Five Star Exteriors Inc

I would say keep well away from this company. The owner just does not care about the work his guys do and hardly shows up on the site. He even did not want to do a final walk through to approve everything before getting final payment. He used sub-contractors that did a terrible job that involves ripping out everything they did and re-purchasing and reinstalling everything again to make it right and the owner is not willing to write a document to stand behind this and wants me to deal with the sub contractor myself. This company has lost most of the good workers it had and can’t get any new one because they are so cheap, they don’t even pay for their guys gas or extra time it takes to get to a job over an hour away. He knows if he looses the few guys he has he want find anyone else to work for him because of the way he treats them. This is the 2nd time I have worked with them and I am still waiting for them to finish and repair mistakes made on the first one over 4 years ago, so it’s hard for me to trust that they will fix the issues in this new one. In fact one of his ex workers told me in the first job when he pointed out to the owner a problem of something not being done right, that the owner said don’t worry about it and to just cover it up and not say anything. I would recommend that you stay far away this company as even though some of their workers are honest hard working guys, the owner thinks he can bully his way through your job and not take professional responsibility for any bad workmanship.

SHAME on Angie's List for advertising Scott Michel's services! Their "specialty" being windows is a sham. His crew is subpar as they placed the windows in to open BACKWARDS, bathroom tiles were misaligned, the SIDING is still falling off and I (who knows nothing about construction) called this to his attention. His misfit crew (maybe 2 but usually only one arrives maybe twice weekly) are self trained addicts/carpenters-wannabe with minimal skills. The deck (another advertised specialty of Scott's) was needs to be replaced AGAIN after it FAILED inspection!!! Scott RARELY appeared on site to oversee the job (only to meet with us for his MONEY) so the crew barely worked on the MAJOR project for more than three hours WHEN they showed up. ALL money $162,500 was paid within 6 months and is still INCOMPLETE after 2 1/2 years. Scott Michel talks a great line about how he can do ANYTHING without picking up a nail. Joe was smart to leave when he did!!!Also beware of Dawn who's his "assistant-other" and cannot do Math. DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFOR HIRING SCOTT MICHEL!

Very well. Professional, thorough, very good people to deal with. Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. They delivered completely.

The owners responded promptly to our request for an estimate. The crew worked all day removing and replacing shingles on the main part of the house and were able to button up that part before they left for the day. Good thing because it rained overnight. The crew was careful not to damage anything, and they cleaned up all errant nails from the ground before they left. One gutter was plugged with nails and small pieces of shingles, but that's probably inevitable. Scott stopped by the second day to check on things. He and Dawn checked things over when the job was finished and made sure everything was ok. If I had noticed the plugged gutter before the job was done, I think Five Star would have cleaned it out. I did not rate QUALITY because with a roof only time will tell. After two heavy thunderstorms the quality appears to be good.

Great. But the product supplier's truck tires sunk into my paved driveway. Five star tried their best to fix it and then compensated me for the damage based on an estimate i got from Dean's paving. I am very happy with the work the work Five Star did.

On one particular flat roof, I have had nothing but leaks which caused interior mold and rotting wood! They came a few times, put some caulk in the flashing and that was it, but it never solved the problem, and this happened every year! I had to call a number of times before they responded and have had to call a number of times again, with no response. I told the owner when he came again that the roof needs to be replaced and redone properly and he has not responded. They also did another roof where they put in 3-3 1/2' of Ice Shield and then shingled the whole roof. Ever since then I get interior sheetrock damage from water seeping in from ABOVE the ice shield. The owner's comment was that the whole roof should have gotten Ice shield. HELLO!!! I don't think that their employees that worked here knew what they were doing. I would NEVER recommend them to anyone.

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Scott came out to review the job within a few days of my first call in late August, reviewed the job, and gave me same price he'd bid on the job a couple of years ago (I had had to delay the work). I had thought I was calling to schedule a job for next spring, but in fact he had a crew available to start the work in the next few days and was confident the work could be completed before freezing weather came in, so we went ahead. The whole job was done within a month of our initial conversation.
     The workers who came were pretty industrious, did a decent job of scraping the (often peeling) paint, putting on primer, and giving the place two coats of paint (I hope & assume--I couldn't be there the whole time!). I did have to ask for a little more scraping here and there, but they did it without quibbles and the work came out fine. The house isn't big, but has lots of little crooks and crannies, trim and turns--none of it a problem. Did a good job of cleaning up (taking a couple of my own old, dried-out paint cans in the bargain). Paint spilled on the shingles of a tiny pantry extension, but they replaced the shingles no problem. They were quite careful with the old, scraped-off paint chips--the house is well over 100 years old so surely has lead paint on it, but they covered the ground (or roof) when scraping and took the chips away. One of the painters told me he is lead-paint-certified (I imagine the other was, too, but didn't talk with him about it). 
I have used Five Star previously (for a roof), after they were recommended by a friend, and I  found that this time, as last, they did a prompt and professional job with no muss, no fuss. Further, any time I had to speak with the boss he got back to me promptly.

