S & A Construction Co

As you can see for yourself in the public inspection records, the project failed inspection 16 times. [*** Link removed ***] If you are going to work with Ed and S&A Construction there are some things that you must know. 1) When the job is done and it is time to make your final payment look over your original invoice carefully. You will find items that you did not receive, tasks that were not done, and items that were grossly overcharged for. 2) Our home failed inspection 16 times. According to Ed the Building inspector was being “ridiculous.” The building inspector protects consumer like you and I from people like Ed. 3) If you can not be there during the build to make sure that things are done right you should find someone else. I discovered multiple problems including carpet that was being installed without padding that we had paid for. Ed pretended like he did not know. 4) There were multiple problems during the build. Ed became very confrontational when we did not agree with him instead of doing the right thing and just fixing the problems. He was ok with less than perfect work. Those are the big points here are some further details. We hired Ed for an addition on a 12 year old home to include a new kitchen, master bath, new floor plan down stairs, new hardwoods, new painting inside and out, new carpet, and a new deck. ● When we were “sold” the project we were told that the addition would be completed before some demolition so we would only be without a kitchen for 2 weeks. After he received his first check he decided not to do it that way. We were without a kitchen for 3 months. ● He started the project without HOA approval, almost turned into a disaster. He started the deck without a permit when he said that he had one already. Very dishonest. ● The master bath he promised was not delivered. When the cabinets arrived we told him that was not what we wanted. Huge conflict. The tile grout in the shower cracked within 2 months. ● added an extra $800 to paint the ceiling on the final invoice. Had to argue with him to take it off. They also did not paint, doors, trim until we insisted that they come back and do it. The windows in the house were caulked shut. ● When pendant lights arrived to go over the island in the kitchen we told him that they were too big and we did not like them. They were still in the boxes and could have been returned. It was a huge argument. He talked us into letting him hang the lights, “we would love them once we saw them.” We didn’t like them either after he hung them, we purchased our own and he installed them. He billed us for the ones that he didn’t not install. ● His “Custom” mirrors were two pieces of wood glued to a mirror by one of his workers in our front yard. We did not like them. Huge conflict. ● Electrical outlets were uneven. Light switch to lights inside garage was located in the kitchen cabinets. Had to complain to get it moved. There was a light switch that did not work. Ed said, “lots of people have light switches in their homes that don’t do anything.” Unacceptable ● He did not install appliances correctly. The dishwasher was not fastened to the counter, it tilts forward when the door is opened. The ice maker was not installed in the refrigerator. We were told that his crews would fully install the new appliances. ● After the framing was done the house failed inspection. An engineer had to come out to make recommendations. Holes had to be cut through the siding so new beams could Poor planning. According to Ed, the inspector was being “ridiculous” again. ● New smoke detectors installed were not up to code. ● Initially things may look great. After a month or so goes by you will start noticing how sloppy some of the work is. There were many other problems. Things got even worse when we examined the invoice before making our final payment. There were many things that we were overcharged for, or things that did not occur. In the end we refused to pay Ed $2600. He revoked our warranty and refused to even give us the name of the subcontractor who did the HVAC.

Work is quality, though original estimate of 4 weeks is going to be more like 6-7 weeks. We did not have a drop dead date so we didn't pressure them too much. Owner (Ed) is a straight-up, ethical guy who will take/answer your calls and visit your site as needed. He is not just a construction guy, he has a strong design skill and will offer his opinions (color, finishes, textures, etc).

very adversarial, many mistakes

Ed is very talented. His crew does a fantastic job. They are very thorough and neat with their work. My kitchen was finished in 3 weeks!

unknown

Over the past few months we have had S and A Construction complete many projects.
Today was the painting of my daughter's bathroom.  It looks fantastic!  Ed picked the perfect color for us based on her new shower curtain. The guys were clean and efficient! My daughter came home from school ecstatic! My 10 year old's exact words were "I LOVE MY BATHROOM! And this is the best color"
A few months ago we had the outside of our house power washed, rotten siding replaced and painted.  It looks amazing!  The house we have lived in for 14 years had a fantastic face lift. The crew was polite, clean and efficient. The job was done even faster than we could imagine!
I honestly can not say enough wonderful things about Ed and S&A Construction!
I can't wait to hire them for my next project.

