Benco Custom Builders, Builders & Contractors in Hilliard, OH

MattB posted a comment

DO NOT EMPLOY BENCO CUSTOM BUILDERS OR AJAY LALL.
After just paying for our 3rd roof repair (house is only 3 years old) and despite the months that have passed since our attorney supervised mediation, my hands still shake from anger while typing this review. Regardless, it is my family’s duty to save others from making the mistake we made by employing this “builder”. It was not until the bitter end, that we found out why he had no existing negative reviews. Like all the others before us (we now know), his attorneys required us to sign a ”non-disparagement agreement” in order to get some of our money back after mediation. Brilliant business plan. Lie and steal from the homeowner and then use their money as a means of ensuring they won’t report anything bad about you. However, we could not in good conscious sign that agreement and remain silent because no one should ever have to experience the immeasurable stress, pain and absolute frustration that we endured at the hands of this inept builder.
The following are undisputable facts captured as written statements or during recorded conversations (yes, it came to that). Be wary of any response Benco Builders or AJ Lall provides to this review that appears to offer a reasonable explanation or counter opinion- he lies for a living.
Pure and simple, this builder is an amateur. He will cite years of building experience, however the bulk of this “experience” was acquired by selling windows at a home improvement store. His amateur status became apparent to us once we were forced to employ a real home builder to hold his hand and supervise his work. Our lives painfully played out like an episode of Spike TV’s “Catch a Contractor”(he will be on very soon). My wife and I are not builders so we initially believed his incorrect explanations (lies) and stories when we first began discovering problems. Mistake after mistake, yet none of them were ever his fault. There was always someone/ something else to blame. At one point we even had to hire a structural engineer to produce a formal report for him to finally fix the massive crack present in our newly poured concrete patio that he repeatedly claimed was “within acceptable limits”.
He was rarely on site. During our 18 months of building (it was contracted to be less than 12) he took 4 vacations (must be nice...). He is clearly not an actor because he had difficulty hiding his surprise during walk-throughs when we discovered the major errors that occurred during his prolonged absences and his lack of supervision of sub-contractors. His go-to excuse was “Oh, this is not finished yet”. We quickly learned this was another way of saying, “oops I have to redo this and then charge you for it”.
He bids low because he leaves out-of-pocket items out or grossly miscalculates/underestimates what things will actually will cost. We paid over $25,000 more than he “expected” for the foundation excavation alone. We find out near the end that “door hardware is not included” which our real contractor (again, the one we were forced to employ to supervise him) has never heard of such a thing in over 30 years in the business. He can also bid low by hiring non-English speaking subcontractors who no one has ever heard of and that cut corners on materials. We found out after the fact that his roofer didn’t even use roofing felt on our roof!
Every area home supply company representative (lighting, plumbing fixtures, door hardware, etc.) we dealt with either rolled their eyes, muttered something negative about him or flat out stated that they would not work directly with him. We wish we had asked around with such industry folks before we hired him! We recommend you do if you don’t believe us.
My favorite moment occurred when we brought in the experienced builder as a silent observer (unbeknownst to Benco) and we requested that Benco again explain to us why our basement ceiling was 6 inches lower than it was supposed to be (an error we caught, not him). The legitimate builder quickly picked apart his story (lies) such that AJ Lall turned to us with his tail was between his legs and said “what do you want me to do?” Finally his lies were being uncovered!
I could write a novel regarding this experience, In summary, if you want to be cheated and be left with ice cold drafty doors, mismatched stucco, cracks in concrete, squeaky floors, salvaged items charged to you as “new”, sloppy painting, a leaky roof, complete lack of insulation in key walls, air ducts full of construction debris, mold in your basement and kitchen because of standing water, raccoons damaging your home because of persistently incomplete soffit work, etc., etc. then by all means hire Benco Builders and Ajay Lall.