Woodcraft Design & Build

Woodcraft Design and Build installed a deck in my back yard over New Year’s 2021 using Trex materials. The Woodcraft rep showed considerable interest in the project, discussing it in detail, making helpful suggestions, and taking notes. One key point that we discussed was that an exterior electrical outlet needed to be moved so the deck could be in the right place. Woodcraft gave only a vague timeline for when the work would be done, then started work unexpectedly on the day before New Year’s Eve with no advance notice. I discovered that they had delivered the building materials to a neighbor’s lot without my knowledge. They ignored my requests to move the materials onto my property. The next day I received an e-mail from them saying that they were able to “squeeze in” the project and reminding me that a payment was due before the materials were delivered. I sent them a reminder that the electrical outlet needed to be moved, and they had it in time to act on it. In spite of this, they did not move the outlet and, as a result, they put the deck in the wrong place so that it overhangs a window well when it wasn’t supposed to. I had three change orders on the project. They did one of them, which resulted in a slightly smaller and simpler deck, and pocketed the savings. They Ignored the other two, other than invoicing me for one they didn’t do. The communication between Woodcraft’s office, the on-site worker, and me was very poor. They never provided a start date, apparently added the job into their schedule at the last minute, and skipped a critical part of the project. They did not give the on-site worker the instructions he needed to place the deck correctly (which would have shown the problem with the outlet), to install an access door under the deck, or to install the right number of steps. The project management was extremely poor. There are many other Trex installers in the area. I expect that most of them would show more respect for their customer’s needs, and I strongly recommend using one of them.

Disappointed with the business practices, specially since we spent more than with generic deck builders thinking that Woodcraft had a decent reputation. The Good: The main Trex portion of the deck is built well -- the carpentry work seems good on 90% of it. The Bad: Substandard materials where Woodcraft was using wood, poor business practices. Specifically: 1) Shocked at how bad the quality of the wood used is for the railings. We opted for cedar railings (cheaper than the Trex railings), so I'm aware that there will be some imperfections with wood. However, we had major splits in the railings, broken off corners, rotting corners. The most egregious portions did get repaired once we complained, but there are still significant pieces of bad wood and the response from the company has been that this lends "character" to the deck. As a customer, I find it insulting to be brushed off with getting wood with splits/gouges and being told I should enjoy the "character" of the product. I'll try to figure out how pictures can be added to the review -- may help you to see what to expect. 2) 'Hidden fees': We were told that the city inspection fees was included. What we were not told is that the city inspection fees are ~$450 for our deck, and that the fine print in the contract spells out that only the first $100 is covered. Woodcraft has built many d decks in the area (including our neighbor, who had the same experience and has vowed to warn people of Woodcraft) and they would have known that their quote was under-estimating the true cost. Now of course Woodcraft is just brusquely pointing us to the fine print in what was at the back of the contract. 3) Deck was weeks behind schedule. Caused a significant coordination challenge with the rest of the landscaper. Woodcraft kept blaming the landscaper for interfering, though from what we could see it was the other way around and it looked like the Woodcraft delays were causing the problems to the landscaper. If you're getting just deck work done, then not an issue. But if you are coordinating with other landscaping, then be warned... Of the 3 issues, the first one -- the first one is the real deal-breaker in terms of being to recommend Woodcraft to anyone.

Couldn't be happier with my new deck and 3 season room.  Salesman warned me it might be a while, before they started on my deck, as they were super busy (good thing) so I had to wait to get it installed, but now that it's done it was totally worth it.  I had other less expensive quotes, but Woodcraft delivered a nicer design and payed attention to the details.  I cant wait to use it this summer.  From start to finish this was a great experience.

It was a great experience. Keith and his team worked with us through every bit of the project. They had great ideas and designs, and really cared about the small details that made the project turn out so perfect in the end. They were easy to get ahold of and knocked the project out in a very timely manor.

Great service and craftsmanship! The crew showed up right on time, were very polite and did outstanding work! They kept to the schedule that they promised and updated me daily on what was accomplished, any issues and next steps. They kept the floors they weren't working on covered with  a tarp and kept everything clean through out. I've used this company repeatedly and they've always gone above and beyond. They warranty their work and nothing has ever gone wrong.

The project went very smooth, from the consultation, design, and execution. It was a fairly large job and i was very impressed with how they handled everything the entire way. I had a little time to enjoy my deck over the fall and can not wait to get out there this spring.

Service was exceptional! From beginning to end I had a positive experience working with woodcraft. Estimates are thorough and accurate to the point that no change orders or deviations during the project took place. Work was completed on scheduled and professionally. The crew was respectful and cooperative and answered all questions and concerns I had. At the end We went over the entire project and Keith personally made sure it met my expectations. Payment was easy and transparent. I highly recommend Woodcraft and will be using them in the future! They are currently working on a design for my good friends after i recommended them!

