Clare Home Improvement LLC

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I have used James since I moved to the area in 2002. He has always been honest, responsible, remodeled two bathrooms for me, built deck etc. I recommend him highly.

Contractor was very personable at the start. Knew what I wanted and gave me a price with the promise that it would be perfect and done in 5 days.

Walls, ceiling and floor demolished. Moved a pipe to inside a wall and dropped the ceiling to even it up with old tub enclosure. He did replace 3 ceiling light fixtures for me in kitchen and hall as an extra. Then the problems began. He would show up for a few hours here and there and bring in workers and leave. Mistake after mistake began. Hole for recessed medicine cabinet cut too big and taping of sheetrock kept bubbling. (Humidity didn't help and it took 3 days to dry) Painting done and sub floor laid. Cut wrong so that it scratched the newly painted walls. Recut and repaint. He had suggested painting an old door that was on bathroom and I said ok. When painted, however, it looked awful. Big split in wood that could not be repaired. I suggested a new door. Seems to me he should have suggested it. He made a comment that a new door was not in the price he quoted but he did it anyway. Wood is split where he put in doorknob and it is hung crookedly. The moulding around the door wasn't cut correctly  and so it is split and sits about an 1/8   of an inch away from the wall. Came on 15th day and said he was finishing that day. I had to watch his worker and catch mistakes - some I didn't until too late. The tile was cut wrong on last line of floor so that tile does not match up evenly. As grouting started, I noticed the color was not right. Contractor had mixed the grout and neglected to mix in the colors. The end result of rushing through on one day was shoddy work. Taped areas of sheetrock bubbling, brushstrokes seen in painting, towel and toilet paper bars slanted (I told him before he left but did not fix it), trim cut wrong  around window and put on BACKWARDS! , left a piece of old tile sticking out from under tub surround, garbage thrown out window and left on lawn and in plants, sawdust all over plants and garage, grout uneven in spots, paint from trim left on wall and light fixture, damage to trim, floor tiled unevenly, and so on. Told the job would be perfect, it is far from it. No respect for my home. Said my home was cursed! Paint on screen door and marks on porch steps. Everything in every room covered in dust and dirt. He even painted over old wood sashes and door trim without sanding. There must be 10 layers of paint on these pieces and you can see chipping underneath. I would expect a contractor to bring something like that to my attention and tell me that we really should change that trim. Add a few bucks to the price and make it perfect as he said it would be. As days go by I find more and more problems - simple things like toilet bowl seat being loose and pull up plunger in sink coming apart. He rushed this job through on his last day here and made mistakes over and over again. Kept getting annoyed when I pointed out things that weren't right. I got an estimate from someone to redo his work and fix his mistakes. I sent him a letter with the estimate of $1100.00 and photos. I asked for a refund of $2000.00 because the estimate did not include rehanging door, re grouting, replacing door mouldings , repainting the hallway where paint was chipped by his equipment, cleaning up the debris left behind and replacing the screen in my door that has the paint on it. I asked for him to respond.

It has been 15 days since he received my packet (according to USPS delivery confirmation services) and I have not heard a word from him. What a way to treat a customer. Such a shame. Will have to persue this further.

At first I was happy, but the team was unprofessional and had to borrow my tools to get the job done.  The molding around the window was not hung correctly and the trim had large gaps in it.  He promised to fix it but never did.  They are very affordable but the craftsmanship is just mediocre.

I have used Clare several times over the past 15 years without any problems. Called Clare for this job, owner of Clare said he had a few things going on, but could get me the 2 best carpenters in town and he would supervise the job. Well, the 2 best carpenters had a hammer in one hand and a phone in the other. Job took way longer than it should have.  It seemed fine when they finished and I paid the owner of Clare. Needless to say, several months later a whole 8 foot section of railing had come loose and fallen off the deck.  Why, because they stapled the railing together!!!  Called Clare, the owner came over and fixed the railing and shored up the rest  of the railing with screws.
About a year later, we noticed the middle part of our 30 foot long deck railing was bowing out about 3-4 inches from the rest of the railing.  Called Clare again, he complained about the workmanship of these guys and how it keeps haunting him. He came and took a look and said he could shore up the railing. Well he threw a few lag bolts into the deck and snuck out without saying a word. The railing should have been totally rebuilt, those lag bolts made no difference in the bowing. But Clare refused to do the right thing.

Everything turned out very well, we are 100% satisfied. They did a beautiful job.