Guyette Roofing & Construction

"Guilty until proven innocent. This is why we choose not to advertise on Angie's list, despite being solicited by their sales reps about once a week. At least the Better Business Bureau, with which we've been a member for over 10 years and have an A+ rating with, allows you to address/resolve a negative review from a customer before it goes out for all the world to see. And I'm curious as to why this particular review hits 18 months after the fact. Is it a case of pent-up frustration or maybe Angie's List fishing for reviews? Next I'll address this malicious review, point by point. Then your subscribers can judge for themselves. We were hired to do the work by a very nice realtor, but then when the work got started we had to deal with her husband/partner. Had we met him first we would have declined the job. The house had been sitting vacant for a number of years, and was very cluttered with old furniture, lawn equipment, building supplies, etc. It was obvious that it was already under renovation before we got started. The former owners had smoked in the house, so we applied a coat of Kilz latex primer over all the walls, (it's not practical to "wash the walls" in a house). The trim work was wiped before painting. I never met the so-called home inspector, but I inspected the job and except for some normal touch-ups, found everything to be acceptable. I've been painting houses for over 40 years. The husband/partner purchased blinds for the house but 7 out of 11 were the wrong size. We installed 4, then came back and installed the remaining 7 once he furnished the correct sizes. I recommended a good electrician, who was not included in our estimate, to update some bad wiring. The electrician visited the job but declined to give an estimate after meeting the husband/partner. Our estimate included $200.00 to install homeowner-provided light fixtures. We were told by the husband/partner not to install them, so we didn't and reduced our price by $200.00 (a price reduction, not a discount). Our contract called for painting the exterior cabinet framework (not the insides); the insides were painted by someone else. I did not say there were a lot of nails sticking up in the roof, but rather I would check for nails and fix them. We found one and repaired it for $25.00. Why would we stop there if there were others to be repaired? As for our crew, we started with 11 men but they were not all running around with paintbrushes in their hands as is stated in the review. We had 4 removing wallpaper (with scrapers in their hands), 2 doing carpentry repairs (with crowbars and hammers in their hands), 1 doing drywall work (with a drywall blade), 2 cutting in (with paint brushes), and 2 rolling primer (with paint rollers). I didn't know there was a limit on how many people could work at one time in the house (we have 15 full-time employees). It is clearly stated in our contract that the $750.00 was to "remove wallpaper, skim coat, and perform miscellaneous, drywall repairs, entire house interior". Considering how difficult the wallpaper was to remove, that was a bargain. The "guy" that came back has 25 years painting experience and I often ask him to handle the final touch-ups. If there was water added to the paint at that time it would have been a small amount necessary to feather-in those spots Nothing underhanded about that. Finally, about cleaning our brushes. Our main crew washed their brushes outside everyday, using a water hose. But our last guy did clean his 2 brushes in the new stainless steel sink. For that, I am truly sorry. In the 18 months since working on this home, we have worked on approximately 300 or more houses using essentially the same crew. Many of those homeowners have given us positive reviews on Angies list. We're painting 2 houses today as I write this. I ask you, how could we still be in business if our work was not of high quality. Respectfully, Bill Guyette Owner"

"Neither I or my son have ever met or spoke with the respondent. On my initial visit in February, 2013, I was asked by the respondent's husband to locate and fix the source of a small roof leak over the master bedroom. I found a deteriorated pipe boot over the bedroom and recommended that it be replaced, along with six (6) other deteriorated pipe boots across the roof. Roofers understand that deteriorated pipe collars always leak; and in determining the source of a hard-to-find roof leak, should always be addressed as a first step. To keep things in perspective, $300.00 is our minimum roof charge. Our average job cost including a roof replacement is approximately $6,000.00. A full roof replacement, if properly done, will correct all roof leaks. That pipe collar, while needing to be replaced, did not prove to be the source of the leak over the bedroom. In the interim, the husband requested an estimate to remodel the master bath and bedroom. But on our second visit, he spoke very harshly with my son and bragged that he tape-recorded all of his phone calls. Homeowners, certainly have the right to record their calls, but in today's litigious environment, contractors are well-advised to steer clear of customers with that mindset. Judging by the tone of respondent's review (whom again, we have never met), I believe we made the right decision to not offer any additional services. We are glad that the owners now have a new, leak-free roof and we wish them well. Bill Guyette Owner, Guyette's Contracting"