HODGKISS CONSTRUCTION
About us
We are pittsburghs finest custom deck builder,we offer unlimited design possibilitys and incredible attention to detail that none of our competitors even come close to matching. Our cutting edge equiptment, tecniques and construction process insure a finished product that will deliver decades of trouble free performance and at the same time be the envy of your neighborhood. We offer free estimate on all projects. Detailed design work is available for a fee. We welcome all DECK AND PATIO ROOF projects especially the complex challenges that our competition tends to shy away from. Give Hodgkiss Construction a call to set up the appointment that will begin the process of designing and building your dream project, I personally guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
Business highlights
Services we offer
" FOREVER FLAT " PATIOS STONE WORK, CURVED DECKS AND STAIRS, CURVED RAILINGS AND DECK BOARDS PORCH ROOFS, CUSTOM DECKS, CUSTOM METAL & WOOD FABRICATION. CUSTOM FABRICATION OF ALL TYPES OF CURVED MATERIALS, CUSTOM TRIM WORK, SCREENED IN PORCHES
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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67% | ||
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7% | ||
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"[member name removed]: The stairs you wanted simply do not fit into the available area. I maxed out every dimension we could to fit them in the area. What your stairs are missing is an ADA hand rail, at the time they were built most municipalities were not requiring them. With how narrow your stairs had to be built to stay within the set back once the ada rail is installed the opening between the ada rail and the opposite hand rail is going to be smaller than required. Installing an ada takes 10 minutes and i was going to stop over and do it for free even tough it was not included while I was in your plan building another beautiful deck that the custom is 1000% happy with ... Then you wanted me to make an appointment to come install a rail for free that wasn't included, i was just going to stop at lunch time one of the days we were there to throw it in but when i'm personally running 3 jobs at once all over the area i'm not sure which day i'm going to personally be in which place. The stairs do not fit in the area you wanted them, I built functional stairs that meet all rise, run and set back guidelines in the given area."
"[removed member name] As you indicated I did state we do not offer painting or staining services, and this is strictly to avoid any call backs as a result . One of my employees was supposed to have taken care of the chipped paint and as a result of delaying it they have been demoted. I apologize for the delay in fixing chipped paint, a service we specifically do not offer for that very reason."
"(member name removed): I,m sorry the project was not completed as quickly as you had hoped. Since it was a small project I had indicated that I needed to do it while we were in the area building another deck. If you recall I wanted to send a guy over to dig the footing holes for the deck , and you do not want the 2 small holes to be dug before you called PA 1 call. I explained the all major utilities are buried a minimum 4ft deep and the holes would only be 3 ft deep , plus with digging by hand even if we were to encounter any utilities it wouldn't be a big deal. If digging with power equipment failure to have major utility's located can be a big deal especially when digging deeper than 3ft. We have built over 2200 decks and yours is the first time PA 1 call was called for our hand dug footers. This delay caused us to be done with the project that was intended to coincide with yours and our next job was on the other side of town, which delayed your project. I am very sorry you were not satisfied with the time frame but at the same time I am relieved your finished product was " fantastic" to quote your review. We do not sub contract out any of our projects, we use all hourly employees trained and over seen by me, sometimes this results in us taking a little bit longer to begin but it also results in a perfect project every time. Thank you for allowing us to work for you and im sorry your satisfaction was less than 100% because that is our goal. If you every have any issues or questions I can be reached on my cell phone at 412 855 8507. Thank you Jon Hodgkiss"
The results are stunning! We added a new outside room to our home. It was beautifully done, architecturally consistent with my house, and low maintenance. He used Trex flooring and PVC railings. Only a few trim boards will need painting.
The sliding door had to be special ordered because of the size of the opening that he had to fit. It took 14 weeks for the door to come in, a very long wait it seemed to me. Once it did come in he had it in place within 10 days. That job only took a little more than a day.
John does not paint, so that remains to be done. But we have been using the deck nearly every day. We could not be happier.
Unfortunately, this being my first experience with permits for contractors I didn't make the documents available to the crew or John, but they also did not request them. There ended up being additional posts required that somewhat effected the aesthetics of the deck. Had John & I reviewed the deck before construction began it could have been avoided. Also, even after some aspects were discussed between John and myself, he would fail to rely the message to his crew chief, so I would have to keep on top of them. And near the end of the project, as I was going out of town, I just happened to ask about the gate, and the crew chief had no idea he was to install one, even though it is in the contract (which I actually never saw the him reference). In my opinion too much work is done through word of mouth. I also did not appreciate the fact that they kept materials in multiple areas of the lawn killing some of the grass, including putting a large removed window face down in the grass in 90 degree heat...in two different places after I picked it up the first time (common sense).
Ultimately John did make everything right with the construction, including some overbearing requirements by the borough and never gave me any grief, which I appreciated. But, I'll be honest, it was definitely frustrating at times, but the work was excellent and I did learn a lot about dealing with contractors. Had either of us been a little bit more proactive, things would have went a lot smoother, but for the cost I expect the majority of that responsibility to fall on the contractor.
Finally something that turned me off at the end of the process. The final work was done and I needed to set up the final inspect a few days later. Even before that I received a polite call about the final payment. I explained I would send it on Friday should the inspection go fine and to expect it the following Tuesday. Tuesday came and I received another polite call, I explained I had sent it through my electronic banking and that it should then be there the following day. Wednesday still no check and I said I would stop that check and personally write one and take it to the post office. I was informed that "they needed to pay the bills" and actually came to my house to get the check (obviously the original check came the next day). I understand that someone could attempt to delay payment and they do have expenses, but I figure they know they just built me a deck, they know where it is, so I'm likely not skipping town. And I was doing everything in my power to get them the funds, short of driving to their office. Not a big deal, and it did not come from John personally, but somewhat unprofessional and concerning if they need the funds that badly within just weeks of completing a project.
I would definitely recommend Hodgkiss Construction in the future, I would just handle the project, crew and permitting a bit differently.
"Scott: Im happy you are pleased with your finished project. The only thing I would disagree with is the assessment of me not being big on details. I am VERY focused on all of the details as you can see in the finished project. When I came for my initial consultation you had about 20 different ideas of what you might have wanted built , when a customer has that many different ideas I cant really focus on the small details until we narrow that range. Once again thank you for hiring us for 2 separate projects and im happy you are satisfied with the end result , if you ever have any questions of issues I can be reached on my cell phone at [phone number removed]. Thank You Jon Hodgkiss"
Many contractors just took our idea and gave us a number and waited to hear from us. John worked with us and actually provided ideas and minor suggestion to our design to help us to get our budget number. John was onsite the 1st day and his crew took over. We had a minor issue with our steps being built in the wrong location, John quickly had the steps completely re-done by the next day from just a simple phone call.
Now the yard was trashed during the build process but his crew did a great job cleaning up after they were done.
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