AR Construction

Rodney Staton was never on the job except on Friday' when I was to pay him.  Rodney Staton bought 3 windows that did not fit any opening on my house.  Rodney Staton never showed me a bill for the windows, but said they cost $4,500.00.  Rodney Staton then said it would cost me the same amount to have them installed, so $,4500.00 for installation.  Mark an employee of Rodney's installed 17 windows.  Mark (a good guy) was bragging to me that is was taking him an average of 7 minutes per window to remove and install the new window.  When I told Rodney that Mark did all of the windows in less than 3 hours, he said "I was wrong that it took Mark 2 1/2 days."   Well that's not true but even if it was 2 1/2 days that's an awful lot of mark-up on a guy that Rodney Staton was supposedly paying $25.00 per hour to.  That's an additional $4,000.00 mark-up.  Each window that was put in had between an 1/8 and 1/2 inch gaps to the outside where we were having below zero temperatures.  Yes you could look right to the outside through these big gaps.  Those gaps were never finished by Rodney Staton's employees.  Included in my pricing was suppose to be outside window wrapping that never was done at all, because I finally terminated our relationship on February 24, 2014  My NIPSCO bills were through the roof due to these gaps around the windows letting in the brutally cold winter.

The roofing part was great--very good job and the contractor saved us a lot by working with the insurance company to get a settlement for hail damage (that the contractor noticed that we didn't).
The first remodeling project (kitchen) was great--new sink, dishwasher, counter tops, tile backsplash, lighting fixtures. It turned out very nice and the cost was very reasonable--saving on that made the second remodeling project possible.
The second remodeling part had a few glitches--mostly because it was done in the dead of this very hard winter (not a good idea) and because things had to be done in haste and several unforeseen problems came up. 
The siding and shed construction went well--it looks great--they did a fine job.
Two minor critiques (just to keep things honest): it took longer than I think it should have to get the trash removed--especially on the winter project--snow and cold complicated that, but still. And trying to get the "punch list" completed was a little slow; a couple of times I just did it myself.
The contractor is very busy (must mean he's in demand--a good thing, right?) so it takes some patience and clear communication.
We have a couple more projects coming up and we will definitely call AR Construction.

They were so fast, had the ground dug out and set up for pour in about an hour. Very meticulous when it comes to their quality and it really shows. Finished product was spectacular and we wouldn't want anyone else to do work for us in the future. Rodney helped me out a lot and was very VERY accessible when it comes to contact.

Rodney is very professional and friendly. He sends out his workers promptly and has great communication. There is never a time that I cannot get in touch with him if need be. Work was done very well and timely. I will be using them again for any future needs.

Very professional, communication was great. They let us know how everything was going as the process went on and did a great job. Rodney runs a great business!

Kitchen remodel

A family member died in February, and we needed someone to complete some unfinished remodeling.  AR completed an extensive amount of great work in a very short time (I'm remembering maybe two weeks).  The entire basement needed drywalled, and this includes a bathroom and a walk-in closet.  A few other repairs needed to be done around the kitchen area. 
The drywall work is unbelievable - seams and repairs are completely undetectable.    The painting was a little sloppy - quite a bit of overspray on trim and stair railings.  The skylight is gorgeous, and the roof repairs were quick and professional.   Communication at the end was a little shaky; we never did get the key for the house back, nor were we able to return some of the contractor's items that had been left at the house.

The painting was done alright but there are spots that need more paint, I thought he was coming back to re-do them. In the time since we painted the rest of the house and finished up the paint. But the house is better than it was so at least that is a plus. The bathtub re-do is adequate, the tub works and that is better than it was before. However we now have several broken ceramic floor tiles at the base of the tub. Not so good.  The siding job is my main complaint with AR Construction. There are some very poorly measured cuts by the front door that had to be fixed with wood putty there are places where needed trim pieces were not put up.  The new cedar siding is touching the roofing shingles which I am told will lead to it wicking the water contacts it. They took down the electric ice melt wire we had there during the repaires and left it hanging.  They also removed the over door light and left it off,  they removed shutters from the windows when the painting was being done and left them off,  they removed the screen door and left it off.  We had no screen door for the summer.  When the small window was replaced with the siding job the interior trim work that was taken down with the old winow was not replaced.
   All the siding and trim from the job was left scattered on our driveway and lawn and when we started to pick up the mess we discovered a large amount of siding, nails and trim that had been over ordered that we paid for.  There are 36 leftover 10'  1"x6" cedar siding boards @ $14.20@ =$511.20.  He ordered 142 of them.  Also 6 leftover 16'  1"x6"  Smart trim boards@ $23.45@ =$140.70, he ordered 10.  5 leftover  16'  1"x4" Smart trim boards @ $15.63@ = $78.15. He ordered 10 of these also. There is a box of coil nails that he ordered the wrong ones @ $160.11.  We paid extra to get them the right nails so the job could proceed.  All these over ordered boards plus some extra drywall panel, wood panel, aluminum trim and thebox of nails are in a bay of my garage that we would like to have our car in this winter.
   I went to the supply company he reccomended and picked out the paint color and chose the siding to be used on the house.  Mr. Staton supplied them the amounts to be used and any extras needed for the job, nails, caulk, trims etc. I assumed he would get the measurements correct, we have been told the amount over ordered is excessive and AR Construction should repay us for it and removed the items from our garage.  We would be satisfied with that.  As to all the unfinished work they left, we aren't too sure we would want them back here again.

