TRADEWINDS CUSTOM HOMES LLC

We hired Tradewind Custom Homes LLC to do a huge home addition on what was a very small home on Captiva Drive. The first thing I want to say about Jeff Carroll is that his vision for this home was spot on. The way the lot was placed relative to the ocean created some issues and opportunities and his thoughts for how to create the addition were amazing. We now have the most beautiful view that will never be harmed by additional building that is certain to happen near us. Second: We questioned Jeff about some comments we had seen earlier on Angie's list and he was open and honest about those issues, very much to our satisfaction. We created a different contract than what was his standard but he was totally on board with it and financially we were pleased with the result. Certainly we had some change orders that Jeff recommended that we thought were expensive but the bottom line was he was right! We had windows we thought we could keep and he told us we should change them. It was more money but we ended up with two bedrooms that had been so noisy and now are so quiet. Thankful we followed his advice. Third: The quality of his work was amazing and we have had workman in the house doing little handyman jobs that actually comment on how well the house was done. Certainly there were times when we thought the job was going too slowly and in retrospect I think he just needs time to think things through. It isn't easy to make an older small house look like an amazing new house. His attention to the smallest detail is microscopic. Fourth and Finally: I often think the test of a builder is what they do when something goes wrong, We had a permit issue that surfaced literally 3-4 years after the remodel was done and Jeff was paid. He came back and worked with the county to get the issue solved. He was very savvy about how he handled it and did not charge us a dime. We are so grateful for that. He proved over and over again what a quality operation he has.

We made a big mistake in hiring Tradewind Custom Homes, starting out with the contract that Jeff Carroll provided.  Unfortunately, we trusted him when we should have had an attorney review it.  The project was very, very slow to get started.  After several weeks going by, the demolition went smoothly, but then our house sat for several more months.  We realized that Jeff Carroll was the only one employed at Tradewinds so we felt that we had been deceived because he couldn't give this project the attention it required.  There were constant delays due to scheduling and lack of management of sub contractors.  We used a framer based on Jeff's recommendation who, with Jeff's consent, changed our blue print drawing of our roof and went ahead and did the work without written approval of a change order from us.  This framer would not continue with the framing unless we paid him for the work, costing several thousand dollars as an unaccounted for expense.  The framer then wanted to be prepaid before he completed the job.  Jeff said that it would be fine but the framer didn't complete the work he agreed to in his signed contract and walked out on the job.  Unfortunately, Jeff failed to manage the subs and therefore, more stress and continued delays.  We had asked since the beginning for a schedule from Jeff but he acted like we were inconveniencing him.  On several occassions, sub contractors would asked us about payment for completed work wereas it turned out that Jeff had failed to submit the invoices in a timely manner, sometimes several weeks out.  We realized that in order to get this remodel completed, Jeff's services would need to be terminated.  After consulting another contractor on Sanibel, he pointed out several issues that would need to be addressed, which turned out be be yet another unexpected expense.  One of the main problems was that the windows were improperly waterproofed along with a few that were installed up side down.  We hired the new contractor and things went smoothly from there on out.  Personally, I wish that Ihad never meet Jeff Carroll.  Please Beware!!

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He was very good and it was a long term renovation. The price was very reasonable. They were excellent and I will use them again in the future.