TATE BUILDERS SUPPLY LLC

These guys installed a wood stove and did a good job, however, it was not installed when it was supposed to be. There was delay after delay. It was ordered in the very late fall and were expecting it to arrive in the spring. Finally after calling a couple times they told me that IT HADN'T BEEN ORDERED YET!!! Are you kidding me?! To their credit, I gave them a deadline and told them if I didn't get it installed by mid-October that I no longer wanted it. They were able to get it here and install it by then. This was the next year when they told me it hadn't been ordered. Fast forward to the next spring when we wanted our chimney swept. They told me that I should call in the summer because they wouldn't be very busy then. We called and they told us 6 weeks at the earliest. HOLY! I said I wanted it done sooner and they gave me the name of a chimney sweep that would do it. He came and cleaned the chimney and said he needed to take the stove baffles out in order to clean it and he did....AND THEN HE COULDN'T GET IT BACK TOGETHER. I called Tate and they told me they could come out Tuesday (This on a Monday) and put it back together for us......for a charge! After they told us to use the other guy! They said they would arrive by 4:15 to 4:30. So I worked it out so I could get off work early and came home and waited.. and waited... I called Tate builders supply at closing time and asked what happened. The guy at the desk said he would have the guy that was putting it back together call me, The guy called me and told me he was two hours away and couldn't make it out today. Now its supposed to be done on Thursday. I guess these guys think no one else works for a living. This is one of the most disorganized businesses I have ever dealt with. We LOVE the stove, but I would rather have had a lesser product and even OK customer service would have been acceptable to me.

My builder worked with Tate to purchase bricks and supplies for our project. Both had detailed plans from our architect and access to the job site. My builder and Tate estimated the number of brick required to complete the job and requested that I pay for the brick up front as they were special order and non-returnable. I know nothing about how to estimate the number of brick required for a job and trusted both the contractor and Tate so paid as requested (very bad move on my part). 
As the job  neared completion, the brick layers and others on the job-site began to comment that their seemed to be an unusually high quantity of brick. True-we had approximately 4 full cubes left. On top of the overspent dollars (approx $1,237.66 of an $8,028.15 original order), we had a back yard full of brick stacked as delivered with straps on pallets.  
In short - Tate blamed the contractor and the contractor blamed Tate and I was stuck with the brick and the overspent dollars.
Tate was non-responsive to calls, questions, and concerns. After many attempts, I talked to the owner who refused to remove the brick even with no-refund after I  expressed my safety concerns (The brick were stacked on a slope next to my children's play set. Some were leaning so bad that I was concerned the entire stack would fall on the kids. I have pictures). Tate's position remained same; I now owned the brick and the problem.
 
My builder finally agreed to have one of his sub-contractors who wanted the brick for another project remove them. He has also agreed to reimburse me for overspent dollars (..stay tuned for more on this if the builder does not follow through).
in my opinion, both Tate and my builder represented themselves as professional providing consultative services before the sale. After the sales, they both put the burden on me and my family for their bad advice and service. I did not like the cozy-friendly relationship between Tate and builder vs. the "tough-luck" attitude toward me and my family.
This was my first time dealing with Tate and it may be an isolated situation. That said, this is not what I expected from them as we had a family friend work there for many years and he as a man of very high integrity. The culture has apparently changed. I hope this is not a trend. Buyer beware.

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Excellent work, and everything looks great.

I called Tate Builder Supply and talked personally to Tim. I work during the day but Tim was able
to come to my house, get on the roof, evaluate the problem and then called me with the solution.
I authorized the custom part that was needed and because we were having a lot of rain, Tim personally
installed the part during a lull in the rain. Very pleased with the result and the professionalism of Tim
at Tate Builders. I will use them again if future problems should arise.

It was a very good experience. He arrived a little earlier than he said, which was good. He took his shoes off once he entered our
home. He thoroughly checked and cleaned our fireplace. We felt that he was extremely knowledgeable in this field. He answered
all of our questions and made sure that everything was perfect before he left. The price was exactly the price quoted to us when
we called. We will definitely call him each time for this service.

He was very thorough. After he completed the repair, he took the time to explain the safety features the fireplace.

Jim was the guy who came out to our house and did the job. He was very prompt and gives a lot of positive feedback about do's and don'ts. He came down when the house inspector was here and assured him about our blower guard.

He called and arrived ahead of schedule. Was very pleasent and professional. Answered our questions and explained how the interior gasketing had deteriorated over the years causing the crazing on the special glass, but he tried to clean it anyway. Cleaned up after himself. The cost of the brain box was a little expensive, but seeing that this fireplace hasn't needed service for almost 15 years, we were very pleased with the overall service.

We worked with their fireplace division manager, Tim Duncan, to find a fix. He tracked down a vent that would fit our unit, plus an extension for extra clearance. He came out to put the vent on and found that wood had been placed behind the old vent that should not have been there, and investigation behind the vinyl would now be necessary. He suggested that enough vinyl be taken off of the doghouse to reveal what was going on behind it. A time schedule was coordinated with our contractor (George McCoy/ McCoy and Sons see review) so that George could take enough vinyl down, Tim checked behind it, modifications made, the vent put on and then the vinyl replaced. Everything went as planned; Tim and George worked like a team that had done this before the fireplace is now up and running. We appreciate the extra effort that Tim and Tate (and George McCoy) were willing to put in to help us out of this jam.