Allmaster Builders Inc

Excellent service. They do great job absolutely. They just wonderful.

My experience with Allmaster was not great. I hired them to do waterproofing in my basement, the workers came on time and finished on time, but the work was not right. I had to call them to come back to my house twice to fix things they did wrong the first time (one of those mistakes was water pouring into the basement!). This involved them having to break up the concrete they had just poured so they could put the pipes in properly. Finally, I thought it was done and the drywall guys came to fix the wall and get it ready to paint. These guys were very good! They cared about the quality of the job and actually noticed even MORE things that the waterproofing crew had done wrong! They had to manipulate the drywall job around pipes that were installed wrong so the wall could be "almost" straight. They did their best to work around a lousy waterproofing job. I know I should have had the waterproofers back to fix these mistakes too, but truthfully I was exhausted by this whole effort and didn't want to spend even more time basically starting from scratch. I spent a LOT of money and the job should have been perfect! In addition, I never had anyone from the company talk to me about the problems, no manager called to apologize and try to make it right. The only time I heard regret was from one of the drywall crew who apologized for the fact that their job wasn't perfect because they had to work around the waterproofer's mistakes.

I can't say I happy with Allmaster Home services at least with Nicholas Locantore,the Executive Vice President. The subcontractor for my showed up for my project at 8:30 AM, much to my surprise since I had no idea the job had been scheduled! I had to take that day off work and rearrange my entire schedule for the remainder of the week causing me, the customer, an inconvenience (time and money) that could have bee avoided with a simple email or telephone call. I had asked Mr. Locantore over a week prior when my project would be scheduled. He said he wasn't sure and that rain in the forecast was going to, "Mess me up." Frankly, his lack of communication with a customer is unprofessional, then again, he already had my deposit. I will give kudos to the subcontractor, Kevin. He was polite and responsive to my questions and concerns. He stated that the job was actually schedule two days before. REALLY? I also found it surprising that when he telephoned Mr. Locantore (while I was there) I didn't even get a call back from Mr. Locantore then. The first I heard from Allmaster since the subcontractor left was several days later, no doubt looking for the balance due. When I spoke with Ms. Blankenship her only response was, "I have nothing to do with scheduling," and that she would put a note on my file, didn't reflect well for Allmaster either. I've never written a negative review of a contractor before, but it looks like a review of ALLMSTER HOME SERVICES will be my first. Good work by the subcontractor. Lousy customer service from ALLMASTER.

My project didn't start off very good. The scheduler told the crew to come out on the wrong day. I actually let the foreman in when he arrived on the wrong day to explain to him the mix up. His name was Mark. Mark actually lied to me, saying someone had called and confirmed with me the date switch. No one had called to switch the date, and when I called the consultant who came to my house to make the appointment (Chris), he confirmed that Mark had lied to me about the date. I'm glad I sent Mark packing. The day of the scheduled work, they sent Ronnie out. I'm so happy they did! Ronnie was extremely knowledgeable and very nice to me. The other two men who came to work with Ronnie were soooo polite. They worked quickly and everything seems to be in order. Ronnie made sure he explained everything to me and told me what to expect. The electrician had to come out separately, and he was so nice to me too. He actually helped me move some furniture back in place once he was done because Ronnie had asked him to. Bottom line---hire this company as long as they don't send Mark out to your place.

It went well until the job was not completed. They were supposed to come by a level a side off. The gentleman stated that they would come back and do it and I told them it was okay to process payment in good faith. He never came back and I told the owner about it and he said the guy was fired and he would come out look at it and personally take care of it. He came out looked at it and again said he would come back and take care of it. He lied and to this day it has not been completed. I would never hire them again because of the outright lying. I am having some more work done in the back yard and I am not hiring them. I would NEVER work with this company again. Use at your own risk.

