American Custom Contractors Inc

Demetri provided a thorough estimate for the roof work on our house. He took the time to carefully explain all aspects of the estimate and stressed the importance of full communication between us as homeowner and the contractor.

Estimator came out to assess job site and see what work needed to be done, measure, etc. Was very pleasant and responsive to questions. It wasn't until the very end of the meeting that he told me that he needed to return to meet with me and my husband in person to go over the estimate in two weeks time. When I asked why a meeting in person instead of sending me the information via email/letter like all the other contractors I have met with, he responded that he doesn't really do email and that this way he could go through the whole thing and explain everything so I would be able to understand it. (If written correctly and line itemed then I can't see myself being confused at all...I've read many such contracts and never had issue before.) I told him my husband wouldn't be available to meet and doesn't like to do these types of meetings as I know more about house construction, etc. than he does and he just doesn't get time off from work easily. He didn't seem to like that but made an appt. anyway. The night before the appt I checked my messages before bed and someone had called asking me to call to confirm the appt. The offices were closed by then but since I was planning to be here I didn't worry about it. Nobody called my cell phone or emailed me, though they had both options available. he never showed up. I was planning to be home all day that day anyway so it wasn't a problem that he never showed from that aspect but he never called either which is just rude. Still hasn't more than a week later. No email, no call, nothing. But once it was clear he simply wasn't showing, without even a double check phone call to see if I was here or still interested, I decided I really didn't want to work with a company that insists on a personal meeting to give a quote and then doesn't even bother to show for it. Just glad I found out BEFORE I hired them for anything!

The problem: We had just moved in and the house, built in 1999, smelled like mildew or mold. The former owners of our townhome left us with a roof leaks that our ?home inspector? did not find. I got American Custom?s name from Angie?s List. I contacted other contractors but they didn?t have the equipment to do such a high roof, they were too busy and couldn?t get to me for a couple of weeks or they didn?t call me back so a price comparison isn?t applicable. American Custom Contractors representative Steve Bates came out to our home within a day to assess the problem--but couldn?t get up to the roof. My home's roof is too tall to access with a regular 40 foot ladder. A technician (Benjamin) came three days later. He was part gymnast. He went into the attic and out an attic dormer window after climbing a web and top cord on the roof truss. He found that the home had been improperly roofed in places. He showed me photos he took immediately afterwards. Water had been coming in the attic since the day the house was built in 2000. Step flashing had been incorrectly installed and mold was growing in places; shingles weren?t installed over the top outer ends of the dormers leaving holes; the ridge vent had blown off at some point and was bent (another roofer/handyman put it back anyway) and water was coming in. Small unexplainable finger size holes in the shingles were scattered on the roof. After discussing the options of patching and reroofing with Mr. Bates my husband and I scheduled a complete new roof. American Custom was already aware of the restrictions of our community association and everything was cleared but the soonest they could begin was 10 days away sadly. John Gallien, Production Manager and Betsy Perez, Executive Assistant, stayed in touch. Throughout the job they were very polite and informative with me when I had any questions or issues. I might mention here that I was glad I chose American Custom because Mr. Bates discussed with me the Certified Contractors Network that his company belonged to. Very impressive. It is a means by which its members police and educate themselves and educate the public about what a good contractor should be. It was like added insurance to Angie?s List. The first day the workers could not begin because even though one part of the company knew that a 60 foot ladder was needed somehow another didn?t. So they were one day late beginning. If you haven?t seen anyone manage a 60 foot ladder in the wind, the spectacle is quite breathtaking?that is if you don?t want windows broken, cars smashed or people hurt. It makes other ladders look puny. OSHA would have been proud of these guys. I included photos but they don?t show the thrill and excitement. (OK, I don?t get out much.) The roofers hung tarps then ported old shingles and debris down the ladder (3 floors) and threw them into a dump truck. Then they ported new shingles, underlayment, nails and what all up the ladder and a new roof and ridge vent were put on. Then it was the carpenters turn to completely redo the dormers. The carpenters removed the trim and siding and installed all new composite trim and siding. The carpenters were like artists. Once they measured it seemed they measured again and then cut. Some of the pieces were closely inspected then sanded to perfection. I?ve included a photo of one of the workers doing that because I saw it so many times. After all was installed, it was caulked and painted. Each day the workers began about 9 (remember I am in a townhome and have neighbors so earlier really isn?t polite) and often they didn?t leave until 7pm. It took 4 days. The front and back yards were cleaned of all debris every day. The lead guy always spoke English or passable English and they and the crew were all extremely nice and considerate of my neighbors. Problem solved: The mildew/mold smell is gone.

