Chris Cawley Remodeling

I explained to Chris that I wanted the living room demo'd and remodeled to the point of being "ready to paint". I made it very clear when we shook hands. It involved removing old paneling, some new drywall, repairing ceiling, sanding / repairing existing drywall new crown moulding and baseboard. The entire process was a nightmare. Plastic wasn't put up to keep dust and debris from the other rooms and half of my house had to be completely deep cleaned beacuse of it.. Electrical outlets weren't replaced correctly and cover plates wouldn't even install. Nails were left exposed in all of the baseboards and mouldings. Walls that weren't replaced weren't sanded / repaired. Front porch was left filthy and covered in drywall dust and footprints embedded in joint compound that had to be scrubbed off.. Even a gutter on the side of my house was damaged from employees leaning large ladders against it. It took me 2 full days of repairs just to get to the point of "ready to paint" During the process, Chris didn't do any of the work and even argued with me about coming to look at the progress when I had concerns. On the last day he was here rushing everyone to finish and making it clear that he wanted payment. All pictures attached were taken after the work was "finished". They are a small example of how my house was left.

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Chris Cawley Remodeling showed up when he said he was going to show up for the estimate. His guys were always on time and always cleaned up. If they ran into any problems they came to me right away about what to do and how we should go with it, like when we had the wrong cabinet and things like that. They were really great.

They did an excellent job of duplicating the design and craftsmanship of the original railing. Job was completed on time at the price quoted.

I MADE AN APPOINTMENT WITH CHRIS FOR AN ESTIMATE ON MARCH 12. HE WAS OVER AN HOUR LATE, I HAD TO CALL HIM. NOTE: THIS HAD HAPPENED ON A PREVIOUS OCCASION REGARDING ANOTHER JOB THAT I DID NOT HAVE HIM DO. YOU THINK I WOULD HAVE LEARNED. HE PROVIDED A WRITTEN ESTIMATE BUT IT DID NOT INCLUDE EVERYTHING THAT HAD BEEN DISCUSSED. ON HIS CONTRACT IT CLEARLY STATES ANYTHING NOT WRITTEN WOULD BE EXTRA, SO I CALLED HIM. HE TOLD ME EVERYTHING WOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEN PRICE. I HAD HIM SEND ME AN ADDENDUM. I DECIDED TO GO WITH CHRIS BECAUSE HE WAS FROM MY NEIGHBORHOOD AND HIS ESTIMATE WAS A BIT BETTER THAN OTHERS. On MONDAY, APRIL 26, CHRIS CALLED TO SAY THEY COULD START THE NEXT DAY. MATERIALS WOULD ARRIVE ON WEDNESDAY. HE SAID HE HAD ANOTHER JOB STARTING ON FRIDAY AND MY JOB SHOULD TAKE ABOUT 3 DAYS. IT TOOK 3 WEEKS FROM APRIL 27 TO MAY 13! ON TUESDAY, THEY FOUND THAT THE FRAME HAD TO BE REINFORCED. FROM MY RESEARCH, I KNEW THAT WAS A POSSIBILITY. THAT WAS AN ADDITIONAL $1800. THAT ADDED ANOTHER DAY. CHRIS ALSO INFORMED ME THAT THE BACK DOOR LIGHT WOULD ALSO BE EXTRA BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT WAS JUST REPLACING A LIGHT, NOT PUTTING A NEW ONE IN. HE HAD SEEN THERE WAS NO LIGHT WHEN HE GAVE ME ESTIMATE! THAT WAS ANOTHER EXTRA OF $200. THERE WAS A FRIDAY, MAY 4, WHEN THE WEATHER WAS FINE BUT NO ONE SHOWED UP AND CHRIS HAD NOT NOTIFIED ME. I DID, HOWEVER, GET A CALL FROM HIM FRIDAY NIGHT TELLING ME YET AGAIN THAT "ANOTHER EXTRA" WAS FOUND. THE ELECTRICAL WIRING UNDER THE DECK NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. WHEN I CALLED CHRIS ON MONDAY AND ASKED WHY THIS HADN'T BEEN CHECKED BEFORE THE DECK WAS PUT UP WHEN THE ELECTRICIAN WAS PUTTING IN MY DOOR LIGHT, HE RESPONDED BY SAYING THEY WERE CARPENTERS NOT ELECTRICIANS. THIS WAS ANOTHER EXTRA OF $300. FINALLY, ADDING A FOOT OF LATTICE WORK AROUND 32 FEET OF THE DECK COST ME AN EXTRA $400. I THOUGHT THIS PRICE WAS OUTRAGEOUS. CHRIS SEEMED LIKE A NICE GUY, HIS WORKMEN (MARTY AND NICK) WERE GREAT, BUT CHRIS WAS AN INEFFICIENT MANAGER AND DID NOT KEEP ME INFORMED OF DELAYS IN MATERIAL DELIVERIES AND CHANGES IN SCHEDULES. THE ONLY TIME I HEARD FROM CHRIS THROUGHOUT THIS JOB WAS WHEN HE HAD TO TELL ME THAT I WOULD OWE HIM MORE MONEY. IF ANYONE CHOOSES TO USE CHRIS CAWLEY I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU GET ALL EXTRA COSTS IN WRITING BEFORE YOU OKAY ANY ADDITIONAL WORK. I ENDED UP PAYING MORE FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF MY DECK THAN I DID FOR MY ENTIRE HOUSE BEING SIDED AND ALL GUTTERS REPLACED. THAT JOB ALSO INCLUDED TOTAL REMOVAL OF THE EXISTING SHINGLES. (FALL, 2010) THE DECKING JOB ALSO TOOK TWICE AS MUCH TIME TO COMPLETE. YOU TELL ME, DOES THAT SEEM LOGICAL?

I was satisfied with the work. Beginning to end I felt like he was in a hurry. Even at the point we were wrapping things up it was like he was trying to get on to the next job. We were not carried away with the outcome of the project. It seemed like there was a lot of sloppiness with the work. It seemed to be quite expensive for the quality of the work. I can't say it was a totally miserable experience but I felt it was a great disappointment. I can't say I would not give them another chance. We did not have a lot of bids but I don't feel like it was worth what we paid. The price was average. It would not surprise me to pay roughly what we did for good work. He was fairly responsive and he was punctual. He was always pleasant. But I always got the feeling he was in a rush.