Morton ploe barn-How square should it be ????

[Docsknotinn]

I met with the regional guy from Morton today. I can sum it up real easy. If you are ever thinking about a Morton Building save yourself 10k and use a different builder. They agreed that at least one of the laminated beams is warped 1/2". Their response is that wood warps and 1/2" of warp is no biggie ! Remember this is a company that advertises they only build with "top quality materials". All of the small issues were fixed which left the real problem of the wavy roof. First I was told that it wasn't off at all. After a bit of verbal wrangeling this fellow reluctantly broke out a transit. Now he only measured the difference between 3 beams and the soffet line. The roof rises and falls 1/4". This was not the worse spot. The end that took a big rise had a few more screws put in and that helped flatten it a bit. I was then given three reasons it came out like this. A) Their trusses don't always come out of the factory the right length. They are having quality control issues. B) When the builder put them up he was supposed to cut them if they weren't right......oooops. C) The sheet metal on the roof was not lined up perfectly and theres no way to correct it now. I believe he said that the roofing should have been pushed up so that the roofing edge was flush with the facia. ( see photo # 4 ) As it is it overhangs the facia. My concern is how this will handle ice and it just looks poor. So Mortons top notch custmer service plan is to A) admidt that their materials are not top quality B) Blame the builder and chalk it up to human error. The resolve ?? Well they think its just fine the way it is but offered a $500 dollar satisfaction credit. I am considering taking it and they are putting it in writing that my warranties are still good. I will need to get another opinion on the overhang. Overall It left with me with a poor taste and I let them know that I could never reccomend them. I have the most expensive building in the development with the waviest roof line. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif In the end I like the rest of my building, I'm glad to be done with Morton. If I had to do it over I certainly would use a local builder, save 10k and have a better building.

 

[Junkman]

$500 isn't enough to make the difference when you already paid $10,000 more than a similar building would cost if it wasn't a Morton. Now is the time to get your attorney involved and I wouldn't make another payment to them unless he advised you to. It would be my opinion that once they receive a letter from an attorney spelling out the deficiencies and their proposed remedies are not acceptable, that they will increase their offer. The way it stands now, you are going to be living with a building that in many respects is sub standard, and in the end, you will never be completely comfortable with it. Have the attorney read the contract and advise you how to proceed. I would never accept sub standard work when I am paying top dollar for first class work. Would Morton accept a major sub standard payment.... i.e. Less than what the contract calls for by many $$$$ ????? My guess is yes, once they hear about the litigation that can come about from this shoddy performance by their contractor and the resulting bad publicity. Would you purchase a new car that cost $35,000 full of dents if the dealer offer $500 off the price? This is the same thing. They are asking you to accept sub standard building practices by taking $500 off the price. To me, this is a no brainer.... see an attorney. TODAY!!

 

[MikePA]

On the local (central PA) news last night there was a piece about district justices. While most of their work is related to criminal cases, they pointed out that they also handle civil suits up to $10,000, no need to go into small claims court. Simply fill in a form at the DJ's office and pay a relatively small fee which is based upon the amount of the suit. Most of these suits were people suing business for failure to provide promised goods and/or services, which the DJ then decides, based upon the evidence provided by the person who filed the suit. They also mentioned that a suit against a business must name an individual at that business.

In this case, I completely agree with Junkman...get your lawyer involved and serve your salesman, the district manager and someone at Morton Corporate with a lawsuit. Based upon what's wrong with your building, I'd take the $500 they offered as an insult. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

Doesn't Morton have a written guarantee anymore? I know they used to have a part of the contract that you didn't pay until you were happy with the job. They may have done away with that. I would think you have an extremely strong case. The rep has already admitted that poor quality materials were used and there was builder error. I'd tell them to take it down and you'll have somebody else build you one. No way I would pay for a superior product that was built like a second rate building. Hold your ground!!! Make them think twice about doing that crap to someone else.

 

[dummy]

A pretty small sum. For me, I'd be kicking myself everytime I looked at the building and wondering why I didn't force them to repair it ! So what if they have to take it down and rebuild it. <font color="blue"> When the builder put them up he was supposed to cut them if they weren't right......oooops. </font>
Aren't they the builder??

