DECKS & MORE BY DAN CAUDILL

PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!!!! Make certain EVERYTHING you want is in writing! Seek out references and work before hiring! We asked for a deck to be built off our swimming pool. We contacted Decks by Dan (Dan Caudill) and were assured by Dan that he could do the job and that he had done this type of work before. We specifically told him what we wanted and he assured us it was not a problem. A wood deck off the pool, the deck floor to be a couple of inches off the top of the pool wall, and specifics on how we wanted the railings to look. During construction, however, we noticed the floor of the deck was quite high, over a foot higher than the top of the pool wall. We questioned Dan as to why this was, explained to him that a ladder would not be tall enough to mount to the deck, and his comment to us was ?you asked for it this way.? We were mortified. At this point we realized we were going to have issues with finding a ladder tall enough to mount to this deck floor. There isn?t a ladder made than can extend that high. Dan had no solution to offer us and unfortunately the deck was already up and he didn?t appear to want to remedy the situation. The next issue came when the railings were to be installed. Prior to construction he assured us he would do what we had wanted. Unfortunately, when the time came to begin work on the railings, his comment to us was ?I usually don?t do it that way? and began showing us ?his way?. It basically looked as though he was going to ?piece and part together? the railings. So as not to make the deck itself look even worse, we opted for vinyl railings. Unfortunately, that also added an additional expense. The deck was finished but completely unusable for its intended purpose as no ladder would sit inside the pool and extend high enough to mount onto the deck, as the deck itself was built much too high. We tried contacting Dan to advise him of the situation, and after a couple reminder emails, he finally answered, but with no suggestions. We made several attempts at contacting him again asking him to rectify the situation in a professional manner, this time with no response. We have since had to hire someone else to cut out our deck and build steps in order that a ladder could be used. Again at additional costs. The entire situation was a complete nightmare.