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We needed a few shingles replaced.  Five Star had a crew out within four hours of my calling them.  They completed the job within a couple of hours and charged less than half what another provider had quoted.

Responsive, good job, easy to contact. (They return calls! Here in Shandaken that's not always the case.) I liked the guys doing the work, too--very comfortable with having them on property; did good, solid job; decent clean-up job. All-in-all, would gladly use them again. 

Cherry an effective - work done in short period. No mess, one minor spill cleaned as it it never happened! :-)

I worked with the customer as a handyman and coordinated meetings and service visits, the price I listed above is only a very rough approximation.
The customer was upset that Five Star didn't do a good job since the fireplace still leaked.
I returned to the home with Joe Sauer to investigate during a heavy rain, and we both verified that the problem was caused by water seeping in between flue tiles above the area which was recently re-flashed.
The customer is satisfied with the work done, and is in the process of selling the house. Based on my experience, this is a good outfit to work with.

The worker was always a gentleman. He was punctual and took care with details. He worked alone until the last day. I had to wait in The beginning for them to start work as they were very busy.

Did a nice job on re-roofing a 12 x 20' extension. Terrific guy who runs the place came out promptly to look at house and make a bid. Able to do the job within two weeks of taking bid. Roof looks good and has held nicely for a year. Nice guys--on time, polite, neat, all the good stuff.
      I'm told (is this for certain?) Five Star is a subcontracting outfit--they find the folks to do the job. Worked for me, and for a friend who recommended Five Star after his own roof was done.
     Was the price okay? Not sure--I didn't take multiple bids. But seemed fine for the high-priced era in which we live.

I was very pleased with them. It looks good to me. They seem to know what they were doing. They’re very professional.  I have no problems with them. They showed up when they said they would. They did what they said they’d do. If I need roofing, I would do it. I would still use them for something else but their price was too expensive. I got that job done quite nicely, much lower price than quality. I got a quote on that.

I had a quick response from the company last November and signed a contract, paid a deposit.  then, due to need for good weather for two weekend days, I was not able to get them scheduled to repair until June.  I understand that they were being very cautious about this but it was frustrating not to have more communication when I wrote in.  Once we got the ball rolling, and they are at the job, they were wonderful.  Courteous, timely, good workmanship, and responsive to my needs.  Cleaned up really well too.  Even helped me with a small repair no charge!!!  I would definitely use them again.

They were suppose to do a bunch of work for me. The roof work I needed done first. The weather was too cold to start deck work. We decided to wait. They never did fix the leak right. It was still leaking. They work for the roof was only $500, I paid them $1100.00 for the roof and deck. I then called when they never came back to do the deck to have a partial refund but they refuse to call me back or work with me. 

They were very professional, all work was done to the contract specifications, they walked through the job with us and made sure everything was done to our satisfaction, and they went above and beyond what they needed to do. For example, they took all the storm windows out and painted the inside of the windows. The main thing was they did a very professional job, caulking, glazing, priming, and two coats of painting, and just generally doing professional work. I would highly recommend them.

The company returned my initial call within 24 hours and I had an estimate approximately 1 day after that.
I signed the contract in early July, but the service didn't begin until near the end of August.
However, it's important to note, there were outside factors at play.
I had been away for over a week, the main scheduler was away the week I came back, and the weather didn't help get the project started.
Once the project started, it was completed in a timely and professional manner.
The manager answered all of my questions regarding the work and finished product.
However, it is important to note, I did have some difficulty obtaining a status for starting the project.
.It took a few phone calls and an email or two, but I did finally get my start date
Overall, I was very happy with the service performed and I would recommend this provider again without hesitation.

Joe at Five Star worked with us to prepare a scope of work and estimate, and was creative in generating a scope of work that addressed all of the issues yet kept the project within our budget. I was pleased that the work commenced within a couple of weeks of signing the contract, and Five Star put a competent and large enough crew on the job that the work was successfully completed within a few days. The work was well done, the crews were highly competent, and the job site was cleaned well upon completion. The agreed upon estimate was met with no overages, exceptions or hidden charges.
Joe was a pleasure to work with, and I highly recommend his crews and his company.

