Custom WoodCraft Builders Ripped Me Off for $11K - WATCH OUT! Indianapolis Indiana

Please re-tract my comments.

As the author of the original report, I would like to have my comments retracted. I have asked this website to remove all my negative comments, but their policy and many request do not allow such. Please review the article posted by the owner of Custom Woodcraft Builders (CWB). Any and all disagreements with that company were based on false information from subcontractors and not the result of company management. In fact, once company management was made aware of the issues I had, the subcontractors were immediately dismissed and I was refunded of my deposit even though my contract stated that deposits were non-refundable. CWB owner and myself have worked together to create a new company policy about projects that are contracted but the subsequently cancelled. Any misunderstandings that I had with CWB is 100% rectified and I have not been ripped off in any.

Please re-tract my comments.

As the author of the original report, I would like to have my comments retracted. I have asked this website to remove all my negative comments, but their policy and many request do not allow such. Please review the article posted by the owner of Custom Woodcraft Builders (CWB). Any and all disagreements with that company were based on false information from subcontractors and not the result of company management. In fact, once company management was made aware of the issues I had, the subcontractors were immediately dismissed and I was refunded of my deposit even though my contract stated that deposits were non-refundable. CWB owner and myself have worked together to create a new company policy about projects that are contracted but the subsequently cancelled. Any misunderstandings that I had with CWB is 100% rectified and I have not been ripped off in any way.

We only wish we had met Michael Slate sooner. By the time Custom Woodcraft Builders was contracted, Mike had already bought unengineered blueprints on line, hired a log manufacutrer to build, paid the log manufacuter to start and actually started contruction of the log package from these blueprints bought on line from who knows where. He had put the cart before the horse not checking permits, construction viability or Indiana code. He had not done any soil sampling on his property or checked to see if the plans he had paid for would even fit on his property. Hard cost research to build this project in its entirety was not.

At our very first meeting when he gave me the plans and then told me his range he wanted to end up, I clearly said 'no way you can build this house for that money'. We immediately started drawing new plans cutting off 1/3 of the house. Knowing his 'upside down' situation, we cut our plan drawing hourly rate from $80 to $50 just to get things fixed and try to help make up for the hole he got himself into.

Mike asked me to copy his plans (as he did not actual own the ones he bought), dropping one third of the house. We stated we could do that for about $1000. After this was completed for the $1000, Mike made more changes. Every change he made, takes our arhitecht time and money. This adding to the plans cost more and Mike was aware of this (email support). The plans he bought were also not engineered for Indiana code and no building permit could have been obtained with the plans he 'purchased' on line. Also, upon taking the time to meet with him 1 hour away on his property and atually staking out where he wanted the house, the garage and porch on the plans would not fit the area. We took the time needed to drive there, bring our crew and other subs and every one advised Mike that the plans would not work as drawn.

It seemed that in the year he had this property and these plans - this due diligence had never been done. In the end, for less than $2000, the plans were all redrawn with his changes, with the changes reflecting the property limitations and the Indiana code requirements. (Note- although he wanted the plan changes and agreed to the additional cost that would be added to change the plans, after the work on the plans was completed he did not want to pay for these plan changes so to help him out it was done at cost.)

We were paid a $9500 deposit separate from the floor plan drawing project. For that we met down at his property - 3 times. Met with his already contrated log manufacturer and tried to help Mike renegotiate with him due to new reduced plans (we actually stayed down there one day and helped strip his logs). We put together an entire budget will all subs quoting all aspects of the house from begining to end. We met with the Brown County building department to go over all permit requirements and building approval. We designed and laidout a Presby septic system and got approval for it. We met with the customer numerous times including his whole family, down at the property to show him what was going on so he would be part of the process.

All of this work, due diligence, actual hard quotes from subs and information beeing provided cannot be done by any professional general contractor without being paid and contracted. We want to make sure the cusotmer is serious and committed to building before we do all the leg work. It seems his commitment was not as great as ours.

Soil samples were ordered and completed along with the needed survery work. We were acting as the general contractor as we were hired to be to get this project started. Then Mike got the budget with all the changes HE requested and were required based on his property and Indiana code and he did not like the budget.

When we met Mike, he was told we could build his house according to the plans he presented us for $150/sq. ft. The plans changed signigicantly from what was first presented to me. Also, the price of building a house does not include the fact that the house would be 600 feet from the property access with an emense amount of clearing of trees and access space needs to be made. A large culvert needs to be dug with drain pipe just to get access to the property - all for about $20,000. These are items needed to even start the building process.

Mike had already contracted and started building a log package for a house he just cut by 1/3 and the log manufaturer would not refund the difference (I would not refund it either - the logs were bought, hand hewn and work had begun).As per Mike's request, a walk out basement was added. The house had a complete wrap around porch - so that square footage needs accounted for as well. There is easily $100,000 worth of expenditires outside of the basic house that are outside of our control.

Mr. Slate refers to his project as a '2100 sq. ft. box'. That 'box' is made of 20" hand hewn full round logs with a log truss entrance. It also has a 1000 sq. ft. wrap around porch with a roof. There is a loft with hand cut wood stairs. The roof is all SIPS (stuctural insulated panels). All interior walls and ceiling are tongue & groove - no drywall - all wood. All the logs are hand cut, pre stacked and moved and restacked on site. It has a large stone fireplace with a stone chimney. There is a full walk-out basement and it has a 2 car garage. $500,000 would have been a deal for a home of this type and he only wanted to spend $300,00. That is not reality for the custom log home described above.

