K & G Contracting

Hired this man( not a licensed engineer) who calls himself an engineer to inspect my basement and crawl. He identified 6-7 cracks that had evidence of water and gave me a high estimate. He discovered a section of wall in the crawl that was disintegrating and opined on that. Charged 150 Report he turned in failed to accurately and completely address all his findings. In fact was dismissive which was a sharp contrast to what he reported while here. Went on to go behind my back and ***** the opinion of my expert. Don’t be fooled by him. He is not legally able to opine as an engineer. He is an engineer want-to-be and thinks very highly of himself.

Working with K&G was a great experience! Shortly after moving into our house, we had an engineer inspect support beams the previous owner had installed in our basement to prevent the walls from bowing. The engineer found some problems, so we talked to several contractors about what needed done. The opinions we received were all over the place, from the guy who recommended we spend a few hundred bucks and patch things up ourselves, to the one who said we could remove all the existing beams, push the walls back into plumb, dig out around our foundation and install a waterproof wrapper, put in a drainage system, and probably a few things I'm forgetting, for around $100K. K&G talked to us about what our plans were for the basement, what our budget was, and helped us figure out what made sense for us. When it came to actually performing the work, the K&G guys showed up right on time, were polite and efficient, and cleaned up after themselves. The work they did looks great! (For anyone who's curious, the $100K option was recommended by another contractor only if we wanted to finish our basement, with drywall and carpet and everything. That same contractor also gave us another option, in the $20-$30K range.)

Excellent. I will soon have them look at my basement.

The good news: The actual installation appears to be very well done. Eleven beams were installed, with a neat appearance. Concrete was removed from the basement floor to install the beams about 2-1/4 inches below the basement floor, and cement was neatly installed to fill the hole around each beam. The top of the beams were braced against the floor framing with lumber bolted to the existing beams. K&G also drilled two holes in front of each beam, and used a jacking system to press the beam against the wall. The bad news: Communications was poor, and unreasonable extra costs were generated. The original plan called for twelve beams, as specified by the engineer. Half of the long wall was to have beams, with the final beam placed near the gas line that penetrated the wall, that had previously supplied a gas grill. This would not interfere with the gas line. Ryan of K&G visited the house, and he looked at the basement and I provided him a copy of the engineer's report, which we reviewed in detail. Ryan took measurements and marked on the walls the intended location of the twelve beams. Ryan sent me a quote of $6000, and I signed a contract for this. We had already moved out of the house, and were living 34 miles away. Ryan kept me informed of possible dates for the work, and had tentatively specified Wednesday May 17. I called him on May 16 to check, and he said that it would be the next day, May 17. I arrived at the house that afternoon, and asked the two installers to show me their work. They had decided that the beams needed to extend further on the long wall, so the last one would require modifying the gas line that supplied the gas dryer, contrary to Ryan's plan. I contacted all the local plumbers, trying to get one that could shut off the gas and at least remove the interfering gas pipe, so that the twelfth beam could be installed. I was told that I could get one to come out the following week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday. I told Ryan this, and the installers still had most of the job to complete. Ryan said that he might have a plumber from Columbus that could re-route the gas line, and he would check on this. On Sunday, it occurred to me that moving the twelfth beam put it in an unnecessary position (under the porch), so I called the engineer to discuss this. The engineer said that the position of that beam was the least important, and he thought that leaving this beam out would be acceptable. I then called Ryan and told him to just delete the twelfth beam from the project, per my conversation with the engineer. I told him that no plumber would be needed, and to just install the #11 beam and the job would be complete. Ryan said that he would need to check with his brother (K&G owner / engineer) to see if this would be acceptable. On Tuesday morning I visited the house and checked on the job. I saw ten installed beams (done by Friday). I also saw that the gas line had been partially modified. A plumber then showed up, saying he had been there the day before, and was here to finish re-routing the gas line. I told him that this was unnecessary, so just reinstall the original line. He insisted that his orders were to modify the line, so that was what he would do. I called Ryan to tell him this, but he did not answer, so I left him a message about this. Since the plumber was already at the house, I had him re-route the kitchen sink's copper drain line, which interfered with the #11 beam's installation. He did this with all copper parts, which ended up being very expensive. He could have used PVC instead, and saved me a lot of money. The plumber was at the house for 2:20, which included finishing the gas line work and also the drain line work, so with travel time to/from the shop (1:30), his labor should have been about 3:30. The previous day's visit was billed for 4 hours, per the receipt. (Based on the observed work done, I think it should have been about 2-1/2 hours, with travel. Also, charging me for two round trips from Columbus, at $100/hour, was irresponsible.) In total, the bill was $1100, which was communicated as $350 for parts and $750 for labor (at $100/hour). I was told that I would have to pay this bill. This plumbing work was NOT NEEDED for K&G to complete their job. As stated above, I had told Ryan on Sunday that no plumber was needed. He never told me that he had contacted the plumber on Friday to do the work. When I asked Ryan why he didn't cancel the plumber, he said that he had sent the plumber a text on Sunday. (Ryan and his brother Kyle had a family tragedy out of town, and were traveling on Sunday.) K&G never checked with the plumber to confirm that the job was cancelled. I could have had a local plumber perform the drain line modification, and cap the unneeded gas line to the gas grill, for an estimated $150-$250. After lengthy discussing with Kyle about this excessive plumber charge, he contacted the plumber and agreed to reduce my charge to $600. The plumber reduced his charge to $850, and K&G paid $250. Needless to say, this experience was very stressful and frustration. K&G eventually agreed to delete beam #12 from the job, and reduced the job's charge from $6000 to $5500, which was appreciated. In addition, the K&G installers used the basement toilet on Friday, and LEFT IT RUNNING, which was quite loud and obvious. This toilet was not normally used by us, and the flapper hung up. The plumber heard this on Monday and just moved the flapper to stop the running. He told me this on Tuesday. On Wednesday, K&G installed beam #11 and was done with the job, and again used the toilet and LEFT IT RUNNING AGAIN. Fortunately, I visited the house on Thursday, and heard the toilet running and stopped it. During my discussion with Kyle about the high and unnecessary plumbing bill, I mentioned this and told him that my water bill would be very high. Kyle said that he would not discuss this. The water bill was $238.67 for one month, and should have been $10.00, the same as the previous month. So this negligence cost me an additional $228.67. At about $60 per day, this water bill could have been over $1000 if I hadn't visited the house when I did! I emailed the bill to K&G, explaining that their workers had caused this high bill, and asked K&G to respond. K&G NEVER RESPONDED. So although the K&G installation appears to be of good quality, it ended up costing me about $400 too much for the plumber, and $228.67 too much for the water bill. Plus, it was a very frustrating experience due to the poor communications.

