Harvey Construction

I've waited to do this review for about 1 year because I wanted to see how the work went thru winter & spring. The work was started 6/24/15 when they started to tear off old siding that we wanted to replace. I told Chris the owner to take particular care to seal everything as much as possible because of the way the wind blows up here during winter. Up to that time I never had any drafts in the house that we could notice. They started to put up the new siding 6/27/15. His siding guy started by nailing up corners of shake singles. He didn't appear to pay any attention to alignment. As they started to put up the cedar shakes, I said that I thought the lower edges of the shakes should line up with the corresponding edges of the corners he had already nailed up. I looked online in the Exteria website & called the installation expert. He told me how to make them line up. Then when I went back to my garage, I noticed that the directions were illustrated on the boxes. I went out & said to this guy that the edges were not lined up. He removed them & redid them. They finished the left side of the house. I went out later & did noticed some of the edges did not line up, most seemed to be at least about 1/4 " off. Chris was not here until later in the day. 7/1/15 Front door & 1 garage door was done. Put stone siding up to just below window by front door. Ran a lot of J-channel for cedar shakes that were to go above the stone siding. 7/7/15 They worked all day rushing to finish everything. Doors, windows, etc was done along with the siding, stone & cedar shakes. Tried to show Chris the stone ledge on right side of garage where it looks like it's going down to left. Told me to f***** measure from soffit. Every time something came up, Chris always said the house slopes 3 inches from left to right. Isn't that what construction people do everyday is make this look right? I said I don't care, it still looks wrong. He said they're done. I mentioned J-channel in 2 pcs on right side, he said he would order more & fix it! They drove away about 3:30PM. My wife & I went to go downtown, as I started to drive out of the driveway we closed the garage door, looking in the rear view mirror, I seen 3 pcs of siding fall & hang over the door opening. I went back & had to fix. 8/21/15 Left message on Chris phone, I asked him to call me to discuss some of the issues with the work they did on my house. siding falling down, right side of house stone running down hill right to left, etc. light blocks show lousy cuts made by someone. He came up one day when I wasn't home, fixed the stone siding so it looked right & left a tube of silicone caulk by my garage door to seal the lousy cuts.

We left in January of this year & came back in mid-February. I didn’t notice any draft before we left because it was very mild for a winter. When we came home, it did get cold with alot of wind. My wife was in the kitchen and told me she seen the curtain move. I then felt a substantial draft of cold air. I checked the new front door from Norandex & again a draft at the top of the door. I called Chris, told him & he said he would look at it when he could. He called one day & said he could come up to look at it. At about 3:30 he came up, I showed him the drafts, went outside & showed him of the cuts on the siding around the window which were quite bad. Looked at the door, the cuts around the window block. He told me they had sealed everything up tight & that somehow it is coming thru the siding. He was going to try to fix the door & was going to start to rip the molding off. I said no we had to be somewhere at 4:30. I have started putting insulation around these areas & will seal with silicone.

Now yesterday, 6/14/16 as I walked out front yesterday a Chipmunk ran away from me & went up inside this stone siding. There is no J-channel nailed there (my other siding did have the J-channel) & the siding just hangs, the chipmunk is digging a nest in the styrofoam insulation. I called Chris at 3:30 PM yesterday & left a message telling him about the incident. Haven’t heard back yet & don’t expect he’ll return the call.

I do have pictures & anyone can come look at the house.

unknown

Great. Chris is a complete professional! He's prompt and skilled and is in-tune to all details. He explained things very well and made me aware of choices I had through the process. He left the work area clean and two year slater the work he did is still excellent!

unknown

Overall, our experience with Chris and his crew was excellent. Chris's price was more than competitive, as we received estimates from three other local contractors. He was professional and was apt to make  changes in the project as requested. The addition blends in nicely with the house and really looks great. The project was finished on time and we are very happy with the finished product.

Floor in existing bathroom had to be installed twice as the first time it did not stick.  Shower head installed way too low; which he adjusted by putting an extension on it.  The tub made a lot of noise (it is a fiberglass tub), which they cut a hole in the wall and put some additional support on it and it still squeaks but not as bad).  The molding in the corners of the bathroom had to be replaced to put in aesthetically pleasing looking cove molding upon our insistence.  The caulking job done on the bathroom floor at the tub was not particularly nice looking.  In the new bathroom, things went somewhat better.  However, the door to the closet (which he created the door since it had to be a custom size) had to be replaced as the first one installed had torn veneer off the top edge of the door (2-3" strips).  We asked him to replace this as it looked bad, which he did.  We were disappointed that we actually thought he thought that it was okay to install the door looking the way that it did.  The shower leaked in the bottom left and when he came back to look at it, he did some caulking but it continued to leak.  When we called he again about it, he suggested that it was a plumbing issue, not a installation  issue.  We called the plumber (Baker's Plumbing) and he came up and spent several hours proving to us that it was not a plumbing issue.  Finally, my husband took the shower apart (it is a semi-circular shower) and found that it just needed some additional caulking along a section of it, which he did and since then it has not leaked..  He also also re-caulked the door trim to the base as it was done poorly.