Dale

 

[LedgeMagnet]

I've built a number of outbuildings: barns, chicken coops, and so on. It's tempting to be pretty rough in building these things, and I've cut more than a few boards with a chain saw, but the one area where you need to fuss and get it right is in the layout of your deck or poles. If that isn't right, your squares and levels become useless all the way up to the ridge, and every other piece of wood becomes a custom-fit. You can't gang cut pieces of wood. The situation is worse when you are using sheet materials for siding or roof. You can fudge for a trapezoidal roof deck with shingles, for example, but not with a galvanized one. I would think a "professional" builder would know all this, and this sounds like plain old lousy workmanship to me.

 

[tracdoc]

I'll just quickly reiterate what I mentioned much earlier in this thread... If/when you go to sell your place, the building will surely be devalued way more than a measly $500. The seller of what is perceived to be a "shoddy structure" is going to take a bath and the entire property package may come under question, i.e., "what else is wrong here?"

I agree with the other folks. Now is the time to retain an attorney to be your advocate. I would anticipate that you can establish a relationship in which the attorney fees would be covered by Morton, as they are pretty clearly at fault here.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Thanx for the support guys. I talked to the salesman this am. He is now saying that the roof rising 1/4 to 3/8 of a inch is normal and within acceptable building standards. I reminded him that I paid for "top Quality" and a superior building, Not just the industry standard. He is now trying to say the regional manager didn't say the metal should have been pushed up etc etc. I did ask about the roofing hanging over the soffet. I had them remove the gutters from the building package because the building is in the woods. The last thing I want to do is clean leafs from a gutter 12' in the air. All the other buildings ( not Morton ) I have looked at in the area with out gutters stop the sheet metal for the roof right at the front of the facia, no overhang. The drawings they show on their web site of their systems do not show the roof overhang.
When I reminded him that we measured 1/3 of one side of the building and it was off over 1/4" he then went into how the measurements are easily skewed if the tape is off a little bit. So I asked him if it mattered much if they used a transit that they had to hit on the top to make work ! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I followed that up with it's no wonder the trusses might be off if you used that transit to set the beams. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I think that put his drawers in a bit of a bunch. So I called our corporate advisor today and he gave me the number for one his attorneys to get some advice. This is really difficult for me because I don't know squat about buildings. I do know they have changed the story more times than I can count and they wouldn't be offering anything unless there was something wrong. I just don't think I should be able to stand on the side of a building this expensive and see dips on the roof line.

 

[Junkman]

I don't know what you do for work, but I am certain that your customers or your employer wouldn't allow you to make excuse after excuse for shoddy work. My position would be to "take the building down and I don't want any thing else". The problems with repairs, they are just that. Repairs made to make it look like it is done correctly. A plastic surgeon can make a scar go away, but if the surgery that was done to correct a problem was done incorrectly, even though the scar no longer shows, the pain of the incorrect surgery will still remain. My feeling are that when I am paying to have a job done, that it should be done correctly the first time, or not done at all. I always strive for perfection, and although I know that perfection might not always be obtainable, close enough isn't good enough for me when I am paying top dollar for that perfection. If you wanted a shoddily built building, I am certain that you could have had an acceptable one for a lot less. If I purchase a "second", I know what I am buying and accept the consequences of the defect along with the lowered price. If I purchase first quality, I expect first quality and will not accept anything less. Stand your ground. As long as you have the money that is owed them, they will continue to talk. Once they have your money, you are out of luck. You will be a distant memory to them. Finally, I would tell them to get off the property and not to come back until the problems are resolved with you and your attorney. If they are allowed to keep coming back, they will make it look correct, but the underlying problems are just going to be covered up. This cover up will make your case weaker if you get to court over this. You might even see if you could get the building inspector to issue a "stop work order" for structural defects.

 

[srs]

Boy Dave, sorry to hear about the unresolved problems. Like Junkman said as long as you have money owed to them they will still talk to you. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif I also would still get on the t/p (if you haven't already) and contact the home office of Morton. Hopefully they will be more helpful. Don't give up the fight! Keep us informed. Good luck!