In the month of September, I wanted to enclose my back patio as an additional outdoor living space.  I received a very good referral from a friend who had used S & A in the past for their remodeling needs, but still opted to get other estimates as well.  My friend was correct in her recommendation....I chose S & A for the job! 

From the very beginning (the day of the estimate), I felt comfortable with Ed.  He was friendly and very knowledgeable.  He understood what I wanted, also having suggestions and recommendations of his own.

We hired S&A Construction to remodel the fireplace wall of our family room, smooth out the popcorn on the ceiling and install recessed lights and install an island in the kitchen back in July.  Ed, the owner, is a very likeable guy and brought great design ideas to our project.  The process of getting a quote and picking out materials was by far the best of any of the four companies we contacted.  Unfortunately, the rest of the process didn?t go as smoothly.  He has a real good grasp for selling up front, but lacks the ability to manage the project effectively to the finish.  Here are examples:

-       Originally said project would take a week.  Actually took five weeks.  I believe he takes on so many projects he has to spread his employees thin to make it look like they are dedicated to working on your project.  Nothing gets done quickly, and few things were done right the first time. 

-        After many mistakes by electrician, I asked Ed if the electrician?s were certified.  He assured me they were.  Towards the end of the project, after more mistakes, he admitted he hadn?t had time to get them certified.  A few of the examples of mistakes by the ?electricians?:

o   6 of 13 recessed lights had to be moved due to measuring errors.  This was blamed on everything to having a small tape measure and eyesight isn?t good, to ?there was already a hole there? (where a light had been before, but obviously not where the new one should be).

o   One box with 3 light dimmers had been installed with 3 different styles of dimmers, and one of those was a dimmer for a ceiling fan, which obviously didn?t work for the pendant lights above the kitchen island.  And none of them were grounded. I went to Lowes, bought matching dimmers, installed them correctly, gave the extra 2 dimmers back to Ed?s guy and took the price of the new dimmers off the last check to Ed.  He called and said multiple times he was very upset that I shorted him on the check (even though it was an even deal, as he got his dimmers back.  I should have charged him labor like he did me for every switch, outlet and light). 

o   I could tell by eyesight that one of the pendant lights above the kitchen island was off.  The guy measured on the island countertop, then held a broom up from there to mark the ceiling.  No level or anything, really.  He said if it was off by more than an inch he would come back the next day to fix it.  The next day when he had his level (not sure why he wouldn?t have it to begin with), he admitted it was off and had to fix it.

-        No care was taken to block the mess of dust from the popcorn removal from taking over the rest of the house.  We had thick drywall dust covering the rooms we had planned to live in during the remodel, even making its way upstairs through the vents and ducts.  Everything in our kitchen cabinets was covered in drywall dust as well.

-        He claims his crew cleans at the end of each day.  That?s tough to do when none of them carry any type of cleaning equipment with them.  Some days they would take wet rags or our mop and clean up the construction debris from the floor (yes, our mop), but the majority of the time the kitchen countertops and floors were left dirty.  -       

They used my car washing bucket to mix concrete in, then took it with them. -       

A ceiling fan was taken down to smooth the ceiling under the mount (after I had to request they did it right), and I found the custom screws on the floor of the garage and out on the driveway after they lost them.

-        A set of blinds were taken down from above the kitchen window.  I found part of the decorative top outside in the mud two days later, the other part had been thrown away.  I had to go to Lowes to get a replacement.

-        A custom bracket for a motion sensor on the wall was thrown out.  You can?t get another mount without buying a whole new sensor.

-        Our wood floors were never protected throughout the process, and had scratches and marks throughout.  One time I found a guy hammering away at the brick, causing the brick pieces to go all over the floor, then he was stepping on the pieces as he continued to hammer away.  Yes, that will damage the floor just a little.  Ed?s fix, after multiple requests, was leaving a can of polyurethane spray behind (which makes them look worse). There were other examples but I think I?ve made my point.  I usually take on projects myself, but figured this one time I?d pay the money to let a professional do it right, without me having to take the time and effort to do it myself.  I feel like I paid the money, but still had to work as the foreman to make sure things were done right, were fixed and to limit the amount of damage caused by his crew.  I will say he had a couple of talented guys working for him, but unfortunately Ed doesn?t have more guys like them, and doesn?t have the time to oversee his crews properly.  To summarize, I wish I could give him a better review, but due to the hassle of the mistakes and having to live in a dirty construction zone for 5 weeks (with a 1 and 2 year old) after being told 1 week, I cannot recommend S & A Construction for future projects.

