Elephant Builders

Initial work fine, now at 6 1/2 years we are finding Severely rotted structural posts, trim, sheathing and floor joist. As we uncovered these rotted pieces, noticed use of interior ply, nongalvanized nails, lots of unprimed or painted wood and partial tarpaper. We called and he said it's our lack of maintenance or inferior paint. neither is true, in fact he painted with the top of the line Benjamin Moore. Will not come and see the hidden rotted pieces and learn from it. CHECK YOUR JOB- BUYER BEWARE!

Hiring Greg Gardner at Elephant Builders was one of the best decisions we every made. We decided to replace our porch after hassling with the maintenance for over a year. Painting it and continued to have it chipping away. We interviewed 5 companies. Two Home Depot referrals that did decks, two builder/remodeling companies and Elephant that specialized in only building decks and porches. Price wise, the Home Depot referrals were at approx $10,000, young and inexperience guys, Elephant was at $13,000 + additional design items he exposed us to that we wanted totaling $15,000, another builder was at approx 15,000, and the last builder was at $21,000. No one had even mentioned the optional design elements Greg did. Plus Greg said he would be on the job every day with his men. None of the others committed that way. I went to see three of Greg's jobs and talked to the property owners. Jobs looked great, all owners happy, one was even surprised that Greg reduced the final price because it didn't take as long as he projected. My wife and I were convinced, this was the company we wanted. And what a great decision. After Greg's crew demolition, the prior framing underneath we so poorly done and rotted, we opted to have it all removed and have Greg start from scratch. Greg told us what the additional cost would be, which was very reasonable, and then said he was crediting us from the original bid for the work that would have had to be done if we left the original framing in place. Greg and his men showed up everyday on time, and finished on time. they cleaned up, put all of our porch furniture and plants back in place and showed nothing but character and class. Extremely nice people who did what they said, exactly. Even some extra stuff we never expected. You will not be disappointed using Elephant Builders.

Greg Gardener and his crew are exemplary professionals. Their craftsmanship and attention to detail is second to none. If you need a deck built, Elephant Builders is whom to call.

Greg and his team were great to work with. They worked hard and were very conscientious in cleaning up each day. I feel they were fair in the prices and I would definitely encourage anyone to work with them.

Greg and his team were wonderful to work with! They are very professional and completed the job incredibly fast. We will enjoy our new outdoor space for years to come.

Having worked with many contractors with positive experiences, this was the worst experience ever. Greg lured us in with promises of delivering the perfectly engineered deck in a timely manner. What he delivered was a project that instead of the promised completion of August, was barely finished by November and never completed. This was clearly too large a project and he cut corners right and left. We believe he was borrowing from our project to work on others and his own home. He took weeks on end off with little or no explanation, and when explanation was provided it became clear he choose not to pre-order the next installment of materials despite having our money. HOME ADVISOR ratings are skewed, as they've never published my review, so I assume he is blocking this by refusing to verify us as a customer. In short, he was over time, over budget, hit us several times with significant additional bills not pre-approved by us and refused to complete if we didn't pay these incremental bills. NOTE, these always came immediately after a larger payment of $20K or more. He's a con and has zero interest in making the customer happy. Rather than leave a 10 page review, I encourage you to look at the pictures and let them speak for the quality of work. Note we did take him to CCB because he failed to complete the project and he did pay some restitution as a result, but only to avoid court. When asked about certain issues, he was rude and resulted to making false accusations about my husband and interactions with him. Hire someone else, there are many great contractors in the Willamette Valley, but he's not one of them. If you do hire him, get EVERYTHING in writing in your contract, down the the minutia detail, measurements, drawings, etc. as detailed as possible or you will most certainly regret your choice (we think it's inevitable).

Perfectly in our view. New material, very heavy duty compared with the old. Should never suffer the same fate as the original 4x4 post material. PT and galvanized hardware, more than adequate concrete for the posts; more like footing work. Gregory and Adam made it look systematic, as if they were putting together a kit, done many times before; truly not the case here; totally custom. We had other contractors look at the job who could only scratch their head and say "wow, I don't know...". Very pleased with the whole experience we had with Elephant Builders.

unknown

Great~! Gregory is talented, great attitude, incredibly competent

Great~~~~ Gregory puts so much love and care into each project he takes on. He has done several projects for us including an earthen wall, circular wood deck, custom unique fence, Copper Keyhole Entryway, and entryway for a geodesic dome that included stairs, benches and a roof.
Gregory's presence is very peaceful and mindful as he works and is always a joy to have around. He is incredibly skilled and precise, combining his artistic eye and ability to incorporate unique ideas with his very solid building skills.