A/R & Associates Home Improvements

Things went very well. We are very pleased and happy with the results. They were professional. I would definitely recommend them to others.

Great price!  Good product.  A little slow to respond at times but other than that I have no complaints.

I hope the guy that installed is still working with them. He didn't leave until everything was done. They cleaned up and everything was fabulous. They sent one person out to measure and then sent someone else out to measure.

We were extremely pleased with A/R & Associates.  Their price could not be beat and their workmanship and product quality was excellent.  Over 2 years later it still looks brand new. 
Their installers were very professional and worked quickly and efficiently.  Everything from the sales process to the install was excellent, I would not hesitate to hire them again or refer them to friends.

My experience with them was awesome. The crew did professional work and their price was competitive.

About 2 weeks from Brent from A/R came to give us an estimate we had taken down an attached structure from our house-- leaving part of the guttering down. We were planning on repairing this ourselves, but Brent said they could repair the guttering for us. Apparently, we should have bought the garage door separately from them on another occasion or from another company because that delayed the work starting by over 10 weeks. We signed to have the work done in May, the vinyl siding and garage door were done in July, and our guttering was wasn't repaired until August. They wanted to install the garage door around the same time that they installed the vinyl siding. So, every week we thought the work might start the following week while we waited for the garage door to come in. In the meantime, thinking that the work would be done any moment now, we failed to repair the guttering for several weeks. Our basement flooded continuously and we regretted not doing it ourselves while we had had the time earlier that summer. Finally, the garage door is in and they start work. We had just repaired the guttering when they took the repaired segment down to begin work (and it was down for another 2 weeks). When they were finishing up the vinyl siding the garage door guy comes and says he'll have install the garage door 1 week later because we have too much stuff in our garage. Why didn't anyone tell us to remove the stuff from our garage? And what was the point of waiting over 10 weeks since the two projects ended up being done separately any way? Moral of the story: contract this company to do 1 project at a time. They did a good job, but the wait was ridiculous. Silver lining: Instead of repairing our guttering (2 segments sort of stuck together), they replaced the entire segment with new guttering. We did appreciate that.

Our first decision involved which of the available doors and which options to choose. After we decided what door we wanted, measurements were taken, the door was ordered and an installation date was set. They showed up on time, installed the door and cleaned up the debris. The entire process was free of any problem and we are very happy with the look and functioning of the new door. They did a good job removing the trim and reinstalling it without causing any damage to it.

The company was very good about showing us multiple options and price points. They came several times with actual window samples for us to look at and evaluate and were very patient with all our questions (and we had a lot!). They were fair with their prices and gave us their best offer from the beginning, something we did not see with other companies. We had bids from at least 6 other companies, and theirs was right in the middle. Those that were below, we had significant concerns about the quality of the installation as all the crews were sub-contracted where A/R has their own seasoned installers. A minimal downpayment was needed to custom order the windows, with the majority of the cost deferred until installation was completed to our satisfaction. Installation was professionally done and as promised from a timing perspective. The whole house and the patio door was completed in one day. My only disappointment was with the cleanup and some of the window caulking. Those services were the only things performed by others, rather than their own installers. There was quite a bit of debris on the porch, back patio, and in the yard that I had to clean up (a full trash bag) and several windows were not caulked properly. When I contacted the company, they apologized and immediately sent someone out to re-caulk the windows. They promptly acted on my complaint and I was satisfied with the result. I would highly recommend this provider and will consider using them again.

This is the second time we used A/R. They replaced 24 windows on the front of our house a few years ago. The work then and now was excellent and I would recommend these folks to anyone looking for professionalism and high quality work.

Overall, a very good experience, until it came time to get a simple receipt for the work done in order to use for the energy credits. Brent was very professional and thorough in his quotes and did a good job explaining things and comparing products. Chose to go with them and the installation went as planned. Very nice installer, personable, who did a good job and cleaned up after himself. Like the windows. Again, my only issue has been in trying to get a simple receipt. I have made 4 separate requests and still do not have anything.

