Mr Porch Inc

This review has been updated.  

My initial review was negative as Mr. Porch had sub-contracted part of the job to another company that failed to deliver within the agreed-upon time frame. (Mr. Porch only does wooden porches and our plans called for a iron staircase, which this other company was supposed to complete.)  

As a result, the work was not completed on time.  However, I had many communications with the company and Mr. Porch provided excellent customer service, was responsive to requests, and provided a discount to make up for the significant delay.  Ultimately, they did a very good job.

First of all, enough of the reviews where no work was performed.  Come on people, I had no trouble getting a quick estimate.  Its the busy season, they are probably a little slow since they are the best in the city.  And asking for quotes for building a deck not in code...really?
I called Mr. Porch after another major competitor (on Angie's List) was super slow in getting back to me, meaning months and months.  I wanted a detailed proposal so I could present it to my neighbors for approval.  Our deck was very shaky and dangerous and was 50 years old.  John the manager promptly met with me and during his walk through provided many more details that were left out by the competitor.  Things like how electric will be handled (they moved it for us), warranty (full year), sealant (free Thompson's weatherproofing),  the scope of the work, and realistic time frame.  In the end, the quote was about the same as the other company but I negotiated a little off.
My wife and I were having a baby and tons of things on our mind, so we wanted this done especially since baby's room off back of building where work was to be done.  Mr. Porch got what he needed to start work from the city in a few weeks (maybe less??) and was ready to send a four man crew in early May.  I could not believe he could pull this together so quick. Of course, we had tons of questions as the work was performed, and John always answered his phone immediately.  We had some delays for rain but ultimately the job took 3 weeks all in, and was done before our baby was born to our delight.
The deck looked fantastic and felt solid as they only use the best wood. All to code and passed city inspection with flying colors. There were a few minor adjustments needed right after work was done and they were handled right away. 
We could not be more happy with Mr. Porch.  I am a top realtor who is also an Angie's List SuperService Award winner and I don't throw around A ratings lightly.  But they delivered big time and I will be referring all my clients to them in the future.  My neighbors are pleased as well.  Keep up the good work. 

1. Call and left a voicemail, received a call back within the day, the receptionist on the phone seemed confused as she thought we spoke earier and scheduled an appt.    Which I had to explain that this is the 1st time I'm talking with her.   Appt  and time frame was scheduled.
2.  Day of the appt - I called Mr. Porch 1/2 hour into my scheduled time frame and was told that he should be there within the time frame. The hour comes and goes - I call back and now I'm told that he came by and saw the space and will be sending me a quote within 24 hours.    I asked how does he know what I want since we have never talked about the scope of the project.
3.  72 hours later - i received the proposal and he quoted the pricing on my replacing my existing deck vs what I was looking to do. I wanted to remove my exisiting deck and replace it with a large deck (13x17).    He missed the opportunity for a larger project.  
Needless to say - I will not be using them as i found the entire process with this company unprofessional.      How do you provide a quote when you haven't spoken to the homeowner about the scope of work - is my only question.

Getting an estimate was like pulling teeth. After numerous emails back and forth, I finally scheduled a day to meet with the estimator, but he never bothered to show up or contact me to reschedule.  They apparently came out to look at the house the next week and I was finally given an estimate about 7 days after first initiating contact w/ them. Their web site says they provide estimates within 24 hours, so I had hoped for better service. 
While the pricing was competitive, my follow up questions after receiving the quote were never answered. Ultimately I was fed up with the lack of communication and went with another provider. 

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Updated: after a delay in scheduling, Mr. Porch came and applied additional rust inhibitor and repainted the areas that were chipping and peeling. We were satisfied with this resolution.

Once Frank knew we were unhappy with the status of our porches he and his workers were diligent about coming out to examine what additional work needed to be done, and scheduled the work during a rain-free period.

We hope to replace our porch surfaces in the next few years so we do not have the maintenance of these steel porches.

Mr Porch came out and demolished his deck and installed an IPE hard wood deck. This is a very hard Brazilian wood. They arrived on time each day, worked at getting the deck lined up and started the work on Tuesday, 5/6, and completed the job today, 5/7. The workers, George and his crew, were professional, courteous, friendly and extremely capable of getting this work done with a not so easy product to work with. I have seen pictures of the completed product and it looks great. Based on my fathers experience, I would use Mr Porch for any of my needs and I know he would use them again.

Two man crew showed up on time and demo'd existing porch in about 90 minutes. Demo'd porch placed in dumpster and immediately removed from property. New porch constructed in 1.5 days. Paraffin oil sealant applied to new porch. Site was left perfectly clean. Crew supervisor came by twice to evaluate progress/quality.
Our condo association couldn't be happier with the quality, craftsmanship, and professionalism of Mr. Porch. Very impressed with the speed with which the job was completed. We requested a change in the specs after the crew was on-site and the change exceeded our expectations. Happy to recommend Mr. Porch to anyone looking for porch rebuilding or repair.