I called several companies for quotes. ACC were extremely courteous from first contact, their representative Stephen was very helpful & explained our options thoroughly & comprehensively. Their price was extremely competitive and their overall professionalism convinced us to go with them. The installation crew was punctual & very good in explaining their steps to me. The job was done on a very bleak rainy day & when I found out that a piece of siding had been accidentally missed (by myself included) ACC were excellent in sending back the next day to fix the problem. Their level of work was first class & they were excellent in tidying up afterwards. All in all American Custom Contractors were outstanding throughout & I would recommend them 100% to anyone.

American Contractors were great. The record snow storm in early 2010 broke our roof - literally - a supporting beam was collapsing. ACC came to give an estimate and described how they could work with our insurance company to resolve the roof and interior damage claims. ACC was the most professional in terms ofthe estimate process, they clearly explained what needed, and they did not try and push or upsell like some of the other companies that we had come out for estimates. ACC had a huge task ahead of them, and while the insurance company dragged their heels, ACC managed the process well and were able to negotiate coverage for everything that was needed. The was a big job. ACC completely removed the roof and framing and built a new roof with the most up-to-date materials. They installed proper insulation in the roof itself as well as the attic. The interior damage was quite extensive as well, ceiling on two floors (six rooms) needed to be replace due to water damage and walls needed to be repaired and painted. They worked efficiently and through holidays. even pointing out a leaking pipe before finishing a ceiling to ensure that the repair was made before finishing the ceiling. We love the end results! We have also recommended ACC to several friends and neighbors, and will continue to do so. Thanks ACC! we continue to enjoy living in our home and know that we will not need to worry about the roof for many many years. Weather no longer stresses us out.

They took care of everything and worked with my insurance company to handle the claim. Im very happy with the work that was completed and more impressed with the clean up. My home is back to normal. I have already recommend these guys to my neighbors.

A representative from the company showed up at our door wanting to do a free inspection on our roof. He indicated to my wife that the hail storm last year caused damage to a number of houses in the area and that we had a limited amount of time left to file a claim if there was a problem, so we should have the siding and roof inspected as soon as possible. On that basis, my wife agreed to scheduling a free appointment the following week. When she told me about her conversation with , I had some hesitation about this free inspection. There had been reports in the news of "free inspections" being done by less than professional contractors who then use the opportunity while being on the roof to personally damage the roof or siding so that they can then do a repair and file the claim. While the ratings on Angie's List to date for American Custom Contractors are good, we nonetheless elected, in an abundance of caution, to call and cancel the appointment. Let's just say that rude doesn't begin to describe the reaction we got from the company rep. Expletives and his wishing that we suffer from holes in our roof was the general gist of the conversation. All over a polite call to cancel an appointment that would spare them a pointless drive? If that is the scope of their customer service, am I ever glad not to have dealt with them. Gads, what would they have been like to deal with had I done business with them!!

This company is extremely easy to work with. They strive to make their milestones and offer excellent workmanship. If there is a problem, they work to resolve it quickly without any difficulties. They’re happy to work with and listen to the customer. It’s really a good company to do business with. They are true delights to do business with.

A tree totaled the roof of our garage. The owner of the company personally came out to look at the damage and then sent an estimator in. The estimator worked with our insurance company. The owner then met us to show roofing samples. They completed the job on time and their quality was excellent.

