A response from the Founder & CEO of Build Team
My name is Dan Davidson and I am Founder and Chief Executive of Build Team.
I was recently made aware of this thread, and having read the various posts, wanted to put forward a response to the issues raised so that readers have the opportunity to read a balanced account and draw their own conclusions.
The thread is made up of contributions from both clients of Build Team and non-clients. My response, in the main, will address the issues raised by the known clients.
Daisy123abc – We met at the initial site visit and both myself and co-Director, Mark Eden, have subsequently conversed extensively with your husband. Build Team obtained planning consent for your project in 15/10/2014 and build commenced in 28/7/2015. At the outset, the project was managed by Ken and then Simona, following Ken’s departure from Build Team. Towards the latter stages of the build when you voiced dissatisfaction with our service, we fielded Clara (Senior Project Manager) and Mark Eden to oversee the remainder of the project. We have worked hard to rectify all of the issues raised and remain committed to completing the remaining list of snagging items. The relationship has been strained at times, but our understanding is that it is currently amicable – and it was in the spirit of concluding the project amicably, that we asked you to take down the negative reviews that you decided to post on this and other forums. You did agree to this request, however we understand that you may have changed your mind. We must stress that that we do not believe we have been dishonest in our dealings with you, and we remain committed to completing the project. Finally, you raise the matter of the Trust Mark logo. We have investigated this and confirm the logo did feature on an advertisement board outside of your property. This was an old batch of advertisement boards that were printed when we were told that FMB members could legitimately use the TrustMark logo. We have subsequently ordered reprints of these boards and have written to TrustMark to offer them our attestation that the logo does not feature on any of our current marketing material.
dulwichquine, alaska721, rioblue – My understanding is that you are not clients (past or present) of Build Team, however you all mention the removal of posts from another forum and I wanted to take the opportunity to explain more about this. These contributors are right to point out that we did, with our client’s express permission, post a review on their behalf. This was flagged by the administrator, and in doing so, sensitive IP information was published on a public forum which could have compromised the IT security of Build Team and the many forms of data we hold, including customer data. For this reason, we did seek legal advice and in agreement with the host, the posts were deleted. I must stress that the host did contact the client directly whom had been struggling to make their post, and were satisfied that the matter was entirely above board. We did, however, learn from this experience and will not in future be posting comments on forums on behalf of third parties.
Zoeblask – We met at the initial site meeting. You subsequently appointed a different design company to undertake the architectural drawings and planning permission and then came back to us for the build phase. Parts of the project did not run smoothly, and this was exacerbated by personnel changes at Build Team. We have accepted responsibility for some of the issues you have reported, however there are others that we disagree upon. We are therefore in dispute, and we are aware that you have instructed lawyers to assist with your dispute. Build Team are not a litigious company, however where we feel we are in the right, we will defend our position. I hope you deem this to be a reasonable stance of any counterparty in dispute, and we would ask that you refrain from prejudicing the dispute by publishing information relating to the dispute on public forums.
MotherK01 – I met you at the initial site meeting. You instructed Build Team in 22/09/2014 and we subsequently obtained planning consent for your scheme on 4/02/2015. You put the scheme out to tender, and appointed another contractor to undertake the build. The failure to display the requisite planning notice outside of your property in Lewisham was an oversight on our part; we simply did not receive the notice – and were not aware, at the time, that it was the applicant’s responsibility to display the planning notice on behalf of the Council. We apologised for this oversight and updated our procedures with regards to subsequent Lewisham applications. I refute the accusation that either myself or members of my team lied to you at any point during our engagement. Despite the passage of time, you appear very determined to post negative reviews about Build Team, and we express our surprise at the veracity of your tone given the scope of services was delivered in full and within a reasonable timeframe. We deem your actions in this regard to be disproportionate and as you state, forum hosts have removed several of your previous posts about Build Team.
Zorro44 & pippasdonkey – You indicate that you clients of Build Team, however from your posts I have not been able to identify who you are. You are very obviously dissatisfied with our service and I would ask that you contact me directly so that I can investigate your complaint further. My email address is firstname dot surname at buildteam.com; alternatively please call the office.
I hope the above explanations go some way to reassure readers of this forum that Build Team are a hardworking, honest and committed company who do the best we can for the clients who appoint us day to day. We operate an “open door” policy and I would invite any client with a grievance to contact us and we will do our upmost to resolve the complaint. Building projects can be stressful, but we firmly believe that disputes can be resolved through communication, a fair & reasonable approach and a commitment to finding a resolution. For any prospective clients who are reading this, we would extend the same open door invitation to meet at our offices in Clapham, and also invite you to attend one of our House Tours, and ask us for a list of client references. The details of our forthcoming House Tours are contained on our website.
Dan Davidson
25th February 2016