When the initial owner came out to look at the project, he was great.  And then when the workmen actually came out to do the project, they were great as well; however, I know that's there's no true communication if you're not actually on the project when somebody is trying to tell you what to do.  If you just send them with instructions, things get lost.  The idea of what they actually should do.  So I had to really be on top of them, make sure they do caulking and the proper work that needed to be done.  When they did that work, they actually did a good job.  I had to hover over them a little bit.  Again, not that the workers were bad or the initial meeting with the owner, it's just the transition from owner to worker, communication, there's a loss of communication naturally, not intentionally, just naturally.  There was a supervisor, then again, he wasn't really doing the project correctly.  It's hard to compare things like pricing, because you really don't know.  It was cheaper of the couple estimates we got.  The quality, punctuality were good.  I'm the boss anyway, but I'm not the one that should be supervising to make sure the job gets done correctly.

Great, see above

The initial inspection was thorough and the price was reasonable.  The workers were on time and very professional.  They explained what they were doing throughout the process and cleaned the worksite after the project was completed.  Due to some minor coordination issues, the foundation repair took longer than expected.  However, the front porch repair was completed in two days.

Now, finally, with the past week or so having heavy rains, our basement stayed completely dry!!  We have no more worries of, if it rains for a long period of time or heavy rains, of the basement taking in water; massive peace of mind!  Thank You AllMasters!!

Allmasters really saved the day for me. I had a retaining wall that goes around my upper pool yard that was put in by the previous owner. It had been failing for about a year but after the winter we had the wall was really starting to lean pretty bad in one section. I started getting quotes from various providers on Angie's list because I knew I would need to do something by the end of the year. Of the four providers that I received quotes from, Allmaster was by far the most thorough and professional. The others were fine too but Steve took the time to walk us through the issues with the existing wall, the options and the risks. Their quote was also delivered much faster than the others. The pricing was all pretty comparable. So, a week after I got the last quote (Father's Day weekend) the wall actually failed. Because it was holding up my pool yard I was a little concerned about the structural integrity of the inground pool itself. I emailed Steve on Saturday since he was my top choice anyway to see what their schedule looked like. He responded within 30 minutes and was able to rework the schedule to fit us in right before July 4th weekend. He even came out to the house on Father's Day Sunday to take a look, assess whether there was any issue with the pool and get paperwork done. Allmaster kept me informed throughout the process regarding the delivery of the material, the status of the crew and the completion of the wall. The crew that came out was great and worked hard each day (3 days, including a Saturday) and the wall looks great! They cleaned up the work area, put down new grass seed and straw, and put my fence back up for me. There was never a discussion about extra costs or anything although I am sure it probably took them a little more time than they anticipated. There is even a warranty on this wall so I feel much better about the money I spent. I would not hesitate to use this company again. The price was competitive, they were very responsive, and the end product was better than expected. Can't ask for much more.

Work went well. Very responsive company. Pleasure dealing with all staff. Job crew professional and paid attention to detail. Saved our landscaping bushes despite doing work during a very hot spell.

It was excellent. They are the best contractors we have had thus far!

Old garage floor was removed; land underneath the garage floor was tamped down to form a solid base; crushed stone was laid and concrete was laid over wire mesh and rebar. Concrete was smoothed to provided slip-free surface. Work was arranged around my work schedule. Work was done in a timely and professional manner. Work product was excellent.

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It went great. 

The center column was raised sufficiently so that there is no noticeable dip in the garage roofline. No new cracks in the brick facing

I will keep this short, sweet, and simple. Was I happy with the completed project? Yes. Would I use Allmaster Builders again? Yes. Would I recommend Allmaster Builders to my family, friends, and neighbors? Yes. Give them a call. You will not be disappointed.

Week of 4/13/2015

Last winter was exceptionally harsh for our area. We had a concrete block basement wall start to bow inward due to water freezing under a large patio. John & his Allmaster team worked in concert with a licensed structural engineer to place a set of steel I beams against the wall to stabilize and ultimately completely straighten the wall.

The engineering design required the I beams to be on footers under our basement slab.

While the basement slab was excavated we also had a drainage system installed. The job went very well & smoothly. John's team took care to erect plastic dust barriers so the basement did not get dirty from the concrete work.