After having to let two other companies go due to incompetence I contacted AR Construction. The owner, Rodney, was great! He showed up at the scheduled time for the estimate and his estimate came in for half the cost of the other two companies.  Rodney emailed me the estimate the very next day and kept it simple for the average person to understand. Everything was itemized on the estimate so I knew exactly where my money was going. He also purchased better quality material than expected. AR Construction was able to start the job with in a week and finished the job with in a week ahead of schedule. Rodney was always available if I had any concerns. Rodney would work on the job a long with the crew to ensure it was completed successfully when able to, but I understood he couldn't be there daily because he does need to run other estimates and check on other jobs. The entire crew was professional. The crew always arrived on time, kept mess contained in the working area, and cleaned up mess at the end of every day. This is a company I would highly recommend and will use again in the future. We since then have hired them to build a garage and is scheduled to start.

They're actually pretty good people. What I liked about the company was that they come come out and gave a very good and reasonable estimation and they stuck pretty close to it. They helped out a lot too.

Rodney was very professional and had the best price.  The work was completed on time and on budget.  I would definitely hire AR Construction again.

Workers were here every morning on schedule - worked continuously til 5 every night build was built from. very courteous and respectful of surroundings.

Very prompt in coming out to give an estimate for the work.  Fit us into his busy schedule about a week later.  We had water damage between the wall on our back porch which rotted some of the studs and drywall.  They treated the boards and put in some new studs and then replaced the drywall and trim.  Also took it upon themselves to redo the trim around the window which had been done wrong and recaulked it outside.  I am very very pleased with Rodney and his workers and would definitely use them again and suggest them to friends and family.  Prices are very reasonable and he is very fair and professional.

It was fine. They did okay work. I was not impressed with the drywall work. They did the skylight fine. I have been pleased with it; it hasn’t leaked or anything, so it was good. With the drywall, they just didn't do a very good job sanding it down; it just didn’t look very good. I wouldn’t use them for a huge project; small projects are fine. I would use them again for small projects.

Overall I am very pleased with the work performed. AR Construction definitely went above and beyond what was expected. The prices were lower than all other estimates and I feel like we got a lot more for the money!

I described majority of it in the first question.  Overall we're very pleased with AR Construction with their Prices being low, Quality is definitely there, and what we most appreciated was their willingness to help us tackle ALL projects.   They gave advice and suggestions even though it might not have been their area.  They gave us several referrals for carpeting, electrical, shopping for cabinets, bathroom vanities, etc.   Very open to share their contacts to help us save money.   Also  took the time to help us understand their pricing and charged us only for labor costs.  We covered materials in which they recommended us certain stores for certain items and even had some of their contacts come out and meet us and price things for us.  One final strong positive for us was that Rodney was very open with us that we felt comfortable to share with him some of our critiques which he listened to and we saw changes immediately.
Only critiques we had was cleanliness of his crew while working and after leaving the job site.  This property wasn't occupied but we still felt comfortable with bringing this up with Rodney.  Since we decided on purchasing materials we also found that along the way we were going to the store alot.  Our only other critique and it was more an observation to help improve our working relationship for future jobs  with Rodney was that we organize ourselves better and plan better ahead to reduce the number of trips to the store, getting supplies ahead of time so it doesn't slow down work, and planning better together so we are all on the same page in terms of tasks we both need to do throughout the week so that things don't become last minute.

This company is so responsive they actually came out on Father's Day to fix a leak leftover from the original builders of my home!You just can't go wrong with AR Construction. I would recommend them to my best friend! The job was completed on time without any problems whatsoever.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the outcome of my new kitchen and bathroom. I was notified about all the pending projects that were involved in the process of remodeling my home. I never felt rushed to make a decision about any of my choices and was able to make choices based on samples that Rodney brought right to my house. I was also very comfortable allowing Rodney to make some choices based on his personal experiences. He was able to pick out a beautiful sink and countertop that was very reasonable and beautiful as well without having me go to the business that makes them and picking out the one best suited for our home. He is a reliable and conscientious contractor who takes into account cost, availability and need when choosing what is best suited for this project.  I have not once been disappointed in his choices. I realize that some people might be uncomfortable with someone else choosing for them, but I can assure you, this contractor knows how to get the top dollar and quality for my buck! I found AR Construction to be very family friendly, and have recommended this company to our neighbors already.