Essential Extras Inc

A gentleman came out to my house twice, first to see what I was thinking about doing, didn't hear from him for quite awhile, he said he would send email of examples of his work, never did. Eventually he said he had the plans for the project I was thinking about doing and came out and showed them to us. He said he would call back in a couple of weeks and see what we had decided, and would send us pictures of what project would look like. That was in late Oct. Never heard from him again.

.HELP! I gave them totally a picture of what I was wanting, and they didn't present me with a plan or estimate!

We bought a backyard design package for $99. with Essential Extras. It turned out to be a collaboration between Essential Extras for construction and Landworks for landscaping. The first meeting went well. They expected to present the design about a week later, but it ended up taking a month. They returned on February 19 with the design. The Landworks design was professionally drawn and the Essential Extras design was a pencil sketch on graph paper. It wasn't one that could have easily been handed off to another company for a comparable bid. We were pleased with the overall design and contracted with both companies to complete the work.

The estimates were detailed and the workers polite, professional and they removed the trash from the job. Everything was completed ad promised. The contractor, Terry, was responsive to e-mails and phone calls in a timely manner.

We have not started this project. We are having other bids at this time.

Listened well and did a nice job.

It was positive- I'd hire again!

I purchased a Big Deal coupon from them. The service was great. I had no problem. There were no additional charges for their consultation.

This was my first time using them and they were very good. They came in and cleaned up everything after they were done. They were fast and did it in two days. They were very well organized and excellent for a small company. Their price was probably average. I had some other people look at it and they were average. I'm planning on using them again.

Terry called back a while after our appointment and indicated that he couldn't structurally make the deck shading ideas we had discussed work correctly. He indicated that he had another good idea for us. He indicated he would be able to e-mail us a design and a price estimate. After a couple of additional contacts we have never received a design from Terry. We weren't ready to move on this project right away, so stopped pursuing the issue. Andy had some good ideas for our landscaping issues. We had quite a few small projects he discussed with us. He was to e-mail us designs as discussed and cost estimates for various small projects for landscaping and drainage issues. We had indicated we would like to do some work ourselves and hire some done. Once again, we never heard back from Andy. We were able to utilize a few of his ideas so feel his time was still beneficial to us. He probably missed out on some paid work from us. Last time I e-mailed Terry from Essential Extras that I still hadn't received the promised designs for the shade structure or the landscaping ideas I never got a response. So ... While both men were friendly and helpful during our appointment, neither followed through with the drawing we had paid for through the "Big Deal."

I called Terry de Fraties of Essential Extras inc. to obtain a proposal for deck work I needed to have performed. He came the next day, looked at what I needed to have done, and made several comments on how he would perform the work. He took my email address and said he would email me his proposal. Everything seemed fine at that point. However, he never submitted a proposal. I called him after about a week to inquire the status of the proposal and left a voice message. Never heard from him. Several days later I called again and left another voice message. Again, no response from de Fraties. I called a third time to give him one final chance to respond, but again, de Fraties did not have the common courtesy to return my call. What a way to run a company. de Fraties said he has been in business since 1971.......hard to believe based on how "he blew me off."

Terry DeFraties, owner, was very professional and explained the process in detail. I had looked forward to working with him. I went to the recommended patio door dealer, whose price was $700 higher than Essential Extras had estimated and didn't really have the style I wanted. Then went to large home improvement store (much lower estimate) -- and when the professional installer came out and measured, he showed me the actual measurements which would require a custom patio door, since the size was no longer standard (as Terry had said). I've emailed Terry twice in the last month to ask questions and have not received any response, so I'm assuming that the company, Essential Extras, isn't really interested in my business. I will make no further contact with the company.

It all went well with Essential Extras Inc. I paid for just the big deal. They really didn't do any work. He just looked at my space and drew it up. I would probably not use them in the future. It's not that they did something wrong or anything bad. It's just I ended up paying for a hundred bucks and I got a drawing for my backyard which I knew that's what the deal is. But I'm not sure that in the long run, that it was worth the money.

They provided an innovative design customized to our space. It was just the right size and was designed to compliment our new landscaping. The carpenters did an excellent job and offered suggestions to make it look like it was part of the original patio and home design. The materials used were first class, and every attention to detail was given to the project. The workers were neat and polite. I would use them again and recommend them highly.

Project has not been started.

The Angies List coupon was for a drawing and not actually to do any work on the landscaping and that is what they did. They asked me what level of maintenance I wanted to have in the landscaping and they talked about that, he showed me some photos of some different plants and flowers which they had in the maintenance category that I was looking at and then he measured the yard to the drawing of the yard and then gave me a landscape design. I think it could have been a little bit cheaper. He basically spent about 20 to 30 minutes at the house. I am happy with the drawing that I got but it was only a drawing. I think I did the Angies deal before was because he also included with the drawing a quote of how much it would cost if I was to have him and his company to come and do the work. Which I don’t I want to do it myself but the point of them doing this deal was a way of drum up more work as a landscape company. It is a marketing deal for them. It could have been a little cheaper but I am satisfied with what I got. He was very professional and very nice. He was about 15 minutes late which I was needing him at the house during the lunch break Beside being late he was very professional and definitely worked with me and we talked back and forth about what I am interested in and he gave ideas. He was a good communicator.

