem with the plumbing vendor if we hadn't gotten them to sign a contract for the items when we picked them out because they changed to a different deal. We would have had to pay more than 3 times as much for lesser-quality goods if we were actually forced to go with the new packaged deals they started offering. What should have taken us 1 week to do, took us 2-3 times as long because we had to repeatedly do the same things.

AT NO TIME WERE WE EVER NOTIFIED OF THESE CHANGES! The only way we found out was when we called Linda to schedule walk-throughs of the house and my wife actually brought up the topic of lighting selections that we were told that they had switched vendors.
I challenge CW Custom Builders to produce any proof whatsoever that we were EVER notified by any means initiated by CW Custom Builders or any of their associated employees, contractors, vendors, etc.

CW Custom Builder's response to this issue:
"Mr. Pelli & Mrs. Pelli were notified of the potential time delay at the signing of the contract, but still moved forward with the contract. They were aware at all times that we could not give them a target closing date or ground breaking timeline. However, they proceeded to move forward with selections and vendor visits.

Our policy for selections which is stated in Mr. Pelli’s contract is the following “All changes, amendments or alterations requested by the Buyer, which affect the construction of said dwelling (to include selection of standard features, optional features or structural changes) must be made within fourteen (14) days of signing of this contract”. As we knew the construction would be delayed this was never enforced in Mr. Pelli’s contract. Fortunately for Mr. Pelli we did change lighting vendors, but to only provide our customers with better quality fixtures and service at reasonable prices. At the time of the switch we apologized for the inconvenience and nothing was said by Mr. Pelli at the time."

The Truth:
I know of no such provision in the contract. It may exist, but even if it does it would be impossible to execute it because the vendors they selected won't allow you to complete the process on that time line. By accepting our selections and the time line they were made on and not raising even one single peep in opposition to the alleged breach, they have accepted the new terms so this entire point is moot.

The rest of their response is just a lie. Again, I challenge CW Custom Builders to produce one SHRED of proof of what they are claiming.

The underhanded contract "negotiations"

2008-05-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

This really comes down to he said, she said. I am not sure that I am creative enough to come up with this whole story out of thin air, so you'll have to decide this one for yourself.

I can say however that the very first line of CW Custom Builders' response is 100% false. If I really felt like paying my lawyer's hourly rate, I could get the paper trail from him that documents the requested changes that were flatly denied by the builder. In fact I'll make the commitment that if any potential CW customer wishes to see this info, I'll happily bear the expense of requesting it from Brown and Brown.

I can also say that no one is arguing that it is important for the builder to have a provision in the contract to protect against unneeded delays in closing. What we were requesting was for that to be modified to allow for things like missing deliverables to be exempt...nothing too Earth-shattering...

My side of the story:

Linda rushed us through the sign-up phase, telling us that we could get into the house sooner if we were able to get the paperwork in ahead of another buyer she was working with. We then contacted our lawyer, and tried to get the paperwork to him quickly. Since Linda couldn't figure out how to use the copy machine that day, she had to deliver our copy of the papers later. Well, that turned out to delay the delivery to our lawyer enough to miss the deadline to get changes made to it. This meant that we were forced to deal with some less than ideal clauses including one that stated that if we delayed closing, for any reason, we'd be charged $2,000. Our lawyer asked to make some small changes, but of course, all were denied by the builder.

The CW Custom Builders side of the story:

At no time was Mr. Pelli's lawyer denied the request to make alterations to the contract. The attorney approval clause in our contract is in place for 7 days. Within these 7 days the builder/buyer may cancel the contract for any reason. Mr. Pelli could have at this time cancelled the contract due to the impending time delay, but he did not choose to do so. Yes, Coldwell Banker’s copy machine was out of service on the day the contract was signed, but Linda Tidd-Dickstein delivered the contract the very next day.