Kyle was responsive and professional.

For both jobs (totaling $22,000) K&G did exemplary work. Kyle made multiple trips to my home to give me honest estimates for work that needed to be done, and he also explained to me what things were normal and didn't need to be worked on.

K&G's workmanship and technology is simply superior to that of their competitors who also gave me estimates. K&G engineers solutions that are larger and stronger than their competitors, they charge a little more because of that, but their solutions are rock solid and are designed to last for the entire life of the structure.

My only complaint is that K&G should work harder at dust mitigation, such as by using blowers in basement windows to create negative pressure in the work area so that concrete dust doesn't get into the rest of the house (and when this happened at my place, K&G worked with me and the insurance companies to get everything cleaned up quickly).

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There was a slight communication hiccup due to their whole crew going on a weeklong cruise (they certainly deserved a vacation!) and I had to nudge them a few days after they got back to get things going again. They were very good about bumping me up in the schedule due to a family emergency that arose--it made it possible for me to move into the house sooner than I otherwise could have. They did an excellent, 100% professional job.

I interviewed five of the Angie's List top rated Foundation Repair companies and decided to go with K & G Contracting.  Kyle Copeland, president of K & G, had the best understanding of my foundation problems; he had no problem with obtaining a building permit; he had no problem working with a structural engineer; and his price was competitive.
The crew arrived on time.  They were polite, professional and well trained.  Kyle stopped by later in the day to check on the job, and he worked with the crew for a while.  The job took a couple of days to complete.
I am pleased with the results and with the decision to have K & G do the work.

They did a fantastic job.  I used to have basement flooding regularly due to a weeping willow tree.  It has now been over 6 years since K&G completed this work and I haven't had any water issues since. I highly recommend them to others.

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They are the nicest people. Everything went perfect. Kyle, the president, couldn't have been any nicer. Their bobcat made a few black marks on my driveway, they came back this morning to power wash my driveway. He had all good equipment. Right inside of his quote he talks about being insured and covering his employees under workman's comp. They were on time and very friendly. 
They started on Monday, finished the job on Wednesday. It rained on Thursday, so they came out today to power wash the driveway.

Kyle Copeland, President of K&G Contracting came out to give me an estimate. He takes great pride in not only the history of his company but the work they perform.  His installers were hard working and talked me through the process along each step of the two day install.  Kyle checked in both days and his employees have great respect for him.  This company is a true asset to the small business community in Columbus, Ohio. I can't be happier with the work they performed.

