Cardinal Home Improvements

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initial sales guy was a pretty cheesey sales guy - but service from Paul was exceptional - his responsiveness has been great have had a few issues with the quality of the fence but Paul has been on top of getting them fixed

They were prompt. They started and finished the work when they said that they would do. They finished the job on time and did a nice job. I could always get hold of someone from their company when I had a question or to check as to when they would start the work. They showed up for the appointments on time. They were good overall and there was nothing that I could think of that was not good from what they did.

Their representative shared a lot of information about roofing and its history that was appreciated but not desired. Their price was twice as high as the next 4 bids that we received. He also used crush sell techniques to get us to buy that evening. He would not even speak to my wife about the bid without me being there. Every other company had no problem with this.

Overall the job went very well. The started when promised and the two guys who did most of the work were phenomenal. They were polite, hardworking, and very competent. We went with Cardinal because they have exclusive rights to the product we wanted (Norandex) in the St Louis area but will likely go back to them because they did a great job. When the siding came off of the garage, we found that the original sheeting was in very bad condition. Within hours our bid was adjusted and the next day they set to work re-sheeting, never complaining that it must have set them back a week or more because it turned out to be a big, difficult job. My only advice would be to be very careful when the contract is being filled out because there were some misunderstandings about what the salesperson said was included and what the workers were told to do. This led to a little confusion, but after some conversation, Cardinal made it all right. They do seem to be very interested in customer satisfaction. The work they did looks great!

Things went very, very well. They did their work, cleaned-up well, and were extremely professional.

They were horrible and awful. They said that they were highly rated by some of the companies. I gave them a deposit for my front door in December of 2009. They did the last job on the door by the end of April. However, it has not yet been finished and somebody else will have to do it. I had to call them repeatedly. They first told me that it would take about 6 weeks from the time I ordered the door. I had a problem since my front door wasn’t closing. So I called them after 8 weeks and they told me that they had left a message for me in the first week of January informing me that they would come out for measuring. We had several ice storms in a row and I told them that I never got a message. I asked them if they had called more than once and they said they hadn’t. They weren’t following up even after getting the money from me. They then came out to measure after a few days and told me that it would take another 6 weeks. I wasn’t happy with that but it was okay. However, I didn’t hear from anybody even after 6 weeks. Every time I called them, the manager used to tell me that they would call me. They came out in the following week after the door arrived. They started working on the door and they had to get some pieces of lumber. They weren’t fixing the door handle that I had ordered. So they told me that they would fix it for the moment since I had to shut the door. They said that they would get the one that I had ordered later on. I thought that they would come back to finish the work when they left for lunch. The salesperson had told me that all I had to do was to paint the door since everything else would be done by them. However, there were smudges and foot prints on the top of the door jam. I don’t know how it got up there because I wasn’t watching them. I don’t know if the delivery person did it or someone else did it. I have to wash it first before I can even have it painted. I am not happy about that. They also didn’t finish the work on the outside. They put up two boards on either side of the door where they had to cut out the old door. They caulked around one and filled a few nail holes on it. However, they never caulked around the other one or fill any nail holes and they also left the bare wood. So I talked to their manager and told him that I wasn’t happy with their work. I asked him as to why they hadn’t inserted the plugs in the glass on the door. They were the old plastic plugs that come with the door. They are packed with the door itself and shipped. They are used to fill the screw holes around the window panes on the door. The guy then told me that it’s very hard to get in and also told me that we can’t get them out once they get in. He told me that painters usually want to fill the holes by sanding and making it smooth. So it’s still hanging on my door since they have never been installed.

The salesperson who originally visited to discuss our options was very good at her job and very persistent. They worked with us to convince us this was a good time to make these changes to our house and figure out a payment plan to help pay for the repairs. Though, we ended up not going with their financing. The gentlemen who did the work were courteous and professional. Before the installation Dan came out to measure for the doors on two separate occasions to make sure his measurements were correct. As they say on This Old House, "Measure twice, cut once". The doors were done on a different day and apparently were more work than they had estimated for two people. They arrived at 9 am and didn't leave until the job was complete, which ended up being about 10:30 pm. Both doors were a tricky fit on a 1920s bungalow but they did a great job and really made sure they were correct. As they settle in we are finding that we need to call them back out to adjust one of the locks (I just haven't yet). The windows were completed within four (4) hours and completely live up to our expectations so far. Since we sleep upstairs the priority was to prevent heat/cold loss and decrease noise. In fact, two months after the windows were installed we had one of our trees split in half and come down between our house and our neighbor's. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the damage was minimal - no broken windows! I was upstairs on the same side of the house of the tree when it fell and I literally didn't hear a peep. Now, that's quiet.

This estimate was a huge waste of time. It took an entire evening and the lowest price they could offer was more than 50% higher than the nearest bid of any other company. It seemed like the company did good work, but the outrageous prices they charge just aren't worth it.

