Affordable Deck Washington

Affordable failed to get Final Inspections and when I had the Twp Inspectors come out there were major problems to the extent of over $16,000. Since Mr Hanley would not respond to resolve this, I had to file a Magistrate's legal claim for the maximum amount allowed, $12,000 plus court cost. However, even though I won, Mr Hanley would not communicate (for over 6 months) or pay so I threatened to record the judgment and file in Washington County. I also threatened to file a "Cease and Desist" request with the N. Strabane Twp. While attending another neighbor's claim (there were several neighborhood claims vs Mike Hanley) against Mr Hanley at the Magistrate's Office, Hanley said that he would pay me the $12,000 if I would retract my Cease and Desist letter. In the interest, of moving on I took his payment, albeit I will likely need to pay more for reparaitions in the spring of 2108. Anyone thinking about doing business with this franchise needs to be very, very careful as my experience shows they are not professional, not responsive, fail to get inspections, use sub-contractors (most which Hanley said under oath he later fired). There are lots of other choices out there, so do your homework and whoever you use, stay on top of inspections, quality of workmanship, materials, etc. Hanley can be a smooth sales guy but be careful!!!

The deck was built in 2008 and this year the main beam failed. Here is a full account: We contracted with Mike Hanley, franchisee for Affordable Decks, to build a deck on our house in 2008. On Memorial weekend of this year, the main supporting beam failed. The deck did not fall, but was not usable the rest of the day. A friend and I propped up the beam temporarily and I contacted Mr. Hanley on June 1. He came out to assess the situation on 6/2 and said the failure was due to water getting into the beam (double 12 inch laminated), and said a replacement would be 100% covered under the warranty for parts and labor. While he was there on 6/2, he put up (3) temporary posts and a temporary beam so that we could use the deck. After not hearing back from him for a few days, I contacted him on 6/7 to get a commitment on when the beam would be replaced. He said 7-10 days. Again after not hearing back I contacted him on 6/15. He said he had two new jobs in the area that were near completion and which ever crew finished first would be sent over to replace the beam. He also wrote (in a text), "It's probably going to be a week to a week and a half, but I won't let it drag on for you." We left for vacation and came back on 7/6 without hearing from Mr. Hanley in the meantime. The beam had not yet been replaced. I left a voice mail for Mr. Hanley on 7/8 asking for status. No reply. Left another voice mail on 7/11. No reply. I texted him on 7/22 asking for status. He replied that we were scheduled for the day before but 5 of his 7 workers were stung by ground bees. He assured me that the following week he would focus on loose ends and we would be a priority. I texed Mr. Hanley on 7/26 asking when he would be coming. He replied that the new beam would be dropped off the next day and he would get a crew there on 7/29 to replace it. On 7/28 the beam was delivered and left in our driveway...in the rain. I texted Mr. Hanley and asked if exposing the beam to rain would be a problem since the original beam failed because it was wet. Mr. Hanley said that would not be a problem. On 7/29 I texted Mr. Hanley to confirm his crew was coming. He responded that he would try and that his crew got stormed on the day before and was running behind. No one came on 7/29. It continued to rain on 7/30. I texted Mr. Hanley on 8/1 asking if he was coming. No response. I texted Mr. Hanley on 8/2 asking if he was coming. No response. The same day, I contacted Mr. Jeff Valperga, the franchisor of Affordable Decks and Additions and gave the receptionist a few details of my situation and asked for Jeff to call me to discuss. Jeff did not call back. I texted Mr. Hanley the same day again asking for status. His response was he would be out late the same day or mid morning the following day. He never showed up. On 8/3 I went out to look at the failed beam and saw that it was much larger that than the beam that was delivered. I took pictures of the failed beam showing a ruler measuring it at 12 inches wide and of the delivered beam with a ruler showing it to be 9.5 inches wide and sent both to Mr. Hanley. His response was that the delivery crew brought the wrong beam. On 8/4, Mr Valperga called me and after explaining the situation, said he and Mr. Hanley would be out to assess the situation and, "come up with a plan". I questioned this as I thought the plan was to replace the beam. Mr Valperga responded that replacing the beam was only part of the plan, and that the entire situation needed to be looked at. He committed to respond back to me within 48 hours. We went on vacation and came back 8/13 with no communication from Mr. Valperga or Mr. Hanley in the meantime. The beam still has not been replaced and the wrong beam is still sitting in the driveway exposed to the elements.