Sorry! I can't cut and paste to switch the info here with above. They replaced a ridge vent and recaulked my bay window, above the garage door, and the roof. That included all the vents and filling 2 holes that were left by the builder and went undetected all this time between my home and my neighbors' on each side! Jay also explained that my original roof vent was missing the end caps and showed me how the builder skimped on nails by skipping every other one. I am thrilled with their work and look forward to using them when I have to get my 7 year old roof replaced. At least they'll be the bright spot in dealing with this troubling and frustrating news!

From start to finish, it was an excellent experience. It began with a hole in the roof caused by storms. American Custom Contractors sent someone out immediately to do a temporary repair and then began working with us and our insurance company to set time for the actual replacement work. The timing was affected by having to order new skylights and Demetri at the company was wonderful at talking us through the options. While waiting for the skylights to arrive the roof sprung an additional leak and once again within ours someone was sent over to place a tarp. The main job took two days including replacing the gutters and we were satisfied with everything. As well as the work being satisfactory, the house was left with no mess and some interior painting was done to make sure that all looked good where the skylights were fitted. Throughout the process the company was helpful and responsive

They were great. I worked with Chris Hamilton and he was very good. He was very professional. This is an old 1933 house and there were several issues that needed to be addressed. There were all kinds of different things that came up and he was really patient in dealing with all my questions and answering them. They did a really nice job and they cleaned up. They were here when they said they would be. I probably could have gotten it done a little cheaper but you get what you pay for.

They did work on our roof to correct a leak on our covered front porch. While it originally appeared to be a roofing or siding issue it turned out to be an internal plumbing problem, so they weren't able to fix the leak itself externally. However, the work they did was of excellent quality. We had some communication delays as they went through some organizational changes, but their management was very responsive to my questions and was able to eventually resolve all of my concerns.

Overall, the installation went fine.

They were excellent the first time, but I was disappointed with them this time. I suspect that it?s not totally their fault. These are tough times and I think they are trying to cut corners here and there. So, I suspect that?s what happened. There is nothing about the paint, but I felt that there was very poor supervision. The workers were sort of unsupervised. They tried their best and they did their best. They were very quick too. They didn?t really have a foreman. They sort of appointed one of their workers to be a foreman. They cleaned up and picked up as well. They did all of those kinds of things that you should do, but I felt that it was an awfully erratic job. They didn?t do a good job with the caulking. They literally caulked between every clapboard when I had my garage done which was amazing to me. I have never seen that done before, but there really wasn?t a spot where anything could get in. However, that was not true when they did the whole house. It was a good match of paint. They used good quality paint and they did the job, but I felt that they could have been a little bit more careful. It was a pretty decent job. I felt that if the supervisor had been there, then he would have taken care of some of the things which I just sort of assumed they were going to do. They were okay. I wouldn?t say too negative about them because they have been good to us. They did a reasonable job. If you put two painters on a job, then that?s the kind of job they did. I think they probably would have done a slightly better job if there was a supervisor to look at the job. The first people did an incredible job of caulking. I was part of my son?s crew when we built this house. I pointed out to him that I had never seen any exterior painters caulk between the clapboards. It was where one clapboard overlaps another. They didn?t do that the last time. I was really impressed with their first job because I had never seen painters do that. I had never seen other people?s houses with this much care to the caulking part. I didn?t find them through Angie?s List and I found them myself. I reported them because I thought that they were extraordinary when I first used them. I didn?t know what to expect to pay. As I looked through, it seemed to me that it was normal. This is a reasonably large house, but an easy house to paint. It?s mostly one story with a lot of shingles. So, I thought that the price was reasonable. I think the other people have paid a lot more than that. I didn?t pay too much attention to the price based on my first experience. It was the speed and the quality of the work that I was a little worried about this time. The workers didn?t really speak English very well, but they did a good job. They were very hardworking people, but you can?t really communicate very easily with them. I think they didn?t always understand what I was asking or saying when I talked about the caulking and so forth. So, that was a communication problem. Last time when I had the garage painted, they not only did what I thought was a very good job, but the supervisor also came back. He watched them and came back and talked to them. Then we went over the whole house to make sure that we were totally satisfied. So, that was very nice. You at least feel that they are paying attention to your job. Their responsiveness was good. They came when they said they would. They came shortly after I called them originally. It was the time when they were doing a lot of work. They certainly had a bunch of jobs and didn?t want to lose a single one. I never called and asked them to send a supervisor. I thought the supervisor would probably be on the job, but he wasn?t. They were very polite and nice people. I need to have some interior painting done at some point and I have never had them do the work inside. So, if need be, then I would take an estimate from them to see. They did have an English speaking supervisor. He walked around and I showed him everything I wanted done, but there was no evidence that filtered down to the workers. He never came back as well. They had different people on different days. They did the job and finished it. They didn?t go up and do another job and come back. They were very good about finishing the job.

