Luke Nicholson Construction Company

HORRID. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND LUKE NICHOLSON. THIS REVIEW IS TO HELP OTHERS MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION.

Rather than write a detailed description of the entire ordeal, suffice to say that my experience confirms that of other negative reviews on this website. It was one of the more frustrating experiences i've had in recent years. I strongly suggest to avoid luke. 

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Bottom line:
For a fence, deck, rough framing in new construction, or minor brick work, Luke will do a decent job at a good price if you specify materials, get a firm quote, and keep on top of him.  Look elsewhere for anything else, or if you are short on time.  I like the guy personally, so it does not give me any pleasure to give a bad review, but the quality was just poor.
My experience was very similar to Sept. 30, 2014 review.  I brought Luke in for various projects for about a year and a half; this post will mostly be limited to the issues with the final project described above.   His estimates of timing were always way off: literally, one project that he estimated at under a month took eight months.  Attention to detail was lacking. I kept hiring him because he's nice and would promise to improve the work - and sometimes would for a little while - and I was too lazy and busy to find someone else.  While he was personally there, some of the rough work (brick repair, a deck, fencing) was okay, though; trim/finish quality was always poor. Towards the end, he mostly left his crew to work unsupervised and things really went south.
He estimated the project would take 2 weeks, and I made the mistake of agreeing to pay hourly; it took 3 months before we could move in, and at 4 months still wasn't  done when we finally found someone else. 
1) They took so long to start that I ended up doing much of the insulation removal and almost all of the demolition - stuff that would have been easy with a crew, but was difficult for one person.  During the one bit of demo they did do, they cut clean through a very nice old oak threshold between the foyer and the kitchen.  
2) I asked that while the floor was out, they remove debris from the crawlspace; they didn't and I had to spend several hours on hands and knees raking out debris from the crawlspace that would have been far easier to remove when the floor was out.
3) The framing they did is just off - the floor slopes slightly, one girder is bowed and not properly aligned with the foundation wall, studs and door jambs were not plumb; I asked that these items be fixed before the siding went on, and they were not, leaving me with the option of wasting a lot of material and delaying our move in date or letting it slide and doing a more expensive repair later.  
4) Where pipes went through the floor, they didn't bother cutting holes to fit around the pipes - they just left a large rectangular gap going right down into the crawlspace.     
5) Siding was installed poorly: they started the siding above the foundation; didn't use a starter strip per my request and manufacturer specs, so the last bottom board simply lays flat; didn't tuck the top board in under the existing siding (if it weren't hard in under the eaves it would be invitation for water intrusion); didn't flash joints between boards or between the bottom board and foundation (which, because of the aforementioned framing issues, results in a situation where in at least one spot, if I don't get it fixed, water dripping off the siding will drip right onto the top of the foundation wall and pool under the girder); didn't nail appropriately; left visible damage to boards, sloppy caulking, etc...
6) Insulation was rockwool; instead of cutting it, as I asked, they just tore it, which degrades the product, lessens its effectiveness, and results in wastage.  
7)Gypsum board installation was sloppy - corners and edges were busted and left crumbling, cuts around the washer box and outlets were rough and gypsum board was not secured properly around these items - even after I asked them to redo some of it, it was still done wrong.  
8) Plaster is thin in places and was left all over the new tile floor (as my girlfriend overheard one of his workers pointing out to another as if it were our fault, you typically do the plaster before the finished floor; in this case I had scheduled the tile setter for a month and a half after Luke's crew was supposed to be done with the job; not to mention the fact that they didn't put down tarps as I requested).  This took us several hours to remove - first with paint scrappers, then with steel wool and finally with a vinegar-soaked rag.
9) Luke didn't consult with me on the material or profile of trim and trim was done !! very !! sloppily, with warped wood, pieces that are not flush with adjacent pieces, gaps between trim and walls, etc...  I asked them to completely redo the trim inside and it was still done poorly. I subsequently brought in a carpenter who has done an impeccable job replacing every bit of trim they did.
10) Trash and debris (both from construction and from lunch) were routinely left laying around, even after multiple discussions about this)
11) A flight of stairs was put in using a riser height that was completely different from the flight above it so that it had to be redone.
12) My wheelbarrow was used to mix mortar and not washed out, then taken off to another job site; I had to ask three or four times before it made its way back, covered in cured concrete, with holes from rust and wear around the bolts (on a previous job, they broke another of my wheelbarrows).  Numerous five gallon buckets were taken and not returned.  
13) Mortar was splashed against  the new siding and not cleaned up, but left to cure.
14) After I described exactly how I wanted a door to be cleaned up and hung, they didn't follow instructions; gouged the door in multiple spots while scraping the paint; rehung it at a slant; didn't mortise the hinges into the jamb and mortised them very crudely into the door, making rough cuts all the way across the side of the door; oversanded around the hardware so that they were hanging 1/4" outside of the edge of the door; and used 3/4 inch screws to hang the door so that it started sagging within a couple weeks. 
15) A little access door to a cubby under the stairs was done twice (without consulting beforehand what I wanted it to look like) and still needed to be redone - the first time they  stuck in a cupboard door that they had on hand and left a board along the bottom that would have destroyed your knees and shins any time you went to retrieve something; the second, they used a piece of flimsy, warped plywood with clunky 1" trim.
16) They used whatever fasteners were on hand instead of choosing the right nail or screw for the job, sometimes not even using galvanized nails for exterior jobs or pressure treated wood.  Nailing was sloppy - overnailing, misnailing, bent nails left in, nails left exposed, common nails used for trim, etc....
17) Instructions and specs that were given multiple times through email and discussions didn't get followed.
18) Crew used my girlfriend's brand new dishtowels on the plaster.
19) $250 in tools and a silver-plate platter went missing; I suspect one of the crew in particular, though without anything other than circumstantial evidence to go on (Luke offered to reimburse me for the tools and I believe Luke himself is absolutely honest, except when making time estimates; he says this employee is no longer with him for other reasons).  A road sign that the previous owner/tenants left in the yard  also went missing ("speed hump" - real classy).
Price: On previous, quoted work, Luke beat out other contractors, and would stick to his quote even when things inevitably took longer than he estimated;  unfortunately, with exceptions as noted in the summary above (fencing, e.g.), the quality was commensurate with the cost.  This project was done on a time and materials basis. It was a big mistake; not only was there work that had to be redone, they often showed up for short periods so the set up and tear down was a large proportion of the time

