RW ENTERPRIZE

overall very well, would use again for certain projects.

There are a few key moments in life, when you make such a stupid decision, you wish you could go back in time and choose differently. Hiring R.W. Enterprize is one of those moments.In September 2010, my wife and I bought a wonderful old row home in Capitol Hill through FHA's 203k loan program. The house had great bones, but was in awful shape. It needed to be completely gutted from top to bottom. In October 2010, we settled on R.W. Enterprize to renovate our house. We chose R.W. partially because his partner seemed to have an appreciation for restoring the original beauty of the home and not simply creating another flip. The first few months of the construction process seemed to go along without a glitch. In fact, in December. our contractor said things seemed to be going so well that we'd be in our house by the end of January. We had no idea how that was possible, but we were thrilled. But instead, around February, construction began grinding to a halt. Work was sporadic at best. WIth the project slowing, my wife and I began to pay close attention to the work taking place. What we discovered horrified us. Shower floors had been installed so they wouldn't drain. Doors wouldn't shut properly. Our ceiling began to cave as a beam cracked room under the weight of an air unit installed without proper reinforcement. Drywall was taped and finished so seams were apparent. New walls bowed. Light switches bulged from the wall. Switch covers where cracked from being improperly installed. A 2x2 patch of our ceiling was left unfinished, because the contractor claimed that wasn't part of the deal. Our newly refinished claw foot tub felt like sandpaper. Visible cuts had been left in the ceiling. Workers would pull us aside and tell us that construction wasn't been done properly, but they had no choice - the contractor was forcing them to take a short cut. A contractor two houses down pulled us aside and told us things had been covered over. Neighbors began indicating they didn't trust our contractor - one cryptically mentioned they'd heard the contractor giving the crew a "pep talk", we discovered later what they meant. Finally, after seven months of work - our contractor told us we could move in on May 1st - a month after the April 1st date stated in the contract. I said the house didn't look ready, but was guaranteed over and over again that it would be finished. Needless to say, the moving truck pulled up on May 1st and the house was a filthy and far from complete. I was furious to say the least. (Did I mention the contractor doesn't work on weekends or after 3pm - yeah that surprised me to.)We went ahead and moved in - we had no other choice. Over the next two and a half months - the job dragged on. During that time, our living room was flooded because of an air conditioning unit not properly installed, paint was splattered on our $4,000 couch, my beautiful antique radio was ruined, and much sleep was lost. We soon realized that the cryptic "pep talk" was simply that our contractor yelled, constantly, at his crew. We would often awake to his yelling outside the house. I wrestled with whether to write this review. I know construction is a tough business. I wouldn't want to deal with the hassle. Picky clients. Unreliable employees. Etc. But at the end of the day, I am convinced this company should not be in the construction business. There are actually some crew members of the company I would highly recommend, who did beautiful work and tried to warn us about when corners had been cut. In the contractors defense, they tried to be accommodating and would at times go out of their way to fix mistakes. For example, they did a terrible job patching a whole in our ceiling, I complained and instead of simply fixing the whole - they repaired the entire plaster ceiling in the living room (even if they did seem bitter). If you choose to ignore my advise and hire R.W. Enterprize - be very careful. Watch everything closely. Spell out EVERYTHING or you'll discover your "18 sink vanity has been installed in the left corner of a "36 wall, because it was easier - at least that's one of the many things that happened to us.