Kevin Richards Home Improvement

Badly. Very, very badly. Kevin is very good at talking about what a good Christian he is and inspiring trust. But, this is business, not a popularity contest. This company is a joke. He uses the cheapest materials, will not do what he is told, lies about his credentials. His painters did a terrible job. I would wake up every morning ****** off just looking at the streaked, uneven lines on ghe ceiling, and the terrible plaster job. One particularly stupid worker did some electrical work. Afterward, the fridge went dead. He came back, reopened the wall, and actually came to the kitchen to tell me how he found a live wire in the wall—just sitting there...of course, since he was there to find out what he had done wrong the day before...wow. What an idiot. He then managed to knock out his teeth with his own hammer, and had to leave early. He was such a menace, I refused to let him or any of them back in our house. Completely incompetent!

Kevin Richards's (AKA "Hire Power") greatest talent is his likability and ability to instill trust in his clients.  Do not be taken in by him.  We gave him multiple chances to do right by us and he failed us every time.  1.  Damaged our new furniture.  The first time we overlooked it with a warning, but it happened several times afterward.  He promised to repair the damage, but never did.  Damaged our new wood floors.  Damaged other belongings, such as our clothes which his workers did not remove from the closets before they did work.  2.  The masonry and paint his guys did (clearly, none of them were professionals) was terrible.  I wake up every morning to a ceiling that clearly needs another coat.  In some places the paint is applied very thickly in gobs.  In others I can still see the shadow of the old paint.  They did not use tape, so the lines between ceiling and walls are crooked in most places, as if done by a 6-year-old.  They didn't bother to fill holes or smooth imperfections before they painted.  The guy who did electrical work did a terrible job closing the walls and there are protrusions and dents.  The switches were put back in crookedly or are not flush with the wall as a result.  They just don't care about the details.  They left a hole in our closet ceiling.  3.  The built ins are made of the cheapest materials.  To my surprise he used plywood for everything.  He said it is "standard," but I know other people who have had built ins made of solid wood.  I let it slide with the closet, but when he built our mock wardrobe (a built-in made to look like a wardrobe) they also used plywood and it looks like it.  They painted without smoothing or sanding said plywood.  The workmanship is amateurish and in some cases downright unfunctional.  In response to my complaints that the piece was visibly built of plywood, he sent guys in to slather putty over the edges of the wood where the plywood was visible.  A total piece of junk. 4.  Guy who did the electric has no skill to be doing so.  He cut a wire without knowing what it was and left it live in the wall.  This caused a chain work of problems and though I do not know for sure, it sounds to me as if this could be a fire hazard.5.  When he sent one of his latest losers over to fix our wardrobe because the doors were sticking out and it was bulging, the guy made it look worse.  I asked him where he had received his training and to see his certificate and Kevin became very indignant and said "clearly we can't make you happy."  He told me to hire someone else to do a better job.  Problem is, like idiots, we paid him up front already.  So, he made a mess and did not complete the project.  6.  Kevin makes it a point to talk about what a good Christian he is.  He is an opportunist and has a lousy work ethic.  He is a liar and considering he took our money and did not finish our project, I would say he qualifies as a thief as well.
We need to hire painters to fix the paint and masonry, as well as carpenters to finish the built ins.  We also need to hire electricians to finish the work Kevin did not do, though we paid him 100% in advance.
Do NOT under any circumstances hire this guy.

We heard about Kevin Richards (AKA Hire Power) through a neighbor.  They hired him to remodel a bedroom closet and a coat closet.  The work wasn't great, but it was a closet and they had requested a low-cost solution.  In all fairness, they got what they paid for.  
We were sorely in need of storage in our unit, so I asked them if they thought he had the skill to handle larger projects and remodeling. They said they had seen some work he did across the street and that it was "amazing" "really beautiful" "very high quality."  Plus, I could see their built-ins and kitchen through their window and it did look great.  

When I met Kevin I liked him immediately.   He was confident, apparently knowledgable, and said he could do anything we wanted and at any level of quality.  He promised the moon and made sure he let me know how much his faith means to him.  And, what can I say?  After that conversation he had my full trust.  In fact, it is Kevin's ability to instill trust in his clients and his general likeability that make people forgive his transgressions again and again.  Disappointment is a tough pill to swallow, especially in someone you believe in.  

