I hate writing negative reviews, but in this case what I have to say really needs to be said. I'll never trust 5-star reviews ever again. I chose JDS Improvements based on all the many great reviews as well as my meeting with John Snyder (owner) where he displayed complete confidence that everything I needed to have done on my typed list was no big deal. However, I'd give JDS Improvements minus 5 stars for all the stress & anxiety they put me through. A promised 2 to 3 week job took 3 months with several items still not done or not done correctly. It held up the sale of my house by 2 months. After 3 tries to get things right & never did, I asked them to not return. No one ever called to ask for clarification or for any further details so I was under the impression that they were competent & understood all that was needed based on the walk-through with John & the 3 & 1/2 page typed list of instructions I gave to him. Initially I walked John through the property to go over numerous repairs & painting projects that I needed to have done on my house to get it ready for sale. John took notes & also got a copy of the 3.5 typed pages of repairs & painting work. He said no problem, they could handle every single problem in 2 or 3 weeks. I think much of the problem not only lies with John Snyder's seeming lack of communication with his workers, but also some of his workers almost total incompetence at what they did try to do. After the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd try at trying to do pretty simple repair jobs, John's many profuse apologies & expressions of shame & embarrassment were meaningless. After driving from Tucson to Sedona 3 times (3.5 hrs & 225 miles each way), & finding several items incomplete, done wrong or not done at all, I told John I was worn out, stressed out, extremely disappointed & couldn't bear to proceed any further. I asked that they not return (for the 4th time). This 3-month experience was dreadful. I asked for some sort of refund. $1,000 off on an $18,000 bill was cold comfort. However, John did not charge me for a garage utility sink replacement nor painting an indoor pond, where they did an excellent job, but these freebies were offset by the things they did not get done or did not do correctly. In a perfect world, John would have made copies of my list & given them to each worker. Then when done, John should have inspected each item to make sure they were all done before telling me all was done. But John actually did say he inspected the work himself & all items were done correctly. In all the years I've managed contractors & repair people & even done a lot of repair jobs myself I've never seen such an absolute shocking level of repeated incompetence in work and mgmt. It's like John simply grabbed anyone off the street who literally had no idea whatsoever how to follow directions or fix anything. Yes, it was that bad! Even after the 3 attempts at the simplest things, John always acknowledged the problem & shortcomings & always profusely apologized & in some cases said, "I'll fix this myself." If he did, then he is incompetent as well, but at the very least, a very poor business owner/manager. One good thing was that John always said they'd give it another shot & make it right whatever it took, which I really appreciated, but unfortunately, they just weren't up to the task for most of these pretty uncomplicated jobs. Before I drove up from Tucson, I asked & he said he checked everything himself & he assured me that everything was done correctly this time. NOT! After John called & assured me all items were done & looked great, I drove to inspect the work. I was horrified with what I saw. Instructions were not followed, many things weren't done correctly or done at all. The place was dirty & the so-called deep cleaning I asked for simply looked like a wipe-down. DONE AS REQUIRED, first attempt, good job Caulking, Reposition Microwave In Wall, Replace 2 Electrical Outlets, Clean Garage Door, Paint Pond, Garage Utility Sink Replacement, only some of the house painting. Instructions not followed, done wrong, and/or incomplete on the following: PAINTING • Edging work was perfect! • I told John to match the paint from existing paint that were in the garage for 5 colors. These instructions were also on the typed job sheets. They didn't! Luckily, John agreed to repaint all the exterior decking, house trim, deck railings, & hundreds of feet of fencing, which was a relief, but what a waste of time. They also had to repaint 9 doors - I asked that they be painted semi gloss to match with the old existing paint in the garage, but all were painted w/ flat paint, not even a good job at that. • John asked if I wanted a nicely weathered exterior spiral staircase to be painted! I said NO. They painted it anyway, then had to sand all the paint off, ruining the look. • They forgot to paint the entire