Master Craftsmen Inc.

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It went extremely well. We had a small problem in the beginning with communication and the bid. It took several weeks to get the quote and many calls to the company to see what was happening. We finally got the owner out to look everything over and then we got the price and went ahead and ordered the special soundproof window. We did not get any other company to bid because when we purchased this house two years ago, we used Master Craftsmen with great results (see other review we posted at that time). It took longer than anticipated for the window to arrive but when it did, things went very quickly. The Master Craftsmen team came out and immediately removed the two large windows. The one wall was framed in and drywalled. On the other wall where the old window had been, the new window was slightly smaller and was to be centered in the middle of the wall so they needed to cut out a new opening, frame it, plus frame and drywall where the other window had been. Also, insulation was packed in everywhere they reframed and around the new window being installed. They were very careful with the work area. This bedroom has white carpet, and every area was covered in plastic including a huge draped off area where they were working. By the end of the first day, the window was installed, and the other areas were completely framed in and drywalled. The next day they put on the stucco outside and inside the wall textures. They actually went out of their way to get a sample of the outdoor paint on the house (since it was faded from the sun over the years) to make sure it matched. The third day was painting inside the bedroom and the outside of the house where the new stucco was. The owner went out of his way to make this messy, involved project cause as little distress to us as possible since we are living in the house whereas the last projects they did for us, the house was empty.

I really cannot say enough good things about Mike and his company. They have a huge new showroom with many new products. He has expanded his lines, and everything is quality plus.

The salesman came out and measured the opening for a new sliding door. We asked several questions, one of which was: What will the interior around the new door look like? The salesman assured us, by pointing at our sliding door, and saying “what you see there is what it will look like when we finish and leave”. This was not the case! The inside was not finished at the time of the install.

1. 1. There is a gap at the bottom where the door meets the tile floor. This needs to be grouted.

2. The new trim they installed around the door needs painting.

3. A new piece of baseboard needs to be cut and installed on one corner.

4. The paper covering the sheet rock on one side is torn off.

5. All the sheet rock around the new sliding door needs to be painted.
I requested Mike come to the house. He came on May 8, 2013 to look at the above issues. He said he was "embarrassed" at the look of the interior surrounding the newly installed sliding door. I pointed out the door does NOT close correctly as you have to push the door towards the outside by about a 1/16 of an inch so it will fit into the frame, and not hit/clip the edge of the frame. If the door is not pushed outward it does hit the frame not closing correctly. Mike tried to tell me this is normal. However,
I told him our other slider does not do that when closing. I also told him none of the sliding doors in his showroom have that problem. I told Mike what their salesman had said about the interior being finished. He said it does look bad the way it is now. He also informed me our salesman is no longer with the company. Mike said he would send someone to do the finish work on the interior, and try to make adjustments for better closing of the sliding door.
On May 21, 2013 Patty called and left a message to call her regarding sending a man out to work on the sliding door. On May 22 I called her back (at 10.00 am), and a lady answered saying Patty was busy but would call me back. She did not call back. On May 30, 2013 (9.25 am) Patty called again. We set a time for a man to come out to work on the interior of the door. She also told me the cost of dog door replacement parts, I had requested.
On June 3, 2013, Gerardo arrived on time. He fixed all but the closing of the door. Gerardo, did not have any information on his work sheet from Mike with regards to fixing the slider door hitting/clipping the inner edges of the door and the door frame when the slider is pulled closed. As of this posting this problem has not been fixed !!!
Value and Quality of the door- Good. We just should have looked on Angie’s List.
Value of the install- Very Poor. The door edge and the frame edge are hitting each other each time we close the sliding door.
Value of the salesman -- that rests with Mike !! Apparently, he is having salesmen problems. It seems to me Mike sent a salesman out to our house when he did not know if the salesman was fully prepared or not to sell unsupervised. I rate that as incompetence.

1. Value for money-Okay. The sliding door unit is Good.

• Punctuality-Arrived on time. As they should have.
• Responsiveness-Very Poor. Consider: how long this has taken, and the door still does not close correctly. On 3/30/2013, contract / deposit. 4/30/2013 installed. 5/8/2013 Mike came to inspect job. 6/3/2013 Gerardo fixed sheet rock.
• Professionalism-Very Poor.

UPDATE - After several days waiting a crew came out and did the best they could repairing the closing of the sliding door. The door now closes much better than it did before they came. Perhaps had I used better judgement in the beginning this would have been a much better review. This was a very long journey, full of waiting and irritation, from start to finish.

On two of them, they had to shrink them, because they do not make windows that long anymore. I have a weird house. It was fantastic. They were professional, punctual and they cleaned up every night before they left. There was no debris and no dust. I looked out side and went what is there to clean up out here. They just did an absolutely wonderful job. They were concerned that they did not track anything through the house. They made sure that everything was taped off, because of the dust. I actually went to the Pella site and they contacted the Craftsmen, which was the distributor for them. They arrived when they said they would. Their were two of them. One went around and did all the measuring. The other one talked to me about the different designs and the options that would be the best for the house. He gave me an estimate in the spot, again he was respectful and they came back to check the work after it was done.

They were OK. They were supposed to start on one day and then they kept pushing it back, which was fine, but they could have called me. I work, so instead of letting me know they were not coming, I had to keep calling them. They were a little messy, but they tried to clean up where they messed. The windows are fine.

