The school district was livid with Steingass for failing to provide evidence that the project’s sanitary and storm sewer lines were properly inspected, because they had evidence that the inspection was incomplete. "Steingass Mechanical is obligated to provide this videotape inspection of the Project’s sanitary and storm sewer lines," the district’s attorneys complained. They added, "Steingass was given repeated written and verbal notices to complete this inspection. Steingass Mechanical has failed to do so."

Furthermore, the Project Architect informed the district that Steingass’ as-built drawings were "roughly drawn, inaccurate, and erroneous." The City Engineer found "numerous errors and inaccuracies" in Steingass’ submittals. The District noted that they were going to have to hire their own surveyor to complete the drawings and that they would charge Steingass for that expense.

The Project Architect and the District also believed that they "...have strong reason to believe that portions of the storm sewer are not flowing freely and may contain standing water."

The District noted seven separate instances of poor work by Steingass, including damaged foundations and labor clean up that amounted to $60,753 in back charges against Steingass. There was also another $19,052 charge against Steingass because of water damage from their leaking fire sprinklers. The District plainly stated, "Because of Steingass Mechanical’s pattern of repeated failures to complete the underground utility portion of its work ... Steingass Mechanical is not permitted to perform any further underground utility work on this Project."

The attachments to the District’s letter, including letters from the Philmore J. Hart Architect firm to Steingass, provided additional evidence against Steingass. Those letters said, in part, to add the following items to the "punch list" for the Early Childhood Center Job:

a) Trap primer to floor drain not connected ...

b) 6" domestic water main is still leaking ...

c) Cap off abandoned fire water line immediately

d) Clean off solder on west wall

Philmore Hart, the Architect, also noted, "...No representative of Steingass Mechanical showed up at the Construction Meeting 48 as you had promised ... You not only failed to show up, you also broke your promise, which has been a common occurrence during the course of this project."

The Lake County, Ohio Board of Commissioners recently rejected Steingass’s bid for their courthouse addition and renovation work on February 12, 2002, in part because of the paper trail of problems with Steingass’s work. Just five months earlier, the City of Bedford, Ohio, also rejected Steingass for a fire protection contract, even though Steingass was the low bidder.

The City of Bedford assembled a substantial collection of correspondence from former Steingass customers to substantiate their concerns that Steingass was not a "responsible" bidder. Project and Construction Services (PCS), who was overseeing the project for the City of Bedford, stated in a September 13, 2001 letter that they had collected "contract evaluation forms" on two Steingass jobs, that PCS had spoken to four former customers of Steingass and that finally, PCS had their own bitter experiences with Steingass on three jobs. PCS concluded:

"Based on the accounts of the persons contacted by PCS, and who have worked directly with Steingass Mechanical ... PCS recommends that the fire protection contract be awarded to MAC Mechanical as the lowest responsible bidder at $245,000.00. This amount is $2,000 higher than the bid submitted by Steingass Mechanical."

Niles City School District had the Architectural firm of Olsavsky Jaminet investigate the troubled history of Steingass Mechanical while evaluating Steingass’s bid. The Olsavsky firm told the school board in a November 7, 2001 letter that, "This office has investigated the prior performance of ... Steingass Mechanical Contracting, Inc... by talking on the telephone..." with architects, construction managers and a fire marshal who had experience with Steingass on five earlier jobs. Here is some of what the Olsavsky firm was told about Steingass.

Rick Borsch of Turner Construction stated that on the Avon School job, Steingass was "poorly staffed" and he "would not recommend" them.

Al Gutzwiller of Heery International, summed up his experience with Steingass at the Bristol High and Middle School project by saying that Steingass did not man the job and was a, "No show at job meetings ... [and used] unqualified workers."

Brian Mahualson of the Louis Perry Group summed up his impressions of Steingass, gleaned from the Streetsboro High School and Wait Elementary job sites; "No respect for safety ... Poor management practice ... Unresponsive."

Frank Weber of RWL Architects, who worked with Steingass on the Lorain County, Ohio correctional job, said the "job was badly manned... [Steingass’s] work was incomplete ..." and he "would not recommend" using Steingass.

Bruce Whitehead of the firm Burgess & Niple, suffered through the Strongsville High School job where Steingass worked. According to Whitehead, Steingass displayed a "poor quality of work, [Steingass] did not maintain [the] schedule," and like the others, he "would not recommend" Steingass.

Fire Marshal Scott Gilman ran across Steingass at the Lakewood, Ohio Independent Living Complex job. According to Gilman, Steingass was "...dishonest, used uncertified personnel, [and performed] construction work without [a] permit."

Olsavsky’s dossier on Steingass also included a November 6, 2001 letter from Aapex Engineering, who dealt with Steingass on the Medina High School project. Edward Belcastro of Aapex wrote, "...the inability of Steingass to retain adequate personnel to assure one of their staff member’s attendance at each meeting [of the Construction Coordinating Committee] hindered the committee’s efforts ... My understanding of the current conditions is that all coordination drawings are completed

except for Steingass’s final submission. This could lead to future complications..."

The Beachwood City School District also wrote to Olsavsky's Business Manager, Larry Tomec, said in his November 5, 2001 letter that:

"Steingass Mechanical Inc. provided general plumbing, underground sanitary and storm sewer lines, and fire suppression protection services for our Early Childhood Building that was constructed in 1998. I cannot recommend his firm and, based on our experience with him, we would not award a contract to him for work at our district."