Clockwork Builders LTD

During the sales phase, John listened carefully, inspected the porch, then studied the options. He came back with a proposal that outlined the complete technical solution as well as each phase of construction. Clockwork provided all of the information I needed where other contractors hadn't provided a specific way to mitigate the leak or any specifications on the quality of their construction. Clockwork construction quality was very high. Demo was quickly done, framing was neatly and precisely replaced and the subfloor was rebuilt to a level surface. The tile was laid very well with a consistent grout line. All of the finish steps were also done very completely, railings were re-installed, columns and bases were painted and every spec of trash was removed. It was also a pleasure to interact with the people that performed the work. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Clockwork for interior or exterior projects. The quality of their work was very high and John maintained constant communication with my wife and I.

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I met Clockwork Builders at the Howard County Fairgrounds at the "Suburban Maryland Fall Home Show" Oct 4th 2015. Their display, professional uniforms and booth design led me to think that they were a premium remodeler. I texted John Riley, the sales representative after the show to confirm our appointment for Thur 8th at 6pm. He texted me back to confirm. I was on the subway when John called me to let me know that he had arrived early, we discussed a few details and I let John know that I would be home in about 10-12 minutes. I arrived at 6:15pm (I was 15 minutes late). John had left. My wife arrived home about 5pm, and her car was prominently parked outside of the garage. If the John Riley would have rung the door bell she would have greeted him. When I arrive home, I walked around looked for John, greeted my wife, then at 6:20pm I called and left a message on the John's mobile phone. "I understood if he left to get something to eat and I looked forward to meeting him." About 4 minutes later, John called. He said "he valued his time more than I did. He expected his subcontractors (vendors) to be prompt, and did not believe that he would be able to work with me. The reason given was my lack of on time performance.

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I was referred to John at Clockwork by our super Architect, Bert Roberts. After reviewing all bids, we felt Clockwork was a good fit. We are not new to renovations. This is our 3rd home, but this is also the largest project we have done. During the whole process, neighbors would visit as they passed during their daily walks. They were impressed as well. We are the newbies in the neighborhood, so long time residents wanted to be sure it looked right. We wanted a builder that we was responsive and could handle the daily updates I would make. If you are a person that knows what you want and are using an architect, then this company may be a good fit for you also. John lives just up the road so I knew he drives past my job site every day and was able to see the progress. During the build, I knew when they needed answers and products. I was either able to order them myself, like lights and bath fixtures, or have them order product up to the quality I expected. Doors were one of those. Solid doors, not hollow core as stated in the bid. Little upgrades like generated work order changes. But John kept me informed about the budget and towards the end we knew exactly where we stood on total cost. I did toss them a few curves. I wanted solid wood, bamboo, flooring in my office space and stairs. The installer and I went over the details on how it needed to be installed and everything turned out super. It was just at the right level so there is no threshold needed as a transition to the bedroom carpet. The added cost was worth every penny. Along that same line, since we used the hardwood on the stairs, that raised 2 big issues. First the color, my wife wanted the hand rails to be stained. Johns painter matched the color very well. The other was an ordering error on my part. I forgot about the top and bottom step change. I ordered the wrong tread. But instead of having to reorder and wait 2 weeks for that, John had the lumber yard mill shop shape the part I did order. That saved me hundreds of dollars and turned out better then the standard part. So a big plus to on the fly thinking. We had a few of those moments. Quick thinking saved times and money. The plumber and electrician John uses are top notch. We were able to work thru any challenges that are always a part of renovations. Where to put the main vent stack, wires to new panels in the basement, etc etc. A long list. Bottom line is that we had set high expectations since our home faces a major roadway. It HAD to be perfect. But as the homeowner you must also do your work and be ready. Clockwork is not a design form. So you must have plans from an architect. That is the only caveat. Hire a designer is you need too. We did not, but only because we had planned in detail. We also know that painting walls is an easy fix. What you want is to know that the structure behind the drywall is right.

