I’m writing this to share my series of unfortunate experiences upon hiring Luna Metal Buildings and Concrete.  I say experiences (plural) because they failed to disclose pertinent information, conduct themselves honestly and deliver the product I should have received.  I’ll start from the beginning…

I contacted Luna Metal Buildings and Concrete with the intention of purchasing a 30x31 metal building. I spoke with Sofia, their representative.  She informed me I needed to provide them with an initial cash deposit or cashers check to get the ball rolling.  Once they received this initial payment they’d come out and pour the concrete within 2 to 3 weeks. Following the concrete installation, the building would be installed within an additional 2 to 3 weeks.  The balance would be due at this point in time.  She asked me if I was going to pull a permit and I differed to her asking if I needed one.  Her response was simply I didn’t need a permit.  Knowing what I know now, Sofia should have said is if this new building was being installed “as is” on farm exempt property, then no permit would be required.  HOWEVER if electric was going to be run to the building, then a permit would in fact be required.  Sofia also neglected to mention their buildings are NOT up to code when a permit is not pulled.  In short, you basically get an expensive shed.  When a permit is pulled, to meet code, Luna installs additional strap-downs and support beams.  I now regret accepting Sofia’s incorrect answers which I wish I researched further on my own.  It’s unfortunate I couldn’t rely on receiving accurate information from the company I hired and entrusted.

Moving forward…  After I provided them my initial payment, not 2-3 weeks later but 5 weeks later they called and said they were coming out to pour the concrete and asked if I needed any grading. I said it was pretty flat and sent them a photo.  They arrived with Bob Cat (no concrete equipment) and said the far side was low and needed 30 yards of fill dirt.  I asked the price for the dirt they said $920.  I felt this price was extremely high so I said they could return once I sourced the fill dirt elsewhere.  I ordered it from a local source for $230 and informed Luna it would arrive the following day. Luna told me I owed them $250 for having to come back out.  Nice try…my response was even if it did not need grading you wouldn’t have been able to install the concrete today because you brought no concrete equipment with you…just the Bob Cat.  They just smiled at one another, said something under their breaths in Spanish and left.  Needless to say, they didn’t pursue the additional $250 “return” charge.

When they did return to grade, they quoted me $400, which I found acceptable.  Now having a better sense of the “lay of the land” I said I was interested in having the concrete pad poured 5 feet wider.  Luna said it would not be much more money and they suggested pouring a footer on the side where the fill dirt was added for $300.00 which I was fine with.   Going by what they were charging for concrete I figured the extra 5x30 would be about $500-600.  The concrete was poured and all looked good on the surface.  Then I received a phone call from Luna saying the extra 5x30 of concrete was an additional $1500!  When I complained, they came back with $900 and $300 more for the footer.  So I checked my video cameras, rolled back the tape to just before they poured and discovered they NEVER INSTALLED A FOOTER!  I call in their lead guy, showed him the video and he said “I dug down an inch right at the 2x4 border” to which I replied, THAT’S NOT A FOOTER!!!

 I called Luna to report what happened, and they said the worker in question is also a “Pastor and a good Christian” and he would never do that. Long story short, they couldn’t dispute the video evidence and did not charge me for the so-called footer that never was.  I imagine, the owner trying to save face called me back and said he’d either take some money off the price or give me taller ceiling.  He then goes onto tell me the concrete company has no affiliation with Luna...they’re a sub-contractor.  A complete reversal of what they represented before there was a problem.

 

At this point the building is done and it looks good other than the fact I ordered green and I ended up with red.  I would have appreciated if the workers would have removed the 3 huge bags of trash and metal scraps they left behind.

Fast forward a month later I called the electric company to have them come out and determine how to run electric to the building.  Contrary to what Sofia with Luna stated, I was told I’d need to pull a permit to install the breaker box.  When I made a subsequent call into the permitting department, they said I’d need to start at the beginning and get multiple permits.  Zoning, health and the actual building permit. They said a build packet from Luma would need to be produced to show the building is up to code.  Which as you know from earlier, it is not to code.  So of course, I never received said packet from Luna.  In the end, spent about $15K for a shed. I asked Luna if I could pay more to get the added equipment needed to bring it up to code and they said they did not think so but would get back to me.  Still waiting.

I have never dealt with a company this bad on so many levels.  From dishonestly to gross negligence. 

It is my personal opinion after hiring Luna you’d be best served to find an alternative metal building company to do business with.  One with better online feedback and less complaints.