In the spring of 2016, we had a terrible experience with Mike Hanley. He failed to uphold his promises and contract in multiple ways: 1. After he promised to build our deck in ‘a couple weeks,’ it was over 4 weeks until he started. Finally he sent his workers for a few hours one evening to dig holes, the next day to do the framing, and assured us the decking would be done the next day, which was a Friday. However, no one showed up Friday, and he left us for 4 sunny days over a holiday with only open framing so we couldn’t access our yard. 2. He changed payment terms from what was agreed upon verbally in person. 3. He did not call the township for inspections (twice) as he promised and became angry that we called the township ourselves, found out he hadn’t called, and got the inspections done right away. 4. After the 4-day delay, he demanded payment (without any kind of invoice) before proceeding with work and threatened to pull the workers off the job before they even started, literally waving the contract in my wife’s face. 5. He used No. 2 lumber instead of premium grade as he specified in an itemized email and in his contract. 6. He did not use joist support brackets as required. 7. He demanded final payment prior to completion of work and refused to send crew to fill holes and clean up as specified in contract. We had to contact the franchise director to get this completed. 8. He threatened us with collections and threatened to put a lien on our house for the materials prior to the completion of the work. He accused us of keeping food from his workers’ tables. 9. The day after completion of work, we sent payment. Again he gave us no invoice. However, he gave the wrong address on his contract. We took it upon ourselves to find out why the check wasn’t cashed, and then had to cancel payment and send yet another check. 10. He never came to do a final inspection on the project, nor did he give us the warranty as promised. A few pieces of wood warped within 1 week of the project completion. 11. He used subcontractors for the project, although the website says they have only employees. For this reason, he should be required to file a Release of Liens. Mike Hanley did not follow through on anything he told us verbally and even denied what he had said. He was rude and disrespectful. He lied and blamed others for his own lack of planning and managing.