Our contract has provisions in place to not only protect the buyer, but also the builder. In this case, the closing penalty in place for buyers failing to close was put in place for a reason. Some instances have occurred where a buyer fails to close on a property for 4 weeks due to issues on their side of the deal, but CW is forced to hold a house that entire time. CW cannot be responsible for buyer financing issues or buyer attorney issues, which is why the provision is in place.

Beginning of the Deal with CW Custom Builders

2008-05-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

In this post I'll explain how the discussions went in the beginning when Linda was trying to get us to sign the contract.

CW Custom Builders says:

"We at no time led the Pelli’s to believe their future home would not be delayed. CW tried to keep the Pelli’s up to date on the DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION approval process, but was unable to provide them with a closing date until we actually started construction. During the contract process Mr. Pelli was told its going to take a while to build the home and he replied with “that is fine, we are in no hurry”."

Honestly, most of this is true. We did state that we were in no particular hurry because, well, we weren't. There was mention of past delays from the DEC, yes. That's about the end of the truth however.

Where this starts to to awry is in the omission of the fact that Linda did 2 shady things. First was her insistence that 2 other couples were getting their paperwork in soon and in order to get the house built within the 4-6 month approximated time line, we would need to move quickly because they are built in the order that the contracts are signed. Secondly, she assured us that the issues with the DEC that delayed most of the other homeowners were related to the road and drainage. Both of these she said were now resolved, so they did not expect to have the significant delays that we'd heard of from other folks.

In talking with neighbors at the last neighborhood softball match, I found out that Linda used the same tactics with many other customers. It is apparently standard practice for her to state that there are other folks just about to submit contracts and that moving quickly would be necessary. Sounds like an unscrupulous used car salesman approach to me.

Ultimately, the fact that it took us more than 14 months to complete the build is not the end of the world. Luckily we did not heed Linda's strong recommendation to sell our house as soon as we signed the paperwork. Had we done that, we'd have been homeless for 13 months. For this particular part of the disagreement with CW Custom Builders the blame has to lie 90% with Linda Dickstein.

Interestingly enough, I've noticed that she's no longer their Lake Meadows Realtor...

Who is This Raving Lunatic?

2007-12-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

You are surely wondering what manner of crazy person I am, so I will give you a bit of background on where I come from, and give you a window into who I am. I ask that if you know me, please leave a comment (anonymous or not) and either confirm or deny anything you see on this posting. I think it's important that the readers know that I am not some mean-spirited evil-doer, but rather a concerned citizen looking out for the best interest of others.

The Battleground:

http://cwreallystinks.com
http://cwreallystinksresponse.com

Who am I:

I am an average Joe, just like you. I'm an RPI alumnus, currently working as the Director of Operations for a Software and Services company located in the RPI Technology Park. In addition, I am one of 4 co owners of an IT consulting company located right here in the Capital District of New York. I also am an active member of St. Mary's in East Greenbush where I am a Eucharistic Minister, Usher, and Webmaster.

A native of northern Maine, I understand what it means to be an honest, hardworking man. Honorable parents, and working on the farm taught me to be an honorable, moral, and just person that is mindful of the needs of others.

Politically, I am a libertarian and hold many conservative beliefs and values. In my every day life, I strive to exercise good judgement based on my religious and moral views, and for the most part I am successful.

Normally, I am not a spiteful person, but my wife and I were wronged so badly by CW Custom Builders that I could not stand the thought of someone else falling for their lies and deceit. I hope that my efforts will help others to avoid a dishonorable business, as well as their irresponsible and incompetent Realtor, Linda Dickstein.

CW Custom Builders Wins Morons of the Year Award!

2007-12-23T13:36:00.001-08:00

OK, honestly, this one is just amazing.

These are the leaks we're discussing in this post: Leaks
For the full story about the way this went down back on 7/28/2006, read the email thread.