The wall stabilizers used by John were of superior quality compared to those used other contractors. See Richtech Industries (http://www.richtechindustries.com).

This was a very involved job that went very well.

We should note that Allmaster offers a lifetime guarantee on the waterproofing drainage system and a 25 year guarantee on foundation work both transferrable to the next owners.

Update:

John stopped by 9/2/2015 to tighten the I beams and all appear completely straight.

The work was done on schedule, the workers were pleasant and explained what was happening. Slab jacking is,a messy process. The workers cleaned everything up so that my garage was actually cleaner after the work than before.

Very professional and fast service at a reasonable price.

Very poor organization from top to bottom in this company. Lots of talk but little results. We had to constantly stay on top of not only the owner but the foreman and then the laborers to ensure that the right materials, or paint, or work was being done according to the Scope of Work.  They failed 90% of the time to follow the scope of work.  So many things that were 'included' with the bid and on the scope of work, suddenly we were told "thats not what the means, thats not included in that".  Or when they hired subcontractors who didnt show, specifically a plumber for over a month - and because the company had already paid the guy the money - literally our project sat on hold while they battled it out.  Finally they got another plumber, but it was ridiculous. Kept telling us that the hot water heater worked, "it was running" when it clearly had never ever been running.  Their laborers were sloppy, inconsiderate of our personal property as well as our home, and one of the laborers had their girlfriend in our home at one point, painting!!!  They smoked on our property and in our garage, left their cigarette trash all over; left their lunch trash in our home when they left at night; walked across new flooring with dirty boots on without any plastic down or anything covering their boots. Their workers used our personal tools, ladders, materials, etc.  One of our ladders went missing for about 3-4 weeks, and though they denied taking it and we do not have any proof that any of their laborers took it, mysteriously it reappeared again near the end of the project. When we would email them our issues or complaints, we were told that they "would address each issue" but never would put anything in writing.  NOTHING.    We were told time and time again a specific schedule, but then their workers wouldnt show - we'd call the foreman and he said the owner sent them somewhere else; then we'd call the owner and he said he had to check with the foreman and get back to us.    BUT I will say -- when a bank draw check was coming, you can bet that they showed up to collect those checks as they promised!  Never once did they not show up to collect their money.     I would not recommend this company to anyone -- absolutely, positively NO ONE who wants any quality work done or any work done in a reasonable time frame should hire these guys.
Some of the paint is already peeling from the window frames that they painted; the carpet was done in such a poor fashion that the seams show in every room; the bifold closet doors were not cut to size in two of the bedrooms -- some very easy and basic things that couldnt even get done correctly.
We cannot recommend them to anyone.

One year later plaster has fallen from exterior walls and steps after requested reapplication. Bathroom wall tile poorly placed. Oversized shower stall placed removed and corrected in basement. Used inexperienced workers for finish (interior) work.

Allmaster is great. Everything went off without a hitch. I have used them in the past with a similar wonderful experience. As I said in my previous review I would definitely use them again. I moved into my new home back in August which was a foreclosure. They did some waterproofing which needed to be done before I moved in. They replaced my old 1960's kitchen with a wonderful modern one including a breakfast bar, granite countertops and ceramic tile floors. They have pictures on their facebook page.
They also installed 22 new energy efficient windows and a new front door with sidelights. The window and door foreman(Mark) was amazing. He was incredibly polite and efficient. The windows were all done in one day, I couldn't believe they got it done that quick and with great quality but they did. They came back on a separate day for the door and it was done in just a few hours even though they had to reframe it since the old door was an awkward size..
Finally the patio took about a week but they had a lot of old junk to remove and it kept raining on them so they couldn't lay the concrete. Once we had a few dry days they got it done.
This is a top notch company. John, Nick and all the crew members communicated with me throughout the entire process. They are great people and they have found a customer for life. I highly recommend them.

