Gene Douglas Construction LLC

1.?? I asked Gene not to let his very inexperienced helper to work on any finish trim, due to the fact of his poor workmanship. He told his assistant that I was not happy with his work and he had attitude for the rest of the project. Gene threw me under the bus. I was very disappointed in Gene?s management style. I expected more from a man of his experience. 2.?? After asking Gene not to allow his assistant to do no more finish trim, he still trimmed exterior garage door. Poorly I might add. Gene said ?he needs to learn, that?s how I learned. My thoughts on this was, ?not on my dime and I have to live with the results from the learning curve.' 3.? I asked Gene if I could fill the French drain pits with clean sand and/or clean fill and he took it upon himself to fill them to the TOP (approx.18? deep) with chad gravel. This is after we spoke and I made him aware that I wanted NO gravel in my yard. He just doesn?t pay attention to client?s request. He also left two of the French Drain connectors next to house uncovered. The connections to Flex Drain Pipe and down spouts were just taped. I don?t expect them to stand the test of time. Very disappointed, again, in his workmanship. I have already begun digging up connectors and using a 4" Screw clamp. Dirt and gravel already intruded one patio. I also replaced TAPED end caps on flex drains with 4" metal clamps. 4.??? I asked Gene to please center the new garage side door in the opening and his assistant did not. Gene told me he would trim it out and make it look ?okay." 5.??? LED Cam lights installed were all crooked. I straightened and locked them in place before the drywall installers came. One still moved and is crooked and Gene just laughed and said, ?You can tell people that we were trying to get the light over the well.? 6.??? Gene had garage roll up doors installed before drywall and now they could not be trimmed out properly, because they are set too deep. The Garage Company told me the only way to correct this was to take doors off track, frame out openings with new wood (bringing them out flush with a wood H-Frame), then reinstalling the doors. Gene just used white flashing to hide the mistake.? Looks very unprofessional. I never should have agreed to that. I just wanted to end the project. 7.??? There are two puddles on my newly poured four (4) foot wide sidewalk. I showed Gene and he said ?sorry about that." He did not pay enough attention, again, to his very inexperienced helper. Also, the added Concrete on Driveway width has ripples in it. Very Poorly Laid. 8.??? Did not replace all ground contact base plates in garage with pressure treated boards. Only added, as needed, new pressure treated wood. I expected all untreated ground contact base plate wood in garage to be pressure treated. This is the Whole reason for trouble in garage, due to rotting base plate. Gene said termites don?t like the existing oak (really?). 9.??? Gene used Silicone caulking on the new garage side door at the wood trim Interface. Will not hold paint. I have to scrape out Silicone Caulk and sand wood in order to paint. Gene?s response via text was, ?oh, sorry? again. ?10.? Two (2) exterior outlets where installed and Gene made the openings too big in the red brick and filled the gap with great stuff. Does not look like a pro installed it. Great Stuff is visible on both outlets. Should be filled with mortar like the existing ones. 11.? ?New light switch by door that turns on new couch lights installed too close to door. Cannot trim the door out without cutting out the trim. Should be, as the rest the home, installed far enough away so that door trim would clear switch. 12.? After painting I place the light switch cover and a huge spark flared out with black smoke. I called Gene and he said it was probably the ground. It was Wednesday and he said he could not get back out to address the issue until the following Monday or Tuesday. I called my cousin, an electrician and fixed it myself. The Black Hot wire was nicked and the ground was open. I shortened and wire nutted all wires, reinstalled light cover. Called?Gene and told him what I did. 13.? ?Bottom Line ? If you hire Gene Douglas Construction Company, you better make sure everyone understands what?s to be performed at a premium price. Once you sign the contract, you are committed. If I had not signed one, I would have fired him the first week.? All this was very disappointing after seeing his previous ratings on Angie's List. We all have bad days, but almost Six (6) weeks of Off days is pushing the envelope. 14. I have contacted Gene on several issues and he is slow to respond, or a feeble attempt. I have had to contact the BBB of Springfield to get help. The new side exterior garage door is leaking in water. This is a Brand new door and I should not leak in a lot of water. The Garage roll up doors are also pouring in water. The Garage company sells a thresh hold to stop water from intruding the bottom seal, but I cannot install it, because doors are too close to the wall. Gene did not place proper H Framing wood work before doors where mounted. I also told Gene the New French Drains he installed back up and the look like fountains. He is aware of problem. These are all previous complaints in this report. Wanted to update and change rating.

They did a FANTASTIC job!  They met and exceeded our expectations.  We talked with Gene about the project and he came up with a wonderful plan to correct issues we had with our front and back brick patios.  They were always on time, professional and completed the job on time.  I would HIGHLY recommend them.

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Am looking forward to having the work completed per contract bid.  Prompt and professional.

Excellent work completed on time with minimal disruption to our everyday lives.

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All went well

They did an excellent job. Our only concern was the slowness of the cabinet maker. However, his work was of the highest quality and I guess we would say that it was worth the wait.
Gene had excellent suggestions and ideas which made the project results even better than we had planned.

Workmanship was high quality. Timing and completion ran over, but this was due to my addition onto project.
The workers were considerate and trustworthy. Tools and materials were picked up every day before leaving.

Gene Douglas attends our church. He was wonderful, he did everything he could to stay in the budget and give us the upgrades we wanted. He gave us ideas we never would have though of to make it more appealing. One example is we were able to move our front door and put in a window.

It was completed as we wanted it and to our satisfaction. It wasn't speedy but there were extenuating circumstances. He is a very nice guy and I really liked Gene. He did a different project and we were very disappointed but the first experience with him doing the garage was good and we were very happy with that. I don't know if we would use him again because we were jaded by the other experience. It will depend on how it is resolved because there are some issues.

Gene came to our house to document the loss with video. He met with us to discuss how we would like to remodel the home. He offered wonderful changes to the home that made our house more functional and inviting. We were able to enlarge our kitchen, make our living room more functional, move the laundry room downstairs and add a stone front to the entry way. He helped us to get the fine touches we wanted for the house while staying within our insurance budget. We have hardwood floors throughout the upstairs and ceramic tile in the bathrooms. I would never have gotten such a wonderful home if I had gone with another builder. Gene and his team are the reason I have fallen in love with my home. He was very patient with us while we dealt with our mortgage company who was HORRIBLE to work with. Gene would have had our house done in four months if Wells Fargo had not be so bad to work with. Gene was fast and had his sub-contractors ready one after the other. I could not be more pleased with the service that Gene provided for my family.

Living in a home that is being remolded is not my choice, Douglas Construction worked around our living conditions and remolding program, it took us about 6 weeks to complete the project which made our home handicap accessible for my mother-in-law and our future needs. It added over $60,000 value to our property. This work was preformed in 2000 and we have loved every aspect of the Douglas Construction remolded. We just refinanced our home in 2009 and will be staying here for another 20 plus years. I have also seen a total rebuild from a home that had a fire in 2008 that Douglas was awarded in Spring Creek. The home should be in 417 Magazine with all the high dollar model homes.