FRIAR HOME IMPROVEMENT

Our new addition looks better then I could of ever imagined !! Mike the owner came out right away for our estimate and gave us a price we could afford. All of his workers were super nice guys and got the job completed ahead of schedule. We are thrilled with the results. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a remodel.

Was supposed to be a 3 month job. Fired Mike & finished myself after 8 months. Mike is nice as can be when he wants money then turns into a real *******. The workers did good work when they were here but Mike is the Problem. King Bullshiter & Liar is what he is. Beware of him

Returned my initial phone call quickly. Came to the house to review the project but never followed up with a quote or phone call. It may be why he didn't follow up, but he also didn't seem open to doing things differently, such as a drop ceiling rather than drywall, or steel framing and water resistant wall board (the ideal way to finish a basement).

Friar  is currently working up a design and estimate for my kitchen and bath rehab.

We contracted Friar in April, 2011.  Tear out began in May, 2011.   We were told the job would take approximately 4 weeks.  At the beginning, work progressed . In June work slowed ( right after we paid him our third installment). Work stopped to the point that we did not hear from Friar Home Improvement or Mike M. for weeks at a time. We had to initiate any communication wth him by many phone calls and text messages. After these contacts, we would see someone for a day and then no more contact for weeks again. At this point, Mike had at least 80% of the money owed to him plus many overages we paid for fixtures and other items that his low allowances did not cover.  We feel that at this point, our job became low priority.  The job was finally complete in October, 2011 , only after a complaint was made to the Better Business Bureau.  Our 4 week job took almost 6 months.

We contracted Mike Midagliotti owner of Friar Home Improvements to complete remodeling of a upstairs bathroom, replace a roof,correct some plumbing issues, correct some electrical issues, replace an entry door and patch some small holes in walls. After recieving first payment of two our roof was done and we were given the run around for approx. 9 mths. Eventually Mike agreed to let us out of contract if we would give hime more money for a list of work he had not done. This I guess was what we had to pay to avoid a lien/court. This contractor would make speratic visits to do work only to cause more damage to our home! Beware!!!

Lord. Where to start. Reading the 3 previous reviews here gives me deja vu. First I will say that in the end the workmanship was fine, we just had to beat our heads continually on a wall to get there. I should have known when there were no reviews of them on Angie's List last year. I have since learned. We met Mike the owner at an Expo and he was very attentive during the planning phase and was willing to use our designs. I asked him for references and he gave me a list of names. I called 2 of his former clients and was told this by both people: "We really liked Dan (who does most of the work) a lot. He did a beautiful job on the work and the manager Brian is great but it took many many months longer to complete the job than expected. And Mike disappears unless he is calling you to ask for more money". This is EXACTLY what we experienced. I even brought up these concerns with Mike at the beginning and he brushed it off, saying that these people had made big changes mid-stream and this always throws off the schedule. There is not enough room here to detail all of the headaches but it took about 10 months to complete what he said would take 2 months. For 6 months (last summer) we slept in the hot attic and used the basement bathroom. I finally figured out, after 3 months, that I had to directly communicate any requests/complaints directly to Dan, who did most of the work, or to Brian the manager. ANYTHING that was communicated to Mike would be forgotten. (For example one day I asked if the custom bathroom window had been ordered yet. "Window? What window?" was the workers bewildered reply. Later when I started to complain about how long it was taking, Mike pointed out that they'd had to wait for things "like the window". I almost slapped him.) We'd made a deal with Mike that he would give us a good price on the furnace/water heater if we would give him more than the usual money up front ($37,000). Big mistake. In the end, with no workers in sight for long stretches despite promises by Mike, we ended up holding the remaining money hostage in order to get them to finish. In October Mike called to beg for more money and I said "No. Not until you are finished." He swore that they "would be done in 7-10 days". I agreed stupidly to pay him half of what he asked for and then nobody came for a week. I had been VERY patient to this point but finally called Mike and completely lost it on the phone. I yelled that he was not getting 1 more penny and BTW the "custom doors" on which he was blaming one of the delays sure did not look like they took 6 weeks to make; they looked cheap. He lost it and screamed that they were of high quality craftsmanship and I had no idea what I was talking about! (1 month later, these doors warped and had to be replaced.) Also any worker except Dan was sloppy and the work had to usually be redone after we complained to Brian. They got the last $3000 ONLY after the last complaint was resolved....finally.

