It took them 2-3 months longer than their long estimate to complete my house, the worst part is that they would not communicate a completion date. Even if we pushed them to complete by certain dates, because our loan had a completion requirement date or we were moving out of our old house, they would say the date was good and then not come close to hitting it.
They didn't communicate very well at all. I had unexpected costs that happened in the early stages of construction that I didn't know about until the end. Of course, they charge a 15% fee on all overages that aren't your fault, but we didn't have to pay it because we made up for their overages by shorting other allowance items or paying for them directly. Mark Volak spoke with me at the beginning, answered emails promptly, told me everything I wanted to hear. As the conversations got tougher (missed dates, overages, etc), he stopped taking calls or answering emails.
Compass didn't pay the insulation subcontractor, even though they were paid for the work in bank draws, so now there is a lien on the property. Compass also didn't complete the punch list, luckily I held back enough money that I think it will cover the items not completed.
If you are working with them or still want to, heed this advice:
1. Have your attorney review the contract and make changes, especially remove the vague wording around completion, get a firm no later than date.
2. Make Compass provide no-lien waivers from the subcontractors doing the work before you distribute anymore money.
3. Get a true fixed price or only accept allowance items for things you can control (Mark was way off on the stone work estimate and the concrete work, I could not control the costs there and it forced me to make up for the overages by reducing amounts to spend in other allowance areas I could control).
I believe a lot of the delays on my build were because subcontractors would not come back as they weren't getting paid. We had the electrician and cabinet company changed on us, didn't know why at the time . . . We had to pay the HVAC contractor and grader ourselves to get them to come back and finish. If you are stuck with them and are smart, you will stop paying Compass and pay the subs directly from bank draws.
The only saving grace is the subs did good work, too bad the GC was such a headache and stopped communicating. Don't believe the BBB rating, it may have been applicable at one time, but sure isn't now. Can't wait to see how Compass will respond to this, as opposed to just coming out and finishing what they were paid to do. Full disclosure, I withheld $5k on a $420k contract, it's going to cost me that $5K to finish the last 20% of the incomplete punch list.
Compass Building & Realty LLC Reviews
It took them 2-3 months longer than their long estimate to complete my house, the worst part is that they would not communicate a completion date. Even if we pushed them to complete by certain dates, because our loan had a completion requirement date or we were moving out of our old house, they would say the date was good and then not come close to hitting it.
They didn't communicate very well at all. I had unexpected costs that happened in the early stages of construction that I didn't know about until the end. Of course, they charge a 15% fee on all overages that aren't your fault, but we didn't have to pay it because we made up for their overages by shorting other allowance items or paying for them directly. Mark Volak spoke with me at the beginning, answered emails promptly, told me everything I wanted to hear. As the conversations got tougher (missed dates, overages, etc), he stopped taking calls or answering emails.
Compass didn't pay the insulation subcontractor, even though they were paid for the work in bank draws, so now there is a lien on the property. Compass also didn't complete the punch list, luckily I held back enough money that I think it will cover the items not completed.
If you are working with them or still want to, heed this advice:
1. Have your attorney review the contract and make changes, especially remove the vague wording around completion, get a firm no later than date.
2. Make Compass provide no-lien waivers from the subcontractors doing the work before you distribute anymore money.
3. Get a true fixed price or only accept allowance items for things you can control (Mark was way off on the stone work estimate and the concrete work, I could not control the costs there and it forced me to make up for the overages by reducing amounts to spend in other allowance areas I could control).
I believe a lot of the delays on my build were because subcontractors would not come back as they weren't getting paid. We had the electrician and cabinet company changed on us, didn't know why at the time . . . We had to pay the HVAC contractor and grader ourselves to get them to come back and finish. If you are stuck with them and are smart, you will stop paying Compass and pay the subs directly from bank draws.
The only saving grace is the subs did good work, too bad the GC was such a headache and stopped communicating. Don't believe the BBB rating, it may have been applicable at one time, but sure isn't now. Can't wait to see how Compass will respond to this, as opposed to just coming out and finishing what they were paid to do. Full disclosure, I withheld $5k on a $420k contract, it's going to cost me that $5K to finish the last 20% of the incomplete punch list.