"The “leaks” described by Mr. Pelli were investigated and either determined to be leaks due to no siding/weather wrap or the construction of the home was not finished. At the time Mr. Pelli issued the complaints we notified him that construction of his home was not nearly completed. Weather wrap was installed prior to insulating, which would provide a sufficient barrier for the elements. The seam of the weather wrap was placed on the break in the floor at the beginning of the second floor, which would also prohibit any leaking through any other holes or cracks described by Mr. Pelli. New homes are constructed with venting for specific purposes, which indicates that homes are not “water-tight”. Homes built that do not have sufficient air flow will not pass energy star requirements and therefore would not be labeled an energy star home."

The Leak that really bothered me, is the that was caused by the improper installation of the boot on the exterior of this sewer vent. If you look carefully, you'll see the tiny white spot where the PVC pipe goes through the roof...yup, that's daylight. You can also see the 3 drops of water still clinging to the bottom of the elbow...

The opening line of the last paragraph directly refutes what CW Custom Builders says about the cause. In fact, it was Adam, their own employee, that said first that he thought it was condensation back when he "fixed" it the first time. And before that Dustin, the foreman, said he tried to fix the problem from the exterior of the roof, which you can read about in the email thread mentioned above. Neither of those explanations has anything to do with a lack of weather wrapping, siding, or completed construction. In fact, when we pointed it out, the roofing was already completed, so frankly, this is a bold-faced lie.

As you can read in the email thread, we raised this concern more a year prior to the damage you can see in this picture, or the others pictures, taken in August of 2007:

To directly address each point...
If the weather wrap would have provided a sufficient barrier to the elements, then why is it that there was water pouring into the structure? When CW Custom Builders puts up the walls on the second level of any of their homes, they put hte weather wrap on prior to erecting the wall, which means that it's on the outside if the wall is standing...just as is the case in my photos. I guess that weather wrap was not properly installed was it? In fact, I can prove it wasn't because this photo clearly shows a 1" gap between the upper and lower. Properly installed wrapping is overlapped so that the water running off the top layer, doesnt hit the bottom layer until lower than where the overlapping occurs.

"The seam of the weather wrap was placed on the break in the floor at the beginning of the second floor, which would also prohibit any leaking through any other holes or cracks described by Mr. Pelli."

I guess this is supposed to indicate that I am lying about the leaks? Well if that's the case, my Photoshop skills are incredible!

So let's see...they have managed in that one quote to try refuting photographic evidence, and call me a liar based on what evidence exactly? CW Custom Builders, both dishonest, and stupid, a real winning combination.

CW Custom Builders Classic Deception

2007-12-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is a perfect example of how CW Custom Builders, LLC will try to shift focus away from the point and hide the truth with misleading information.

"The condenser pump was faulty, but immediately fixed by the contractor who supplied and installed it. To this date we have not had any other condenser pump problems. For Mr. Pelli to say we use inferior or low quality parts is far from the truth. Mr. Pelli’s house was certified by an Energy Star specialist as having a home in the top tier of energy star efficiency as you can see on the side bar link."

Firstly, it was not "immediately" fixed. As with everything else, it takes hounding Stacy to get them to finally break down and send someone out. I've had to leave work approximately 15 times over the last ONE year, just so I can let them in to fix problems with the house that I had to basically harass them to even come out and fix.

Secondly the HVAC guy that "fixed" the pump, simply removed a retaining clip that prevented the water from draining back into the collection container. Since I was trying to be reasonable, I allowed the jerry-rigged repair, rather than a replacement. Frankly though, I wish I hadn't. It's going to cause the pump to turn on more frequently and burn out faster because some of the water will be left in the collection area, causing it to reach maximum capacity sooner.

Most importantly, the "energy star" rating has NOTHING to do with plumbing. I was here when they came to do the Energy Star inspection and was able to talk to the guy that did it, despite the fact that it should have been done prior to my moving in. The only thing that they test is how air-tight the home is. They attach large fans to the exterior door and blow air in and out to see the amount of resistance. This tells them how well sealed the home is. That's it.

