Sameer Raheja
If you want a project that takes three times longer than promised, riddled with quality issues, and requires constant chasing of the contractor, CSI might be the company for you. I’m giving them one extra star just because Christian didn’t nickel and dime us, and he absorbed the cost of fixing their mistakes. Our project started on a high note, with Fredy making a lot of promises at a slightly lower price compared to other builders. Unfortunately, those promises turned into a nightmare. Things went smoothly for the first two-thirds of the project, aside from a few minor issues. But after that, everything fell apart. Subcontractors stopped showing up on time, project managers were constantly being replaced, and serious quality problems emerged. Even though I was hands-on, keeping close tabs on the progress and informed Christian and his ever-changing team of project managers, the problems persisted. Christian, meanwhile, barely responded to communication—it was like playing roulette. For every ten attempts to reach him, maybe one would get a response. He constantly made false promises about timelines, which kept getting pushed back month after month. Fredy was even worse, promising everything verbally but refused to put anything in writing—an obvious strategy to deny those promises later on. We eventually moved into an incomplete house, frustrated and exhausted by the delays. We had to threaten arbitration (the only option per the contract) to get any response. As a result, we reached an agreement where they faced penalties, and the project resumed with some urgency. But true to form, CSI quickly slipped back into their slow, unreliable ways. At this point, I could probably write a book on their incompetence, the emotional toll, and the money we lost building our home with this company. Our project is still incomplete, and we’re left to deal with any future issues on our own. Meanwhile, CSI seems to be falling apart, with subcontractors and employees leaving. If you’ve got a project with them, good luck—you’ll need it.
