Dave Harden Construction

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Dave was great! Maximized what he could out of existing materials that were still viable. Designed a gate that keeps my dogs fairly quiet and in the yard. Cleaned up and hauled away all the debris, and did it all with a no pressure, laid back attitude. My new gate is beautiful and my neighbors are really happy as the dogs are pretty docile now. I would recommend Dave in a heartbeat!

I did not let him finish the job. He did not frame the hole where the AC Unit went in, but instead built a little platform for it to sit on and was then going to fill in the gaps with stucco, which was impossible. The gaps were just too big. He unloaded his SUV with way more equipment and materials than he could possibly use. Most in my front yard, but also along the side of the house and on the back patio. For the interior "look", I wanted framing around the unit. He had drilled so many holes trying to find the stud, that I would have required a 4" wide frame for the bottom of the frame. He had 3" available only, so he was going to frame 3/4 of the unit with the 3", and the bottom of the frame with 4". Really? Not only would it not match up, but it was a thicker piece of wood. I had to have it finished by another contractor who had to widen the hole where the AC unit went in, remove the little shelf, and frame and seal the hole, insert the unit which was a nice, tight fit. When the stucco was then applied to the outside, only a small crack around the whole unit had to be filled in. Unfortunately, I paid Dave the second day he was here, and before he wanted to apply the stucco. After he was gone, I realized that the project would not work the way he "designed" it. I know better than to pay ahead, but can't remember why I did. I emailed him that since he did not finish the job, the least he could do was return at least one half of my money to me. He never did and I never received any money back.

We tabled the repairs and have not completed them yet. The overall grade was not allowed to be equal with N/A. N/A was accurate for our not doing the repair, but Overall was not allowed to be N/A.

He is very skilled and careful. Terrific

Dave was very nice and always returned my calls. He came over to my house and I showed him what I wanted done and he gave me a verbal estimate. When he came back, I was not home, therefore, was not there to supervise the work, which I normally don't on any person doing work. We agreed on 6 hours to accomplish the work I requested at $45 per hour rate. He also said he would charge me for material. I came home about 5 hours after his arrival and was shocked that most of the worked had not been done. Only a few things had been done and the work was sloppy. I pointed out a few things and he casually commented it wasn't his best work. Once I was home and pointed out all the things that hadn't been done and he mentioned he was over his 6 hours. I told him I could not afford any more so he started cleaning up w/o finishing . I asked him to finish a few things that he started as I couldn't climb on the ladder to complete the work. I purchased 2 tubes of clear caulk for him to use. When I inspected, he used white. When I asked him why he used white, he said he ran out and thought he'd just use the white because I told him I would be painting, but I'm not painting for another year! I told him I didn't want the white and that is why I purchased clear and he just smiled and said, "Oh, Sorry. " I live 5 minutes from Home Depot and could have went and purchased more if he ran out as I was home when he was caulking. I ended up cleaning up all trash and sweeping the dust up from the wood shavings. I asked what I owed him for materials and he told me $50. I was shocked as he only purchased one piece of wood for the frame and a elbow for one of my drains. I asked him for the receipt and he wouldn't show it to me but started reading it off to me and then corrected the amount to $25, but still didn't show me the receipt. That told me instantly that he was not being honest with me. If I hadn't asked for the receipt, he would have collected $50 from me for material that I did not have possession of. Dave only completed about 1/2 of what we agreed to, but spent almost 8 hours at my house. I had asked him to patch 2 very small places with stucco and he put mortar that you use between bricks instead of stucco. When I asked him why he used mortar he said he felt it was better, but I reminded him I wanted stucco! You don't normally put mortar on a stucco house to patch! Then, he decided, w/o my approval to use left over mortar and plugged up my weep holes between the bricks in front of my home. I had to go out and chip out the mortar to expose my weep holes. I felt obligated to pay for the 6 hours we agreed on even though I was not satisfied with the work. I thought about it over night and it really bothered me that he took advantage of me and I called him the next day and told him I wanted to see the receipt because I didn't believe he even spent $25 and he told me I had an attitude because I was asking for the receipt! He came out and STILL did not provide the receipt, but left me a note that my material bill was now $15 and the additional $10 he charged me was for a 1x4 he provided me (true), stucco repair mix (not true, he didn't even use stucco), and caulking (not true, he used mine with exception of probably 1/3 of his own tube when mine ran out), and for primer which he did use to paint one small elbow (probably used about 6 brush strokes). And, he told me I received $100 worth of freebies because he stayed longer than he should have and I asked him to take several old fence pieces with him because he told me he could dispose of them for me ( he agreed to do that as part of the deal, that wasn't something I was suppose to get charged extra for). I would not recommend Dave. He is very slow and tries to charge for material that were not used in your repair. The interesting part is that he didn't seem to be bothered that he didn't get all the work done and that he didn't do his best work when I questioned his workmanship. Then, when I asked for the receipt, he thought I had an attitude! He was very nice to chat with and seemed to know what he was talking about when I asked him questions during our initial interview, but his workmanship is poor and he took way too long to accomplish tasks, and was not honest. I learned a hard lesson. You can't always go by a review on Angie's list. I actually didn't pick Dave originally from Angie's list. I had called another person with several positive reviews and he referred Dave to me as he thought the work would be more in align with what Dave did. Then, I looked him up here, he only had a few reviews. There were not enough reviews for me to base using Dave and I should have considered that. You need to make sure to get a written estimate, which I did not. This was the first time I wasn't given one and I should have insisted. He knew I was unhappy, if he was a professional he should have returned my money and only charged me for the $15 he spent on materials. The only thing he did correctly was unstop my plugged downspout and screw it back in place.