As you can see, the comment about the "Energy Star Rating" is total misdirection. It has nothing to do with the fact that CW Custom Builders installed a condenser pump that failed in less than 12 months.

I shouldn't have to worry about finding this in the basement of my brand new home:

CW Custom Builders and the Broken Ball Valve

2007-12-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

This one is one of my favorites. Here's the quote from CW Custom Builders' response website:

"The ball valve was not broken prior to Mr. Pelli attempting to install a sediment filter in his home."

The background on this story is that when I installed the sediment filter on my home's water line, we discovered another place where CW Custom Builders took the cheap way out and used junk parts. There is a main water shut-off just after the line enters the house, and there is a small valve just before the pex distribution block. This way, you can close the valve and keep the water from draining out of the lines all through the house, if you need to work on the main line. Pretty logical.

In order to install the filter, I shut both valves off so that I could cut the line, and insert the filter in-line between the two valves. The installation was a breeze, and at no point was I within even 8 FT of any of the parts in question here.

When we turned the water back on, we found that there was no water in any part of the house. We spent the next 2 hours trying to figure out what we could have done wrong, only to discover that it was the ball valve. It was stuck in the closed position, despite the lever being in the open position.

Take note of the black lever on top of the valve. You'll see it in the open and closed position, but that the ball on the inside is closed in both:

I gather from the quote above that CW doesn't believe that I ever should have used that valve...that it was there only for decoration. You be the judge here, but it seems pretty reasonable that if a valve exists, it should be able to be opened and closed at least a few times before it fails.

They later go on to say, "Home buyers trying to install add-ons to a system they are not certified on will cause problems in any event."

Well, firstly, I am a home "owner" not a home "buyer" but that's beside the point. The bottom line here is that I did not alter the piece that broke in any way. I merely utilized it in way consistent with the manufacturer's intent. I shut the valve by turning it 90 degrees to one side, then turned it back to the original position. I may not be a genius, but I do have a 4 year degree from RPI, so I think I can handle operating a simple ball valve.

CW Feels Threatened

2007-12-23T06:09:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, I allowed anger to affect my judgement with this one, but if you read my story, you'll start to understand why I resorted to such measures as sending CW Custom Builders a sample of the mold they caused in my home.

They state, "Mr. Pelli did not inform CW of any issues in a professional manner after the closing, but instead sent the package pictured below. Even after viewing CWstink.com, CW made it their goal to remedy any issues with the home."

Firstly, what difference does it make whether I notified them in a "professional" manner? Further, I challenge CW Custom Builders or anyone else to show me one shred of evidence that they "made it their goal to remedy any issues" in my home. I have been met with nothing but resistance from day one and have endured 14 months of having to resort to ridiculous measures to get them to come to the house to fix anything.

For example, our kitchen faucet recently stopped working. The water dribbled out at 1 gallon per 3.5 minutes and the sprayer no longer worked because of that lack of pressure. We asked repeatedly for them to send a person to fix it, but they wouldn't. They even said that if they sent someone out, it would void our warranty!!! I had to resort to video recording a glass filling with water and emailing it to CW before they would send someone.

Lastly, there was no threat made since I in no way indicated that I would inflict harm upon them. I simply indicated that cwstinks.com was not going to be the only place I would tell my story and that I would do everything in my power to ensure that any future buyers are aware of what happened to me.

Interestingly enough, I have been met with nothing but praise from all my neighbors who saw my website and had similar problems. Others had drainage issues, dishonesty from the realtor and builder alike, and one even had huge amounts of mud sliding into her basement through the bulk-head doors. The common thread is that CW Custom Builders resisted correcting the problem in every single case.

CW Builders Policies

2007-12-23T05:29:00.000-08:00

Let's start with a little background on CW Custom Builder's "No Entry" policy. First of all, you can just barely make out the date at the top of the page and it reads "08/04/06". Interestingly enough, this proves that I did not sign this document until WAY into the build. In fact, they started framing mid-summer of 2006. This photo was taken on 7/31/06:

As you can see, the walls were closed up at this point, and the majority of the issues we had with CW Custom Builder's workmanship were exposed prior to sheet rocking and painting.

