Doug Keaty General Contractor

My experience with Doug Keaty, General Contractor, was extremely negative. I first met with Mr. Keaty in May, 2014 regarding remodeling work on a home I had just purchased. At that time, Mr. Keaty gave me a cost estimate of $10,000.00 and stated that the work would be completed in the week. Six weeks later, Mr. Keaty walked off the job, leaving the work unfinished and invoicing me for an additional $4,366.00 above the $5823.00 I had already paid him, and the more than $4000.00 I spent paying for materials such as flooring used by Mr. Keaty.  When I wrote to him to formally dispute some of the charges, I received no response from him other than threats of legal action against me, including putting a lien on my house if I did not pay within 72 hours. Given that this professional contractor had never given me a contract to sign, I am unclear what constitutes a “legitimate” debt.  At his suggestion, I offered him an amount that I considered a fair final amount: $3,097.00, rather than the $4,366.00 he had invoiced me. He never responded to my offer.  The quality of some of the work is so poor that it will have to be re-done. The floor transitions will need to be redone as they are sloppy. Mr. Keaty had the painters in BEFORE he started the wall remodeling and then charged me again for re-painting; why would a “professional” schedule painting BEFORE the remodeling work? In addition, one of his worker’s broke the brand new toilet I had bought for the bathroom, took my receipt when he went to replace it  (which Mr. Keaty said would be at MY expense; he said that since he was doing this work at a reduced rate, he wasn’t responsible for items broken/damaged by his workers’ carelessness.) Too, he has refused to return the original retail receipts for toilets I paid for (needed for city rebate) – instead, offering to have a plumber create one for me.   I had to ask repeatedly for a breakdown of the labor charges; when he did finally respond, he simply re-iterated the charges he previously made; these were far different than the hours I – and other witnesses – observed for that week.   As other reviewers have noted, the total amounts he has billed me exceed the costs originally quoted and, to date, the work was not completed on time – actually in my case, it remains unfinished, and I am left to pay others to complete and/or repair the work done by Mr. Keaty’s workers. I would not recommend Doug Keaty, General Contractor to any one – especially to a disabled veteran to whom Mr. Keaty says he will give a price reduction.

Update 10/29/2014: I have now had Floorscapes of Albuquerque repair the transitions (and, as you know, Floorscapes has high ratings on Angie’s List.) Mr. Joe Gonya has now been to my house 3 times to try to determine how to repair the damage caused by Mr. Keaty’s crew due to improper installation of the flooring and transitions.   Mr. Gonya had repeatedly told Mr. Keaty that the flooring requirements were to glue the floor down, reiterating the manufacturer’s strong recommendation. I overheard Mr. Gonya on the phone with Mr. Keaty the day I purchased the flooring from Floorscapes; Mr. Gonya was telling Mr. Keaty that the floor must be glued down and not floated. Mr. Gonya has agreed to confirm this, if need be. 

Initially, I was unclear about why Mr. Gonya emphasized the gluing so strongly, and, at the time of the installation, I asked Mr. Keaty about this. He replied that it was more “affordable” to float the floor than to glue it down.  I now realize that it was more affordable for him, but not for me in the long run.   According to Mr. Goya, none of the floor can ever be repaired because Mr. Keaty did not follow the installation instructions to glue the floor. Because the floor was not glued, the only way to repair any damage is to completely replace the floor.  Because the floor was installed incorrectly, it is one large unit, and a small section cannot be removed without undermining the stability and integrity of the entire floor. Had it been glued as recommended, sections could be removed because the rest of the floor would remain stable and in place.  

Although the transition pieces have been replaced, the planks around the transition do not look like a new floor should and – for the reasons described above - can never be repaired without completely replacing the floor. This would cost me thousands. 

In light of this information and the monies I have spent trying to have the incompetent work of Mr. Keaty repaired, I am no longer willing to pay the amount previously stated. This time, I am only willing to pay for any unpaid legitimate, detailed material invoices (less anything related to items described previously.) It is difficult to describe how upsetting it is to have spent thousands of dollars to remodel your dream home and have the experience turn into a nightmare. 

Everything went well. Only on one occasion did I have a minor problem and Mr. Keaty handled it immediately. All jobs were completed on time. I felt very confident about Mr. Keaty's knowledge about all the services I needed done. He is very professional and I would definitely call him again,

the inspector was knowledgeable, he carefully explained the work that would be performed and what different options were available. Very professional.

The driveway turned out nice. It might have been a little more expensive because he brought in a Mexican crew with their own equipment. I wasn't happy with the deck because had pointed out that the synthetic moulding that was on the deck was part synthetic and part wood and the issue was that the synthetic boarding was flaking off. He notified us that there was a class action lawsuit in regards to this and we were provided compensation for it. My wife had misunderstood them because she though the entire deck, including the railing, was to be the synthetic wood however the top and bottom part of the railing was made of real wood. They ran out of synthetic wood so they put up real wood and didn't stain it. When you live where we do the wood turns black within a year. The deck was not completed to my satisfaction because there are gaps and there was no cosmetic work done. The pricing was slightly above what I wanted to pay because he didn't completely finish the project, with the staining and such.

We've been very pleased with the outcome. The joists were pressing on the ceiling drywall which gave the appearance of a structural problem. There was also a noticeable crack across the ceiling in the dining room which was repaired. The crews were on time and the job finished only one day beyond the estimated timetable even though the job was more extensive than anticipated.

It went well. Doug responded promptly to my voicemail and told me one of his workers would call me. After a few days, the worker called. He said someone would be at my house by around 9:00. The only snag in the whole process was that the worker did not show up until about 11:00. Once he showed up, he was extremely pleasant and knowledgeable and did the work very well. He cleaned up after himself thoroughly.

I thought it went just fine. They seemed pretty prompt and I thought the price was reasonable. The work has been done and I think that it looks good.

The work turned out very well.