My neighbor recommended S&A Construction to me about 6 months ago. I am very thankful he did because they did a wonderful job on my master bathroom remodel. The experience in whole was good. When Ed came out for the initial estimate, he took his time conversing and visualizing with me my ideas on what i wanted my new bathroom to look like. Excited about our conversation, I was ready to start immediately. I met with Ed a couple days after the estimate and the project was started the next week. Anytime I had a question or concern, the ladies in the office were very helpful and polite. The men that came in and did the remodel were very polite and easy to work with. So with only a couple small bumps in the road, my bathroom was complete in less than three weeks. Just a little bit longer than originally discussed, but they did such a great job it was worth the wait. My bathroom went form plain Jane white, single sink, shower tub combo, to immaculate. I now have dual sinks, a vanity for myself, jetted tub, over sized shower, and the list goes on. My kitchen will be next but not for some time. I will most definitely be calling S&A again!!

To start Ed was very professional and knowledgeable about the project from start to finish. His crew did an amazing job bringing my kitchen back to life. My only complaint is that the first day of the remodel the crew showed up later than i was expecting them. However that was addressed immediately and there was not another delay. I am beyond ecstatic with the way my new kitchen looks and am very proud to show it off. I will definitely be using them again in the future.

Just a few months after they "completed" the job, we have at least 3 tiles in our kitchen that are wobbly and the grout around these tiles is falling apart.  I pointed out during installation that S&A's employees were not installing the flooring system as specified by the manufacturer.  It took just months for problems to start.

In addition the grout-caulk used between the walls and floor is coming up - S&A didn't remove the baseboard and replace it, they just laid the tile up to it and used some gritty caulk to fill the gap.  This looks completely unprofessional.

I've also had to make several adjustments to doors and drawers as a result of S&A employees not properly installing the cabinets - they used no shims to level and plum the cabinets.  In addition, its obvious that our island is not level as round object placed on it quickly roll off if it.

Please, everyone considering S&A, don't fall for the fast-talking sales person.  He's real good at explaining away his company's shortcomings, but, in my case, at least, its quickly come back to bite me.  I've adjusted the rating bands on this provider to account for the issues that have come up in the year since the work was performed.

