About us
I started in 2001 with a small company, Northwest Investment Realty, buying and renovating neglected houses in the Mt. Airy-northwest area of Philadelphia. As I built up tools, equipment and means to do this work, I took on more and more carpentry and repair jobs for other homeowners. In 2004, I retained insurance and licenses, and incorporated NWIR Construction. We specialize in custom renovation in old houses and bringing together the phases of residential general contracting. When we propose work in your house, I work hard to foresee as much of what could become unforeseen expenses to give you a firm price quote upfront. When we work in your house, we want to become your contractor. Our three full-time carpenters, myself included, have 5+ years of working together. Our sub-contractors are experts in their area whose work we stand behind on every job. Lastly, I give you more time working on the job than any general contractor I know.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Complete kitchen & bath installation Doors, windows & skylights Framing, additions & decks Moulding, trim work, built-ins & closets Plaster, drywall, spackling & painting Ceramic tile & natural stone setting Laminate & linoleum flooring Masonry repair Insulation General Contracting: Heating & cooling Plumbing & drain cleaning Electrical Roofing & siding Waterproofing Locksmith Hardwood floors & refinishing Masonry construction
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Warranties
Yes
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The owner is Caleb Schodt who appeared to have an understanding of the project and what it would require, but was clueless in how to execute the work. According to him, all his subcontractors were the best in their trade, efficient and paid attention to detail; none of that was evident. Workers would arrive late or not at all and would work on average only 2 or 3 hours. There were promises from Caleb about working full days and Saturdays to complete the work, but that never materialized. I wanted to throw him out, but it was going to cost me too much to have another contractor come in and complete or redo the work. Caleb would appear briefly, but there was no supervision and his "foreman" was useless. The workers would wander about the home when there was no reason for them to be outside of the immediate work area.
What Caleb predicted would take 2-3 weeks to complete ended up taking 4 months; this was a straightforward remodeling of a room that required no plumbing. Even after the work was completed, I was left with problems for which I am still trying to resolve.
Unreliable, incompetent and dishonest best describes NWIR, its owner Caleb Schodt and his subcontractors.
Sample of details of problems - New counters chipped and cracked in process of installing; new appliance scratched in process of installing; disposal was broken by them (they did bring another one, but I had to pay to have it installed since they never installed it.) Appliances (dishwasher and stove fan) did not work properly when installed; they could provide no insight into lighting for kitchen (it was part of the job, but I found this out much later.); I had to put the switch plates on everywhere, and replace curtain hardware that they had promptly lost during painting. The painting was so incomplete and sloppy that much of it needs to be sanded and repainted. There are paint and spackle splatters everywhere - walls, furniture, fixtures, and all of the hardwood floors - also the front walk, porch and front doorway. I had to scrape paint from every glass door knob and scrape every glass pane. The stairs now need refinishing because they did not use tarps and ran up and down in their winter work boots (with salt!). They did nothing to minimize plaster dust; they did not protect me or my belongings. Entire rooms had everything piled in a heap, including artwork, plants, personal items, lamps, furniture. It looked like a demolition or an eviction. Furniture was dragged rather than lifted or moved on pads, causing scratches. Wet rags were left on the wood floor causing stains.
They stopped returning to work after January 23, 2014, knowing the work was not done. They told me the trim painting needed a second coat (when I asked why it looked so unfinished), but did not do it. Once I saw how they worked, I decided I would prefer to handle it myself - even though I had already paid them to do it!! They came to work without rags, without a vacuum cleaner, needing a ladder and extensions cords. They appropriated some of my things without asking. The only reason that they attempted to return in April to complete a few small tasks (By then I had done much work, and hired other contractors for some of the work.) was because they heard from their insurance company about the damages, incomplete work and theft. (They had stolen all of my gold jewelry.) In addition I was subjected to then being called an unprintable name by an employee while the owner stood by doing nothing.
* Very messy, I was shocked how much I needed to clean up.
* Prices were way higher than estimates given.
* Overall work was good, but many issues with his crew. I would not trust them to be in my house again.
Licensing
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