J&K Contracting

Contractor gave us a written estimate - after work was done came back and said too much gravel was ordered and wanted me to pay an additional 400 dollars for the excess. I asked him what was the point of having a written estimate if the price went up due to their mistake. Paid the additional 400 dollars and he gave me back 200 dollars. Worker used grease gun that was hanging on pole barn wall and left it outside. Also, workers threw cigarette butts and pop cans all over the place. The concrete floor is nice though.

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We signed the contract in September, which gave him up to 4 months to get the job done. Finally after several phone calls, and me getting very upset the job got started in November. 50% of the job had to be given to him before the job and the rest upon the finish of the job. We were told that he would give us the warranty on the materials. It ended up we have to go to the supplier ourselves to get the warranty. Totally lied to our faces. We think , after the fact, that it was ever expensive.

The owner of J&K Contracting is very professional. He returned my initial inquiry e-mail with a phone call within a couple hours. His staff called the very next day to schedule an estimate, then he personally came out to finish the estimate. We signed the contract and made a down payment in his office. The paperwork was professionally done. He has insurance, is bonded, and insists on doing all the work up to code to protect his reputation. He is very knowledgeable and will answer questions and give advice. The cost of service (above) was labor only. The cost of materials was our responsibility, so we could choose the items we wanted, as cheap or as expensive as we wanted. His workers arrived punctually each day, protected my carpets as they worked, and cleaned up each evening before they left.  Before the final payment was made, the owner inspected his crew's work and made a "punch list" of items to finish. I was very pleased with the work.

The owner who came out and quoted us was nice. He was around when all the work was being done. After they completed the job it took 9 calls and 7 months later for them to come out and finish what they started by putting the covers on the gutters. Which ended up costing us more money.

J &K were punctual in giving me an estimate and a design (which clearly planned for 2 gates and the removal of the old deck and attached walkway). Only a few days after receiving the estimate, however, I received a high-pressure call to commit, since other orders were pending. I did it, and J&K promised to start in 30days of signing. 30 days passed and not a word from J&K. I called to complain and was told that I was being unreasonable for expecting them to honor their contract when bad weather had pushed them off schedule.  They agreed to a slight reduction in price (500). When they started, nearly 2 weeks later than the final possible start date (thus nearly 6 weeks after I signed to get on the alleged priority list), they removed part of the deck and were seriously planning on simply building over the old, rotting deck. I complained, and they said this was not in the contract. They agreed, reluctantly, to remove it at no cost. They built the deck and when I said that there needed to be a second gate, they again told me that this was not in the contract, but I discussed this with the manager and drew a very clear picture of what I wanted.  They then charged me  an additional fee for the second gate, almost eliminating my reduction. They completed the deck fairly quickly and for the most part did a fine job. When I asked about the staining of the deck, the workers seemed surprised that this was part of the job because the deck was built from pressure-treated lumber and was still too moist to paint.  Why was this not taken into consideration when I was give the estimate? I agreed to wait a few months to have the deck painted. When the time had come (Feb.) , there had been a lot of rain and I was going to be out of the house for business for several months and I agreed to have the deck painted when I return (July). I called J&K in early August to set up a date to get the deck painted. This was the start of a long list of excuses and "I'm sorry's" from the company secretary. They continually neglected to contact me and continually neglected to put my job  on their list (I had made full payment when the deck construction was completed, which, now , I realize was a mistake. Never pay until all the work has been completed!).  After the initial call in August, the deck was finally painted in November.  The paint job was very sloppy. There were huge gaps of unfinished paint in between the board on the deck . The sides of the deck were minimally painted.
I strongly recommend against using this company's services. My beef here is particuarly directed at the management, who seem to operate under the principle of "get as many contracts as possible" without worrying whether they have the manpower and time to complete them. If you do use this company, be sure to go over every detail and very clearly specify what you want in the initial contract. Also, do not pay the full amount until ALL the work is done.