Socelvic Co

Wow! From the start this was a great experience. Not only are these people great at the work they do (especially what is considered "unfinished carpentry" on this site), but they are truly committed to happy customers. Throughout the process they were responsive, and kept me in the loop. They have a couple of ladies who take care of logistics like phones and scheduling -- this was one of the smoothest contractor contact experiences I've had. Several others I contacted just didn't return my calls or dropped me along the way. Alex came out to discuss the job very promptly and we went over all the details, plus a number of other small jobs we thought of doing. At the beginning, this looked like a small job, but they did not balk at this. It is difficult to estimate how much a job with carpenter ant damage will wind up costing, because of the possibility of hidden damage. They were up front about this. When they showed up, Celio (owner and foreman on this job) explained exactly what would happen if they found hidden damage. He made sure that I was aware of anything that wound up being different than how we discussed. I asked them to take care to protect two small plants that have sentimental value to us in near that corner of the house, and the guys built little protective platforms for the plants. They did find a great deal of hidden damage, and at that time, Celio stopped all work on the site in order to make me aware of the situation. This meant that his crew went idle for half a day, but he did not charge me for that time. He explained to me the situation, explained my options, as well as the possible consequences and waited for the go-ahead for the rest of the work. Once I did give the go-ahead for the work to proceed, Celio and his guys were amazing. These people love the work they do. It took only two or three days to raise the corner of the house, replace all the sills and studs that were rotted, and lower it. Then another two or three days for the drywall guys and painters to come and do their thing. Celio treated us like we were family, taking amazing care of our house. He is truly a craftsman who loves his work and his customers. We were in the loop, they were extremely considerate, and they even negotiated a reasonable payment schedule.

Maybe they are good once you get to be a customer but it's hard work getting an estimate from them.

I got quotes from several painters, this quote was mid range 1. Reshingling: was finished on time, but all electrical wires were detached from house and never reattached, leaving dangling wires that I had to pay someone else to come and reattach. Storm window was broken, although this was pointed out by myself and others to the shinglers, this was never fixed (although they promised they would do so). When I tried to call to ask about this no one ever returned my calls. Flashing was never done over the bay window area, I had to pay someone to come and caulk all this. They did however refund money for cost of materials that they ended up not needing. 2. Carpentry: Good work was done on front porch which had several rotted areas and on side gutter, they were able to fashion old wooden gutter that I had saved to fix the rotted gutter. I was happy with this work. 3. Scrape, prime and paint: Scraping was insufficient, and paint is already peeling from the house 4 months after the job is done. Some areas were never scraped at all (back door and window areas) and some areas that are less visible (back of garage) were poorly scraped. I could run my hand down them and additional paint was still falling off. When I pointed this out I was told that I wanted 'restoration work' done on the house. The fact that things are already starting to peel indicates that it has nothing to do with restoration scraping, and a poor prep job was done. Things that were poorly done: -Final coat was sprayed on although we agreed that this would be done by hand -Overspray on foundation in several areas -Plants in back were trampled, although I had asked if I should move anything before they started -Soffit covers (to prevent nesting birds) were poorly replaced, I had to pay someone else to come and properly replace them. Things that were done well: -When I asked to paint certain areas of the trim they were willing to go back and do this -We were lucky to have good weather, and the paint job was done while the house was dry The original quote had included scraping the interior of front foyer. After having seen the scraping job done on the rest of the house I simply asked them not to do the foyer, for fear they would do a poor job on this as well.

They completed a sunroom after I had fired another contractor. He built stairs on the back of the room and said to call him about a year later to reseal the stairs without charging me. They also did other things for me on the kitchen cabinets. I was happy with them but I didn't realize they hadn't done a very good job on refinishing all the floors. I noticed the wall in the sunroom was cracking and had settling cracks with nails coming thru. I called them after I noticed thin cracks and he said to we wait until the year is over and we'll see how the room settles. There were problems with the water coming in the room. The owner came with a couple of workers. He said he would write a proposal. He wanted to charge me $1700 to access the problem, open up the wall, and then repair it. He said it wasn't his companies fault but the company that had previously done work. I didn't think it was fair he wanted to charge me for the work they did. I found out they used the wrong nails and the wall was weathering. I would never use them again and I wouldn't recommend them.