What were Kevin's transgressions and flaws? Let me give you a rundown.  This is only a partial list:

-His workers are, for the most part, unskilled, and unsupervised. Kevin has one skilled painter, but unfortunately, he is never able to see a job through from beginning to end because has too many projects at once.  Kevin should have this guy train and supervise all paint jobs, but instead the guys fly from project to project not really knowing what they are doing and, I got the impression, to busy to keep track of what they are doing.    
-They don't clean up their messes.
-They don't use drop cloths or make any effort to protect your belongings.  They damaged our bed, left paint splatter on our belongings, left a smudge of wood putty on a vintage dress my daughter has not yet had a chance to wear, and left our clothes covered in drywall dust after failing to remove them the closet they were working on.  
-They are great at starting, but lousy at seeing a project through to completion in a timely manner.  We would be told work would begin on Monday, the guy would show up, stay for an hour and then get called away to another job, not to return for days or weeks.  
-Kevin doesn't take notes after the initial drawing up of the contract.  So, he will agree to do this or that, and then forget about it.  
-They use plywood instead of solid wood, though in your contract it states simply that he uses "wood."  Kevin will tell you that everything is made of plywood nowadays.  That is not true.  We commissioned a built-in in our master bedroom, which was supposed to look like a piece of furniture.  They constructed it completely of plywood and it looks like it is constructed of plywood.  
-They use cheap materials, regardless of how much you pay them.
-They are not skilled painters. They do not smooth, repair, or clear walls of nails or tape or other foreign objects before painting them. They don't use painter's tape, so the lines between ceiling and wall are squiggly.  I can still see shadows of the old paint on our ceiling.  I requested another coat. They agreed, but never followed up.  
-They did a sloppy job closing up our walls after doing electrical work and the scars and imperfections are still visible.
-Every concession they make for you, even when it comes to fixing their screw-ups, will be dredged up and rubbed in your face at every opportunity.
-Kevin will tell you that he has never heard such complaints from any of his other clients. It isn't him, it's you. 
-I have spoken to some of his other clients and trust me, it isn't just you.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  It was all far, far worse than it sounds.  

In short, we paid $9,000 for two plywood built-ins, some minor electrical work, the painting of two small rooms.  The work was consistently sloppy, unprofessional and riddled with delays.  Our belongings and our premises were damaged in the process.  The project remains unfinished.  

DON'T HIRE KEVIN RICHARDS.  

DO USE ANGIE'S LIST TO FIND A COMPETENT CONTRACTOR.  

DO CHECK REFERENCES AND DON'T TAKE ANYTHING AT FACE VALUE.

DO YOUR RESEARCH. 

DON'T HIRE ONE COMPANY TO DO ALL YOUR WORK.  COMMISSION SMALLER JOBS TO GIVE THE COMPANY A CHANCE TO PROVE THEMSELVES.  IF THEY FAIL ON THE SMALL STUFF, MOVE ON.  DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY ON THEM. 

DO NOT PAY FOR THE WHOLE JOB IN ADVANCE.  PAY SMALL INCREMENTS IN ADVANCE.

BE CLEAR ABOUT QUALITY OF THE RAW MATERIALS AND HARDWARE YOU EXPECT AND FOLLOW UP. 

ASSUME THAT ALL CONTRACTORS ARE BEARS WITH THUMBS AND POWER TOOLS.  UNTIL THEY EARN YOUR TRUST DO NOT LEAVE THEM TO THEIR OWN DEVICES.  

NEVER HIRE A MAN TO DO A MAN'S JOB.  CONSIDER HIRING A WOMAN OR AT LEAST A MAN WITH A BACKGROUND IN INTERIOR DESIGN.  

HIRE A CABINETMAKER INSTEAD OF A GENERAL CONTRACTOR.   

WHEN SOMEONE TELLS YOU EVERYTHING IS MADE OF PLYWOOD, DON'T BELIEVE IT.  A QUALITY CONTRACTOR AND/OR CABINETMAKER WILL USE QUALITY MATERIALS.

We purchased our home in early November of 2010 and hired Kevin Richards Home Improvements to do the renovations.  We were referred to Kevin through our real estate agent along with two other contractors who also gave us quotes.  We decided to go with Kevin based solely off of first impressions.  He appeared to be honest, professional and provided a list of references.  Kevin also was the cheapest quote, which only reinforced our decision to hire him.

Although, this was our first home and our first time doing any type of home improvements Kevin reassured us that he would guide us through the process and that we would be able to move in to our new place on our scheduled move in date of 12/15/10.  His friendly personality, and upbeat demeanor made us believe that the process would be painless.  Kevin began the renovations promptly, beginning with the demolition work, which we were very pleased with.  Although, Kevin always tried to address and accommodate for any issues that surfaced he always had an excuse for why things went wrong.  