Originally contacted Five Star Exteriors for an estimate on painting the exterior of an enclosed porch, two-car garage and 16 window trims on house.  The window trim portion of the job required special attention, as the previous contractor that installed the replacement windows botched the job by not properly sealing the windows and left exposed wood.
Joe Sauers (Project Manager) arrived on-time for the estimate.
After reviewing the job requirements, specifically the issues with the replacement windows, Joe suggested and convinced me the best corrective action would be to re-seal the windows and re-wrap them with aluminum.  He was able to provide me an immediately cost per windows which, though more than expected, seemed reasonable since some of the window sealing work would require more attention than just a simple bead of caulking.
Within 2 days I received an written estimate via e-mail for all three elements of the job.  I decided to contract Five Star Exteriors for just the Window re-wrap portion of the job.  Joe was very courteous and amicable in re-doing the contract.  He also accepted my preferred payment schedule of 1/3 down, 1/3 at start of job and 1/3 at completion.  We established a Job Start Date of Tuesday, September 3.  He also informed me I would receive a call the evening prior to the start.
September 3 came and went.  Since weather can sometime delay the start of a job, I was not too concerned.  The following week I called Joe and left a message to see if we could establish a new start date.  No return call was received.  On Tuesday, September 17, I sent an E-mail to Joe requesting the same.  On Wednesday, September 18 I received a call from Joe informing me they would start the job the following morning on Thursday, September 19.  This was 2 weeks later than originally proposed.
This is my first negative impression of Five Star Exteriors.  I fully understand that weather can cause delays.  However,  a return courtesy call informing me that the job start would be delayed from the originally establish start date would have been more professional.
The Five Star crew showed up as planned and on time on.  Since Joe was not part of the crew, I verbally reviewed what needed to be done with the windows.  Specifically, the special attention needed to seal the windows.  This is where the tenor of the job changed.  Even though the contract stated, ?Remove existing aluminum. Re-caulk and re-seal same. Fabricate and install custom formed white aluminum to same?, the crew was unaware of the ?Special Attention? required to seal the windows.  Their interpretation of the job was a window re-wrap with minimal caulking of gaps.  Since there seemed to be a mis-communication between what Joe and I agreed upon and what the crew thought needed to be done, I halted all further work until we all had a clear understanding of expectations.
In a telephone conversation with Joe, he assured me that the crew would seal the windows as discussed.  He also directed the crew to follow through with the sealing issues.  It was obvious at the conclusion of the telephone conversation that the crew was displeased, as they felt the time allotted to them to complete the job did not account for the additional sealing work.
I need to point out again that, during the original survey of the job requirements, correcting the botched replacement window job (i.e., failure of the previous contractor to properly seal the windows) was a very important aspect of the job.  Joe, at that time, assured me his crew would correct those issues.
From this point forward I felt I needed to monitor and inspect the workmanship and procedures of the job to ensure the sealing was truly being performed.  The first day I did not see any sealing materials and I considered halting the job until I had physical proof that it was being done.  On the second day I did see physical proof of sealing material and evidence it was being performed.
This is my second negative impression of Five Star Exteriors.  I should not have to monitor the job this closely to ensure that it is being executed as described in the contract.  My expectations when hiring a contractor are they will perform the repairs at a quality level they would expect if it was being done to their own home.  I also feel that I should not have describe the job requirements in such detail.  In retrospect, I should have had Joe write the contract with explicit emphasis and language on correcting the air infiltration problems with the windows due to improper sealing.
My third negative impression of Five Star Exteriors has to do with the condition of the job site during and after the job.  Throughout the job I found myself picking up loose nails and aluminum shards from the driveway, both mine and the adjacent neighbors.  Not once did I see a waste receptacle for the scraps.  Though I was assured by the crew that they would clean up the job site, I felt it necessary to place a garbage can by the aluminum forming tool as an indication of my displeasure.  To this day I am still picking nails and aluminum shards from the driveways and the yard.  The nail situation is totally unacceptable, since the cost of replacing a flat tire on my two wheeled vehicles is slightly less than that to re-wrap three windows.
Not surprisingly, Joe was very prompt with collecting the final payment.  At this time I voiced my displeasure with the above negative impressions.  We walked the property to inspect the windows, with me picking up pieces of aluminum scrapes and nails.  Joe agreed this was unacceptable.  Frankly, this would have been a perfect opportunity for him to make amends on the cleanliness of the property by offering to have someone come back for a final clean up, but he missed it.  If ever I use Five Star Exteriors, I will certainly make sure there is a clause in the contract specific to job site clean up.
At this time I am satisfied with the workmanship.  The quality and look of the window wraps very good, but I still have a linger concern on whether the sealing was actually done, especially for those areas where chalking would not be the appropriate material to seal the window.  Consequently,  a few days later I did discover one window-sill that appears to have a chalk repair in the aluminum face.  From what I can surmise, perhaps a tool was dropped from the second story hitting the already completed window and damaged it.
I would considering using Five Star Exteriors again.  However, I will certainly scrutinize the contract a lot closer and make sure there is explicit language of the agreed job specifications.
Prior to posting this review, as a Professional Courtesy, I sent it to Five Star Exteriors via e-mail for their review and possible mitigation with an Overall Rating of ?B?.  Here is the response I received.
?Hi Tim this is Scott the owner, I'm sadden to see this,  but I thank you for your honesty and feed back. Lack of communication was the biggest part of this, as well as clean up, which i don't tolerate. And yes we should have been back to clean up what mess was left behind, and Joe should have kept in contact with you at all times. As far as the contract goes which i don't have in front of me at this time, sounds like it wasn't written up the way it was supposed to be or detailed.. I'm happy to hear that you would use us again, and if you do please call me directly so we can talk. Also if there are any issues with this job please call. Again I apologize for this, and thanks for the "B". Scott Michel?
What is lacking from his response is any mention on how he plans to remedy the issues I pointed out.  Specifically, 1) Clean Up ? It's one thing to say ?We should have been back?.  It's another thing to actually come back.  2)  Discovery tha