I spoke Michelle twice who was very professional. She told me she had passed the information to the owner and was surprised he hadn't contacted me. I would've appreciated a 2 minute courtesy call thats all. I realize it was around the holidays but I received follow-ups from other contractors who were also busy. This company has great reviews so I don't doubt they are capable. Somehow I got dropped in the whole scheme of things. May have been inadvertently, I just go by what I experienced. I hold no grudges because I know how things can go. I would consider giving them another chance on a future project.

Excellent, they also painted area that I did not know needed it.

It was a week before they could come, but when they did they were on time and helpful. I didn't take up the quote because it was for about $5,000 and the other quote I got was less than $3,000. The other company has now done exactly the same work to a very high quality, which makes me think the Soclevic quote was surely too high. They also were not sure how soon they could do the work. I think they might be very successful but as a result a bit busy for a smaller job like this!

Overall, Socelvic was really amazing. Celio's son Alex is as friendly and responsive as they come. I did barter on the price with him. The crew was phenomenal, incredibly efficient and friendly. I couldn't believe how fast they finished. the last day, they were done and we wanted some more detail work done. They took out their ladders and went around the whole house again to make it right. We chose Socelvic because we knew they did great work on detail--we watched them work on a ridiculously intricate house once.

Socelvic was low bidder initially. Proposal to strip much of house to bare wood ("wood refinishing") came later and added to the cost, but I am glad I did it, because the result is better than the house has ever looked, and it has been in the family for 60 years. Some of the work was tricky--fluted columns, and replacing heavy beam supporting other elements that did not require replacement. All very professionally done. Price breakdown--$23,000 initial bid for scrape and paint, $16,000 for wood refinishing, $15,000 for carpentry. Workers worked extremely hard, were at the house 7am to 7pm six days a week. The last hour was always spent in meticulous cleanup--not once was any paint dust or chips left on the lawns or walkways. Carpentry was billed separately but always confirmed with me before undertaken. A few small extras were done gratis. Celio (the owner) was very fast to respond to inquiries. There were almost no glitches, and those were fixed immediately. Some windows were stuck after the job was complete and paid for, and a worker came almost immediately after my call to free them up. Most workers have limited English, but Celio's is excellent and it sufficed to communicate with him. The work required access to the house for several weeks without us present--I never had reason to worry about the honesty of either the company or the workers.

We had a good experience with Socelvic. We got an estimate from Socelvic in the Fall 08 and hired them for the job in Summer 09. They came promptly to scout out the job and submitted a bid quickly. There was no problem setting up a start date when we contacted them in the summer. Socelvic provided an "Angie's List" discount for the painting estimate and were willing to come down on the estimate for balconies/railings due to the size of our job. The painters were supervised by Alex Socelvic. He is likeable, relates well to people, listens to feedback, and checks in regularly. The painters are hard workers. They worked 12 hour days, six days a week. For the most part, they were good at cleaning up after each work day. They used my garage to store supplies from day to day and their materials were neatly organized at the end of everyday. We are pleased with the quality of the paint job. There was one difficult moment during the paint job. Our original contract called for two coats of paint on the exterior and one coat of trim. Socelvic had completed two coats of trim on one building when they brought it to our attention that the job, in order to be done well, would really require two coats of trim. It appeared Alex was not familiar with the contract as another Socelvic brother had done the original estimate calling for one coat of trim. After paying a good amount of money for the entire job, we were not pleased to be in a position to have to pay more money. We felt that with their experience, Socelvic should have foreseen the need for two coats of trim in order for the job to be done right. We trusted that based on their experience the estimate would include all the work needed for the job to be done well. Socelvic worked with us on the extra cost for the second coat of trim. While negotiating the price for the second coat of trim we felt like Alex listened to our position. He assured us he'd do everything he could to get us a good price on the second coat of trim. Although we didn't like having to pay the unanticipated cost, in the end we were happy with the price we reached for the second coat of trim. I'd advise people to think carefully about whether the work estimate really meets the project needs so that you don't have cost over runs later. We also had Socelvic repair the wood damage that was diagnosed during the paint job. Again, Socelvic worked in a professional manner. It's too early to comment on the quality of the work, but it looks good. I would recommend agreeing with Socelvic before the carpentry work starts to provide a list at the end of the job of what wood work was repaired. Socelvic worked with us to complete such a list but it would have been easier to do and more complete if this expectation was clear from the beginning.