Our windows were leaking and we had a lot of water going inside the wall when it rained. We had four companies come give us estimates and were very impressed by MasterCraftsmen. They told us the windows would need to be completely removed, sealed, windows put back in, and stucco fixed. (They were also going to fix a 2' square of drywall we opened up when the leak was found.) They could do it all for $1300. The other companies we had quoted us around $550, because they said the windows wouldn't have to be pulled out but could be sealed around without removing them. MasterCraftsmen assured us that for the job to be done correctly that wasn't true- they would need to be pulled out and we didn't want to get anymore moisture in because that could lead to mold. We went with them because I wanted the job done properly. In the end, when their people showed up to actually do the work they didn't pull the windows out, just drilled it out and sealed it the way the other companies said they would. They didn't adjust the price even though their written quote said they would be pulling the windows out to fix them. They also left stucco and bits of chicken wire on the ground and plaster all over the decorative rock below the window, and crushed a few rose bushes. When they fixed the drywall inside the house (which I gave them the drywall and insulation for- no price adjustment on that either), bits of plaster were splattered on a custom leather end table about six inches away from the wall they were working on. I have no idea why they didn't move it or cover it while they were working. I can only say that the leak did appear to be fixed when we sprayed water on it before we closed the wall up. Still, in retrospect I would go with a different company. If you aren't going to do half the work you promise, you should at least adjust the price and make sure you clean up the work area when you are finished.

The workmen that were sent out to install the closet and french doors did expert work in a timely fashion. They repaired drywall around the doors and sprayed texture to finish. The doors are perfect. When the owner was at the house checking the doors, he opened part of the walls where the windows were to go and discovered there needed to be extra work done. He charged us $450.00 to accommodate the changes needed. An unexpected expense but again, the windows were installed in a short time and in perfect condition. Sheetrock was patched and sprayed. Overall, it was worth the expense to get this kind of work done professionally.

I love them. They are just really great. Some of them I got with the blinds on the inside, in between the window panes and it worked out so nicely, especially in the kitchen because I can keep them clean. Overall, the house is much warmer, quieter and more comfortable because of the windows. If I needed more windows I would go back to Pella. I haven't had any problems since they've been installed.

It is one of the biggest names. It is probably one of the leading replacement companies that is retro fitting older houses with really well insulated and really good windows and doors. There are a lot of windows and doors replacement people around particularly in Las Vegas, where the original building was so cheap with metal windows and frames. We see a lot of places where they have totally ripped up the windows, and they have had to re-plaster outside and all that. This was all so well done that it all just fit right to the opening in this old house, so there was not a lot of clean up and extra painting or plastering they had to do after they did their job. In their case, the company actually does the installation too, so from the sales people to the ordering and the installation it is all the same. It's high price, but its high quality. It was all done the way we wanted it. They were very professional, and they would be really reliable for people. We would use them again in the future; these are probably going to be good for 30 years or more.

They were top notch. They did an excellent job and cleaned up well after the job.

They were able to work around my busy travel schedule and schedule the installation to be done on a weekend. Mike the owner himself came out on 9/24 and 9/25 to do the installation due to his employee being MIA. I was very impressed that he came out himself and didn't call to reschedule. The work had been planned to be completed in a single day (9/24) but did bleed into 9/25 which I had no problems with. There was some hardware damage on the sliding door but Mike ordered replacements for it at my request which came in and he installed about 2 weeks later. Not much more to say, he did a great job and I am very happy with the quality. He repaired any paint, spackle, and stucco damage he had made during the installation (although it was very minimal damage).

My only negative comment is that some nails and various other scrap/trash was left outside each of the windows and door outside. I circled back to clean that all up once he left. It was a very long two days of installation on a weekend that he personally had not planned to do (was supposed to be one of his employees) so I don't mind that much.

Everything was perfect. The guy who did the work was exceptional. He's called the master craftsmen and he's the local Pella representative. These guys are really good. We will use their services again in the future.

He did a reallygood job. I would recommend him for drywall work. I find that people that are good at their trades they will be good at whatever else needs to be done. If someone is quick and efficient, you know that they are good and know what they are doing. I felt like they really knew what they were doing. I can definitely tell a difference in the repairs and the extension is seamless.

It was great. They were timely and efficient. The quality was very, very good. I would recommend them. I would use them again.

This job went well from start to finish. The sales person was knowledgeable and helpful. The customer service was excellent; they communicated well what would happen and when. They delivered the window the same day they installed it. The installation was done promptly and well. They were very clean and not even very loud despite the fact that I had house guests! The window looks great and I am very happy with the work done. I would note that the product we bought, Pella Impervia, which was highly rated by consumer reports, was only available through Pella's own stores, not through Lowe's or other Pella franchises.

The windows are a great improvement but one window was broken in transport and we were missing some screens. I had to call several times to get a new window and setup a time to get the work completed.

Very pleased with the quality of the product and with the installation work performed by a company recommended by Pella.

The quality of the product is unsurpassed. The installer (Roy) was always very professional and knowledgeable, and we are satisfied with Pella's product. One door leaked during heavy rain storms. Pella returned and repaired the door sill where the leak was occurring. We have experienced no further problems. However, getting the correct product and having this all installed was a nightmare. The service rep ordered the wrong sized doors, the screen door took extended time to arrive, and the exterior trim was weeks late in arriving and being installed. Overall, I give them an A+ for product, but an F for their sales staff and service. Additionally, we paid half down (cash) and half (cash) when completed. Their billing dept. in AZ kept billing us as ''Past Due'', even though we didn't have the product yet! We signed the contract and placed the order 3-26-04 and the job was not completed until nearly 3 months later.

Pella Window Store did an outstanding job for us. They were very helpful and explained everything. They were expensive but well worth it. They did fabulous work and we would pass this company on to others.