All I can say is, buyer beware. Be very aware. And be ready to call an attorney. This guy lied to me from the very beginning, and all through the entire contract, until the bitter end. He will B.S. you until the cows come home, and as I learned, he really doesn't know much about home construction. I had a fairly large project of an addition along with a deck and screen porch. I requested bids from 3 different companies and Clockwork came in at the lowest price. One of my requirements was that I wanted 90% of the job done by employees of the company that I hired. He told me that he had 22 employees and assured me that they would do the majority of the work. I found out later that he immediately bid out the entire job to several subcontractors. There were 2 employees who showed up part time to do bits of the work, but the rest was done by subs. The majority of the work was done by 2 subcontractors working together, the guys that "won the bid". During the job, Clockwork had the subcontractors perform much of the work out of sequence just so that he could bill for milestones sooner. Because of this, we had rain coming into our bedroom and dining room in April. The subs removed part of the the roof but were told not to replace it until they replaced some windows and doors. He had been billing me far ahead of the work that was completed, and at first I trusted him. However, after the incident with the rain in the dining room, I told him that I was slowing down on payments until the work caught up. His reaction, without even a phone call back to me, was to pull the the subs off of the job. That was his attempt to intimidate me. I then called a lawyer who informed me that Clockwork was in material breech of contract for performing the tasks out of sequence and for walking off of the job. I informed Clockwork that if he didn't clean up his act, I would be making calls to MHIC and the MD Dept of Labor, which then made Clockwork realize that I was serious. We renegotiated the contract, removing parts of it and changing the payment schedule. At that point, I watched him every single step of the way. And I paid him on my schedule when the work was completed correctly. Luckily I had built a good relationship with the subs by then and with constant supervision on my part, I was able to get most of the job done eventually (4 months after the original finish date in the 3 month contract). With about 3 weeks left to finishing up, Clockwork decided to stop paying for the port-o-potty. The laborers that he hired from Home Depot parking lot to grade the dirt and lay the sod had to urinate in my bushes. They did such a poor job that I forced Clockwork to get someone else to re-lay the sod and re-grade. He hired some beggar guy on the side of Route 40, who lasted about 1/2 a day. Finally, he found somebody that had some pride in his work. Finally, I basically fired Clockwork before the job was completed and had them give me a credit so that I could finish the job myself. I hired the 2 subcontractors who did the majority of the work and we had a good working relationship. I can give you their names because I can recommend them. They have pride in their work. But not Clockwork. Clockwork is a slimeball contractor. He's exactly the kind of person you don't want to do business with. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.

We decided not to use them because they became unresponsive. The original estimate was good, but when we started asking them things about the insurance company, it was obvious they didn't want to work with us any longer. Everything in the original quote was laid out and very detailed. After we started to talk with them about what the insurance company was going to pay for, it became obvious he didn't want the job. He kept making excuses like he had a sick mother, instead of just telling us he didn't want to do the job. I would not use them in the future.

John Riley is the owner and operator. He has been very punctual and very professional unlike 3 other contractors that we've had. The estimate is about $12000. It's going to be covered by the insurance partially.

They were not prompt and responding. The second that I did like was that they said that unless I work with the architect I wouldn’t get my bid. Over the phone they indicated that it was very high.

In the fall of 2005 John put an addition on a neighbor's house. The work looked good to us, and they recommended him highly. We showed him some plans were had from an architect we had been working with. He worked up an estimate for us, but after a while he gently (and correctly) observed that we didn't seem all that happy with the plans, and suggested we think a bit more before jumping into such a big project. In early 2006, we had John do a small job (about $10,000) to take out an exterior wall and replace the existing sliding glass door with three windows and two glass doors. We found another architect, developed a plan we loved, and in early 2007 we hired John to build it. His proposals were broken into logical phases (5), allowing us some flexibility to apply our budget to our most important features. (Eventually, we asked John to build three of them, chose not to do one at all, and will probably do the fifth ourselves as time permits.) From planning through all phases of construction, John was open, honest, flexible, and very responsive to our needs. His crews were good to work with. Quality was very good, not always perfect, but overall very, very good. Any problems I pointed out were addressed immediately. He started on time and his finish was delayed only because I was late in providing some materials that were my responsibility. The job site was always clean and safe. The crew was especially good when it came to extending roof lines so that the gutters would line up around the back of the house.

John was referred by friends. He was always punctual and polite. There were occasional weather delays, but otherwise work kept reasonably to the schedule throughout. There were some delays due to John's failure to order materials on time. However, a major problem was John's failure to carefully review architect's plans before beginning and an inexplicable reluctance to meet with architect to go over questions, resulting in several serious mistakes in the construction. This was made more difficult by a defensive and fault-finding attitude that put us in the middle. At several points in the project John and his builders failed to consult the plans, causing mistakes to be made and work having to be done over to specification. There were some puzzling quality lapses as well, such as using the wrong nails in finish work. The finished foyer looks and feels good. Some of the details are substandard, and there are flaws that could have been avoided, and costs went up as a result.