Mr Nicholson was disorganized and construction was a jerky from start and stop.
He would disappear for days at a time and could not be reached by phone or email. Mr Nicholson took over 5 months to complete our 2 car garage. At one point I was so exasperated I decided to fire him. We had a meeting. He apologized for his mistakes and begged me not fire him. He promised to do better. I relented. There was absolutely no change in his behavior. It was like we didn't even have the meeting. He made promises after promise that just fell by the wayside. It was not a good experience.
The last parting shot so to speak, Mr nicholson forgot to call the pest control company to treat the soil before pouring the concrete apron so in order to treat, the pest control company had to drill holes in the concrete - an extra $75 charge. They tried to contact Mr Nicholson for payment but he did not respond. I am going to have to pay $75 for his mistake.
Mr Nicholson was always a gentleman but I would never do business with him again.

Stood me up three times just for an estimate!

That was great. The thing that I liked was he was using the hooks that came with the kit. One of the hooks was defective and he couldn't use it. He didn't have any of his stuff with him. He went over to the hardware store and bought some and used that to put them in. I was pretty impressed with that he was willing to go the extra mile. It was two hours of work by the time he was done. He was very professional. I'm actually planning to use him for something coming up in September.

Luke was prompt, professional and he did a great job at a very reasonable price. I would hire him again in a heartbeat!

I recently hired Luke Nicholson to assess floor board damage in my home. The damage was extensive and no one before him could figure out the moisture problem, other than pointing out how humid Tallahassee is. Apparently, the AC company that installed a new unit 7 years ago failed to fill the ground level hole in my exterior brick wall, that was exposed when the new (smaller) unit was installed. For 7 years water has been pouring into my crawlspace and being absorbed into the insulation, resulting in the rotting of the majority of the sub-floors in two rooms, making my house “sick”. The mold and rot was extensive. In fact, I’ve been treating my cat for asthma for the last couple years and now his symptoms have cleared up completely!

Luke is extremely knowledgeable and competent (he is also an engineer). The man can assess any problem and fix it. He knows what materials to use to make sure the job is done correctly. He is a perfectionist and EVERYTHING he does is detailed and beautiful. He cleans his work space up when he is done each day.

As a woman, hiring people to come into my home to repair things can present two issues. .. #1 Being taken advantage of, regarding what needs to be done and how much will be charged. #2 Creep factor..... these are NOT issues with Luke. He will assess the situation and recommend exactly what must be done, estimate the material / labor costs, and provide a realistic timeline. He is honest, trustworthy, flexible, punctual, professional, reasonable, and an all around great person. I highly recommend him and so does my cat, Jack!