This is a great company to work with. The team was very punctual and worked until dark each night. The yard became somewhat messy from all of the material but not more than I would expect from any other siding contractor. The crew was very courteous, professional, and seemed eager to please. I would offer two examples of the ease of doing business with this company. First, we did a remodeling project just prior to the siding being started and the additional space was not figured into the original estimate. The additional cost to side the added space was very reasonable and was done in a very timely manner. Second, we had two minor adjustments that needed to be made after the job was completed. The siders came back out without me having to call them back. Very impressive. I would highly recommend this company.

They worked out fine for me and overall I was satisfied. If I need to, I will use them again in the future.

They were a pleasent company to work with, and I have recommended them to others.

The window replacement project went very well. During the vendor selection process A/R & Associates was the only vendor (out of 10) who came to the initial meeting with proof of insurance, county contractor?s license and 20 references BEFORE I asked for them. They provided a range of window products and did not push me towards any particular one. They were also the only vendor willing to break-out the price to show the cost of each window and installation separately. They also accepted only 1/3 down. After all of this, and speaking to 6 of the references, I had a high degree of trust in this vendor. Once I selected A/R & Associates and ordered the windows, work began in about 2 weeks. I requested a change in the schedule, and they accommodated it easily. Jim and the rest of the installation crew were on-time and got to work quickly. Jim was incredibly courteous and made sure my wife was happy with how clean the house was each day. There was only 1 window out of 23 that I had an issue with, and they resolved it quickly. They did a very good job of cleaning-up the work area, both inside and outside the house. They also hauled-off all the old windows.

UPDATE 12/2011:  interior trim work around windows has begun splitting and cracking. Windows were ordered a little too large and the pressure is affecting the interior trim. Looking back, I recall them forcing some of the windows into the frame with a rubber mallet which wasn't a good sign.  They claimed that "tight was good" and it would stop airflow around the window. Having watched enough home repair shows, I now know that they should be ordered slightly smaller than the window frame and should go in easily. They are then shimmed, screwed into place and usually foam insulated to fill the void around the window.  That brings me to my next major complaint.

There is NO INSULATION around the windows!!!  I've renovated two rooms in my house which involved removing the interior trim work. In both cases I found there was NO INSULATION OF ANY TYPE around the windows.  In fact, on one window I could see daylight coming through between the window and frame!  What good are double pane windows if you don't block airflow around them with insulation?!?!?  No wonder I could feel drafts when the caulk cracked.  This clearly indicates that the vendor blatantly LIED to me about insulating all the windows.  As a result of all this, I'm planning on replacing all the window trim and foam insulating all the windows myself. This is a lot of work for me that I wouldn't have to do if the windows had been installed properly.  I also feel bad as I referred this contractor to my neighbor who used them for windows replacement as well.

Based on what I've learned, I would not recommend this contractor for window replacement.  

They did a really good job, and their prices were lower than other companies that we looked at. The salesperson was very patient and knowledgeable.

They did a great job--we worked with Bobby Rook. He brought us a wide range of window samples and helped us make a great choice. His installer was careful--both with our wood trim work on the inside of the house and in the flower beds on the outside. We also had all of the exterior wood trim capped so we wouldn't ever have to paint the windows again. We will use them for the remaining window replacements we still have to do. We will also consider them for siding when the time comes.

I was very impressed by the crew who worked in extremely adverse weather and well after dark most nights. I was also amazed by how quickly the entire job was completed. Overall very impressed with work.

Since we were unsure of how we would like the appearance of the replacement windows, they suggested installing one window before we decided if we wanted all the windows replaced. We liked the one window and decided to have all of the windows replaced. They were replaced in one day (less than time estimated), installation was first-rate and no mess was left. Next came the installation of soffits, wrapping of fascia and gutters. The work was completed promptly and the guys at A/R made a special effort to not trample our landscaping (which we sincerely appreciated). The rotted decorative cedar trim was replaced with rot-proof tech board and the appearance is perfect. Next the fiber cement siding was installed. No mess was left behind. The final painting part of the project was delayed for weeks due to repeated spring rains. Once the painting prep started, it was completed in a few days. The guys at A/R promptly addressed our concerns during the project and made ever effort to please us.