Kyle Copeland, the President, came out last year and quoted the job, along with several other competitors. I brought Kyle back, along with 2 of his competitors, to re-quote the job last month (after the basement was de-cluttered and they all could get a better look at the walls). Kyle was the lowest quote, as well as being the most thorough regarding explaining the problem as well as the required repairs. His crew of 4 workers installed 35 I-Beams in 2 1/2 days, as well as repaired all of the cracks in the walls. They were friendly, hard working, and punctual. They cleaned up after the job and even moved some pipes and a toilet and sink that was in their way for no charge. I would highly recommend this company to anyone.

They did an amazing amount of work in 2.5 days.  The before & after pictures tell it all.  Cleaned up and removed trash from the site that wasn't even part of the work they did. 
Also, they forgot to deduct the cost of the estimate from the final bill.  I didn't notice - I got a call a couple weeks later apologize that they missed that and letting me know that I would be receiving a refund check for the cost of the estimate - impressive!

Kyle found a way to start the project 2 weeks ahead of schedule and his experienced and hard-working crew carefully, step-by-step and non-stop, successfully completed it on the fifth day. Kyle was here every day to check its progress and address any technical issues that presented themselves along the way.
The room now sits on a much larger and stronger foundation, supported by a large steel I-beam underneath its outer exterior wall. The floor is perfectly level, probably more than it was when it was originally built as a screened-in porch. And most amazingly of all, there was absolutely no damage to any window or door (they all work as well as they did when they were installed) and not a single floor tile was cracked.
K&G Contracting and Kyle Copeland exceeded all my hopes and expectations by a million miles or so. He under-promised and over-delivered as no other company has in the 50 years I've been dealing with businesses of all types and sizes. both in my homes and in my business. But most of all, Kyle is an extraordinarily honest and conscientious business man who really knows what he's talking about when it comes to structural engineering challenges and solutions--and proves it when he and his crews are put to the test.
Quite honestly, I expected it would cost me at least as much for repairs to the interior (which I thought would be inevitable despite Kyle's assurance otherwise) as it cost to have K&G restore the integrity of the structure. And if I had listened to one remodeler and in desperation hired them to destroy and rebuild the sunroom, which they alleged was the only alternative, I would have unnecessarily tossed $50-75,000 out the window. They say you get what you pay for. But in my case, I saved far more than I paid. I am thankful I found K&G Contracting before I did something really stupid!

They were phenomenal. They were honest. There was other work that I thought needed to be done and they could have taken advantage of me and had gone ahead and done it. Kyle inspected the basement and determined that in some cases it was not necessary to do the work at all. In some cases he said for $6 and a tool, you can do it yourself. This I need to do or it needs to be done by a professional. His price was right in line with others. I felt very confident with him and he is going to be doing some more work here in March or April.

This last work was Phase 2 of a larger project. The crew started when they promised and worked in the coldest weather we have had in several years. The work being done is much better than I expected. I have been given almost daily progress reports and constantly informed about how the job has been progressing. They lost money on Phase 1, but honored the original estimate. Also, I am asked to approve all work done before paying for anything. It's one time I trust the contractor completely. Great owner. Great employees. Pride in the work they do. I recommend them highly.

Both the estimate and the work was completed inthemtime frame given. The basement was left clean after the work was completed.

Reduced original estimate that included a portion that was hiddien by paneling after I removed the paneling so it could be inspected.
Thoroughly inspected basement and placed beams to minimize impact on shelving and utilitly sink.
Arrived on time, completed work as promised
At no extra cost, they filled in minor cracks on another wall that did not need reinforcement
 
I was greatly impressed in their effort minimize impact to homeowner while ensuring that reinforcment was placed as required.  As a former civil  engineer I was impressed me with their  structural knowledge.

A house inspection performed prior to selling our home revealed that the main beam in the crawl space under the house was deteriorating.  I called K & G Contracting and asked them to inspect the area and provide a quote for repair since I am currently living across country from the house being sold.  They confirmed that the beam was deteriorating and said that it could be fixed by laminating 2 X 12's to the existing beam.  I gave them the contract and the job was completed within a couple of days of receiving their quote.  I am unable to verify the quality of the job but from their professionalism, I am sure that it was done to the highest standards.

Overall the process was very smooth. Steve took our information and set an appointment for us with Kyle. Kyle came out and gave us an estimate. The price was in line with several companies, and lower than several others. Kyle was the only one who built the cost of a permit into his pricing. Other contractors tried to "save me" money on the permit, saying we didn't really need one. As someone looking to list their house for sale, it was very important to us that the job be done right. We felt confident Kyle would do a good job so we picked him. In the end we were very satisfied. The only frustration was that our date got pushed back a bit. I wish they'd have given me more of a range until they had my signed contract in hand since I returned it pretty quickly yet still had to adjust dates. It wasn't a big problem but just would have been nice to stay on the schedule initially presented. 

They were easy to work with, provided good work, and provided excellent information!