I purchased a home in mid June & needed lots of work done before my move in date of July 30th.  When I met with Ed, he was extremely confident that he could not only do all the work I needed, but have it all completed in less than 2 weeks.  He convinced me that he could do the entire job including having the floors sanded, stained & refinished a few weeks before I was scheduled to move in.  This all sounded great, since I was moving from across town & wanted to get stuff moved & organized prior to the movers bringing all the furniture on July 30th.  He gave me an estimate that included the work listed above + installing 2 custom shelving areas.
The crew was great & they started on the day scheduled.  I spent the weekend before purchasing all the light fixtures he agreed to install as part of the deal, so that wouldn't delay the tight schedule.  I offered to be there first day to provide guidance but Ed told me not to bother, he knew everything I wanted & had it covered.  I marked where lights were to go, where paint colors would go on which walls...tried to prepare the space  & left cookies for his workers.   By the 2 week mark, they'd not finished the painting or even started the floors but I wasn't overly concerned, I still had time & he claimed the floors would only take about 3 days to complete the work & then allow to cure for a few days.  I was excited about my new house & trusted that it would be finished before I had to move.
The crew was always very nice, the office staff was super nice, the hardwood floor guy did a really good job & that was important.  The real problem was that Ed (the owner) blamed me for all the delays & he took no ownership for any miscalculations or lack of delivery on the schedule he'd come up with for this project.  I didn't appreciate being blamed, nor his arrogant condescending attitude toward me.  On the painting side, I'll admit there were lots of colors, lots of different finishes for same colors depending on where they were to go- so it was a complicated paint job but I've used professional painters in the past & never had a problem.  As nice as they were, most of his crew were not very experienced painters- lines weren't cut clean, sloppy work meant 5 days of coming back to touch up paint drips.  Ed wanted me to pay for all the trim painting they were having to do, but the trim was fine prior to painting.  His floor guy did a GREAT job, but his timing added another 5 days on getting the floors started, they found they needed to replace all the wood trim to make it match & I was charged extra for that.  They underestimated how long the wallpaper removal would take, but Ed never acknowledged or apologized for any of this.  All delays were blamed on me, I'd asked for 2 extra light fixtures.
By my move day 7/30, they STILL weren't finished painting & touching up what looked bad.  I went to supervise the furniture movers all morning & after 6 hours of packing my furniture on the truck, we arrive at my new home which is still a construction zone.  My movers had to bring furniture in around the 5 painters, put covers on their shoes because the floor was so recently finished, and I had to hire an additional cleaner to clean while furniture was going place as S&A work continued.  The kitchen appliances were left sitting the laundry room & garage while my washer & dryer were to be moved in.  No one seemed to understand that this was now my HOME, not their construction site.  We had to explain that they MUST move the appliance so that we could finish my move & live in the house...the plan was for the floor guy to do that ater in the week.
The painting work was not completed until August 2nd when Ed sent all his best painters and his floor guy to finish all the remaining issues.  He also showed up to tell me that he could choose his customers & then demanded that I pay his guys that day. when they finished.  I said the work looked very good but refused to pay on the spot & said I'd review everything pay him that week. My moving company provided a written statement assessing the difficulty of the move situation for them, I had to pay $160 additional + cleaning service I had to pay $200 to be there all day cleaning every area where furniture was being moved in on construction mess still in process.
When Ed didn't have his final payment on Monday, August 4 he showed up at my home unannounced while my kids were there & I was at work.  He threatened to put a lien on my home for non-payment, although I'd already payed him more than $8000 over the past few weeks.  He decided to back out of all the shelving work, so that was a relief that I'd not have to endure his attitude through additional work.  I've found that some work for which I've already paid was actually not completed.  I was charged for the addition of outlets & cable in the garage, but the 2 outlets & cable were never added.  There are holes cut in the garage wall where outlets should have been installed, and this work was not completed. I emailed the company immediately to let them know & they've acknowledged that the work should be completed.  I've called once every week since my last payment (5 weeks) and not received a single call back as to how they wish to resolve anything.  I've waited this long to write a review (and plan to open a BBB claim) hoping that they would just come finish installing the outlets. 
My house is a source of joy & comfort for me.  It looks SO nice now & I truly appreciate all the hard work the crew did to get everything just right for me.  This is a good crew, I simply wish the experience with Ed had been very different.  He brought some good ideas, and he completed the job.  A simple apology or humble acknowledgement that we missed the dates & how that impacted me, would have been enough for me to have felt respected.  That never happened, and as a result I could never recommend working with this company.  I left the experience feeling emotionally exhausted by the unnecessary drama, knowing I don't deserve to be treated the way I was in this situation.  I joined Angie's List as a result of this experience, and I'm willing to pay more if necessary to receive more professional service.

.

We know Ed, the owner of the company since when we bought our house in 2006. He did couple interior remodeling and painting jobs at that time and we recommend him to our friends since then. This year we had a big project in our mind and we directly called him but no one else. During the renovation we added and changed many things to our project but he was always helpful about in details and understands exactly what we want. His crew is very good too, they are professional and trustful. We can't say only we remodeled our house, but feels like we bought a new home, thanks to Sand A Construction. We highly recommend them.

Our experience with Ed and all of the folks at S&A Construction was amazing!  I felt like I was on the show Extreme Home makeover! In 2 weeks my house was transformed and I love it!! The kitchen is absolutely gorgeous! We also had several areas painted and they were meticulously completed and look amazing! All of the folks who worked at my home were professional and I felt very comfortable having them in my home.
I can not wait to have S & A back to do more painting and remodel my bathrooms.  It was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend them!

Working with Sand A Construction was a horrible experience. The owner and quot;Edand quot; Ahmed Ramadan was very unprofessional and his crew did not know what they were doing. It took 2 weeks for them to complete the painting job and they didn't even fix all of the problems. It was a huge mess. They painted my vinyl window frames which were not to be painted. They tried to clean them, but just made a bigger mess when scraping the paint off. I had asked them to cover my windows with plastic to avoid having any paint on trim work (that they had already painted) and the glass on windows. They finally did cover them, but not before paint got on some of the windows, as well as on the shingles of roof and on my porch. As they would complete and try to fix one issue they would make another mess or cause more problems. I never saw Ed until a few days into the project and when I asked for him to come back out to address the concerns I had he came and then he said I was too picky! He spoke to me unprofessionally and was very rude. This company used to go by the name of Ed's Contracting in Raleigh, NC and is now called Sand A Construction. I would not recommend them for any type of service.