The representative from Cardinal was very polite and informative, but I did not need all of the bells and whistles that they wanted to provide along with the roof.

Cardinal arrived on time to deliver the material to our roof, and scheduled the dumpster delivery and roof installation. They put the dumpster on the correct side of our 2-car garage so my wife was still able to back her car out to go to work. They removed and reinstalled my simple plastic gutter guards, without me even asking. I assumed I'd have to replace and/or re-install them myself, but Cardinal re-installed them as part of the job. They didn't try to sell me an unnecessary "better" gutter-guard system, (few trees around the house, but enough to warrant simple plastic gutter guards, which Cardinal kept and re-installed at no extra charge.) On the day in early February when the roof was installed, it was unseasonably warm but windy in St. Louis. Cardinal cleaned up all the old shingles that blew into the neighbors' yards and the common woods behind my home. An inexpensive plastic exterior garage lamp was damaged during removal of the old roof, and Paul promised to replace the fixture at his expense. Assuming the light fixture is replaced to our satisfaction, it was a very good experience. They also accidentally left behind a single piece of plywood which I'll have Paul haul away tomorrow. Because we didn't let out to bid to multiple roofing contractors, we certainly could have paid too much, (hence the B-rating on price,) but the referral from our neighbor, Tina, the warranty Cardinal extended to us, and the level of confidence we had in Jim Schallon's expertise made us more than comfortable to spend the amount we had budgeted for this project with Cardinal. My wife and I do not expect to replace or repair the roof again during our lifetimes, barring future storm damage, of course.

Overall the experience was OK. I originally was going to have them install a deck, but after finding out the cost of the job ($14k), I decided to have them install the fence. The first guy shows up to do the concrete pad at the bottom of the steps. Then a few days later finishes the steps from the back of the house after the concrete dries. The steps are not square to the top. I didn t notice this until a few months later. The fence crew did a wonderful job given the slope of the hill in the backyard.

The sales rep was great, took a lot of time answering questions, explaining materials etc. Once the order was made, we didn't hear anything back for 4 weeks. The first I knew they were going to do the work was 7 am on a Friday morning, a cement delivery driver was ringing the doorbell wanting to know where to unload. No one called to schedule the work. They couldn't get the work done in one day, but they didn't come back to finish until the following Wednesday. Again, nobody called to say when they would show up. The fence when completed was okay, though they put the gate in the wrong place (100 ft from where it was supposed to go). Of course, since the work was already done, they weren't going to undo it.

Everything went great! The salesperson was informative and not pushy. We felt like we were getting a good deal for the product offered. The only confusing thing was that the sales person measured/gave us an estimate. Then the company sent out a project manager to re-measure and then a whole different team actually came out and did the work. Even though we went over everything thoroughly, there was still some confusion when the workers arrived as to what would be done exactly (just small details, not a big deal). But, the team that actually did the work was fabulous! Very easy to talk to and work with. Their workmanship was top-notch and they were all very knowledgeable. They were very hard workers and arrived on time and never wasted time. Another team did the gutter work. They were fast, polite and efficient--finishing the project in about 1/2 a day. We still have leftover materials sitting on our driveway (2 wks later). We were told the manuf. would pick them up.

My husband and I are very happy with the deck. We have been enjoying it this summer. The only thing that we weren't pleased about was some splattered concrete that is on the new footings. We called Cardinal about 6 weeks ago to clean it up, but they have not come out to fix the problem, yet.

They were easy to work with, pleasant and timely. We got a great winter special price.

Two words sum up our experience with Cardinal: unkept promises. The sales agent makes a Saturday 10 a.m. Appointment and calls at 9:58 to cancel. Weeks pass, a second agent comes out, apologizes profusely, gives us a great price, says the construction manager will be out within a week to take measurements and discuss materials and color. The week comes and goes before he calls to make the appointment, but an employee suffers a bee sting that day so they reschedule. Then ''we'll receive the door in about 4 weeks,'' a period which ends with us calling them only to find that the door is in but the other materials are not. Finally, the job is scheduled but cancelled the day before it's to start. Rescheduled for the following Friday. ''We'll be there between 8 and 8:30.'' A call at 8:45 --''I was going to pick up your door and my transmission broke.'' We're still waiting...next Friday? Don't know if they actually do remodeling work, but they're experienced in excuses and apologies.

I found Cardinal to be very professional and they worked with us on timing the installation after our landscaping project was completed. When I called them to schedule the installation, they gave me a date within a week and they were there on that date. The project was completed in 2 1/2 days. The project manager, Paul was prompt in returning my phone calls and informing me of scheduling the project. Josh, the lead installer, was very polite and kept me informed of any changes or issues that needed to be addressed. They were very attentive to cleaning up and leaving the yard in good condition. My Salesman, Bo Griffin, was also very prompt in returning calls. When I contacted him about some minor damage done to our neighbor's grass, he assured me that it would be repaired within the week and it was. Bo presented the product to me in a manner that allowed me to make an educated purchase for our new fence.