American Home Specialists Inc

We originally signed the contract around the middle of April 2013. By the time everything was totally complete, it was late October 2013. We were told that this entire project would take four days by our salesman Jeff. We were realistic that four days was not likely and had the assumption that with weather and other factors, it would be two weeks tops. Wow were we wrong. Jeff told us that all of the plans and permit would be handled by the company. We have never done anything like this so we assumed they would take care of everything. Once the start date was agreed upon, we began asking about the building permit for the front porch. This was approximately the first week of May. This is also the last time that we ever heard from Jeff again. He told us to contact him if we needed anything. I called him the very first day when the workers showed up. We were told they all had their criminal background checks and we could see them. To make a long story short, we have never seen them to this day. We were told all their clearances are is a sheet from Lowe's that said this crew is certified. I guess Lowe's is a big enough company that this could be reliable, just not what we were expecting. So for the first week they worked on the roof. The second day of the job, they never showed up. When I called, I was told they were sent to another job. After about two more days work, they didn't show again. I called again and was told it's because the weather was bad. I told them "really? it's sunny and 75 degrees. " It turns out the guy who makes the decisions is in Maryland and he watches the weather channel. So the roof was done promptly after that and looked great. The workers themselves are great. They are work horses that do great work. They however do not work directly for American Home Specialists. We constantly asked about the permit. We were told it was being taken care of. Our township is very particular about what paper work is submitted, probably a little overboard. None the less, we were constantly told yes they were working on it and it would be submitted soon. After a couple more weeks, we decided to have them install the siding on the three sides of the house and leave the front until the permit is received. After the three sides were done, we were told the permit was going to be picked up. At this point we had siding peeled back on either side of the front of our house. To make an incredibly longer story short, we talked to another employee Lino who was really trying to get everything settled. He did what he could with the information given to him. We got so frustrated between calling every person that works for American Homes and getting nowhere but yet everybody insisted the permit was ready to be picked up, I asked Lino to get me the owners name and number. He was hesitant until I did some searching and found out his name and then figured out his email based on everyone else's. This is where Scott the owner comes in. He was very up front with us and said he would do whatever he could to make it right and fix it and not lie about anything. We were essentially lied to for 3-4 months over this permit. He found out that NOTHING had ever been started for our permit. At this point it would have been really easy for Scott to walk away and us as well. He was committed to finishing the job as were we. We were very pleased with the work that had already been done. It looked great and as I said the workers are fantastic. He got everything together when he said he would and applied for the permit. This took a little long but that was due to our township's zoning board meeting schedule. Was the work began on the porch, it moved along as planned. Once completed, it was beautiful. Our home looks completely different now because of the work that was done. It was too bad it had to get to the point of involving the owner of the company in order for the job to be completed.