Vey happy, did a excelent job. This historic house was in rough shape and also had a very ugly existing paint exterior. Geat painting crew and very happy with the end result.

Great - from the office to the crew in the field. Large crew which took three day to complete. Project went as expected / quoted. Also kept you informed thru out the work being performed, even with the project completed and paid for I got a call from Celio the owner to make sure I was happy with everything. Thanks Celio & all at Socelvic - great job!

The paint on the house that is coming off is so visible that it is noticeable from across the street. I don't know if it is because it wasn't primed or the paint was defaulted. The new stairs are rotting and the nails are rusting. The first time I contacted them about this, it took awhile to get a hold of them. The owner had come out and looked at it and said he would take care of it and they did. Then I found there were parts that were failing and much worse. They are not responding to my calls now. Update as of 3-16-10: After posting this report on Angie's List, the president of the company personally contacted me to correct the situation. He came right out and said that the deterioration of the stairs was due to the weather, and was not their fault. As far as the paint problem, he said that I have terrible gutters that are making the water pour onto the paint, making it impossible to keep the paint looking good. If that were true, why didn't they point that out when they replaced a gutter and we discussed other gutter issues at the time of the service? Other professionals that I have presented the reasoning to do not agree that this is a plausible explanation. He said they would be willing to fix it all up, but he said they would charge me for it. He made a fair point that 3 years had passed, but because the paint on the house was coming off in such large chunks, I don't feel that the surface preparation was done correctly the first time. I have done some corrections on my own, and will hire a different company in the future if I want anything else done.

While these folks are not the lowest bid we have used them in the past and were still impressed with their responsiveness, timeliness, tidiness and quality. We will be using them again

Socelvic employed better materials and workmanship than other contractors who have done work on my house in the past, including the original builder. Socelvic's carpenters take pride in their work, and Socelvic's painters do a beautiful job, putting primer and two coats of paint on everything. Their roofing subcontractor replaced the lead flashing along the junction of the porch roof and the house, which no one had ever done, and their masonry subcontractor went out of his way to put a flagstone landing on my back steps when I requested it. The inside of my garage was a mess, but now it is bright and clean. When I told the owner of Socelvic that I was not satisfied with the electrical rewiring in the garage, he brought the owner of the electrical contracting company to my house, made him redo the wiring himself, and stayed until eight o'clock at night to make certain that I was satisfied. Socelvic's prices were what I expected them to be, and Socelvic adhered to the payment schedule in the contract. I was not overcharged on anything, nor did Socelvic "low ball" me and then try to get more money out of me part way through the project. Also, Socelvic keeps a very clean, well-organized job site and is committed to the safety of both their customers and their employees. I should mention that I waited three months before writing this review, and in that time I have found nothing wrong with the work which Socelvic did.

The company was very reliable. They come out for an estimate right away. They were the cheapest of 3. They asked for my needs for the job. The work was completed in a timely fashion and cleaned up at the end of the day. They kept me in the loop for any potential issues.

They did an excellent job. They gave me an estimate for fencing and they were the cheapest of four. The quality of the work was excellent, and it was done in a very timely fashion. The fence was vandalized the night after the project finished, and they came back and repaired it for free. They were very responsive and easy to get hold of. I would strongly recommend them.