There was no extra charge; they did the drawing for the Big Deal amount. They seemed to be thorough. I wasn’t here when they came. They were good at providing ideas. Their quote amount was a little high. It was a drawing and it would have been nice to have something a little bit more specific like a graphic or something. There wasn’t any trouble getting hold of them.

It was difiicult initially because we did not know what type of desgn would be best. The company worked with us to come up with a suitable design. We were not the easiest customers to work with as we had difficulty making up our minds and finalizing the decision on the type of deck material and design. But the work was very well done and the deck is quite nice.

We had a major disaster in our back yard. We lost a 100 year old tree which destroyed the back yard. Terry and Andrew met us at our house to discuss what we could do to improve the area. They asked a lot of questions about what we liked - what we envisioned for the back yard. They took measurements and came back a week later with a wonderful plan to transform our area from a shade are to a total sun area. We engaged them - and work started quickly. The workers were prompt and professional....literally in 3 weeks our backyard was transformed from a total disaster into a wonderful and restful space. We could not be more please with all aspects of these two companies working on our property. Needless to say, we now love looking at our backyard again and plan to spend more time there - it is wonderful transformation - I cannot recommend these two gentleman highly enough. They do a wonderful job and the results are stunning.

The job went well. They did a wonderful job. The work was done by the same people. The same workers came every day. They are really good problem solvers. It was kind of complicated deck and there were things they had to figure out. They did a really good job at that. They did a good job cleaning up. I couldn't have asked for better workers. I would say they are professional. They did what they do. They customize the work for what we need rather than building something that they like to build. They are pretty expensive. The problems haven't shown up yet for the work that they did.

In early September, Terry visited our home and discussed a very small deck design with us and helped us choose potential materials, etc. We were happy with the service at this point. He stated that he would have us the estimate/designs within the week. The big deal stated that we were not required to have them perform the service, so they would provide the design plans in case we chose another contractor or to do it ourselves. Approximately 3 weeks later, having not received the quote, we e-mailed the company for an update. Two days later, Terry stated that he had computer problems and he now provided a quote as well as a hand-drawn layout of the deck, but not what I would call "plans". I responded that I didn't think the plan would be sufficient to hand off to another contractor and was told that Terry was out of town for the next week. Approximately 10 days later after having not received a response, I e-mailed Terry again and he provided a similar drawing with some handwritten measurements and other notes written in, but still not what I would call a detailed plan that is ready to hand to a contractor. I was expecting a computer generated drawing with material lists, etc. Terry replied that he was out of town (again) and disagreed that the drawings were inadequate and even indicated that he thought he had done extra work for us that hadn't been required. I responded with what the deal stated: ""Essential Extras Inc, an A rated service provider on Angie?s List, is offering a Custom Deck Design with measurements and plans for only $99! This is normally priced at $249 saving our members $150." I have not heard anything back from Terry since then. What was provided may have been worth $99, but I'm not sure that I have anything I can work with. Will likely have to hire another contractor who will then have to start over with their own plans for this deck.

The process went smoothly. They arrived on time as agreed. The plans and drawings were finished within a week and emailed to us. The service was excellent, and they were easy to work with. I would definitely recommend them and use their services in the future.

Overall good experience in dealing with this company. Have not had any work done yet.

Terry was referred by another contractor I had contacted regarding paving stones. Terry was creative and worked with me to come up with a good solution for a covering and deck that fit in with a gazebo we had very close to the same area. The only draw back that I will note is that I needed to push the schedule to have the work finished. There was a period of over two weeks after the bedroom windows were replaced with a sliding door ( I paid for the sliding door myself and is not part of the total paid Essential Extras) that no work was done to finish off the inside of our bedroom walls or to continue the deck work that had already been started. Terry had multiple jobs going and although I tried very hard to be patient this was an example of the "sqeeky wheel gets the oil". After an uncomfortable telephone call the workers started that same day and the job was completed about 10 days later. Even with my having to push to get the job continued I would use Essential Extras again because the finished work product is top notch. They have two crews that have worked for the company for many years and I had them both on my job. Marty and Dave were the crew that showed up and worked until my project was completed - after my phone conversation with Terry. If you get them on your project you will be very pleased with their work ethic, craftmanship, and professionalism.

Mr. DeFraties came to our home May 23, 2011 to collect data to give us an estimate on refinishing our deck. He told me he would get right back with me by e-mail to give me the estimate. I did not get an e-mail until June 1, 2011. By that time I had engaged another company to do the work.