They were very aggressive. They were interested in working with the insurance company to get the best settlement and the most realistic scope of the job. The good part is, their willingness to work with the insurance company on your settlement. The estimate helps us to fight the battle. I would use their services again in the future.

I called several roofing companies and 3 of the 4 companies I called said they could not get out to my Gaithersburg, MD location for at least 2-3 weeks. American Custom told me they could come out within one week and showed up on time with proper credentials. John came in my home surveyed the celing and then asked to look into the attic area above the bathroom. Once that was done, said he needed to get on the roof. He surveyed the roof saying that it was my bathroom vent that needed repair. Quoted me around $75.00 and came back the next day and did the work. He (John) stuck to the price he quoted. I asked him about my gutters and general conditon of my roofing to see if they needed cleaning or repair -- knowing full well that this could totally inflate the costs--- and he said quite honestly, everything looks good. Your gutters are clean and the roofing is sound. I was impressed. Should I need any further work done in the future, I will be sure to call them. This company also followed up within the week to check to make sure all was fine. I would highly recommend them based on their quick response time, professional manner and desire to do the job right the first time.

The whole project from estimating, scheduling, to installation and cleanup was done professionally. Pricing was competitive with other providers. The only area for improvement was in project status communications during the installation phase, when we were not informed of when the main job was considered completed, and when someone would show up to wrap up the loose ends. Nonetheless, the project was completed in a timely manner, and final price paid was exactly as estimated.

Demetri Giakoumatos was the only window contractor to really hear what we needed and what our budget was and give us all the perameters. He quickly understood that this was our first window replacement experience and that were new home owners and he gave us lots of really useful information about all the available products and situations on the market. We had a couple of special situations (basement windows one of which needed to have a dryer duct fitted next to it) and Demetri and his team were able to accomidate these needs. American Custom Contractors were on schedule, were well presented and polite and got right to work. At one point I noticed that a window had gone into the wrong frame (we needed grids on our downstair windows and gridless windows for our upstair windows) and the crew, withing minutes fixed the problem. All of the debris and dust was perfectly cleaned up and the job, despite intermitent rain, finished right on time. The follow up inspection happened promptly and any questions about maintenance were answered then. I highly recomend Demetri and his team at American Custom Contractors for not just a job well done but also a keen eye on providing a fine service in the process.

No service was provided other than the estimates which wert very prompt and well presented by Tim. It was hard not to select this company because of Tim's presentations.

I thought they were good. They gave me a reasonable quote. The only reason that I didn't go with them was because they couldn't come out and do the work for a month. When I have a leak in my house, I can't wait a month to get it fixed. It took them a little while to get the quote back to me.

It went well in every respect. The work was done before I knew about Angie's list. I found the contractor on my own and had several estimates, of which his was far the most thorough but also the most expensive. We had built our own house (but not the garage) and were reasonably knowledgeable about construction. Because we had had poor experiences with the painting before, I decided to take the most costly estimate in hopes the work would reflect the value. It did! This report is late because it wasn't until I noticed the contractor on Angie's list that I felt I should report our experience with them.