Our pricing system, for Mike, was a complete - open book - show him the reciepts, cost plus. We agreed on a GC percentage fee - but all materials, all subs, every nail, every window was not to be marked up $1 and he could pay all reciepts directly. We also were using any and all industry relationships and contractor discounts to pass these savings on to him. We also were not charging him the travel and gas for a job over 1 hour away. Any place we could save him money to re-coop his log package 'hole', we were offering.

Mike cancelled this project - walking away from over $60,000 invested in a log package and just over $10,000 with us. This can happen when someone is having money problems and 'bit off more than he could chew'. I have continued to contact Mike to show him other ways he could reduce his costs.

All blueprints, budgets, emails, notes, contract copies anything needed to show that Custom Woodcraft Builders did, has done, and is doing all it can to help this customer - all customers - is available upon request.

Thank you.
David M. Marquart, President
Custom Woodcraft Builders, Inc.

We only wish we had met Michael Slate sooner. By the time Custom Woodcraft Builders was contracted, Mike had already bought unengineered blueprints on line, hired a log manufacutrer to build, paid the log manufacuter to start and actually started contruction of the log package from these blueprints bought on line from who knows where. He had put the cart before the horse not checking permits, construction viability or Indiana code. He had not done any soil sampling on his property or checked to see if the plans he had paid for would even fit on his property. Hard cost research to build this project in its entirety was not.

At our very first meeting when he gave me the plans and then told me his range he wanted to end up, I clearly said 'no way you can build this house for that money'. We immediately started drawing new plans cutting off 1/3 of the house. Knowing his 'upside down' situation, we cut our plan drawing hourly rate from $80 to $50 just to get things fixed and try to help make up for the hole he got himself into.

Mike asked me to copy his plans (as he did not actual own the ones he bought), dropping one third of the house. We stated we could do that for about $1000. After this was completed for the $1000, Mike made more changes. Every change he made, takes our arhitecht time and money. This adding to the plans cost more and Mike was aware of this (email support). The plans he bought were also not engineered for Indiana code and no building permit could have been obtained with the plans he 'purchased' on line. Also, upon taking the time to meet with him 1 hour away on his property and atually staking out where he wanted the house, the garage and porch on the plans would not fit the area. We took the time needed to drive there, bring our crew and other subs and every one advised Mike that the plans would not work as drawn.

It seemed that in the year he had this property and these plans - this due diligence had never been done. In the end, for less than $2000, the plans were all redrawn with his changes, with the changes reflecting the property limitations and the Indiana code requirements. (Note- although he wanted the plan changes and agreed to the additional cost that would be added to change the plans, after the work on the plans was completed he did not want to pay for these plan changes so to help him out it was done at cost.)

We were paid a $9500 deposit separate from the floor plan drawing project. For that we met down at his property - 3 times. Met with his already contrated log manufacturer and tried to help Mike renegotiate with him due to new reduced plans (we actually stayed down there one day and helped strip his logs). We put together an entire budget will all subs quoting all aspects of the house from begining to end. We met with the Brown County building department to go over all permit requirements and building approval. We designed and laidout a Presby septic system and got approval for it. We met with the customer numerous times including his whole family, down at the property to show him what was going on so he would be part of the process.

All of this work, due diligence, actual hard quotes from subs and information beeing provided cannot be done by any professional general contractor without being paid and contracted. We want to make sure the cusotmer is serious and committed to building before we do all the leg work. It seems his commitment was not as great as ours.

Soil samples were ordered and completed along with the needed survery work. We were acting as the general contractor as we were hired to be to get this project started. Then Mike got the budget with all the changes HE requested and were required based on his property and Indiana code and he did not like the budget.

When we met Mike, he was told we could build his house according to the plans he presented us for $150/sq. ft. The plans changed signigicantly from what was first presented to me. Also, the price of building a house does not include the fact that the house would be 600 feet from the property access with an emense amount of clearing of trees and access space needs to be made. A large culvert needs to be dug with drain pipe just to get access to the property - all for about $20,000. These are items needed to even start the building process.

Mike had already contracted and started building a log package for a house he just cut by 1/3 and the log manufaturer would not refund the difference (I would not refund it either - the logs were bought, hand hewn and work had begun).As per Mike's request, a walk out basement was added. The house had a complete wrap around porch - so that square footage needs accounted for as well. There is easily $100,000 worth of expenditires outside of the basic house that are outside of our control.

Mr. Slate refers to his project as a '2100 sq. ft. box'. That 'box' is made of 20" hand hewn full round logs with a log truss entrance. It also has a 1000 sq. ft. wrap around porch with a roof. There is a loft with hand cut wood stairs. The roof is all SIPS (stuctural insulated panels). All interior walls and ceiling are tongue & groove - no drywall - all wood. All the logs are hand cut, pre stacked and moved and restacked on site. It has a large stone fireplace with a stone chimney. There is a full walk-out basement and it has a 2 car garage. $500,000 would have been a deal for a home of this type and he only wanted to spend $300,00. That is not reality for the custom log home described above.

Our pricing system, for Mike, was a complete - open book - show him the reciepts, cost plus. We agreed on a GC percentage fee - but all materials, all subs, every nail, every window was not to be marked up $1 and he could pay all reciepts directly. We also were using any and all industry relationships and contractor discounts to pass these savings on to him. We also were not charging him the travel and gas for a job over 1 hour away. Any place we could save him money to re-coop his log package 'hole', we were offering.

Mike cancelled this project - walking away from over $60,000 invested in a log package and just over $10,000 with us. This can happen when someone is having money problems and 'bit off more than he could chew'. I have continued to contact Mike to show him other ways he could reduce his costs.

All blueprints, budgets, emails, notes, contract copies anything needed to show that Custom Woodcraft Builders did, has done, and is doing all it can to help this customer - all customers - is available upon request.

Thank you.
David M. Marquart, President
Custom Woodcraft Builders, Inc.