Karbowski Construction

I have a medium size two story home with a total of 3,800sf. I have had my roof shoveled every year 2016, 2017, and 2018 under lump sum contracts of $600, $650 and $1,200 respectively and each time it only took one day with two men maximum, who were reputable contractors. I was referred to this this company by my snow plower, and mistakenly thought it was a company who has a a similar name in the area, maybe brothers. He quoted an hourly rate which I usually don't contract under but he promised to use roofers that could do it more way more efficiently than anyone else. I told him I expect this work to take no more than $1,600 and he understood. He had a crew on workers charging over three days, about 120 man-hours, and charged me over $7,900. You decide.

I paid Karbowski over $44,000 to install a new roof on my Breckinridge ski home in September 2016. Project was supposed to take a couple days, but rather sending a crew, they sent a couple guys here and there. Job took a month. This past winter we found some roof tiles in the driveway (2ft x 2ft x 2ft triangle). Not sure that expect roof tiles to be falling to the ground in less than 6 years, but I asked Karbowski to make the repair, agreeing to pay T&M. After 7 business days, Karbowski still would not agree to scheduling the repair some time over the next few weeks. Very poor service. I would never hire them again.

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The owner was very knowledgeable and helpful in describing the work needed to be done, including description of current cold roof on property. We found him punctual in responding to our calls and emails. Overall we are happy with the work done and found the price to be reasonable for the area.

1. Job went very badly.
-Estimate was very sketchy and not detailed enough to really describe all the work.
-What was told verbally by his estimator was denied by Rick Karbowski when he didn't do the work promised.
-Company did not seem to know how to engineer the electrical heat-tape lengths. Had to have it done by an Elecrical Engineer and
then give them instructions on how to do it. It seemed like they were "winging" the job.
2. Had to fire Karbowski's carpenters. We found some rotten wood behind the siding that was being replaced and they said it was too complicated for them to replace the rotten wood. Had to hire 2 carpenters separate from Karbowski Construction to replace rotten wood. Had to fire Karbowski's carpenters after 1 1/2 days on job. They seemed incompetent to us. Hired 2 other independent carpenters to finish siding.
3. Could not get the owner of Karbowski Construction to give any validity to our concerns about the job, how it was being done, and the problems we experienced.
4. Original estimate was for $9,394. He billed for $11,431. Finally settled and paid them $10,936.
If using Karbowski Construction I recommend the following:
- Get a very DETAILED cost estimate and anything they tell you have it put in writing
- Get an agreement in writing that any cost above the estimate must be approved in writing by you.