RUSSELL CONSTRUCTION

.

It's hard to know where to start, so I'll say that Rick and Adam Russell are very nice guys. They're honest and they try to fix their mistakes. But the fact that they made so many mistakes on our little 3, maybe 4, day bathroom job (which has now taken 6 weeks & still isn't 100% finished), is the first reason to not recommend them. We went with them because their estimate seemed fair & because they gave us a very clear, line-item estimate. But we would gladly have paid even double for the peace of mind, finish work, and attention to detail a better contractor might have given us. They gave themselves two weeks to complete our small job. We thought this was reasonable given that their work was falling over a holiday weekend. But from the first day, when they came, dumped their tools, & ripped everything out, we had some misgivings. They were careless with where they placed things--against newly painted walls (causing some minor dings), on wood floors without dropcloths or cardboard underneath. They promised that we'd have a working toilet in 4 days, though it took another 4 weeks! Their plumber went AWOL (they should have found another one), but not after failing to understand how the fixtures we'd bought (really nice, antique style fixtures from Baths from the Past) & installing the wrong faucet. Fortunately, my brother was doing some work for us & was able to point out the soft spots & cracking grout on the floor after the floor was supposedly done, the first time. Rick & Adam were contrite, came the next morning to fix that part of the floor, but they still didn't do what they should have in the first place, which was rip up the entire floor & level it. So, a week later, just after we'd moved in, we found ourselves in exactly the same place, with a cracked floor & soft spots. But it was even worse: the corroded sink pipe we'd pointed out to them when they came to spec the job, now had a half-inch hole in it (because they hadn't replaced it) & was leaking water profusely when we used the sink. The shower rod (oval, for a clawfoot tub) wasn't completely attached to the ceiling), the shower pipe was leaking (& these were brand new, just poorly installed), the tiles around the tub drain were wonky & skewed (no collar around the drain pipe--and none will fit now b/c the floor isn't level there). Oh, and they'd never taken their trash, or bothered to clean the blue-green thread-lock stuff they'd gotten on the tub, the freshly painted walls, the new beadboard, & sawdust grit covered everything too. They left the tub fulls of nails and dirt. They did come back to fix the floor (still only did about half of it the right way, the way they should have done it in the first or second place) & the sink pipe. Also, managed to scratch up the specially-plated finish on the shower pipe, trying to tighten it up, with pliers! Oh, & they never got the permits that they'd listed on their estimate. We got them to strike those from the cost, but we now understand that they should have gotten the permits. Most likely, they didn't want anyone inspecting their work. Careless work. No sense of deadlines. If you give them nice stuff, they'll make you wish you'd just bought something much cheaper from Home Depot. I'm sure I'm missing any number of other minor complaints, but this should more than suffice. We didn't get ripped off, but we had an awful experience.

It's been since July that we've been waiting to have them do this and they keep giving us the run around. They also left a lot of scrap & debris which I had to run around & pick up. They really should have paid me for all the work I did after they left. They did an incomplete job and we've received a lot of rude behavior from the company and I'm tired of it. I told him (Rick, the owner of the company) 'You would think that you'd want a good recommendation from us.' He just chuckled and said 'I don't care what kind of a recommendation you give me.' I just can't believe his arrogance. I was in the retail business for over several years and I know you don't treat a customer this way. At this point, I don't even want him back to check the flashing on the 3 older windows any longer. I just want him to replace the new window screens. I would never refer this company to anyone. I would be embarrassed to refer them.