News

Actions

Homeowners building “dream home” forced to pay double quoted price for drilled well

Posted at 7:13 PM, Sep 19, 2014
and last updated 2014-09-19 19:29:30-04

ROCKFORD, Mich. – Mike and Brandi Glaske are building their dream home in Rockford. The latest project is their newly dug well, but it cost them $5,100 more than their quoted estimate.

The Glaske’s told FOX 17 they contracted Brass-Mar Well Drilling, based in Kent City. Leo Martin with the company said he verbally quoted the Glaske’s $5,400 for the well, and then came out to the property the next day. Yet the final invoice, given to the Glaske’s on Monday when the work was completed, was for $10,956.38.

The Glaske’s said this price gouged their budget and will delay their move-in by a couple months. Meanwhile, their family of five, including several Saving Argo Dog Rescuedogs, is cramped into small quarters in temporary housing.

“I would expect that if it was going to cost that much more that (Martin) would contact me and say, ‘look, we quoted you $5,400, we need to put this size well in and it’s going to cost you about $10,000,’” said Mike Glaske. “Then I would have said, ‘whoa! Let’s scale all of this back, and we’ll upgrade it when we have more money, and we need more capacity.’”

At first the Glaske’s said they were satisfied with the job, and understood that the well would cost more for a three horsepower pump instead of the price quoted for a single horsepower pump.

“It’s really good quality and the way they installed it was really good,” said Mike Glaske. “So I said it is what it is and I didn’t have time to fight with it.”

On Monday, the Glaske’s told FOX 17 they were shocked when employees handed them the invoice that more-than-doubled. They said they wrote a check for $5,500; $100 more than what was quoted.

Then a few hours later, the Glaske’s said Martin drove onto their property, and demanded they pay the rest. Mike said he wrote another check for $5,000 after he said Martin threatened to fill in their well.

“(Martin) came over to his truck, he’s like, ‘oh, by the way, I’m going to fill that well in too,’” said Mike Glaske. “I said, ‘I already paid you $5,500, and you’re telling me you’re going to destroy the well that you put in, so that someone else can’t come out to put a real pump in?’ That’s not right.”

In response, Martin confirmed to FOX 17 that he told Mike Glaske, “I would pull everything out of it, and I said it would not be functional when I left.”

Martin said he built the well the Glaske’s asked for, adding that the Glaske’s were aware that the well would cost more. However, the Glaske’s said Martin only called their father-in-law to say the well would cost “quite a bit,” something Mike and Brandi said Martin never told them.

When FOX 17 asked Martin if he ever estimated the price increase directly to Mike and Brandi Glaske, Leo said, “that’s besides the point,” “I’ve said enough,” and “(Mike) knew where he was at.”

Martin said he would not renegotiate this price, but would remove his work for a refund.

“I’ll tell you what I would do,” said Martin. “I would go pull it all back out and give him his money back and then he can hire somebody else to get the same thing for the same price, because I know it won’t happen.”

The Glaske’s told FOX 17 they are considering Martin’s offer: to remove Martin’s work and hardware and receive a refund. They plan to contact Martin this weekend.