After 25 years in our house, we started getting water in the basement. We pulled off the wall dryboard and found cracks and a very bulging foundation wall. We got several estimates from waterproofing companies and received a wide range of estimates to correct our problems, Advice ranging from attaching wall pins - to a $50,000 exterior excavation. Frustrated , we contracted an excellent structural engineer for around $500 who provided us with a serious list of recommendations and concerns.
We chose Allmaster Builders to do the job and are very happy with the results. John, the owner, began by presenting us with an impressive portfolio of his past projects, references, and experience. He explained how the county inspection procedure works, then accommodated our time frame and gave us a starting date within two weeks and 2-4 days of work.
The foreman, Angel, was always polite and answered all of our questions. He and his crew worked very hard to get a difficult job done. They discovered that we have a solid layer of shale under our house which necessitated changes in the installation,and we had an additional problem of support beams in our ceiling that could not be foreseen.... so the work had to be extended to 2 weeks. During this time, John worked closely with the engineer to modify structural ideas and came up with high quality solutions.
It was difficult to live with a lot of concrete dust during this time since the trenches had to be dug, but Allmaster Builders made up for it by keeping the quality of work top of the line and sending us a clean up team on the last day.
Throughout the project, we had easy contact with all involved, and felt strongly that they were trustworthy, professional, had family values, and high integrity.
The last county inspector came today, did final approval, and he told us that Allmasters did an excellent job.
Thanks Allmaster Builders - we definitely chose the right company!

I was overall disappointed with the quality of the work done. Most of the work looked like it was thrown together with no care or concern. They clearly did the bare mininum necessary to get the job done. I found them to be very disorganized and the foreman was difficult to communicate with because of his temper. I had to have my husband deal with him because I really found him to be condescending. He would frequently complain about how much he didn't like the company that we purchased our kitchen cabinets from. He was really unprofessional. They have to learn to work with whatever the client provides whether they like it or not. He would be visibly frustrated when we would show them work that wasn't done correctly or incomplete. We also had to consistenty provide them with and quot;To Do Listsand quot; so they could keep up with what needed to be done on the house. Many times my husband and I had to have them come back and redo work and it still turned out shotty. It is really appalling that they have been in business for so long considering the poor quality of the work. The best work they did was probably gutting and remodeling the kitchen, but even there, work was incomplete. For instance, they primed the kitchen but there were areas that had not been sanded down so are patches in several areas of the kitchen. In the basement, they had to replace the windows and below some of the windows the cinderblocks were cracked and bulging out. We asked them to replace the cinderblocks below but instead they threw some cement over it to patch it up and it looked very unprofessional. I could have done what they did.
We needed them to install a new railing by the stairs in the basement and they installed a large flat wood plank for a railing...I've never seen anything like that before. When the inspector came to look at it, he made them remove it and use an actual banister. When we were able to move into the home after much delay, we started to get some painting done. Well, we found out once we were in the house that the electric was not working in some parts of the the house because they completely forgot that the electrical work needed to be up to code throughout the entire house. This was already in the proposal so I don't know how they missed it. So they had to put new holes in the walls that we just painted to complete the electrical work. The time management for this this job was really poor. We were told that it would take a 2 months to complete. They started in April and they finished the majority of the work in September. To date, they still have to come back to redo a down spout that they threw together. I could go on and on about the inefficiencies of this job. This was our first time hiring a contractor and personally I was disappointed with the entire process. I did not have access to Angie's list when we hire this contractor but we will use it in the future.

Everything went fantastic from start to finish. John showed up for his appointment at the scheduled time and offered a reasonable price with no pressure(unlike many of the other companies). The crew arrived when they said they would and did a fantastic job. They blocked off the area they were working with plastic to reduce the dust from the jack hammering and cleaned up well. They finished the entire basement waterproofing job in one day. We had a couple heavy rains since the work was done with no leaks at all. I highly recommend Allmaster Builders.
I had previously had work done by Johns energy saving company Smart Home for some windows in my condo, so I was already familiar with his great work ethic. My new home was a foreclosure with lots of TLC needed, so I will be using Allmaster Builders for all my other work in the near future.