Preparation: Drainage systems, Site Work, Excavation and Grading; Hardscape Installation: Retaining Walls, Walkways, Patios, Custom Stone Work and Flagstone, Walkway and Access Systems. Additional address - 314 Arlington St, Reading, PA 19611.
Composite, additions, attics & basement remodeling., azek, builder, custom, designer, fiberon, lighting and pressure treated decks installation, repair and renovation, timbertech, trex
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Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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86% | ||
4% | ||
0% | ||
4% | ||
7% |
Matt and his team did a great job from design to installation.
Very complicated job on time within budget.
They worked with us to refine the quote to ultimately give us exactly what we needed.
We interviewed and obtained proposals from 3 contractors before contacting Breyer Construction, and none of the others were able to meet our needs within the budget we were trying to maintain (approx. $20,000). A co-worker who had work performed by Breyer recommended them, so we made the contact and met with Matt Breyer within a few days.
Matt was very helpful and willing to work with us to both satisfy our needs and find a way to work within our budget. The basics of what we needed had to do with size, materials (composite and other low maintenance), covered by a roof and screened-in. We were willing to do a few things ourselves to help reduce costs, such as ordering stone to cover the ground under the deck, purchasing our own lights and ceiling fan, and deferring on painting the ceiling and placing a skirt around the deck until we can do them ourselves when warmer weather arrives. Matt worked with us to help identify those items and adjusting the price until we arrived at a plan that achieved our target.
Work began within a week of the projected start date and was completed on time by the agreed completion date even though work was interrupted by several days of rain and a major holiday. Ryan was the project coordinator and was readily available by cell phone whenever needed. We were kept informed of the planned work to be performed each day and what had been completed. The work site was kept neat and safe. Importantly, all workers were polite and professional, and there were no issues such as loud music, inappropriate language or encroachment on neighboring properties.
We are very pleased by the appearance of the finished product. Even though the project was completed on New Year's Eve Day, the guys stayed with it into the late afternoon to make sure that all work was properly finished and cleaned (to the extent cleaning was possible in sub-freezing temperatures). I later asked Ryan to have someone return when the weather is warmer to complete the final cleaning, and he readily agreed to do so.
The materials provided were consistent with what was offered and look very good. Everything has a professional finished look. When there were a couple items that had been part of the planning and discussion but had been inadvertently omitted from the written contract, they were readily provided without any debate or lengthy discussion.
We would readily recommend Breyer Construction for deck construction, from the most basic to more complex designs and features.
After the installation, it struck me as odd that the installer did not go below the ground level for the foundation stucco, even by just an inch or two. Instead, a sloppy shelf of concrete was left along the side and part of the front of the townhouse, including where the foundation met the paved driveway. The color pigment was not mixed into the mortar properly, leaving some areas of stucco that were much lighter than others.
Four months after the installation, numerous cracks appeared in the front, the side, and the back of the townhome where the patio meets the foundation. About a year later after several emails and phone calls, the person who installed the stucco made an attempt at a repair. I came home after work and saw that the cracks were chiseled away and filled in with a large amount of rubber caulk. No one had told me the repair was going to take place. I emailed the company owner and sent pictures. The company owner told me that the installer was having troubles with his business and that he would talk to him about it. It turns out, the rubber caulk was just an initial step in the repair process. After the second step was completed, I notified the contractor (company owner) that the repair was sloppy and unacceptable. The stucco had a splattered pattern, and the color of the mortar used for the crack repair did not even match the existing stucco. The owner said he would come out personally to take a look at it.
After sending him three emails in the span of three weeks, he stopped by to look at it. I pointed out the issues, and told him it wasn't done installed properly to begin with and that I was concerned about future cracks. The attempt to clean up the sloppy repair occurred on August 7, 2014. Some of my concerns were not even addressed, and the work that was done did nothing to improve the appearance of the repair. The rubber caulking from underneath the mortar repair was now exposed, and the driveway now has permanent bleached-out stains from the muriatic acid solution that they used to try to clean off the sloppy mortar.
In his last email response to me, the owner accused me of having "unrealistic expectations," that the repair was done properly, and that he was pleased with how the work turned out. He also said that he couldn't refund any money because they were $2,000 over budget on my $4,800 project. I just don't see where $2,000 was spent on the repairs, especially since cracks have already appeared in the repaired areas.
Everyone (and I mean everyone) who has seen the stucco and the repair agree that it looks terrible and was not installed properly. I wish there was a way for me to post pictures of the stucco.
This contractor made many promises about quality and satisfaction in his initial sales pitch. Although he was professional and pleasant during some of the process, the end result is that I am the one who is stuck with an extremely inferior product. I need to find another contractor to remove the stucco and install it properly, an added expense that I am not prepared to deal with.
My experience with this contractor has been disappointing to say the least. I had originally planned to use this contractor for a deck project after the completion of the patio and stucco, but those plans have been cancelled.
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