Anonymous
map-marker Woodbury, Minnesota

Expensive, unresponsive

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full

Mr. Mularoni did work for our church which I was involved in near and after its completion.

He was hard to find after the job was over - in his mind, not ours! He even claimed we had done the shoddy workmanship on one door latch that somebody working for him had done! Can't recommend him at all. He doesn't seem too interested in satisfying his customers - can't read his mind, but his attitude towards getting things finished correctly - so they work, apparently isn't there.

We still don't have one bathroom sensor working correctly - he was told about it and it should have been tested out properly when installed. He seemed to take the position that he wasn't responsible although he was paid a construction management fee as well as an architectural fee!

View full review
Reason of review:
Poor customer service
Tim Cgo
map-marker Cottage Grove, Minnesota

Michial Mularoni Architect Ripped Me Off!!!

I hired Mularoni & Associates architects to design my house because he was a friend and someone I thought I could trust. The fee for designing my house and managing construction was double the market rate, but I wanted to use someone I could unquestionable trust. Using Michial Mularoni & Associates for architecture was the biggest mistake of my building experience.

Early into the design process things went fairly well and I was pleased with the design. We differed on style, but he was initially compliant with my recommendations. Michial Mularoni wanted an upfront payment and then regular payments as work was completed, which was acceptable to me. The problems started when Michial Mularoni started giving me excuses for early payment even though the work wasn't done yet. A few of the excuses I received throughout the project were that he needed to pay for his health insurance, he needed to cover payroll and he was short on money, he needed to pay his subcontractors for design work, etc...

Since I trusted Michial Mularoni as an architect and neighbor, I figured if I paid him early then he would still fulfill his side of the deal. I was sorely wrong. Once the pretty design work was done we wanted to get started on the building of the house, but we needed to submit the plans to the city in order to get our building permit. Michial Mularoni must have taken a different project because once we paid him all of the money my project was put on hold. When pressed to get the plans done and submitted to the city he demanded more money (on top of the money already paid to him). Since we were in no position to have him leave us without plans, we gave in and paid him more money. Michial Mularoni submitted the plans to the city and we got our building permit (somehow), but once the contractors looked at the plans they kept asking us for the final plans because the city approved plans didn't have all of the internal building structural details. I asked Michial Mularoni to complete the plans so that the builders could know how to build my house, but he refused to do any more work unless we agreed to additional "construction management" fees, which would apparently cover his costs to finish the plans and manage the contractors building the house. We regrettably paid him the money.

After paying Michial Mularoni the "construction management" fee, I didn't hear from Michial Mularoni or see Michial Mularoni for 2-3 months. Michial Mularoni wouldn't answer my calls or e-mails. We gave up on contacting him and decided that we would build the house without architect blue prints because we didn't have any more money to spend on an architect. Very sad.

What's worse is that 2+ months after we had started building the house a representative from Lamperts arrived at the construction site asking us to sign a document. We inquired about what the document was and was told it was our order for windows. We hadn't ordered any windows and were not even finished framing the house or ready for installation of windows, so we told them they were mistaken and wouldn't sign the Lamperts document. 1-2 weeks later Michial Mularoni showed up at the construction site when my brother was there and handed him the bill for the Lampert windows saying that they were our windows that he ordered for us on his account (which he get's a commission). In talking with Michial Mularoni about the windows he ordered on my behalf he demanded that I pay him the money for the windows. I informed him that I didn't order any windows and that since we didn't have the structural information in the blue prints we were forced to change the layout of the windows, so the windows ordered couldn't belong to me since they were all incorrect sizes.

Michial Mularoni wouldn't let this issue go and became very upset at me and demanded that I pay him the money for windows that he purchased. I absolutely refused to pay for Michial Mularoni's windows, especially since he cheated me out of the money for the architecture plans. Oddly enough he tried to negotiate with me for payment on 1/2 the cost of the windows and that is when I knew that he was trying to just rip me off for another few thousand dollars.

Since that incident, I have run into Michial Mularoni in Woodbury Minnesota and he can only shoot me hostile looks. Somehow Michial Mularoni feels cheated from his dealings with me even after taking 120% of my money and demanding more money without delivering on ANY of his contractual obligations.

Do not do business with Michial Mularoni in Woodbury Minnesota or you will most likely find yourself in a situation where you will be cheated out of money with nothing to show for it except humiliation from an unethical architect.

View full review
Loss:
$35
2 comments
Guest

we just found out today our architect designed our dream home that can't be built on the existing lot due to height restrictions. $35,000 later feeling very very ripped off

Guest

You are not alone. This is standard practice for Michial Mularoni.

A friend of mine was a subcontractor to Mularoni, performing drafting services. He went out of business because he was not paid for well over $50K in fees. He couldn't sue because he didn't have money for an attorney!

He also did not pay the engineers involved in these projects (commercial construction). One of them died and he cheated his widow out of what was owed.

View more comments (1)

Construction and Repair Expert Talks

How to Hire The Right Contractor And Not Be Scammed

How to Hire The Right Contractor And Not Be Scammed

Apr 16, 2021

How to build a home? How to hire the right contractor? Matt DiBarra, with Diabara Masonry, reveals top home construction scams and gives the best tips to consumers on how to find the best contractor.

Read full article
Matt DiBarra
Matt DiBarra

Matt DiBarra is well-known as The Undercover Contractor. He is the owner of DiBara Masonry company in Los Angeles that specializes in house repairs, restorations, and new installations.

Why Trust Reviews on PissedConsumer?

  • Professional auto and live moderation
  • 100% user-generated content
  • Equal opportunity and protection
  • Zero tolerance for fake reviews
  • Verified content
  • PissedConsumer is on the Inc. 5000 list

For more information read Blog article