Leyne & Shannon Building Contractors Inc

After do a good deal of research and getting four bids to do renovations on a home we had recently purchased we hired Leyne & Shannon Building Contractors. We visited a couple of homes that they had worked on and spoke to the owners, who were generally complimentary and in both instances said, ?If there?s a problem, they?ll fix it.? Unfortunately, we did not realize that that seems to be their M.O. ? do something as cheaply as possible, and then if the customer complains enough they will grudgingly fix it. The biggest problem with Leyne & Shannon was in their choice of subcontractors. Almost all of them seemed to be third stringers. The problems ranged from a lack of training to an apparent inability to read installation instructions to the incapacity to execute quality finish work. Several had very limited English skills, so this no doubt only compounds their ability to receive and understand instructions. Some examples: tiling had to be re-done because the person doing it had minimal experience and could not keep lines straight and surfaces even. The grout crumbed and came out in several places so I suspect it was not mixed correctly. We had to have someone come in to re-grout. Floors had to be refinished twice ? once because the sub left the windows open during a rainstorm, and a second time because the applicator left debris under the polyurethane. (When we left for two days to have the floors re-done we came back to find all of our dining room furniture had simply been left outside rather than stored in the basement as promised.) A cabinet with a microwave beneath it was not attached to the studs and would have come crashing down on the new kitchen counters if we hadn?t been there to prevent it. The provider of our new range hood said that it had not been installed correctly (not attached properly and caulked in to the wall, which it should not have been.) Our bath/shower diverter did not work properly ? not because of a manufacturing problem as Leyne & Shannon insisted, and which persisted after a new diverter was installed ? but instead because the plumber had not read the installation instructions and used PEX piping instead of the necessary copper. As a result, finished walls had to be torn open to replace the piping. When we subsequently had a new heating system put in, two plumbers commented on odd or improper choices made by Leyne & Shannon?s plumber, and an electrician noted the "unconventional" wiring on the AC system which had to be re-done. The surface of a new fiberglass bathtub was deeply gouged because demolition debris was left in it and then workers stood on it while working. That resulted in us having to bring in a specialist to repair the fiberglass finish in a brand new tub. There was virtually never a shop vac on site, so that meant they usually resorted to using our household vacuum cleaner to do clean-up, blowing through a number of bags in the process. The quality of the finish work was sloppy and showed a lack of attention to detail: lines aren?t straight, fixtures were installed crookedly, etc. This even extended to the painting ? drips, painting over tape on the walls, only a single coat in many places, painting around fixtures and switch plates rather than taking them off the wall first, and so on. There seldom seemed to be a drop cloth in use, and I?m still scraping paint off window panes and floor tiles a year later. . . . Anyway, these are just a few of the problems. The list of issues could go on. If the old carpenter?s motto is ?measure twice, cut once,? at Leyne and Shannon it seems to be: ?Cut once, measure twice, cut once again, measure a third time, cut two more times, start all over again. . . .? The second major problem with Leyne & Shannon was their attitude. When we brought up problems they always began by getting defensive. Then they would claim we didn?t know what we were talking about or ?how things are done? (this is the second home we?ve renovated). Next they would claim that there was a problem with the products we had selected (all of which were better-than-average to high-end ? no Home Depot stuff). Finally they would come around and agree to address the problems. But it was a wearying dance that undermined the good will and the trust with which we had started the project. Eventually we just told them not to come back. We finished many of the remaining tasks and hired others to correct problems that they left behind. Leyne & Shannon put on a good front, but their selection of subcontractors is poor and their supervision of them is minimal. Overall, we were very disappointed with the quality of their work which meant that we expended more time and money to make up for their considerable shortcomings.