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"Although we contracted and made an initial payment (1/3) on February 27, by mutual agreement the work began on 13 April 2015 to allow the work-site to dry out from the winter weather.  The contractor made incredible progress in the first two weeks demolishing the old deck & garage porch, pouring footers, raising the frame & putting on the roof.  The first crew was very hard working, here early in the morning, & leaving late in the afternoon (after cleaning up the area each day).  When rain was in the forecast, the crew would ask if they could make up the day on Saturday, which they did.  Everything we saw in the first 2 weeks was consistent with our previous great experience with Fox Creek 2 years earlier when they replaced all our siding, windows & doors. The only problem at that point was that a plain black roof (25 yr) was put on instead of the architectural roof (lifetime warranty) we asked for.  The contractor acknowledged the error and offered to replace the roof at no additional cost.  We had originally only contracted for 2 skylights so we asked if he'd install 2 more at no cost versus replacing the roof and he agreed.  We were told that everything was on schedule to complete the rest of the job in 2 weeks.  We made the second (of 3) payment on April 29 which was when the excavation work below the porch/deck was supposed to begin.  No one showed up to start this work for several days and when they did (it was a different crew from the first), they typically showed up around mid-morning and were gone by mid-afternoon.  We had beautiful weather during this period in which very little work got done.  The contractor claimed they were having trouble getting the supplier to deliver sand and crushed rock.  Since we're located in St. Mary's County which is a bit of a distance from the contractor's home base in Crownsville near Annapolis, they decided to use "local" suppliers & subcontractors (electricians) rather than those they normally use.  We found out later that the sand & gravel supplier was located in Brandywine about 40 miles from here (there are plenty of suppliers right here in the county).  When the sand & gravel finally showed up at 10:00 am one morning about the same time the crew arrived, the crew directed them to the spot they wanted it dumped and then everyone left shortly after that without doing anything.  We knew by then that the job wasn't going to be completed anywhere near the 3 & 1/2 week total time advertised.  The predictable springtime heavy rains started and we were delayed even more.  The week of May 11 was the first week we could see some progress each day.  The end product was beautiful.  A paver retaining wall was put in all around the perimeter below the deck/porch and in between the concrete slab under the porch and the pavered patio area below the deck.  

We couldn't understand why the remaining work on the porch above couldn't go on while the below work was going on.  Wiring had to be put in, and also all the finish work (soffets, gutters, trim work, ceiling made of soffet rolls - looks very nice).  Most of the holdup turned out to be waiting for the "local" electrician to show up.  The electrician (Goudie) wasn't really all that local but was from Waldorf 35 miles up the road.  Our contractor had to threaten, cajole and/or beg Goudie to show up and install wiring so that the finishing work could be done on the porch.  We begged our contractor to get another licensed electrician (there are plenty of good ones right here in the county that we've done business with).  Anyway, once the electrician showed up we had to get them back several more times because they'd forget to do something we'd asked for or they didn't have a part and we'd end up in the same waiting game.  They did end up getting shamed into sending an electrician on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend to put in 2 ceiling outlets they''d forgotten to put in, but we still didn't have any fans or lights to enjoy that weekend, by which time our contractor assured we'd be enjoying the porch.  You don't EVER want to do business with Goudie Electrical.  

To make a long story short, after a lot of nagging to get a lot of loose ends tied up, the work was finally finished and inspected the Thursday (the day) before this past 4th of July weekend.  The porch & deck are absolutely beautiful (we'll attach pictures if we can figure out how to do it - they will speak for themselves).  We got some extras that we asked for like 7" wide Azek boards along the tops of the vinyl railings inside the porch to serve as a counter top for setting drinks or small plates of food or snacks, which we've had a lot of nice compliments about.  They're the perfect height for pulling a barstool up to.  One of the things we didn't get that we expected was a decent landing area at the bottom of our deck stairs.  The crew threw grass seed and straw there.  When we asked about getting some sort of solid landing, they shoveled out the area and threw some leftover crushed rock on it and tamped it down.  When we asked if they were going to finish it (we told them they could use some of the many wall pavers that were left over) they said the wall pavers would require digging too deep. We offered to pick up (and did) some square flat stepping stones from Lowe's which we left for them.  One of the younger fellas who was there one day to meet with the inspector and had no tools just laid the stones down, stomped them down with his feet and let it go at that.  The area was not level and a downpour that evening directed a steady flow of water from the stones across our concrete slab.  We didn't bother asking again, just tore it up last weekend, leveled and tamped it down properly and reinstalled the stepping stones ourselves.