In early April, I decided to have some work done on my deck. I wanted the old railing and steps coming off of the deck demo?d and have new railings and a new staircase built. I called 3 contractors from Angies List who had good grades. They came and I explained the work I wanted to be done. I told each of them the exact same thing. The first gave me an estimate the same day. The second gave me an estimate 2 days later. The third, Affordable Decks (through their representative Mike Hanley), kept asking for more time to prepare the estimate. After a week, I called again because I needed the work to be done by May 22 and was told that their computer was broken and they were trying to fix it, so I gave them a few more days. After 2 more days I called again, this time calling the office number instead of Mike Hanley and their computer fixed itself while I was on the phone with them?. She told me I would have an estimate by the end of the day. Mike Hanley called that evening, April 23,2015 at 4:49pm and left the amount of the estimate on my voicemail. It was the lowest bid so I called him back the next day and told him to bring me a contract so I could sign it and they could get to work. I was told again that their computers were down and they could not print the contract. It wasn?t until May 8, 2015 that Mike Hanley came to my house with the contract. I was very concerned about them being able to get the job done on time but Mike Hanley told me repeatedly ?oh we?ve got some super good crews?.they are pounding out this $40,000.00 job right now but as soon as they finish that they will be over and bang this out in 2 days?.no problem! No problem!?. As I read the contract at my kitchen table I noticed that the amount on the contract was $6200 and the amount on his voicemail was $4200. We debated this for a moment while he tried to convince me that the $4200 price did not include the railings, so I played the voicemail for him on speakerphone where he stated the railings were part of the deal. At this point I was fuming because their tardiness in preparing the contract now tied my hands for getting another contractor to schedule a crew to do all my work in 2 weeks. Mike Hanley kept promising me it would be done by May 22nd over and over and I told him that they had to be done, everything cleaned up by them and gone because we were having a party on May 23rd and I didn?t want a mess or safety issues during the party. Mike had a problem with me adding to the contract ?done and out by May 22??even though he kept swearing it was not a problem?.there was just no need to put that in the contract. I?m glad I did. I had to call my wife and explain to her the difference in quote price and contract price (which was similar to the next lowest estimate I received)??.and since we were pinched for time, I signed the contract on May 8?.telling Mike ?it?s your lucky day? that we were going to accept his number $2000 more than his estimate. He kind of got hot for a second telling me how lucky I am that he accepted this small job?.that he does $30,000 and $40,000 jobs all the time and that my job was beneath him??but, ink was on the paper so we had to roll with it.  Mike now had 14 days to do a 2-day (promised) job. Days are rolling by and no call from Mike?.I told him to call first because I had to make accommodations for my large dog. Mike called on May 13th and left a message stating that they were having a problem with the manufacturers and asked if we cared if the materials matched exactly. I called Mike?s cell phone and left a message stating that we did not care if the materials matched exactly as long as they were close in color. Mike calls the next day and leaves another message on my home phone. My wife called him back that evening and he tells her about the materials not matching exactly and my wife tells him that we did not care if they match exactly, per my voicemail to him the night before. Mike states that he will place the order the next morning. They now have only a week to do this job. On May 18th some materials are delivered to my home and left at the back of my driveway (uncovered). No one shows up the next day so I call Mike and leave him a message reminding him that the job needs to be finished by Friday, May 22nd. Mike finally calls back on May 20th and says the crew will be there tomorrow and there will be no problem getting it done. This leaves them only 2 days. I reminded him of the timeline in our contract. He had 14 days from the signing to get it done and it should have been 2 months if they had been more responsible in preparing the contract. I was traveling for business May 21 and returned home that night to find hardly any work done at all and only one guy working the morning of the 22nd. His name is Dan. Dan explains to me that ?there is no crew?. It?s just him. He asks if this was a last minute job because he was just told about it. He told me that he didn?t even work for Affordable Decks?..that he worked for another company and he was on vacation from them that week and he was just doing Mike a favor. Now I am starting to see Mike?s true colors. There was no way possible that Dan was going to get it done by himself, so I call Mike and inform him that if my job isn?t done and cleaned up by the end of the day he is fired for breach of contract. I guess Mike made a call because an hour later 5 more guys show up and start working. Too little, too late. There was no way they were going to get done by that evening. Dan seemed like a nice enough guy the few times I talked to him. I supervised a lot of his work and he was doing well. He cared that he was doing a good job. Dan came to me and begged me to let them return in the morning (the day of my party) and finish. I relented and agreed. Mike really screwed Dan. The next morning they are out there bright and early and around noon they are wrapping up. I called Mike for him to get his cleanup crew out here ASAP before people start arriving. He told me he would do his best and told me to give the workers a check??I didn?t want to do that until all the work was done and told him that. MIKE HANLEY THREATENED me that if I didn?t pay?..they would leave the monster pile of boards and nails in my driveway and how would I like that? I paid the guys when I saw the pile gone and they jumped in the truck and took off so fast it made my head spin. When I walked down and inspected the job though, I found things that should have been corrected before they left. They were supposed to cut the cement pillars flush with my patio so it wouldn?t be a safety hazard, which it turned out to be when someone tripped over one and hurt their knee.  They were also supposed to remove the dirt they dug out of my yard to plant the posts for my new steps, but instead they left piles of dirt laying there. I also noticed that the bottom of one of my stringers is cracked through which may cause me big problems after the first winter. They over-ordered some materials costing me extra money.  The one side of my deck railing wobbles which concerns me.  The trim around my deck was not replaced, which they were supposed to do. I have now called Mike and Affordable Decks numerous times since they left to find out when they will return to finish up and correct the problems. He will not answer the phone or return my calls.

I gave them a D instead of an F because Dan was a nice guy who did good work on what he did do??..even though he did not finish it.

It has now been 13 days. I guess our job was not big enough for them.

NEVER USE AFFORDABLE DECKS !!!

I have a copy of my contract and pictures of wobbly railing and unfinished work along with the voicemail with a different price than my contract......will share with anyone who wants to see them.