BROOKSIDE CONTRACTING

Fine. One little place that I have comments/concerns about but not a big deal.

Keith was professional and, attended to needs. Had a great knowledgeable of new windows in an older home.

It was after we had a hurricane or something like that. It took off some shingles. He did some repairs for that. It wasn't anything they did prior, with their original job. He didn't charge for the repair. It was very minimal. It was like a few singles that came out due to the wind and he replaced them with no charge.

They were very good, but sometimes if they're busy it's hard to get them to come along. But overall, they're good. That was the only issue I had with them.

Keith went above & beyond replacing our entry door and doing a great job. Very professional.

We contacted Keith last spring 2014 to replace a cedar arch, gate, and attached panel. He gave us an estimate for the cost, but said that we'd have to wait a few weeks, as he was very busy with another job. We agreed to wait. After several months went by with no communication from Brookside, I contacted him, and he responded that his job was bigger than he'd expected, and so would be delayed for another week. We waited, and waited, and waited for another several weeks. When I contacted him again, he came over, took off the cedar arch, and said that it would be cheaper for him to make the arch than to buy it from a vendor. After several days had gone by, he sent an email: I am having a lot of trouble getting this arbor and other parts of project . The cost of this cedar and custom building arch is going over my budget . My sources are not sticking to what they said . I think that this mite be better to have a fence company deal with this . I apologize for the inconvenience, I wanted to do the work for you and appreciate our business relationship but it might be best to follow through with a fence company. Your thoughts? Keith Litka Brookside Contracting (978) 526-1414 Sent from my iPhone Needless to say we were quite upset, as we had waited almost five months for this project to be started. Could prices have changed so much over the summer that he could not honor an estimate? If he wasn't able to take care of this project, why didn't he tell us when he came over for the initial estimate instead of leaving us hanging over the summer with a decrepit gate and arch? We're quite angry, and there has been no further communication from Mr. Litka. He has proven himself unreliable and untrustworthy, and so we are unable to recommend this contractor to anyone who needs a reputable agreement.

They're great. I like them a lot. I would use them again in the future.

unknown

Keith is a consummate professional, knowledgeable, and patient. All the things a homeowner needs! He gave me a couple options on our old front porch and together worked to come up with what was best for the house and most viable. Because of some urgency on our end he brought in a crew that got the porch replaced in a day! They were meticulous and the work was done at the highest quality. He changed a tired, mangy old front porch to a beautiful and usable space. I would recommend Keith to all of my friends. He is a master with old homes and really cares about what he does. It is so nice to work with somebody who has such integrity.

In general the job went ok. It started a bit late and there were bumps along the way. He wanted half the money up front, which is ok. After a few days, however, he wanted more money because he said he had to pay his guys. His workers (and he) were also drinking on the job. I know digging out a basement is not fun work, but I don't think drinking on the job is a good idea (they also left some bottles behind). They did put in a few extra pieces of wood for support and the floor looked pretty good once finished. A year later there are some cracks, but hopefully that's just part of the concrete settling in and won't become an issue. The most concerning part is money, however. When the floor looked pretty much done, there were just some small things that needed to be finished (like the sump pump cover), they stopped coming. They made phone calls and emails about payment. Keith and another worker showed up at the house demanding the money. When it was explained that the work wasn't finished they rushed to finish up everything and again demanded the money. Since there were two big guys at the house they were given most of the money, except for a few hundred back to make sure all of the work was finished up. At that point Keith became angry and was asked to leave. Keith loudly complained to his friend about the issue and they once again returned. When it was explained that it was a few hundred dollars that he still owed, the other guy seemed to think that was no big deal. Obviously Keith is running his business too close to margin. Overall this was a negative experience other than the fact that work appeared to be done correctly. The cost was ok, but poor interpersonal skills and drinking on the job are serious issues.

unknown

When we bought our home in June, there was a sunroom on the back which had been built on top of a wooden deck and the whole thing was badly in need of repair. The concrete footing under the deck had crumbled on one side causing the structure to sag so that the glass panels and doors no longer fitted correctly. All the glass seals had failed which meant the panels had a nasty "milky" look .The sliding doors into the house no longer opened or closed properly and so couldn't be locked which was a huge safety/security concern for us. The wooden decking was rotten in places and the whole room was unusable. Tearing it down completely wasn't an option as it supports the roof one one side of the house. Since the sunroom had no heating and was ridiculously hot in summer, we decided to have the room revamped. Keith came and looked at the job, listened to what we wanted and gave us some very good advice. After talking to him, it seemed that the best option, both for cost and function, would be to convert the space into a screened-in back porch. The job ended up being a little more expensive than first estimated because of some unforeseen issues (carpenter ants, more support beam and footing damage than first thought, non-standard sizings requiring a custom made door etc.) but Keith kept us informed about all of these problems and promptly provided estimates for all the upgraded work required. Work took a little longer than we had all hoped mainly due to poor weather and delays caused by waiting for the custom door etc. Again, these could not be avoided and Keith did his best to make up time. Keith did an outstanding job. He took his time over every step and we really felt that everything was done to a very high standard. He is a pleasure to work with, communicated well and left everything very tidy (he even hauled away some extra stuff we needed to get rid of). He turned an ugly and unusable space into a very attractive back porch that we can use almost year round. The French doors are wonderful and we appreciate him taking the time to give us something that would work for us rather than insisting on just replacing the sliding doors which would have been the easier option. Adding the screens and recessed lighting make the room perfect for eating and relaxing without being swamped by bugs. The bead board was an excellent recommendation as it makes the wall look so much better than having the plain white plaster. Our neighbors cannot believe the change and we are thrilled with how it turned out ! All in all an excellent job and we would not hesitate to have Keith come back and do more work for us.

After searching Angie's List, we decided upon this contractor. Keith showed up on time, assessed the job (his quote was $500 above the next highest bidder, but we were impressed with his other abilities, such as painting, that we are going to need in the future -- we were hoping to find a good property maintenance contractor). He arrived with his crew on the day agreed upon. They left the property clean, and were very professional in making sure there was passage for unit owners to get into their units. Upon discovering extensive rot in various back porches, the decision was made to completely replace the wooden porches (30 years old!). Fortunately, weather cooperated, and he was able to finish all porches in a week. He had to start another job, and couldn't get to the electrical box for several weeks. A couple of times, an appointment was made to fix the box, but he wasn't able to make it. This was not a serious issue, as the components were not directly exposed to the weather, and he did notify us that it would be delayed. All in all, it has been a positive experience, and we look forward to hiring Brookside Contracting for more projects on the building. We can recommend this contractor without reservation.

Great. See above.

The house is old and we were concerned that problems would arise that we did not anticipate. A couple did but they were addressed and fixed, i.e.carpenter ants were found in a back wall. An excellent job overall. Brookside Contracting offered suggestions and ideas that helped us along the way. The work was completed on time and we are extremely satisfied.

The bathroom was last redone 25 years ago and was actually falling apart. The wall behind the tub was falling into it. The demo was done on time and cleaned up as they went along. When the wall was taken down he discovered that the work that was supposedly done to repair the outside walls hadn't been completed and we were basically looking at the siding from the wrong side. They made all necessary repairs and didn't charge us a fortune for it - which he really could have done because the wall was pretty much held together by the backer board that was now gone and we would have had to do the repair no matter what the cost. Right from the time of the estimate he let me know there was a family vacation planned which could interrupt the remodel so I could decide to begin later or go with someone else. I planned to do some of the work - painting and tiling - myself and that was never an issue. He even offered some advice and shortcuts to help.