When I first contacted Martin, I told him that I was NOT interested in the standard el-cheapo simulated narrow-board clapboard siding that covers so many homes. He acknowledged that and showed up with samples of other types of siding, including both vinyl and fiber-cement types; he advised us to visit the distributor to see more options and colors, which we did.
He gave us an initial estimate for both the and quot;cheap stuffand quot; (should we decide to go that way) and the premium siding we ultimately chose. The estimate was initially for simple removal of the existing aluminum siding, but I decided, prior to the start of the job, to pull the original siding off as well...I notified him and he said he had no problem, and that he'd just add $700 to the estimate, which he did.
When dealing with Martin, one must understand a few things: First, he's right there with his crew doing the work...this is not an absentee contractor, and second, he's smart, funny, and VERY direct...he says what he thinks, and if you're sensitive you may be taken aback (he's not shy about telling you whether your choices are aesthetically pleasing, LOL!). On the other hand, this is a man you can work with on the basis of handshake alone...he does what he says he'll do, does his best to do it when he says he'll do it, and he does it to the best of his ability because it's HIS name on the truck.
His schedule pushed the start date out a few weeks, but he called, as promised, a few days prior to tell us when he'd be there, what to do to prepare (take stuff off walls and shelves that might fall due to the pounding on the exterior of the house), and who to expect. He was easily within his estimated time when he actually arrived.
Worthy of a separate line in this review is the fact that he did not require ANY kind of payment to begin the job.
It took about four days to complete the majority of the job. The shutters we'd originally ordered turned out to be the wrong size (WE measured incorrectly...not his fault) and turned out to be not what we'd expected, design-wise. He re-ordered a different design (and the proper size), and one of his crew showed up promptly to install them when they arrived. It was at this point that he requested a 2/3 payment for work completed.
A few days later, after we'd had a chance to look things over and make a list of things we wanted him to look at (it was a short list!), he came by (on a Saturday) and spent a couple of hours installing a white backing board for our illuminated house numbers, tweaking a couple of minor installation issues, answering questions, sharing a cup of coffee (he likes it STRONG...which is good, because we do too), adjusting the pitch on a gutter (that had been installed by a different contractor), and generally making sure we were happy with the job.
The original estimate still holds (including the extra $700 for total tear-off, noted above), in spite of window box and house number installations and gutter adjustments that were never part of the original deal.
Do we have any complaints? A few minor observations...not complaints, really.
- It would have been nice to see more brochures without having to go to the distributor to pick them up, and samples of the shutters might have made re-ordering unnecessary (if we'd measured properly!).
- Martin is a master at dead-pan humor...don't take him too seriously unless you're absolutely certain that he's serious. He's not one of those laid-back people who schmooze...he's a busy man, and while he'll take time to make sure you're satisfied, my impression is that he won't suffer fools or prima donnas lightly. He has no problem telling you that your choice of color or style may not be something he'd have chosen, but he's just trying to save you from yourself, and we found most of his ideas and suggestions to be well-advised; as I've noted above, it's HIS name on the truck, and he wants the finished product to look good.
We've found that the good ratings he's gotten here on Angie's List are well-deserved. We gave him a and quot;Band quot; on price because, well, things could ALWAYS be cheaper, right?! We do think we got a fair deal, however.