Mr. Porch sent two men to handle the job.  They arrived on 4/16/14 and the job was completed on 4/23/14.   They worked 6 days during this time.  I expected the job to last 10 days to two weeks, and they were done much earlier.  The end result was wonderful. The workers were amazing.  They arrived every day when expected and worked very hard throughout the day.  I saw progress  daily. Every day they would meet with me and show me the work that they had done on that day.   They left every day leaving the area completely spotless.    I am very proud of the new deck.  It exceeds my expectations.  My neighbors are constantly stopping by and praising the workmanship and the quality of wood. 

We are now waiting for the Inspectors to take a final look at the completed deck.  Once the inspectors give their approval, I will have the deck sealed.

I am working with Frank Knight on a proposal for Mr. Porch to do the deck sealing.

Overall,  this was a great experience and I highly recommend Mr. Porch for deck projects.

Great! It took them some time to get started, as there were other contracts in line in front of us, but once they did, the crew showed up in a timely way and worked efficiently. The crew was always polite and ready to answer our questions. They responded well to our suggestions and requests. As it was winter, they used our basement for storing materials and cutting wood, and I'm pretty sure they left it cleaner than they found it when they arrived. The porch itself is very solidly built, and we are pleased with it. I am pretty sure that in an earthquake, the house would fall down, but the porch would remain standing.

Even though we had to wait for weather to schedule the job, the staff were helpful. The workmen were quick, professional, and cleaned up afterwards. They also redid one plank that was not flush until it was flat.

Mr. Porch does major porch projects. Mine was a smaller project that I understood would have some crew issues because it was so small. Their price was far and above the best, their work looked solid and their reviews were good too. I loved my old porch and still miss it but I must say Mr. Porch did a great job. The porch could hold about 100 people standing on it, city code is way, way too high if you ask me. I was forced to do this and Mr. Porch made a difficult project into a reasonably pain free process. The porch looks great and it is now up to code. As the city inspector told me at least now you can't be sued by a tenant for being out of code. There were some minor issues that they handled appropriately. Communication with John as the lead was fine. The crew was professional and as issues arose during the project Mr. Porch fixed them in a timely manner. I am happy with their work and would used them again.

I would strongly advise anyone against using this company.  If you do choose to use them, please, make sure you get an architectural drawing even if they tell you it isn't necessary.  Edit: I would like to clarify, we did not decide against the permit and architectural drawing as a result of cost but rather because his salesperson advised against them, saying they weren't necessary.

First, their communication was terrible.  After we decided to move forward on this bid, it took over 3 weeks to get an estimated start date.  During that time, they never volunteered information and when we were able to pin them down, their responses seemed to change depending on who you were talking to and when you caught them.  We scheduled the porch start date twice, only to have someone contact us late evening on the start date or the day afterwards to tell us that they wouldn't be showing up.  The first time was for a legitimate emergency, so it is understandable, but the second time they didn't even acknowledge there was a change of plans.

Now, once work actually started is where the real headaches began.  The first day of work completed and we discovered that they had put the porch 7" below the height of our back door and did not center the support column on the cement pier.  There were also other questionable decisions made (like the use of 4x6 columns, rather than a more conventional 4x4 or 6x6), but I hoped that those issues would become smoothed out once we saw the final product.  I voiced my concerns to the company, and was happy that the owner, Frank, called me within moments to say that he would be there the following morning to make sure our issues were address.

The next morning, I was surprised to find out the owner was not there, but instead had sent his condescending foreman, John, to deal with the concerns.  While John acknowledged that they would make the design changes we desired (raising the porch and centering the post), he approached it as though we were crazy for wanting those changes, and that his men had clearly chosen the only real option.  In addition, he keep saying things along the lines "sorry you got a little excited."  If that isn't patronizing and sexist, I don't know what is.   Still, I gave the crew the benefit of the doubt that our concerns would be address and we would have a finished result we would we happy with.  Not so.

I'm not sure if the crew was instructed to finish the porch in one day or what, but the result was a disaster.  Design-wise: the 4x6s still look strange, one (and only one) was left jutting upwards above the height of the gaurdrail; the front beam hits the joist behind the 4x6 causing the joist end and 4x6 to be exposed, looking sloppy and unfinished; the ledger beam attached to the foundation awkwardly hangs out into the entryway of our basement door; the railings are 45" tall causing the porch to feel more like a crib than a nice place to hang out.  Execution-wise: many, many joints are not flush; boards are splitting as a result of screws being put in poorly; there are very noticeable gouges and condition issues with many boards; the front-most footboard of the decking was only half attached, causing the board to rock when you step on it; one guardrail is very noticeable crooked; boards are fraying; deep holes were drill into the foundation of our house and not filled in in any way. The coup de grace was that they had the nerve to post a Mr. Porch sign, crookly and without our consent, right on the most conspicuous guardrail that faces our lawn.  And that sucker is attached much more thoroughly than the rest of the porch.
 