Additionally, we tried to have a standing appointment with the realtor to have her take us through the property but she flat refused. In fact, we were told that we would have to schedule appointment at least 2 weeks in advance.

Since we'd already found that they were going to cover up a hole they punched in the exterior of the house, we were understandably concerned that with that amount of notice, they would simply cover up whatever indiscretions existed.

For details on that story read the full email thread and see pictures here: Hole In Wall Email
The summary of it is as follows:
1. We notified CW Customer Builders of the hole and asked that it be repaired.
2. CW responded, "...the house will be energy star rated and that this will not affect that at all."
3. We wondered how that was even remotely an acceptable answer.

CW Custom Builders Lies

2007-12-23T05:06:00.000-08:00

Today we begin to pick apart the lies and deceit that CW Custom Builders has posted in http://cwreallystinksresponse.com.

"Mr. Pelli first posted cwstinks.com in the name of his employers...as seen on the side bar document. It was not until CW's attorney sent Mr. Pelli's employer a letter did the website come down. Mr. Pelli then posted 3 other sites that are all linked by cwstinks.com."

Firstly, I don't see how this is a response to what I wrote. I posted information about who I am and what my background is so that readers would see that I am just an average Joe that knows how to utilize the power of the Internet to level the playing field between shady businesses like CW Custom Builders and individuals such as myself. How is talking about trying to get me in trouble with my employer a response to that?

Secondly, this is the first I've heard of any such letter. I had no idea they sent anything to my employer, though I find it hilarious.

The real story is that back when I first created the GoDaddy account that I used to register cwstinks.com it was prior to my employment at Innovectra. Years later, Innovectra had a need to register a domain for a customer whose domain was improperly printed in the phone book. Being that they were still very small and cash-strapped, I simply registered the customer's domain in my existing GoDaddy account. Because I was registering the domain on the company's behalf, I thought nothing of using my work contact information.

Years later, when this whole issue with C.W. Custom Builders started, I used this account once again to register the domain. When one day my boss came to my office and mentioned that he thought it was a good time to split the account into an Innovectra-specific and personal account, I frankly thought nothing of it. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable request, and that's what I did.

Innovectra had nothing to do with cwstinks.com and never will. The only common thread was that I used my job title and work phone number in the registration information about 4.5 years ago.

Lastly, the comment that the three other sites are "linked" by cwstinks.com is untrue. Where exactly do you see links from cwstinks.com to any other site? So all in all, CW wrote three sentences, and the only truth was when they said that they tried to get one of their customers fired...interesting...

Setting the Tone

2007-12-13T17:17:00.000-08:00

To get this out of the way now, and properly set the tone, I need to illustrate a few points. This blog directly addresses the builder's response website and the lies that are contained therein, and it supplements the existing site that exposes CW Custom Builders for who they really are.

Though I will methodically pick apart the entire ordeal with CW Custom Builders, it is important to note that the point of this exercise is not to dwell on any single issue. If I had had experienced only a small portion of the issues, there would be no blog, no other websites, and frankly no quarrel.

The main message that I hope readers will take away from this blog is that doing business with CW Custom Builders is simply not a wise decision. They have no problem hiding problems from their customers, being difficult to deal with 100% of the time, and will even threaten to sue their own customers. (More on this later...)

I will be the first to admit that home construction is nearly impossible to keep on schedule, and even harder to do without any problems arising. With so many people involved, mistakes happen, paperwork is lost, and schedules thrown off...that's just reality.

If you decide you really must get into bed with CW, then just please do so with open eyes, and watch them very closely. I hope that this blog turns out to be helpful to at least a few people, and if I am able to save even one person the agony that my wife and I endured, then it will have all been worth it!

The Next Chapter

2007-12-13T17:07:00.001-08:00

And so begins phase two...