LEONARD ROOFING & CONSTRUCTION

Todd Leonard was one of 4 companies certified to install Leaf Relief from whom I requested estimates. His office is less than .5 miles from me, so, though I hesitated because he had no reviews on Angie's List, I included him in my short-list. He started out excellently. He arrived within the time range he had given me, and found me working single-handedly installing weatherstripping on the bottom of my garage door. Before we ever began discussing the gutters, he cheerfully gave me a hand with the awkward 9-foot length of weatherstripping. He was the only one of the estimators who asked me to walk around the house with him, discussing the job. Then he went around the house alone to take measurements, sat in his truck for a few minutes working up numbers, and gave me a very informal estimate, hand-written on a 3x5 recipe card! I decided to go with him, though one of the other company's estimate was within shouting distance of his, because he is a general contractor and I know I have several things to do around the house - if I liked his work, I would have a good resource for other work. The other company didn't do anything except gutters. Todd thought it would take 2 days; the other company said 1 - but that can be size and availability of the crew, so I was not concerned with that. I did not regret my decision. He was able to start the job a week earlier than he'd thought. He arrived here early one morning with a crew of 2, introduced them to me, and walked them around the house (with me) to discuss the job. There was old guttering on the back of the house to be removed, and no guttering elsewhere - I wanted gutter on all sides of my hip-roof house. The crew boss, Steve, explained to me that he worked two jobs, and would be working from daylight till about 11:00 each day. As it turned out, they worked till about 12:30 each day of three days instead. Steve checked with me to discuss things like downspout placement, and worked with me with one of the downspouts to extend the ground run portion more than 12 feet to the lower side of the house. He also suggested using brown material at the ground level so it would not be so noticeable as the white of the downspout, because I requested fairly long runs to get water away from the foundation. He installed those last sections at the ground level so they could be easily removed, should I decide to install French drain piping and bury them. Even better, Steve noticed a problem with the roof in one section, showed it to me, and asked Todd to look at it. Todd came out the next day with repair materials and a roofer, talked to me about what the repair would entail and why he recommended it, and asked (practically begged) me to allow him to do it. Given that it was a $50 repair to prevent a future requirement to replace portions of the roof, the ceiling and the soffitt, I was happy to allow this - and impressed - if Steve and Todd had said nothing, I'd have had a very expensive repair in my future which probably would have been their job to do. Not knowing much about roofs, it would not have occurred to me that they could have noticed and prevented it, so of course I would have gone to them. $50 to save a few thousand? - works for me! The work area was c The final cost was a little higher than the estimate, due to this roof repair and the added cost of extending the ground-level spouts. I expected it to be higher than it was, so I have no complaints there. In a final gesture that made me very happy to work with Todd, he worked out a way to allow me to pay using American Express, which he doesn't accept in the normal course of his business. Since my Amex earns me bonuses, I really wanted to pay using it - and his solution was both creative and elegant. I'm happy with the gutters - they look great and they work great - and very happy to have found a good general contractor. I'll definitely use this company again.