I was not happy, but wanted to give Frank a chance to address our issues.  I emailed him with pictures and explained our concerns.  I told him expressly to contact me directly and that I did not want to deal with his patronized foreman, John, again.  Imagine my surprise when at the end of the following business day and received a voicemail from John saying that one of the same workers would be out again to "address my concerns" which sounded to me more like tightening a few screws than tearing the whole thing down again.  Given that John and this crew could not get anything close to acceptable not once but twice, I emailed Frank not to bother.  No one bothered to apologize for the inconvenience, or acknowledge that our concerns were valid.  After my email, I did not hear from anyone else except the admin saying that the porch was complete so payment is due.
I am really shocked and appalled that this has been our experience and that Frank does not seem to care either about this service or the final product.  We will ultimately need to pay someone else to tear it down and replace it.

Mr. Porch was GREAT!  Frank was early for our initial appointment and was helpful and super nice.  His estimate arrived through email and it was detailed and very reasonable and I felt confident after meeting him and getting his estimate that the work would be solid and last a long time.  He came out on the day that we had work scheduled and met me with his employee who would be doing the work.  (I can't remember his name!) He worked all day and finished the job and cleaned up afterwards.  Frank called to check in that night and make sure that we were happy and that the work was done.  The porch is sturdy again and the new stairs look beautiful.  When we rebuild it completely in a few years we will DEFINITELY be calling Frank and Mr. Porch!

Mr. Porch was extremely attentive to detail. They far exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend them to anyone weather they are an experienced project lead or a first timer. Frank is great and has a very hard working team.

They did a great job and I would recommend to others

They were incredible.  They were prompt.  They were very professional.  They did a wonderful job.

All around. Experience was great. Frank went above and beyond and fixed/added additional items at no cost. I would highly recommend Mr. Porch for ANY of your porch needs.

Experience overall went very well.  Mr. Porch helped with the design process and was responsible for acquiring the architectural drawings and the permit.  Once the permit was expedited they quickly built the deck and I was impressed by the craftsmanship and how they where careful not damage my property.  The deck passed City inspection with no problems.  I found it easy to communicate with everyone who was involved in the project and would definitely work with them again. 

Mr Porch provided a competitive quote in a timely manner and as additional work became necessary made certain to continue to strive to keep pricing competitive.
They worked with us to obtain permits for the necessary work taking the burden off the board and residents of the building.
The work was completed speedily and much more expediently than we had anticipated.
The most impressive aspect of this collaboration was the aspect of communication. Mr Porch representatives volunteered to attend condo meetings in our building to make certain all residents were apprised of the work's details and answer all pertinent questions. Frank and John returned calls and emails immediately and were very responsive to negotiating price and completion details to best serve the association. After the work's completion, Mr Porch took the initiative to make certain clean up was complete, returning on separate occasions to independently clean outside AC units and restore displaced wiring.
Throughout this construction project, Mr Porch representatives were congenial and friendly, consistently striving to please us as the customer and maintain quality work, price, and minimal inconvenience.

Overall a great experience.  I had called Frank earlier in the year to inquire about an estimate to rebuild a front porch.  After reviewing the estimate, I decided I wasn't ready at that time to committ to the project.  Frank followed up a few days later to see where I was in the decision making process and I appreciated that I didn't get pressured or badgered for a decision. 
After a few months passed and after receiving a few more estimates, I decided to move forward with the project. 
I called Frank and asked him to meet me at the property to discuss options.  He answered all questions in a complete, straight-forward and reasonable manner.  He also provided various options for me to consider.  For this particular job, I wanted to preserve the classical look of the existing columns in place to support the porch overhang.  We initially thought we could retain 2 columns and replace one that was damaged.  I was especially appreciative that Frank made a special effort to find appropriate replacement columns and include three new ones in our agreed price after determining we couldn't save any of the original ones.  At that point and after giving my deposit, Frank outlined what next steps would be and an approximate timeline.  I later dealt with his office support staff to handle the final details and scheduling of the work.  All timing was exactly how it was described to me.  The crew came out on time and completed the work  as outlined in our contract.  All work was done per specs and the crew left the site exactly as they found it.  I found the workmanship to be of very good quality. 
Very happy with the final work and happy to have dealt directly with Frank.  He is fair and straight-forward- 2 qualities I appreciate when dealing with a contractor. 
I would highly recommend Mr Porch

Their service was good.  I thought they were a great value and service.  I would recommend them.

A man named Anthony came out. He was very kind and professional.

Called, said he had a request for the property from someone else and was able to share with me and explain the quote.

Terrible...After Frank Knight took the last payment after numerous contacts to get the situation resolve... we decided to move on and hired another contractor to fix up the stairs and repair as much as possible. We wrote a negative review on Yelp and Frank Knight actually went on and created an account as a customer pretending to be me (please see filtered reviews) and gave himself 5 stars. He gave himself a review and then commented it himself as the business. There are many negative reviews out there on Mr. Porch but we made a mistake hiring this place. Now he is playing Yelp commenting games.
And I wouldn't be surprise he will come on Angies List on a separate account to give himself an A+
Recommendation to all, spend a little more and do more research before you hire a contractor. Everyone makes mistake, we made ours by hiring Mr. Porch.
For those who need picture evidence, we have them prior to the new repairs.