We signed a contract 1/1/07; as of 10/10/07 we're still waiting for a cabinet door. Majority of the work was still continuing in July. Except for the removal of original materials (cabinets, tile) no cleanup performed. Sink came scratched up, floor has corners of the flooring coming up. We had to demand ceiling be replastered (which they did) because job was so bad (no cleanup after either ceiling). We were told that drawers can't be made exactly same widths and line up because "wood is a natural material that can't be cut exact." Drawer sizes don't hold what was promised: a 13in. X 5.5in drawer is only 9.7inX2.5in. No one could be reached to discuss job except when it was time to get more money. Owner yelled at my wife (brought to tears) and we nearly came to blows because of his temper, even though I am a recovering stroke victim. Canned ceiling lights were placed to butt against cabinets instead of a foot or 2 away like we wanted. They re-grouted the tile 3Xs but didn't get it right

EMPLOYEES WERE GENERALLY GOOD, SOME SUBCONTRACTORS WERE GOOD, OTHERS WERE TOTAL SLOBS. QUALITY OF MATERIALS WAS GOOD. PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE LACKING. PROJECT DURATION WAS VERBALLY QUOTED AT 3-4 MONTHS, TOOK 13, WITH APPROXIMATELY 8 MONTHS WITHOUT A FUNCTIONAL KITCHEN. PROJECT COULD HAVE BEEN FINISHED AT LEAST 16 WEEKS EARLIER BECAUSE THERE WERE TWO THREE-WEEK PERIODS WHERE NO WORK OCCURRED AND ONE 10-WEEK PERIOD WHERE WE NEITHER SAW NOR HEARD FROM ANYONE.

THEY PROMISE TO SEND SOMEONE OUT TO FIX THE WARPED DOOR. THE FACTORY SENT A NEW DOOR TO BE INSTALLED IN PLACE OF THE WARPED DOOR. BUT THEY WON'T SEND THEM OUT AND WE ARE STILL WAITING A YEAR LATER FOR THEM TO COME OUT. FROM BEGINNING TO END HE IS CONSTANTLY LATE. IT TOOK THEM ABOUT 7 MONTHS TO REMODEL OUR KITCHEN. WE CONSTANTLY CALLED AND THEY WOULD PROMISE TO DO THE WORK. THE WORKERS WERE PLEASANT AND DID GOOD WORK BUT THE MANAGEMENT WAS BAD. THE CERAMIC FLOOR IS UNEVEN IN THE KITCHEN AND IN THE FOYER. THERE IS A CRACK IN THE SILVER WARE DRAWER, 1 OF THE PLUGS IS NOT GROUNDED. HE CRACKED A DRAWER THAT IS BY THE STOVE.

WHILE THE OVERALL WORK WAS PRETTY GOOD, NOT PERFECT, AND THE WORKERS WERE NICE, THE COMPANY TOOK NINE MONTHS TO DO A JOB THEY SAID WOULD TAKE THREE WEEKS FROM THE DAY STARTED. THEY WOULD COME FOR A DAY OR TWO AND THEN NOT SHOW UP FOR TWO WEEKS. THEY WOULD NOT RETURN MY CALLS GENERALLY. I FINALLY GOT AN ATTORNEY AND THREATENED LEGAL ACTION, THE WORK WAS THEN COMPLETED.

HIRED OUT SUB-CONTRACTORS TO DO THE JOB

HIRED OUT SUB-CONTRACTORS, WERE VERY EXPENSIVE, DOES NO WORK THEMSELVES

THE ACTUAL WORKERS DO EXCELLENT WORK, THEY ARE VERY COURTEOUS AND FRIENDLY. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEY ARE MANAGED VERY POORLY. I HAD TO PAGE OR PHONE THE OWNER TWO OR THREE TIMES B4 I WOULD GET A RETURN CALL. HE CONSTANTLY FORGOT TO PICK THE TRASH UP OFF MY LAWN. HE PROMISED ME SEVERAL TIMES THAT SOMEONE WOULD BE AT MY HOME TO DO SOME WORK AND NO ONE WOULD SHOW UP. IT TOOK 6 MONTHS TO COMPLETE THE JOB.

THE ACTUAL WORKERS DO EXCELLENT WORK, THEY ARE VERY COURTEOUS AND FRIENDLY. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEY ARE MANAGED VERY POORLY. I HAD TO PAGE OR PHONE THE OWNER TWO OR THREE TIMES B4 I WOULD GET A RETURN CALL. HE CONSTANTLY FORGOT TO PICK THE TRASH UP OFF MY LAWN. HE PROMISED ME SEVERAL TIMES THAT SOMEONE WOULD BE AT MY HOME TO DO SOME WORK AND NO ONE WOULD SHOW UP. IT TOOK 6 MONTHS TO COMPLETE THE JOB.