Heels 2 Hammers LLC Christina Murphy ,Poor workmanship and zero accountability. Will not provide a breakdown of materils purchased. She used my materials purchased in another home and will not procvde any backup. The workmanship is horrible Livingston Texas

​Please consider this letter Heels 2 Hammers, LLC’s formal response to the baseless complaint in the above-referenced matter. I, Christi Murphy, am the sole owner of the construction company, Heels 2 Hammers, LLC. Heels 2 Hammers, LLC was contracted to remediate the Vinelli family home following Hurricane Harvey.

I also have been personal friends with the Vinelli family for over 13 years. This complaint centers around a contractual dispute between Debbie Vinelli and Heels 2 Hammers, LLC. Debbie Vinelli breached the contract she entered into with Heels 2 Hammers, LLC by failing to pay additional funds and fulfill her contractual obligations.

From day one, I worked 6 days a week, and 8-14 hours per day to assist the Vinelli family and to essentially build them a new home. I never hesitated to help her family. I was able to assist the family and her volunteers during the cleanup/removal of debris to ensure that it was done properly.

The clean out lasted for weeks as the damage from Hurricane Harvey was extensive. I also worked diligently on Debbie Vinelli/Vinelli family insurance requests and claims. I even worked with Debbie and her adjuster, Steve Butler, to get her insurance claim processed. Unfortunately, the insurance company in this case had a process that was lengthy.

When the house was cleared by Mr. Butler to start rebuilding, I immediately began to start work on the Vinelli home. The Vinelli’s had not received their insurance money at the time the clearance was given. Based on a good faith belief, I used my own personal money for several months to fund the rebuild until the Vinelli’s received their first insurance payment.

The goal was to have the Vinelli family in their home by Christmas. When the contracted work began, Debbie Vinelli was already onsite due to the fact that she works from home. For purposes of the contract and work I was hired to do, this was helpful for quick decision making by Mrs. Vinelli. I met with Mrs. Vinelli every morning before commencing work.

We would discuss on a daily basis what work was scheduled, plans for accomplishing the scheduled work, collaborating on changes to the details of the work, and what materials would be purchased. Mrs. Vinelli was the major decision maker on the construction of the home. Every change that was done was approved by Mrs. Vinelli herself.

Mrs. Vinelli and I worked long hours on the construction of her home so that she was satisfied with my company’s work. ​The Vinelli home had a lot of hazards created by previous contractors that needed to be addressed. The home had header boards that were not supported correctly and notched out for electrical wires to be ran through for nearby switches.

There were 15 electrical wires with wire nuts and tape around them that needed to be in junction boxes. There was a drain pipe that went through the master closet and was exposed for several feet which ended in a large hole in the concrete that was covered with a sheet of metal. The insulation in the ceiling of the family room and framing in family room was improperly or incorrectly installed.

All exterior walls with lap siding were also not installed correctly. Some exterior walls had no insulation. The steam shower in the master bathroom was rotted out. My company was able to determine the cause of the rot: the shower liner/pan was installed incorrectly prior to tiling. These are only a partial list of fundamental problems that needed to be corrected. Heels 2 Hammers, LLC had to essentially build this house from the ground up with some existing structure.

The Vinelli home is 3500 square feet with 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 1 half bath, 2 full kitchens, 1 office, 2 living rooms, and 1 formal dining room. This house had to be re-framed, remove/replace plumbing, remove/replace electrical, remove/replace AC’s, remove/replace sheetrock/insulation/cabinets, and re-bricked.

The house had almost 4 feet of rushing water during Hurricane Harvey. I was the Primary General Contractor with Mrs. Vinelli being a Co-General Contractor of this project until she received a large lump sum from insurance. She then, for the first time, pay towards the outstanding invoice at that time. This payment caught up Mrs. Vinelli’s contractual obligations under the contract up to 65% paid. This is when Mrs. Vinelli decided to act as the General Contractor.

She hired another contractor to come in her home who sold her on materials and services that were not necessary and not covered by insurance. This new contractor Mrs. Vinelli hired took over on several projects in this home. ​Mrs. Vinelli has made numerous false and defamatory statements without merit. She stated that Heels 2 Hammers, LLC hired unskilled workers.

Mrs. Vinelli’s statements are very confusing when she continues to rehire workers that she alleges did sub-par work, or workers with whom she put me in contact to perform work under the contract. This pertains to door installations, electrical installations, and other services to the home. One of my workers has a college degree in the construction field.

My other workers are licensed in their individual fields. Mrs. Vinelli had a lot of volunteers that helped on her house. Whatever dissatisfaction she has with the work peformed by her chosen volunteers is her own responsibility. Heels 2 Hammers was always diligent about cleaning up at the end of the day. I personally always secured her property when I left each day. ​

Mrs. Vinelli makes these false allegations for, at least, one reason. She wanted to exclude me as the general contractor facilitating subcontractor work and to further avoid her contractual obligations to Heels 2 Hammers, LLC. In response to the baseless complaint that Heels 2 Hammers did not not fulfill its contractual obligations, Ms. Vinelli alone is at fault for her intentional non-payment for work that has already been performed by Heels 2 Hammer.

In an effort to address this problem, I arranged a meeting with the Vinelli’s and an attorney on February 7, 2018. I brought all my receipts to the meeting, but I maintained possession of those receipts and allowed the Vinelli’s to review the receipts. They did not ask for copies of those receipts. The Vinelli’s were presented with the balance that was due for the services provided by Heels 2 Hammers to the benefit of the Vinelli Family and their home.

In agreement that the outstanding invoice be paid, I agreed that I would complete the trim work that wasn’t billed into that invoice. We came to an agreement during the meeting that the invoice of $25,604.00 was going to be paid when the Vinelli family received funds from the insurance company for their content claim. The invoice was never paid, not even partially. I refused to continue to relying on her (false) promises of payment for services, and so I waited for payment before I continued working on the Vinelli home.

The Vinelli home has been habitable since December 2017 because of the efforts of myself and Heels 2 Hammers. The Vinelli home would have been completed if Debbie Vinelli would have paid for the work that was invoiced. Mrs. Vinelli alleges I have not worked on her house since December. This is yet another unsubstantiated falsehood made with malintentions to harm myself personal and Heels 2 Hammers.

I have attached text messages that prove that I have worked on her house. ​To make matters more egregious, Debbie Vinelli has been viciously attacking me, my company, and my personal life through text messaging, Facebook, and messenger. Her and her wife have repeatedly harassed me, friends, and clients. I’ve asked them both to stop, both in their abusive texting and defamatory social media comments.

The only response I have received, aside from more harassment, is "I don’t have to stop texting.” Debbie Vinelli is intentionally cyber bullying me and my company. I am not the only victim that has felt the wrath of Mrs. Vinelli, who has repeatedly taken to social media to bully people in the past. I am a hard working single mother of a teenager. This field is labor intense and very hard to be in as a woman, yet my clients have been satisfied with my services.

I’ve been conquering this field for a long time. I do not want my work, my company, and my honor to be tarnished by a false complaint that was filed by a non-paying client who is currently in breach of contract and committing other egregious acts. Heels 2 Hammers, LLC is a reputable company. All work is referral base, so her intents on harming my business reputation are clearly fraudulent and without merit. Respectfully Submitted, Christi Murphy, Owner Heels 2 Hammers, LLC