LOWE'S

I do most of the things myself. I go to Lowe's usually to purchase materials for the jobs that I do. Their customer service is okay, like any other store. The reason to recommend him to a friend would be the availability of different things, good selection. Their price is high.

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It is August 2013. The installation began in the fall of 2011. I am still dealing with some of the issues I describe below.
All services are contracted out. So the project happened in 3 stages.
Windows: The window guys came out quickly, worked professionally, finished the job quickly, and cleaned up adequately. No problems with the installation. If you're getting vinyl windows, you're already going second-rate, but that was my decision. (If I had the money, it would have been wood - Peachtree or Andersen.)
Siding: The main contractor is Pete Young from TCI in Richmond. I read another Angie's List review that said all of the same things I am about to say, and I wished it had dissuaded me from signing the contract with Lowes. In fact, I asked the Lowes manager directly about this person's experience, and described the location and time of service. They said that the contractor in that area had nothing to do with the Lowes store I was dealing with, This was a lie.
It took months to get the workers on the site to start the job. Pete from TCI will say he's coming out, then fail to appear. He does not follow up. You have to chase him. They made a number of mistakes, including putting in a drier vent in a location I had specifically said I wanted covered up. That's one of the problems is that you talk to the salesperson, then the project manager, then the contractor, and by the time you see the workers, you don't know who knows what. There is a section of the house exposed where the roof meets the horizontal frame. Think of your house as a square with a triangle on top, like a 5-year-old would draw it. At the two bottom corners of the triangles, it is exposed, allowing squirrels, wasps, or bats to enter. I mentioned it at the time installation was "finished" and at least a dozen times since then. They have never fixed it. The workers left lots of little pieces of debris, which I spent weeks picking up as they were thrown from my lawnmower or found in the leaves.
When the gutters were installed, they did not drain. There were vertical downspouts on either side of the porch, but the gutters sloped toward the middle. This was on both front and back porches. When the guy came out to fix it, the result was the gutter hanging so low from the roof that water does not flow into the gutter. It drips off the drip edge and runs down the front of the building, ultimately dripping onto the porch. After this second attempt, I did not call them back because I was afraid they would do more harm than good on the third attempt.
I called them back a few months ago because of a leaking window. What I am about to describe is their response, not the quality of the window or installation, because it did not end up being the window or siding. A called in June because water was pouring into my living room from the window. It was six weeks before I could get a person out to look at it. This was the same Pete Young from TCI. That meant about a half dozen rainstorms (it was bad in August) with water coming into the house. Even then, it was several contact with nobody coming out to the house. Finally a worker got on a ladder and saw a hole in the roof. I fixed it at my expense. The point is that it took two months to get a guy on the ladder to check to see if improper installation of the gutter or siding was causing the problem. In the meantime, my house was open to the elements. If I had carpeting, I would have had to replace it.
It was at that time that I pointed out (again) the improper functioning of the gutters. At least six times, I was told of a time Pete Young's guys from TCI were coming out, only to have them not show up and not follow up. The Lowes project manager keeps calling me to see if the job has been done. I say no, and she says she will get in touch with TCI and see what is going on. So obviously Lowes cannot hold TCI accountable for anything.
Two other comments. TCI contracts with Lowes, and to my understanding, does all of the installs of the type I am describing. I once told the project manager that I did not want to work with TCI, and she said they had nobody else. TCI itself is a national company, the Richmond location being only one franchise. So you have a national chain, unresponsive to local needs, contracting with another such national chain, and they ae not accountable to each other.
My advice: GO LOCAL. Spend the time finding a contractor who has been around for a long time, get references, and use your common sense as to whether he or she is a true craftsperson.

not good!