They did a good job. However, we had to call them back because there was a leak. They took off and did not come back to fix the leak. They were very reliable and dependable. I called them and they said they would come. I waited for them. They did not come nor did they did not get to me as soon as possible. They were waiting for it to rain for a couple of days to check if it was a major leak. This would help them to decide the quantity of supplies and manpower required to fix the job. I was just waiting for the rains. It is about 3 weeks before it rains. If it rains the place will be messy. It would l have to be done that way because they would have to check how much damage was actually done and how much work was involved. They were experts so I am going along with them. They were very professional. The owner was very compromising. He stood by his word. We had rains in 2008 that lasted about 2 weeks. He was waiting for us to call. He said that people have major problems in such times. He sorted out the problem and we were satisfied. I wanted to sell the house and I did not want to hand over the house with a problem. I did not want to do a cosmetic job. I wanted to make sure the house was internally and externally superb. I prefer to wait and make sure everything was alright and not rush the job in such a way that someone else has a problem later on. They did a good job and used quality material. I stayed home to make sure I could see what they were putting on the house. I wanted to make sure what was going on before I paid quality money for superior service. They did not know I would be at home but they brought what they said they would bring and that was what I wanted. If they put good material the roof will hold for 20 years. The people who buy this house will not have any problems with the roof. Most of the time, they do the work when we are not here. They can put any material. I did not want that to happen so I made sure I inspected the material they were going to use.

We were sitting out on our covered deck one day recently after a rain storm and noticed water leaking through the ceiling. The next morning I started contacting roofing contractors to ask that they come out to our home to trace the source of the leak. I wasn't sure at that time if our entire roof needed to be replaced or if we simply needed to have the source of the leak repaired. I met with multiple contractors before deciding to purchase a new roof from American Custom Contractors. I am a detail-oriented person with very high standards who can be difficult to please. American Custom Contractors' entire process if far different from their competitors in many ways. This was evident from our initial interactions with Demetri, who came to our home to meet with us. Demetri inspected our roof and attic. His assessment revealed that our attic needed more insulation, that our current roof had no intake ventilation and that the leak originated from a flat portion of our roof located underneath a bedroom window on the rear side of our home. He informed us about our repair and replacement options for the flat portion of our roof. While other contractors told us that our entire roof should be replaced, Demetri indicated that the sloped or shingled roof, which comprised the majority of our home's roof, could probably last another 3 years. We were so impressed with Demetri's honesty even though this meant sacrificing an opportunity to generate additional profit for his company. However, upon learning about the long-term consequences of poor ventilation and for aesthetic reasons (algae discoloration on the back portion of our roof), we decided to proceed with a full roof replacement. When we told Demetri that we did want to go ahead and replace our roof, he came back out to our home for a second meeting. Demetri's very consultative approach was evident when he took the time to ask questions about how long we plan to live in our home and what we envision in terms of our new roof's appearance. After he fully assessed our needs, he presented us with product options and explained the roof replacement process through a PowerPoint presentation and brochures. We learned so much about what goes into a solid roof system and the importance of some of the extra steps his company takes. Only one other competitor that I'd met with came close to giving me any of these details and even that competitor was not nearly as thorough as Demetri was about educating us on roof solutions. Demetri presented us with several options in terms of shingles and worked with us to chose an option that would meet our needs but not exceed our budget. We left this meeting with an understanding of every detail of the new roof system we were going to purchase from the type of nails that would be used to how all of the materials work together to provide an exceptional roof. After meeting with Demetri, we had the pleasure of speaking with several members of his office staff, who were very professional and had great follow-through. The installation was scheduled in a timely manner and the installation itself went very smoothly. The day of installation, a very professional crew arrived at our home at the time we were expecting them. The lead member of the install team took the time to meet with us prior to commencing the project. He reiterated what we should expect during installation and wanted to hear about any concerns and/or questions we might have. We could not have been happier with the crew during installation. They were very polite and courteous throughout the day. The crew covered our home and flower gardens with a tarp so that as they tore off the old roof, our home was protected from falling debris. I didn't think to mention to the crew that we had a brand new heat pump, but without any prompting from us they put a protective barrier up around the heat pump to shield it from falling nails and debris. Once the old roof was removed, we received the unfortunate news that all of the plywood which comprised our roofing deck was wet. This came as a shock to everyone as the old shingles were intact and not overly warn. Presumably when previous owners of our home had the roof replaced the plywood was exposed and rained on prior to the new shingles being installed. We were impressed with how American Custom Contractors informed us of this unfortunate news. They took pictures of the plywood to show us the damage and we received a call from Demetri's office to explain the situation. They got our approval for the additional cost of replacing the plywood prior to proceeding. Rather than waiting on their supplier (who was in close proximity to our home) to deliver new plywood, the crew chose to pick up the plywood themselves. This prevented would could have been a lengthy delay in the completion of the project. The crew worked very hard all day long, tearing off the old plywood, installing new plywood and beginning the process of installing the roof system. They worked a full 12 hours the first day and stopped when it became too dark to continue. Since they had to return on a Saturday to complete the project, they asked what time they should arrive to avoid disturbing us too early in the morning. Despite the plywood replacement, they finished the job in a day and a half. The crew picked up all debris that did not make it into the dumpster, which was minimal, and raked our lawn two times with a magnetic rake to ensure that all nails were picked up. We were concerned about protecting our landscaping, but the American Custom Contractors crew was extremely careful and did not damage a single plant or bush during the roof installation. We are so pleased with the look of our new roof and have received many compliments from our neighbors. The roof installation was completed on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend and Demetri came out the Tuesday following Labor Day to inspect their work. Not only did he inspect the roof, Demetri took the time to sit down with us again to ask us about our experience and answer any additional questions we had. Demetri and American Custom Contractors met and even exceeded my very high expectations. In fact, we were so pleased with this company that we have already recommended them to friends and family members. The aluminum siding on our home will need to be replaced in the next few years and we plan to give that business to American Custom Contractors based on the extremely positive experience we've had with them.