Unfortunately, as time progressed, we quickly began to notice lack of urgency and several occasions of “miscommunication”.  The companies that he contracted out were extremely unprofessional.  Just a few examples of issues that we encountered with the people he contracted out were the following: Our bathroom has been completely gutted; it had been stripped down to the studs. It was a Saturday morning when we received an email from the unit below our new apartment; informing us that water was leaking from their ceiling. We immediately called Kevin to find out what was going on.  He quickly responded and told us he would call the painter who was working in our unit.  Luckily, our old apartment was close to the new place, and we were able to swing by the unit to find out what was going on. Since the cause of the problem was unknown we specifically asked the painter not to pour anything down the hole in the floor, which was the toilet drain. Unfortunately, later that evening when we stopped by the apartment the entire bathroom smelled of urine; it was clear that the painter had urinated in the hole. After notifying Kevin, he explained to us that the painter had an “emergency” and that it was unacceptable; of course Kevin apologized and reassured us that it would not happen again. Less than two weeks later we walked into the kitchen, only to find a plastic cup filled with urine. Those two incidences should have been “red flags” indicating that individuals that Kevin was hiring were not professionals.

We had to have our floors redone two times, the first time they came out fantastic, however they had been completed at the beginning of the project rather than the end, causing them to be scratched while the renovations were being completed. Kevin was kind enough to offer and pay for a night in a hotel so that the floors could be done again.  He felt bad about the inconvenience of us not being able to stay in our new place for a couple days.  The second floor company that came was awful; they did a terrible job. There had been a section of the floor that needed to be replaced along with some areas of the floor that had scratches from when the appliances where installed.  This company not only forgot to sand the new floorboards but also, left wet wool socks in our bathroom and our new sink had been left fill with some type of liquid.  Again, we informed Kevin of this and he said he would look into it; later informing us that “the socks were used to clean the brushes” and that it would not happen again.  We eventually had to hire someone on our own to finish the floors properly.

The last incident was when the company he hired came to install a new window in the bathroom.   After finishing the installation of the window, one of the men asked me if he could use the bathroom.  I told him of course; what a mistake that was.  This man completely clogged our toilet; the toilet was over flowing with feces spilling onto our beautiful new bathroom floors. Honestly, I had never seen anything so disgusting.   

Kevin always remained calm and collected when issues arose, but unfortunately too many issues came up during the process.  We were novice clients however, when asked to pick out appliances, tile, granite, paint colors etc. we did so very promptly supplying Kevin with an email with model numbers, pictures, purchase prices and clear delivery instructions. However, despite our due diligence to provide clear instructions we still managed to have issues with ordering appliance and other requested items. Rather than Kevin ordering the appliances promptly after receiving our request, he waited several weeks resulting in some of our appliance, bathroom furniture and fixtures to not be in stock when Kevin attempted to place the order.  This not only disappointed us because we were not able to have the requested items but also, took up more of our time to search for different items with limited time. For example, one evening we received a phone call from Kevin stating that the shower faucet, diverter knob and tub spout were out of stock and that we needed to find something that evening that was “in stock” because they would be installing these items the next day.  We were extremely annoyed and rather stressed, making our trip to Home Depot, late that evening an inconvenience.   We became more annoyed after finding out that they didn’t install them until a week after our trip to Home Depot.  As always, Kevin was polite and apologized for the inconvenience explained that he had never run into so many problems and that we just had “the worst luck”.

There were many things that went wrong during the renovations but our two biggest issues were that Kevin never ordered work permits for the work that he did until almost a month into the job. He obtained the permits only after we requested to see them. We recognize that all the blame cannot be put onto Kevin, because we did not ask to see them up front. It was a lesson learned that despite someone good intentions and honest demeanor we must always ask to see permits etc. up front.   The second was Kevin’s disorganization, causing the total renovation to be delayed by almost two full months. There were countless, times of “miscommunication”.   

Although we had many issues with the renovations our home did turn out very well.  By no means did Kevin go above and beyond, but he did manage to complete the job that he was asked to do. In the very end, aware of the bad outcome of the project he also offered to give us a construction favor in the future, which was nice of him. We would not  use his service again nor would we recommend him to our friends and family.

They are amazing. They came in my budget. They were on time. They did excellent work. I just can't say enough about them. They are honest, timely and respectful and everything that one would really want from a contractor. There was no question in my mind and the guy had my best interests. It was an exceptional experience and there can usually be a horrible experience too. I just can't recommend them enough. He gave me excellent advice. In my opinion they are the most honest, hard working contractors I've ever met. They came to me by referral from a neighbor and they have been doing a ton of work now all over my neighborhood. There were always a couple of issues and I don't want to be unrealistic, but every issue that came up, they resolved. Their punctuality was one area that there were a couple of issues, but nothing significant. I am using them again right now.

I saw his work elsewhere. I was very impressed with his work. He was very responsive. However, I didn’t use his services for the project. He was very professional. He was clear, well spoken, and respectful. I will definitely use this company in the future.

I have hired for other job. People to whom I recommend Kevin are hiring and referring him.