It was a mixed bag. We have hired Socelvic Company before (they rebuilt a very small back porch for us, and rebuilt a one-car garage), and the quality of the work is always very high. However, there inevitably are communications problems: the original quote is much lower than the final quote, their office staff provide misinformation about the job (in this case, their staff told us -- in writing that a primer and two coats of stain would be applied to the house. We later were told by Celio that "we never put primer underneath stain." This is generally fine and we would live with the two coats of stain, however the issue is that we were told one thing and then given contradictory information. I also don't feel that we are naive when working with contractors, that is, we understand that the job usually costs more than the original quote. However, when working with Socelvic, the discrepancy between the quote and the actual price is always significant. Our job is not entirely done as of 8/1/09. We are waiting on a second coat of stain on one side of our garage, which they had originally told us was done. We later noticed streaking and, when they came back to look at it, they said, "the guys must've forgot to do a second coat on this side." We are unlikely to hire them again. Though the quality of their work tends to be very high, there are headaches (and a high price) that go with it.

This was an excellent job by excellent people - they returned calls promplty, arrived on schedule, and did a great job.

My first experience was GREAT. It couldn't have been better - definitely an A. The second interior painting experience was less satisfactory in that, despite assurances that they would go room to room so I wouldn't need to move out of the house they completely took over each floor and after a few days I just stayed with friends. To make the paint dry quicker, they turned up the heat massively high and I had a whopping heating bill. The workers were all very nice and worked hard, but it was very disruptive. In the course of the job a number of things came up that added significantly to the bill, not all of which were explained to me in a way that the costs implications were clear. The house looked beautiful in the end, but in this case it didn't take care of the sting of some of the costs. I had liked them so much the first time that I decided to stick with them for another job, but it was more like the second experience than the first.

The work started on schedule as originally scheduled on June 8th and progressed as the weather allowed and finished on June 20th. The price paid was as quoted. The crew (3-6 men, including crew leader Alex) were very well organized. They had a systematic way of doing things. They kept the ground clean after each day. Overall, they did an excellent job in terms of workmanship and attention to detail. They really put the time into preparation--which is the key to a long-lasting job. They were thorough, made efficient use of time, and were pleasant and helpful. Alex, the supervisor who handled several sites at same time, was pleasant, professional and responsive. He was particularly cooperative about our requirements. Our house looks terrific after the painting. Time will tell if the paint job will last. However Alex also reminded us that they have a 2-year warranty on the job. The painters and Alex determined that no carpentry work was required as everything was in fairly good shape.

When I called Socelvic Co., I was impressed with the secretary who answered the phone. I believe her name was Michelle. I was rushed because I was calling from work, and grouchy because my 2 other contractors had failed to impress me ( despite the e mail confirmation one showed up on the wrong day, and the second "got caught up" helping his brother in law). Michelle was patient with me, knew the business, and called me back when she said she would. Celio of Socelvic Co. was 15 minutes early for the appointment, but returned at the correct time when I was intially unavailable. I found him pleasant and his aire inspired confidence. Celio responded to my e mails and calls quickly. Michelle called a few days before the work was to start to confrim and told me at the end I would get receipts for the supplies (that was listed separate from labor on the bid). The crew, including Celio, was on time at 8 am sharp, on the day the work was to start. His crew worked in unison like a well oiled machine. I was home from work for the day and observed. I knew it was going to be a good experience when after the first day one man used a Vac to clear the sidewalk of debris. The brick foundation tipped over with a nudge and Celio made sure the supports were built to code. Neither other contractor had mentioned the code requirements for the foundation. His crew worked for 12 hours on a Saturday to finish the trim work. The concrete repair was flawless. Celio advised on paint versus stain, and design of the railings. His decisions all turned out to be the best and even less expensive than what I had envisioned for the railings. I got a copy of the work permit and all the receipts. I had asked Celio if he could fix my toilet that was wobbly on the first day the crew arrived to start, and on the last day, at the walk through, he remembered to fix the toilet (at no charge), even though I had not mentioned it again. I have many other home projects and will use Socelvic for any work I do on my house. He is very trustworthy, knowledgeable, and the quality of work is superb.