I cannot speak highly enough about American Custom Contractors and the product we purchased from them. I am a detail-oriented person with very high standards who can be difficult to please. I met with multiple contractors before deciding to purchase our new windows from this company. American Custom Contractors' entire process if far different from their competitors in many ways. This was evident from our initial interactions with Demetri, who came to our home to meet with us. Demetri's very consultative approach was evident to me when he took the time to ask questions about why we were choosing to replace our windows and what was important to us in new windows. After Demetri fully assessed our needs, he presented us with product options and explained the window replacement process through a PowerPoint presentation and brochures. He brought sample windows to demonstrate the features of the several different types of windows he recommended. Demetri did an excellent job suggesting several products with features that were consistent with what we were looking for in replacement windows. After meeting with Demetri, we had the pleasure of speaking with several members of his office staff, who were very professional and had great follow-through. The installation was scheduled in a timely manner and the installation itself went very smoothly. The day of installation, a very professional crew arrived at our home at the time we were expecting them. The lead member of the install team took the time to meet with us prior to commencing the project. He reiterated what we should expect during installation and wanted to hear about any concerns and/or questions we might have. We could not have been happier with the crew during installation. They were very polite and courteous throughout the day. They used drop cloths to protect or hardwood floors and carpets. They removed their shoes each time they came in and out of our home. They cleaned up very well, leaving no signs of dust or debris in our house or in our flower gardens and lawn. We were concerned about protecting our landscaping, but the American Custom Contractors crew was extremely careful and did not damage a single plant or bush. They worked very diligently all day installing our windows. One of our family members who came to see our new windows has done a lot of caulking. He looked at the quality of the caulking done around the windows and said it was a "work of art". We are also extremely pleased with the product we purchased from American Custom Contractors. Our windows can be easily lifted up and down with only a few fingers. We notice less noise from the outside now that our new windows are installed and rain storms no longer disturb our youngest daughter's sleep! We had vinyl windows in a previous home that do not even come close to matching the quality and "ease of use" we have experienced with the windows we purchased from American Custom Contractors. These energy efficient windows are going to allow us to realize significant energy savings and since the are Energy Star rated, we will receive a $1,500 tax credit when we file our 2009 taxes. American Custom Contractors met and even exceeded my very high expectations. In fact, we were so pleased with this company that we chose them to install a new roof on our home and have recommended them to friends and family members.