Very professional, turned out better than we could've hoped.

We hired this company to take down our old deck and put up a new larger one using Trex material. After the permit was obtained, they told us they would need about 7 days to finish the entire project and started the demolition on 7/0. It went downhill from there. The building crew did not show up and I had to chase after them to get some answers about when they will start again. They claimed they fired some crew and wanted to give me "their best guy" (as opposed to the lousy one?) and we waited 11 days with no deck before they finally had a crew on site. Even then some days were no-shows without any notification whatsoever from the company.
In the meantime the pallets of wood and building materials were stacked on my lawn under the summer heat. Several requests to have them relocate the pallets onto the driveway to minimize the damage to the grass went unanswered. They simply didn't care thinking that grass will eventually grow back even if it takes a year.
When they were done, the quality of their work was disappointing. Almost every corner had a large gap and mismatch in some cases so bad it can actually cut the skin. Even boards on the floor were not even and you could seriously injure yourself walking barefoot. When I challenged them about it they agreed to come back and fix it but also claimed that this is not wood and therefore there is so much they could do. While I understand some gaps have to be there to allow for expansion and contraction, the mismatch on the railings were simply poor workmanship. Decorative caps on the railing on loose and they did not use the Trex recommended screws with head covers to make them invisible. Instead they used a cheaper alternative where you can see the torx head everywhere.
No wonder they put on their contract that final payment is due the DAY of completion and before final inspection!! I ignored it and held back on the 50% balance until they did the repair I asked for.
I think there are better alternatives out there. Check their reviews and ask to go see previous projects if possible.

unknown

It has been a year since this contractor replaced my deck I have made several calls to the contractor for repairs that needed to be accomplished with no return calls would never use this contractor again.

Be very careful what you wish for...I shopped around for a company to install composite decking, calling 4-5 local companies to do the work. Keith was very attentive to giving an accurate and fast quote as the season was just starting and other jobs required permitting and my job was using the existing structure. Keith quoted a competitive price, although not the lowest, but I decided to go with him because of the time he took during the estimate and the promised detail and custom work in some key areas. Once the job started his crew was very friendly and responsive, although their attention to detail was brought into question once I noticed they were trying to install the deck boards over rotting wood. Rather than admit a mistake and fix the problem I was told it was no big deal (even though I could break off the wood with my thumb). That started a long chain of events of cutting corners and trying to nickel and dime at every turn. To quote Keith, "I'm here to make money, that's all"... hearing that was a huge red flag and I should have stopped them there, but I continued on. His crew seemed like nice guys but just didn't have the attention to detail for something that was north of $20k. That's a lot of money and this was a huge deal to me and my family. In the end, the attention and professionalism I was hoping for just wasn't there. Once Keith realized that he was being unprofessional he tried to make up for it, but the damage was already done. After the job was completed I hired a contractor to inspect the work since their was precedence for poor craftsmanship and he gave me a report that was acceptable. There were a couple boards mis-cut and a few areas that could be fixed quickly but the nickel and dining and unprofessionalism from Keith left a bad taste in my mouth. I accept that this could have been a one time thing, but my guess is that's not the case. Customer service and making sure the customer is happy is not top priority for Keith, its all about maximizing profit and onto the next job. 

Keith, the owner, came out and gave an estimate of $30,000 for the entire project.  I told him that I didn't have that kind of money available for the project, so we discussed paying in monthly installments instead.  We also discussed the options I wanted for the sun room, and I ultimately signed a contract with a $12000 down payment and monthly payments going forward.

In October, they set up the frame of the sunroom as well as the floor which was essentially a deck.  At this point, I told them that I preferred a concrete floor instead of a wooden one.  In May, they had built the walls and installed the shingles.  However,  during this time I began to have difficulties getting Keith to come out and to take payment from me.  There were also severe delays with having the windows installed.  Upon my return from a trip, I found that the windows were finally being installed months later.  However, there was now a noticeable crack in the cement floor which I learned from another builder was most likely due to the fact that the floor had been poured during the winter.  He also advised that part of the floor was settling and had been built over s*** which was ill-advised.  Because of this, I called Keith with my concerns that the crack could become a much bigger problem and requested a warranty on the floor.  I also asked that Keith come out to inspect some other issues before I made the final payment. 

I still have not heard from the owner.

Mr. Hay gave a detailed and reasonable price for services, and responded to queries. Services, including removal of old sunporch and door were performed mostly in one day. We are very pleased.