Illini Home & Lawn Maintenance

The project was put off for about a week, as he was finishing another job. The day he began he stated he would be here Monday at 9am. I took off of work to meet with him. He did not show or call, so at 10 am I called him to see if he was still coming, he stated he was tied up with a job and would be there around noon. Noon came and went, he showed up around 2 pm. He was completely unapologetic, I was basically told, too bad I was busy. He said he had no idea he wouldn't be here by 9 and had meant to call me........ Then he hauled 3 strangers into my house with him, I was never introduced to them. He explained the work to them and then left without a word to me. Work seemed to go well that day and the next but the 3rd day the problems started. He fired one of the men that was here drywalling and from then on every problem with the project was caused by "that guy". Every time I spoke with him, he was complaining to me about the job! They came to the job unprepared, no ladder, no sawhorses, and then helped themselves to our ladder and sawhorses and tools that were in the garage. They never took any trash or debris with them, instead they filled up our trash can and left the rest piled in the garage. I still cannot get all of the drywall mud out of my trash can.... I felt very uncomfortable every time I needed to speak with him, especially when I needed to ask him a question about his work. Scott seemed like a bully to me, he raised his voice to me on the phone, told me he never should have started this project, and needed to get out of it. He also told me he was losing money on this. He was completely unprofessional.

And I haven't even gotten to the quality of work........ The job basically looked like we had done it ourselves, which was not what we had expected for $2000. They broke the frame of the French doors and then hung them incorrectly, and blamed it on warped doors....... The shut-offs for the water and the drain pipe are nailed into a 2x4 that is nailed to the wall. The shut-offs are level with my outlets and are completely visible above my machines. I don't mind seeing the shut-offs and pipes, but the 2x4's are what really make it look like a do-it yourself job. And I've definitely seen better drywall jobs, but as he kept telling me, it's no big deal, it's a closet......

We were told the project would take 3 days, which I questioned because it seemed too good to be true. The project took 2 weeks. But it's probably hard to finish this kind of job in 3 days, when you don't show up until 2pm or some days don't come at all.

I could not wait for the project to be finished, not so that I could do my laundry but so that I'd never have to talk to Scott again.

Also, Illini claims to be accredited by BBB, including having their torch emblem on his business cards. From what I have researched, this is untrue.

My roof did not leak when I called him for this service. After he was done, IT LEAKED. He guaranteed his work for one year but would not come back to fix it. He is lousy and should not be doing any of this type of work.

He said he knew how to do this.  My roof was not leaking when this started.  It needs to be done about every 5 years and it was time to have it done. He immediately asked for $600.00 to get supplies.  He immediately said that all the old coatings, etc. needed to be ripped off. He insisted the roof had to be leaking.  IT WAS NOT. The second day he then said he needed more money to pay his bills and get by.  I did not like that and told him so.  He said he would ask for 1/2 down on any job he did.  I gave him another $400.00 and told him no more until the job was done.  He went from about a $300.00 job to saying it would be $1500.00 to $2000.00 job.  I about had a heart attack.  He then said maybe even $3000.00.  I said NO.  I cannot afford that.  He was going to do other things for me like weed removal, etc. and I told him NOT to do any of that because I could not afford it with the cost of the roof.  He said he was going to do the weed removal, etc. for free.
He tore all the old stuff off.  He then told me he had never coated a mobile home with elastomeric coating.  I have even done this myself in the past when I was younger, so I do know how to do this.  I told him it needed a couple of dry days after it was put on to set up.  He decided he was going to put this on when it was supposed to rain that night.  I said "are you sure you don't want to wait for a couple of days. I knew if it rained it would be a problem.. He put it on anyway.  That night it rained and I had elastomeric rain pouring into my living room all night long.  I was up all night dealing with several (maybe 12) buckets, etc.  He came in the rain and tried to patch the roof.  It held until January.  He came and tried to patch it in the cold.  It still dripped after that.  He said he was just trying to get it to hold until spring so he could come back then and fix it correctly.
Long story short:  He guaranteed this in writing for a year.  I have tried on numerous occasions to get him to come and re-coat the roof.  He said he would come and rip all that off again and put a new roof on.  He is not a roofer.  I did not want him doing anything like this to my roof.  I figured it would be worse than what he had already done..
He refused to come and do what I wanted and berated me about trying to help with giving me a new roof, etc.  Like he was doing me some big favor.  I complained about the cost and told him he was paid well for this and now my roof leaks.  He proceeded to tell me all the things he did for the money (including the weeds, etc. that was supposed to be free and not included in the price!)
He is a bit of a bully and is rude. He is not professional at all.  I asked him if he had a roofers license and he told me to get an attorney. He was done talking to me. I think that means NO.

He did a lousy job and when he was done I had to hire someone to correct what he fouled up. Unless you just want to donate your money, do not hire him!

They have always been honest. They are really nice guys. That's pretty much why I use them. I like the quality of the service. I like the pricing. If they can't do a job that they say they are going to do, they won't even charge you for it.

The guys game and used the jetting procedure I requested but this did not work. They then used a auger but alas it was not happening for us. These guys worked very hard for more than an hour trying to get my sewer lines cleared but my issue was alot bigger than what we had anticipated. After all of there work I went to pay the men for the service I requested. They would not take a dime. Not a penny. I asked if I could at least pay for their time but was told "if we don't fix the problem we're not charging you anything". These guys are great. I really appreciate your time. Thank you.

I was totally pleased with the work performed and the extra effort Scott put in. He was friendly and courteous, very professional and explained what he was going to do and then did it. I will definitely use this company again and have already referred him to my family and friends. It is a good feeling to know there is someone to call when repairs are needed...especially someone you can trust not to rip you off and that will actually do the work without excuses.

The cleaning was ok, but just ok. Really was not worth what they charged. When I was finished with them they offered to cut the price in half if I would continue to use them. I was very uncomfortable with how pushy they were about continuing to do business with them.