AAA HOME IMPROVEMENTS

It was pretty good, they were there every time I needed them. They did what they said they would and helped me focus on what I wanted.

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We hired AAA to do a total renovation on our house, a 1960's ranch. We signed the contract in March of 2011. The first thing they did was have the roll-off dumpster put in the driveway of the wrong house blocking our cars in! It took 8 hours to correct. Next they did the demo of the upstairs of the house fairly quickly. After that, it took nearly 3 months before they started to truly make any progress. I stopped by day after day and there was no one there. The excuses I got were: "we are too busy" or "we are waiting on permits" etc. Finally, as worked progressed, the "project manager" for our job was fired and replaced at least 3 times! It became clear how horribly managed this group was. The sub contractors and AAA were virtually never on the same page or gave the same answer to any question we had. Anytime something would go wrong, AAA would blame the contractors and vice versa. If not for my CONSTANT oversight and daily hammering on AAA, I do not believe this project would have been completed. Examples:

• I specifically asked that the new swamp cooler be installed over the walk-in closest and NOT over the baby room. I made this extremely clear. I show up one day and the thing was almost completely installed over the baby room! They all pointed fingers at each other. With a hole in the roof and all the ventilation in place, they finally talked me into accepting it. Big mistake. Now that room has baby twins living in it and the swamp cooler is loud enough to wake them.

• Another example: they installed brand new storm windows throughout the house. The caulking looked as if it had been done by 5 year old children. There has been cracking around the windows constantly ever since installation. Complete disaster. I ended up having a major dispute with AAA about this issue.

• Some of the "subs" AAA hired were SKETCHY. This one guy showed up one day, wreaked of alcohol and had clearly been beaten by someone pretty bad. I asked what the deal was and he said "I had a fist fight with my girlfriend last night....". I had to ask him to leave.

I could go on and on about the project and lack of professionalism but I want to explain what happened with AAA's owner, Toby Hertel, at the end of the ordeal. As the project neared completion, he insisted on final payment BEFORE all the work was done and BEFORE I was completely satisfied. I refused to pay until I was completely satisfied as I assume most people would do. We had already paid well over $200,000 for this renovation and owed less than $15,000. Yet he insisted on payment despite the fact that the work was not completed to our satisfaction. I finally had to threaten to call Tom Martino's Trouble Shooters Network (remember them?) which AAA was part of back then. Finally, after another needless delay lasting weeks, Toby capitulated, finished the work and I paid him.

Most recently, one of the vanity sinks that AAA installed in 2011 suddenly fell out and landed in the cabinet below. So, I emailed AAA's owner, Toby Hertel. He wrote back and admitted that it was very unusual for this to happen, he admitted that he had to fire the guy that put it in AND he said "it is an easy fix". But then he said he would not fix it free of charge because "I was not a happy customer".....??? I ended up spending $300 to fix it. The stone fabricator that fixed it said: there were no clips/fasteners holding the sink to the granite, the granite had not been properly cleaned before the sink was installed, there was NO caulking done at all and they used the wrong type of adhesive to attach the sink in the first place. He said we were lucky the sink held up as long as it did. (BTW, I found the stone fabricator on Angies List!)

Bottom line: I would NEVER hire AAA Home Improvements again nor recommend them to anyone. I agree with other posts on Angies List about AAA. When it comes to getting paid, AAA is VERY PROMPT! There is a reason why companies like AAA do not have good marks on Angies List and it starts at the top!

The initial work was done without any complaints, however 1 year and 4 months after a large section of the sidewalk started disintegrating. They told me since it was 4 months after the one year warranty they would not completely repour the section. They said it was not the fault of the company and the cement was of good quality. The were other sections of the sidewalk that were perfectly fine. They agreed only to reseal the area by resurfacing it. After 3 months of emails they finally came to resurface the affected areas. Since the contract had an arbitration clause and would have been more hassle to try and take them to small claims I settled with the resurfacing, but they did not do a very good job. Time will tell how long this lasts. I would not recommend this company or trust the ownership.

AAA Home Improvements did an excellent job for us with no "horror tales!" Here are specifics: #1) Contractor is also a member of the Tom Martino Troubleshooter List and the Better Business Bureau. #2) Price paid excludes kitchen cabinets, counter-tops, appliances, and plumbing, sink, disposal, faucet, hot water steamer. #3) All work was finished, as promised, in 6-7 weeks, including inspections. #4) Communication was excellent, by email and cellphone. Always available and responsive. Workers were professionals who were easy to communicate with, trustworthy, and reliable. #5) We received everything as agreed in the contract. We paid extra for changes after the contract was signed, but these were itemized as specified in the contract. #6) The sales rep, Ray, was excellent! Knowledgeable with the ability to add new ideas we didn't think about. Not pushy. #7--Flexible, OK to buy from any vendor, make this OUR kitchen, did not attempted to force their ideas on u