We called the office and they said Alessandro would contact us to schedule a time for a visit to do the estimate. When Alessandro called my wife he made it very clear he did not want to loose his time and we needed to have a plan of the project in order to meet with us. My wife confirmed we were ready for the meeting and that we had the information that he requested. Alessandro scheduled a meeting for Thursday May 14 at 8:00AM. On Thursday, at around the meeting time, Alessandro called to tell me that he had to cancel the meeting due to an allergic reaction he had at 6am. He was very sorry about missing the appointment and apologized. I totally understood and we rescheduled the meeting for the earliest day he had available which was the next Monday May 18 at 8:00AM. So on Monday here I am waiting for half an hour and yet again he didn't show up. I decided to call his cell this time but he didn't pick up so I left a message. After waiting a while longer I called his office where I got a hold to his secretary. After explaining her what was going on she immediately checked on her system and she indeed confirmed he had an appointment with me that Monday at 8:00 am. That was good news to hear though at that point we still didn't know what was going on. I have to say though she was, right from the beginning, very nice and very proactive trying to help me with this inconvenience . She then decided to try to contact him through the radio and told me she would get back to me as soon as she could get a hold on him. A few minutes later she called back saying that she could finally talk to him but he couldn't call me himself since he was at another client's meeting. He left a message for me though saying that everything was a misunderstanding on my side and we were supposed to meet on Tuesday, not Monday. For a moment I couldn't believe what I was hearing so I nicely asked her how is it possible that I had the meeting scheduled for Monday, she also had it scheduled for Monday yet he insisted it was Tuesday. To what she replied that she brought that up to him and Alessandro told her that she also misunderstood the meeting was Monday since he told her it was Tuesday. He called back a few days later and left a message recognizing his misunderstanding and apologizing for missing the appointment and willing to stop by anytime to do his best on helping us with the pricing of the project. For someone who is sooo concerned about wasting his time I have to say that it was a shock to learn how little he cares about other people's time!!! I'm glad to learn so early in the process how little Socelvic(or the owners's son for that matter) cares about their clients. Their lack of responsibility and respect is enough for us to never consider their company for any project again.

They faxed a contract to me because I live in Michigan. They shoveled and salted my aunt's driveway and walkways so she could get out each day and walk her dog and perform errands in the neighborhood. Because I live out of state, I didn't know where to turn until I found them on Angie's List. When I phoned, they explained things to me before faxing me a contract at my request. On rare occasions they've e-mailed me to let me know about extraordinarily heavy snowfalls. I appreciate this very much.

Celio came over as scheduled to give me an estimate. After looking at the site and taking measurements, he emailed me an estimate for labor and materials. I accepted the estimate and scheduled a date for work. On the date we scheduled, he came over very early in the morning to accommodate my need to be at work early. A couple of hours later, I got a call at work from Celio telling me that he had run into a problem. After cutting through the drywall in the bathroom, he found that there were some unanticipated structural issues, and that the window he had purchased was not going to fit. He told me he would try to find a smaller window and call me back. A few hours later, he called me back to let me know that he was unable to find a window that would fit in the space. We scheduled a time for him to come over the weekend and talk to me about it. When he came, he told me that he had done some more research, and that he could not find a small enough window for the space and would not be able to do the job. He told me he would send someone over to patch the hole he had cut in the drywall. Just a couple of hours later, someone arrived to do this. Despite having spent several hours cutting and patching holes and researching windows, Celio charged me nothing. Without hesitation, he refunded the entire deposit I had given him. I was disappointed that he was unable to do this job, but I would definitely hire him in the future.