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CB Other Review of Zach Downing, Owner Of Advanced 1 Construction - Fort Wayne, IN
Zach Downing, Owner Of Advanced 1 Construction - Fort Wayne, IN

Zach Downing, Owner Of Advanced 1 Construction - Fort Wayne, IN review: Bathroom(s) remodel: breach of contract 6

M
Author of the review
7:50 am EDT
Review updated:
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Breach of contract

Zach downing: advavced 1 construction

Contract date: 12/23/2021, $23,400.

CHANGE ORDER, 01/09/2022 reduced the contract total by $12,400 as we removed the kitchen remodel. The original contract amount was $23,400. The change order removed $12,400 from that total. The new contract total should have been $11,000 not $13,000. The math that was performed is incorrect.

Zach Downing, dba, Advanced 1 Construction, has $7,500 of our money as a down payment for the work we agreed to in a written contract. Zach has not given us in a written form the reasons for the BREACH OF CONTRACT. We have requested this information in multiple conversations that my wife Pam has with Zach, and has on record those conversations with him. She has asked Zach for why he has not returned any money from the down payment, why he has refused to finish the work, or to answer the questions about the drain being in the wrong location adding to the other poor workmanship.

Zach broke the contract we had for our main bathroom remodel and another bathroom update. When we called him out on his quality of work that was performed he would not take responsibility for what has happened. We had no hot water to the back of our house for over a week. Zach blamed our water heater and our home for us not having the correct measure of hot and cold water in our other faucets and bathroom. He would take responsibility for the poor workmanship. We hired Masters Heat, Cool, and Plumbing to come in a repair a hot and cold water problem Advanced 1 created by not installing the cartridge in the new shower valve. That cost us $366.00. Zach refused to believe they did something incorrect and would not send his plumber back to inspect or correct the issue. He put 24 hours worth of work into our remodel and did not return.

We have had to hire another company to come in to do the remodel.

The new company had to remove the materials out of the shower area because the drain Advanced 1 put into place was not aligned with shower floor insert and was too high for proper draining. The drain, the shower floor materials, and the concrete had to be removed as these were all installed incorrectly. The water would have "pooled" in the shower floor area and not have drained correctly. Our new contractor has documented the issues for us.

The new contractor has a list of deficiencies that they have made for us to show the rework and corrections they have had to make. Tearing out and / or rework to make the installation correct to code.

Zach has not given us a letter for his reasons for breaching the contract and has refused to return our $7,500 down payment. He will not return our phone calls or text messages. Zach left equipment and materials in our garage for over 6 weeks and we were unable to use our garage because of his refusal to communicate and to relieve the situation.

We have not had the use of our main bathroom for over 2 months due to his negligence and decision to the BREACH OF CONTRACT.

My wife has called and texted Zach many times over the last 10 weeks to coach him into returning our down payment. Zach offered $2,000.00 as a refund for 24 hours of work his company did on site and the materials he purchased. I looked up the materials and fixtures he purchased at Lowes and Home Depot and have been sitting in our garage. The components were not the quality we were expecting and did not total $300.00. No light fixtures, no vanity, no sink, no faucets, no new toilet, no sliding glass door, or installation materials.

We asked him for an itemized list of the purchases he made so we could see where our investment went along with a labor ticket for the hours worked. He has refused to grant that request for the many times he has been asked to produce these facts. He did not purchase any of the more costly items and were not delivered to our home.

Where did our $7,500.00 go?

Desired outcome: Refund of the $7,500.00 down payment. Pay new contractor for the rework costs. We want the $366.00 for the plumber who figured out why we did not have hot water. A dollar amount for storing their equipment and the materials in our garage.

Update by M Downam
Nov 15, 2022 8:50 pm EST

Hey all,

What do you think about us filing a Civil Suit? $280,000+ has to be somewhere, correct?

Our part is $7,500.00 plus damages. We do not have the $3,000.00 to retain a lawyer to get our down payment back.

Quote from news paper. "Downing accepted checks from each of the victims for at least 50% of the total and deposited them into bank accounts that he had direct and sole control over the funds of for a total of $280,585.92,” the probable cause states."

Please contact me if there is interest. md

6 comments
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fwpd
FORT WAYNE, US
Aug 23, 2022 5:03 pm EDT

If you or anyone you know has had their monies kept for work not performed by Zach Downing dba Advanced 1 Construction LLC, please contact Sgt. John Shank at the Fort Wayne Police Department [protected]

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Screwed us over
, US
Aug 17, 2022 5:16 pm EDT

He took us for a boat load of cash too. He damaged our property and home

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Ticked Off Parent
Nunya, US
Aug 17, 2022 1:15 pm EDT

Zach of Advanced 1 recently took a deposit from my daughter and son-in-law of $1500.00 to install a privacy fence. He initially stated he was too busy and behind on work to complete the job on time. He couldn't be found at the business address (the office was vacated), the email he gave was deactivated and the phone# on his card went straight to voicemail. When they found an alternate phone number on the internet for him, they received a text back stating he was filing bankruptcy.

Looking at these reviews on line it seems they are not the only one this guy has stolen from. If you are here for similar reasons, I would suggest reporting him to local law enforcement immediately and then contacting an attorney.

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J. Lindsey
Ft. Wayne, US
Aug 16, 2022 8:00 am EDT

Zach Downing is a lier, I gave him a down payment of 3300.00 to do drywall. He keep putting of the starting date. I gave him the money in april. He keep making excusses about the job. He is not very honest.

do not do any business with company. I have got my money back.

J. Lindsey

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Concenered citizen
, US
Aug 12, 2022 7:39 am EDT

This the same Zach Downing that "alegedly" claimed bankruptcy essentially?

Claimed bonded/insured would get back and no communication except just the email saying so.

He retained nearly 90k from a couple with no further communication.

These are facts. Not lies.

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Johnny45.
, US
Aug 05, 2022 12:22 pm EDT

This isn’t true. Zach and his team did everything to make sure you were in good shape. Zach and his team offered to come back out and fix the work for free, Zach issued a refund for $2,800.00 and advanced was out there for 2-3 full working days. Zach also sent a professional termination agreement, with itemized listing of work and material purchased plus a refund which you denied and advanced has alibi’s to prove so. Please quit lying