front of house & half of one side. • I asked & was told that the trim would be caulked & all the nail holes filled before painting. It wasn't done. • I asked that a large picture window be caulked. They caulked the smaller stained glass window next to it. • Paint drips on flagstone floor & interior custom rockwork. • Old paint spray cans, rags & sandpaper pieces were lying around the property. WOOD STEPS REPLACEMENT • I asked that all the steps & landing boards be replaced going to a garage apartment & that they be secured with carriage bolts instead of screws. On 2 of the step treads, because those 2 steps were wedge shaped, I asked that 2" x 12" boards be used instead of 2" x 6". Upon inspection, the ONLY thing that was done was 2 wedge shaped steps were replaced with 2" x 6" instead of 2" x 12" boards that I'd asked for. After typing another list with detailed instructions of all the thing that did not get done or were done incorrectly, once again, the instructions were not followed. All the steps were replaced with the correct boards, but they were secured with screws instead of carriage bolts that I'd asked for. Instead of replacing the landing boards, only one board was replaced. How can anyone get this wrong twice! Especially when it was gone over in person twice & there were 2 sets of typed detailed instructions? This was the case with most of the tasks that needed to be done around the house. STRIP KITCHEN FLAGSTONE FLOOR & RESEAL • I asked Marco, John's foreman why it was not stripped as requested & paid for & he said, "the guy who did it said it would be too messy & difficult so he just resealed it instead." Huh? Are you kidding me? But I paid for stripping & resealing. Why did no one call me? STRIP & RESEAL CUSTOM ETCHED KITCHEN FLAGSTONE COUNTERTOP • Though it looked good it was not done with the same original sealant, which did affect the custom rock-etched design elements. What was used was clear exterior acrylic that off-gassed extremely toxic fumes throughout the house for 3 months rendering the house uninhabitable & unsellable. Being in the house for a couple hours I got a splitting headache each time. STRIP & RESEAL FLAGSTONE BATHROOM FLOOR • Same problem as above - exterior acrylic used that off-gassed toxic fumes that smelled like gasoline for 3 months. The correct sealant was NOT used & the flagstone floor no longer matched all the rest of the flagstone floors in the house. Ugh! MALIBU LIGHTS • There were several lights where the tops were loose & needed to be secured with glue. Each time John assured me these were fixed. I specifically asked because each time that they weren't getting fixed. Each visit back to the house I saw they were not fixed. However, on my 3rd trip back, one or 2 had sort of been fixed. The other 5 or 6 were untouched & still falling apart. GARAGE CABINET DOORS • I had removed doors to all the large cabinets & neatly stacked them against the garage wall inside. When they cleaned the garage floor, they left some stacked against the wall, others were stacked on shelves, & the rest were laying against the bushes outside in the weather. Very careless as they could have been ruined being outside! This happened twice after I'd restacked them. Someone does not know how to pay attention! FRENCH DOORS - BOTTOM WEATHERSTRIPS • I asked that a pair of door bottom weather-strips/sweeps be replaced that I had special ordered & paid $59 for - Ruined! They cut one 2" too short & installed it anyway - spiders, cockroaches, lizards, snakes & scorpions could just walk right in. I ordered another pair & they did those correctly. COUNTERTOP END PIECE • I gave them a countertop end piece kit to install (including kit instructions). Pieces from the kit were not used & it was done incorrectly 3 times. How could they get this wrong 3 times! HOUSE SIDING PIECES • 2 small siding pieces were supposed to be replaced (as per instruction list). Not done! Had to ask again! DEEP CLEANING, WINDOW WASHING • The absolute worst cleaning job ever! I asked for a professional deep cleaning & window washing after all work was done. All I got was what looked like a basic wipe-down with obvious dust & dirt still in many places. The sinks were filthy & looked as though they had just been rinsed out only. Some windows had been cleaned but many others weren't even touched & were filthy. They had to go back 3 times & it still wasn't clean. HAND SCRIBBLED NOTES • On the first inspection trip back to the house I saw my typed lists on the kitchen counter with notations on only some items marked as "done." But several of these "done" items were not done at all. On other inspection trip(s) back all I saw were abbreviated hand scribbled notes that really didn't cover what needed to get done. I can only guess they may have been notes that might have been taken while being dictated over the phone or something read less
Stephen P.