We paid the first half of the total bill on day one when the crew came out. Everything was going smoothly until I began having communication issues with the front man. The crew was not doing what the front man told me they were doing. They were arriving on their own times and leaving hours after I was told they would leave. The front man was very nice and professional with me until I confronted him on this lack of communication. He then turned angry fast - on the phone! He actually accused me of telling him his crew could not eat lunch which had nothing to do with what I was saying to him. I was shocked that he would be so rude so fast! I turned the project over to my husband who was treated very professionally. The crew finished the job and told us that the job was done. When we inspected it we saw that the job they had done was incredibly sloppy - paint dripped on new tiles, the door had not been primed and white paint was already chipped off, there were no clear lines where ceiling met wall, 2 holes in the ceiling where they had not even filed in, uneven painting and about 10 spots in wall that still needed to be fixed, but were painted over. We had to wait 3 days for the front man to come over to check on our complaints. I let him discuss the sloppy job with my husband, but I could hear that he was offering very flimsy excuses. He tried to convince my husband that this was all intentional because the crew would come back after the paint dried to fix the paint ... and then tried to convince him that the job wasn't all that bad and in a court of law we wouldn't have a case. He said he'd send the crew back to fix everything with a $200 deduction. I came up to join the conversation and this front man told me that I should not bring anger into the conversation. My husband and I refused his offer. In the ensuing discussion, both this man and I were very rude to each other. He kept saying he wanted to just speak to my husband because he (my husband) was a and quot;nice manand quot; (implying that I was not). I blamed my anger on the fact that, since I was the customer, I had to pay for an unbelievable, unprofessional and worst paint job I have ever seen AND I had to listen to his excuses and severe lack of logic. His anger was simply defensive, 'back-at-you' and unprofessional. We settled on half of the remainder - $400. I told him it would be accompanied with a negative review on Angie's list. He told me that if I did that he would then charge us for the deducted amount. He also said he would write and quot;bad thingsand quot; about me.
This company has many good reviews on other sites. However, the ones that are negative all sound exactly like my story.

After a lot of research on my own and several estimates later, I chose Sand A Construction to completely demolish my old and outdated bathroom! From beginning to end I could not have asked for any better services. Everyone that I dealt with from the company were very courteous and patient....Thanks to them my bathroom is very modern and exactly what I wanted. I recommend Sand A to anyone who is looking for an all around fabulous and competitively priced remodeling company.

Very unprofessional and rushed job; missed the mark in several areas

Purchased Living Social deal and scheduled a visit by the estimator. I asked him to quote out a few other jobs, and decided to add a second bedroom. Painters were professional and courteous. Their work was very good. No stray paint on floors or trim.I would definitely use them again.

They did an OK job. I would give them a C. It took them forever to get the same schedule. I had to call them a few times, to get something rolling. When a business goes into a living social deal they get indicated by people so it might not necessarily be the normal interaction. I just called them yesterday,
and said if you guys are going to off the special deals you have to be prepared for the influx of business, and it seems to me that you would want to put your best foot forward so that the people will come back to you at full price. They didn't tarp the entire floor just the ceilings, and they got some paint on our hardwood floor, and they said they would get it off with water, and then they didn't get it all off, so I had to get it off myself. It wasn't anything that was going to ruin the floor but they could have prevented it by putting a bigger tarp that covered the whole floor. The deal they offered is $260.00 worth of painting for $80.00.

I purchased a Living Social for $85 to cover one room of painting. I called to set up an estimate and I was scheduled promptly . While I was hoping the $85 would cover the entire bathroom, I learned I would have to pay extra for the trim. (This pricing did not include the paint, I had to provide it.) However, given how long the job took I am not surprised at the additional charges. Anyhow, my job was scheduled quickly. My only minor issue was that the painters showed up 2 hours earlier than their scheduled time. Luckily it was not an issue that day, but I would have preferred a phone call. The painters worked an entire afternoon. Overall they did a good job but I did notice lots of little areas missed in the last inspection. They gladly touched up the trim and paint areas as I required. Overall I am happy with the result.

He was on time, honest, and professional. He was meticulous to details.