Dave called me back right away and provided a reasonable estimate for the work performed. After providing the estimate, he came back a few days later to do the work. He was very friendly and personable. He came at the time he said he would be here. The work took a little longer than he expected. The railing and the gate look wonderful! He and his brother did an excellent job. They cleaned up everything after they were done and hauled away old materials. They were very professional.

Dave Harden was consulted to come out and give me an estimate and actually provide drawings and plans of how p roject would look. My wife and I had a basic idea of what we wanted and when we explained it to Dave he listened and was able to draw up a plan that exceeded our expectations. He also wrote up a proposal that met our budget and a timeline that was reasonable for job stages and completion. The work took place over a period of about 3 months in various stages and we were kept informed at all levels. Payments were fair and made only after work stages had been successfully completed. The only thing that slowed Dave's progress was wet weather which was understandable due to all work being outdoors. Dave involved us in the selection of concrete, ceiling fan, deck railing and every detail that was important to the successful completion of our dream deck addition. We were very impressed with the quality of workmanship and pride that Dave took in his work and when sub contractors were used they were always timely and professional also. When the job was finished we were amazed at how our finished deck was exactly as Dave had drawn it up and it exceeded even our expectations! The final surprise was that we came in just under budget with no cost overruns or unpleasant contractor surprises. Dave has since done some other projects (painting and flooring) for myself and my daughter within the last few years and I would recommend him highly.

We needed dry rot repair to the siding on our home, and two previous companies had given us estimates in excess of $20,000 to do the work. Dave was on the crew that was re-roofing our home, and he was in charge of inspecting and replacing/repairing the damaged wood on the roof. After watching his work, we asked him to give us an estimate on the siding. He said he could charge us for materials and labor on a daily rate, and gave us a "ballpark" estimate that was lower than what we ended up paying, but all things considered, we did not mind that. In addition to the dry rot repair, which he diligently did, he installed a back door for us for free, and then we asked him to install a difficult interior door as well. Then he completely re-built a back porch and steps using redwood and taking care to use precise measurements to comply to code and safety requirements. He also completely tore down, inspected the underside, and rebuilt a balcony deck, using redwood, and making sure that water flow was corrected so that water damage does not re-occur. What we really enjoyed about Dave was his diligence in doing the job right. We feel we have found a gem in Dave, and will use no one else for this kind of work in the future.We have a couple of projects planned for him already!