Our sense through this whole experience was that there was nobody in charge.  Besides the first crew that started the project and came later on one day to install all the soffets and gutters, it appeared to be young fellas without any on-site direction or supervision.  They did a lot of good work but there was a lot of unfinished work that we had to call our contractor up to get fixed.  If we lived closer to Annapolis or the DC metro area, this would probably have been a much better experience.  They do good work at a fair price and the owners are very honest people and have the best of intentions.  But they appear to be ill-equipped to do business in St. Mary's, southern Charles or Calvert counties or other more distant locations.  I did mention to the owner that if he wanted to do more business here he needed to do more to establish relationships with truly local suppliers and subcontractors.  Communications also need to be improved all around - with the crews, between the partners, with suppliers, subs and us, the customers.  We had the sense that the crews didn't really enjoy coming here and that we were kind of at the bottom of Fox Creek's list of priorities due to our distance from their home base.  As much as we love the final product and will enjoy it and show it off for a lifetime, we couldn't go through the aggravation again.  We would encourage folks from the Annapolis and metro DC areas who are considering a project like this (or folks who aren't in any kind of a hurry to get a project like this completed in a reasonable amount of time) to give Fox Creek serious consideration.  

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"We received excellent service and beautiful work. We’re are so happy with our new siding!"

"We had Whiting do this job because he also did new siding for our home. Both jobs were were done professionally, on time, aesthetically pleasing and to our complete satisfaction. Would definitely use Whiting for any work within their capabilities. Fair pricing too."

"After having a little problem with the contract, Heather managed to get the problems straightened out. Correct dates and materials were corrected.The crew showed up on time but then had to go get additional materials to start the job.. No project manager was on sight until latter in the afternoon..The five crew members started the job . I made a few suggestions on how I wanted the job to be done and they were very agreeable..The crew was very precise in their work..The job was to put vinyl siding on chimney to match existing siding on the house…This group of five workers did a WONDERFUL JOB…I couldn’t be happier with the work that they provided…The cleanup afterwards was like they were never there…PERFECT ….Andy the project manager did show up and was helpful,,but really didn’t stay very long…Thank you …to Heather for all she did to make this jod less stressful..Very,,Very… Pleased with the outcome of this job….And yes….i would recommend this company and this CREW for any siding job."

"I havenâ t experienced a crew that had so much pride in their work. Extremely friendly. Excellent job putting on my siding. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a good contractor."

"I would use them again for my roofing and siding needs."

"They did an excellent job on siding, windows, and gutters."

"Roof & window we're repaired immediately. They showed up the following day after my initial call and provided an accurate estimate. Work commensed right after I signed the contract. The siding took a bit longer due to difficulty matching my 16 yr. old siding (an exact match was no longer being manufactured). I learned this is a common problem. Once an acceptable match was found; the work was completed promptly and correctly. Every effort was made to satisfy me (the customer) and they succeeded. I would hire them again for future needs."

"It is such a refreshing experience working with Ben. From the very beginning, Ben goes above and beyond to explain in detail about the process of redoing my siding and of repairing my partial roof. He is very knowledgeable and patient. He showed me different samples for the siding and for the roofing and explained about each one of them. He offered to directly with my deal with my insurance company throughout the whole process and is still dealing with them to cover the cost for my entire roof as the color of the asphalt that has been repaired does not exactly matched the rest of the roofing. Excel only repaired my roof because my insurance company told Ben that they had to try to repair it first. I am very thankful and grateful for Ben hard work and the nice workers for doing a phenomenal job in a speedy manner. Thank you so much Will for being so patient and kind from getting paid from the insurance company. Thank you all so much! Best, Miranda"

"Excellent service and owner was able to reuse the siding that blew off to keep costs down. Very good communication and showed up when promised. Very happy with service and warranty given for work."