I think the quality of the work was excellent, and Chris Harvey really seemed to care that the work (and cleanup) was done right. One day when his crew had left things half finished and messy (he had been working on another job), he came over and dealt with the issues himself, clearly upset with his crew. It was, however, frustrating for me. First, it often was difficult to get in touch with him; second, pinning down dates was problematic, with "next week" morphing quietly into "next month", for example, a problem that wasn't helped by the difficulties in getting in touch with the guy. There were several times when I wondered if he was still planning to do the job. I probably didn't hide my frustration well either. In any case, work that we had hoped would be done in mid-summer extended into fall, and the last little bit--replacing a single missing piece of cedar-shake siding--was done in, I think, November. And it is that trivial little bit of wood that, unfortunately, colors my entire perception of working with Chris Harvey: he put in a piece of shingle that was noticeably different from the siding we have (ours is the sort of grooved stuff with no visible knots or imperfections; what he put up was smooth with a clear knot), and while it is not glaringly obvious I certainly noticed. I mentioned it to him, he said he'd change it, but never did. I thought about not paying the final bit until he did, but couldn't justify to myself withholding a couple thousand dollars for what probably was a fifty-cent piece of wood. So I paid, but sent a letter that probably came across as arrogant and snarky; and the offending misfit shingle remains where it is.
I say I wouldn't use Harvey Construction again. I don't know if that's true--the bid was highly competitive and the work was well and professionally done, so contracting with him again could well make sense. But, as noted, the frustrations of timing and that last, trivial piece of wood really left a sour taste for me.

The work was contracted to start before Christmas and end before spring.  With poor weather and work conditions the crew was here on a semi regular basis and completed all the work on a timely basis.  If there was a delay it was either because of poor weather, the area in question needed to be opened and it was too cold, or we had ordered parts and they had not come in.  Chris Harvey the owner was extremely accomodating.

Things did not go too bad. It went a little slow, but that was because of the weather; other than that it was good. They did a good job and cleaned up all their stuff afterwards.

We did not know who to call when we came home to see 3 1/2 feet of water in our first floor. Since our neighbors had similar problems contractors were very much in demand. We found Chris on Angie's List where he had received great reviews by other customers so we called him. He came right over, gave an estimate and also brought pictures of a home he had restored. Although we had a few delays (not his fault), the work was completed in April and we had a big party to celebrate the first weekend in June to which we invited all our friends and neighbors who had helped us during this time.

Chris gave me a price and did the work as promised.

We were flooded in September, 2011 and had three feet of water in our first floor, losing most of our furniture, our appliances, water heater, furnace, etc.  He came in and looked at everything, prepared an estimate and off we went.  Six months later the house is like it never happened.  The house is actually better than before the flood thanks to his expertise and fine craftsmanship.  During the work on the first floor we lived upstairs so we knew exactly what was going on.  They crew even worked weekends to complete the job in the timeframe we needed for insurance purposes.

His work was excellent.  He and his helper were very nice and personable.  No unexpected costs- he held to his original contract price.  They cleaned up every day and at the end of the job. I would definately use his services again.

The owner, Chris Harvey leads his  crew on all jobs and is very detailed and precise. His work is of high quality and he installs it like as if it was on his own home. When he was doing the roof, we wanted to see how adding some decorative peaks would look, he gladly mock it up for us and suggested designs that were very helpful. He also found some bad wood on the roof and replaced it at no charge. He was interested in doing a good job.

The same was true on our deck expansion. He reviewed the town codes and changed  design to assure it would pass. Again, he was very particular to make sure the footings were well below the frost line. During the process, he also discovered some problems with the existing deck header rotting and replaced it at a very reasonable price.

His work inside the house was also very professional. He installed 17 windows and & entrance doors. During the process he protected the floors and cleaned up any mess. The trim work around the windows and doors was very precise.

On the siding work, he worked around me while I installed outside electrical circuits. Again, his work was very precise and uniform. The overall job was well done, about $5,000 less than other bids, and done in a timely and polite manner. He did not nickel and dime us with extras. My wife is very particular and a perfectionist. Chris Harvey is the one and only contractor she trusts with her home. Chris respected our home and my wife's concerns and gladly answered our questions.

Next month he is adding a porch to our home. We can hardly wait.

PS. He sometimes works with Lowes in Binghamton so if you go that route ask for him, you will not be sorry!