Bob, I bought a Lester Building and just weeks ago paid an Amish Crew from Graber Bldgs. to come in and fix the mistakes and poor workmanship on my Lester Bldg. When I first dealt with Lester Bldgs. they engineered my bldg. and provided me with one of their Lester Dealer/Builders by the name of C&C Construction, Willis Childress is the owner, Lester Bldgs. told me they could do it in my time frame and that this Lester Dealer/Builder did good work, so I paid to have a Lester Bldg. put up, 128'x30'. Before they left town I asked them if I have any problems do I just call you back and they said yes, but its a $500 minimum for them to come back. Just weeks later we had our first rain, at which time I noticed I had 25 leaks in my roof, I had puddles all over inside my bldg. Well, I wasn't about to pay these guys to come back and fix their screw-ups so I got on my roof and found that they had installed the roof screws missing the roof purlins. It took me 2 days to fix this, but I got it done myself.
It took me 2 years to finish and move into my building at which time I started noticing more serious problems that had me worried my roof was going to blow off, soffit rattling, etc. So come warm weather, just weeks ago, I had an Amish Crew from Graber Bldgs. to come in and check my bldg. who found several problems. Before I paid them to fix my Lester Bldg. I called the Lester Bldgs. Regional Manager out, who was shocked by my bldg. problems, but after he spoke with Lester Bldgs. Upper Management, he told me that Lester does not feel any responsibility for my bldg. problems and would not be fixing them, so I paid the Amish to come in and fix my Lester Bldg. and the follow is what was found:
Eight roof purlins not nailed, not one nail in them, the Amish actually lifted one up and out to show me, which would explain why it sounded like my roof was going to blow off on windy nights. I paid Lester extra for roof dripstop to be applied on the house section, but they shorted me, not applying it to the porch gable that goes back into the house peak. I also paid Lester extra for 3/4" plywood to be installed on "All Exterior Walls", but again they shorted me and only ran it up to the bottom of the soffit track, they admitted later that they only engineered it up to the soffit. Well, my inside ceilings are taller than the soffit which allowed cold wind to blow in and down my walls, they should have ran the plywood up to the bottom of the trusses. A lot of the soffit only had one staple holding it on which would explain the rattling I was hearing, also the staples had bent trying to go thru the steel soffit only allowing 3/8" to go into the facia board. They used vented soffit on the gables too, they should have used solid soffit on the gables. 2 bird blocks not installed, but the ones that they did install did not have even one nail in them, I personally screwed everyone of them off myself. Gaps/Openings in the roof valleys to the point where the wind had blown my attic insulation away in those areas and also cold air was finding its way into my furnace plentum/duct work, and of course rain had to be coming in too. Facia boards were barely on the trusses and nails had missed the truss, we had to sister boards on to the sides of some trusses and renail the facia boards. Facia cover was not cut to fit which caused the facia to dip down an inch on the ends. I ended up paying the Amish Crew a lot of money to fix my Lester Building, but I should have never had to do that. Earlier this year, after I turned Lester Bldgs. into the Better Business Bureau, they responded by putting most of the blame on their Lester Dealer/Builder, you know, the one that they recommended to me as doing "Good Work". This Lester Dealer/Builder, C&C Construction, Willis Childress, did do poor workmanship on my building, but I never even knew they existed until Lester Bldgs. provided them to me with a reference, and Lester Buildings did short me on dripstop and plywood and engineered the exterior of my building incorrectly, but they "Feel No Responsibility for my Building Problems". With all that in mind, I don't recommend anyone buying a Lester Building, also, I had a question for Lester Buildings, You've know for some time now about my building problems that you blame on your Lester Dealer/Builder C&C Construction, my question is, is this guy still a Lester Dealer/Builder?
