Southern Outdoor Appeal

Initially we were excited to work with Matt and Sunnie Channel- Matt has great charisma and talked over details with us about a deck design we came up with- offering tips on what he would do differently and truly appearing to care about the project. They provided a great design that we were happy with so we decided to move forward with Southern Outdoor Appeal. We signed our contract in February 2024 with written assurance that the project would be complete by the end of May/first week of June as I was planning my daughters 2nd birthday party that was going to be held in the backyard and needed it to be complete by then. Months went by without any movement. I began emailing asking when we would expect to begin framing, worried we were pushing close to the end of May and no work had begun and I was met with many excuses. I was then informed Matt tried to subcontract the job and was planning to keep the 30% deposit we placed in February and there was no discussion about this with him or Sunnie. They expected the company they were trying to dump our project on to eat this cost and finish what had not even begun. It all unraveled more from here when I personally spoke with three other neighbors in Circle C who were dealing with the same situation. Some of these families lost much more than the almost $6k we put down. 1+ years have gone by without movement for some of these other families which is appalling. They are STILL met with excuses as to why no work has been completed but are so financially invested they don’t know what to do. When my husband called to cancel the project and request our 30% deposit back (as no work AT ALL had begun), he was met with resistance from Matt. He even mentioned my daughters birthday party as a reason not to cancel the project- trying to guilt us into continuing the project so we could host the party. From our perspective, he likely had no intention to ever begin the project/or could have begun framing and halted work after receiving more payment installations-as is the case with other families in the Circle C area. On top of all of this- Matts wife, Sunnie, finally replied to one of my many emails regarding refund after I offered to pay $1000 for two 20min or less visits by Matt for his “time” but asked they pay the difference from the 30% deposit. In her email, she agreed to this repayment plan and even sent a credit memo. I waited months and never received any money. She finally cancelled my Venmo request days ago (which is how I initially paid them)- indicating she has no intention of fulfilling her side of the deal. They have no right to my or anyone else’s money as it appears they are not using it toward its intended purpose. God forbid something awful is going on behind closed doors for their family but if that’s the case, don’t even start a project you know you can’t finish. It is not fair to the people who are investing/trusting them. I highly encourage anyone considering working with them to not. Do not make the same mistake we did.

Southern Outdoor Appeal left us with a deck that started falling apart immediately. They refused to acknowledge their faulty work.

The project went well and we are very pleased with the outcome. Matt is a pro at coordinating the construction flow. Would not hesitate to use them again for another project.

The project went very smoothly. Matt was good about making sure we were happy with the outcome of the project. Overall Southern Outdoor appeal did a great job!

Cabana turned out beautifully. Matt was very responsive which is hard to find in contractors. I would definitely use them again.

Went excellent. Matt was excellent throughout the process as he guided us to things we weren't thinking about and made really good suggestions. Suggestions he made turned out great and we're happy we added them (things like wet bar, colors, other things that come up in a project like this). I would definitely work with Matt again because he was professional, always got back to me with any questions I had, and he was just easy to work with to solve little problems that come up in construction and projects. We always found a good solution and everything turned out great.

Matt did a great job. The biggest frustrations only came from the City of Austin, but Matt and Sunnie did a great job managing it. We paid Matt when it was done, but he kept helping us months afterwards to make sure all the permitting with the city was complete. He is a very trustworthy person and great to work with.

I would refer Matt and his team at Southern Outdoor Appeal to friends and family. Very pleased with our end product.

Southern Outdoor Appeal does an amazing job. They worked with our pool company and built everything around our pool; the stairs off of the house, a three level patio, fire pit, outdoor living room and a fence. A year later we hired them again to add a huge fireplace, hearth and serving area to our outdoor living room. This past July when our mailbox got run down we hired them for a third time. They do it all and they do a great job! We will be using them again soon for our final project, our outdoor kitchen. Matt and Sunnie are wonderful to work with! We highly recommend Southern Outdoor Appeal.

Matt & his team expanded our small, square outdoor patio by pouring concrete, extending our roof line, and adding an outdoor kitchen. He gave great recommendations on materials and appliances based on our budget. I was able to show him a picture of a privacy screen I found on Houzz and his team was able to recreate it - it looks marvelous.

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Matt Channel and his crew were very reliable and professional understanding my tight schedule to get this project done on time and within my budget. This wasn't easy project being downtown Austin dealing with parking, building inspectors, and the logistics of the project. I am already looking for Matt to do another future project at another one of my restaurants locations in Austin.

We have been completely delighted with the work performed by Southern Outdoor Appeal.  Matt Channel - the owner and designer - patiently worked with us as we considered various options - and arranged for us to visit completed projects to help scope the type of material that we ultimately selected.  Matt and his team were so helpful, and allowed us to explore various options without any pressure to select one material over another.  They gave their opinions when asked - which we appreciated. As the design proceeded, it became apparent that there would need to be some additional work done to deal with some drainage problems. Matt recommended a landscaping firm that we hired separately to solve the drainage problem. We appreciated the fact that Matt steered us to a good firm to solve a problem that could have been quite serious if not dealt with properly.

The bid for the work was clearly explained up front, as was the payment approach. Matt was very careful (and conservative) when presenting the schedule for the work - not over-promising.  Once the plans were approved and the city building permit obtained, Matt scheduled the construction and had his crew on the job as promised.  We appreciated the crew's professionalism - very clean on the jobsite with attention to cleaning up daily and making sure that any hazards were dealt with. This was important as we have two curious preschool grandsons who could have easily gotten into the work materials. Matt and his project manager Joey were easily accessible for questions, and made regular visits to the jobsite to ensure the work was progressing as envisioned.

Near the completion of the work we had a change of mind and added some lights to the deck.  Matt incorporated the changes and arranged for an electrician crew to perform the installation. All of the workers - from the framers to the man who came to haul away the leftover construction debris - were courteous and professional. Matt and Joey performed the final inspection - and Joey personally took care of some remaining details that needed to be done.

In summary, we are 100% satisfied with the design, quality workmanship, and personal service provided by Matt Channel and his team at Southern Outdoor Appeal. We recommend them without hesitation or reservation!  All of the "A" ratings that we gave are completely warranted!

The existing deck has an intricate railing design in ipe. Two other well rated companies no bid because they could not work to that level. Southern Outdoor Appeal took the job and executed it well. When I had concerns, they addressed them promptly. The job site cleanup was prompt and thorough.

We began our outdoor project with the idea of adding an outdoor living space. After our first bid from a different outdoor living company (which was very high) we started thinking about scaling back the porch so that we could possibly accommodate a pool
too. We met with Majestic Poolscapes about the pool and they recommended us to Matt and Southern Outdoor Appeal. Frankly, we weren't giving Matt and SOA a very fair shot to win our business. He was referred to us late in the game and we had already received CAD designs from other porch companies. We told him we like to operate quickly and transparently and even though we were deep in the process with other companies, we hadn't really experienced that in our other bids/estimates. We told him what we wanted, how behind he was in the quoting process, and how quickly we needed it. He freed up time in his schedule to meet with us the next day, got us the initial numbers by late that same night and gave us an official quote the next day. He followed that with the official CAD design as quickly as his team could render it. What we got were very fair numbers, without sacrificing quality, and the design fit very well with the design of the pool. We also left our meeting with Matt with a high degree of confidence that he and his crew would work well with our pool contractor and their crews. There were a couple of hiccups on scheduling during the project but that was to be expected when you have several crews coming and going and they have to deal with the weather, inspections, other work being completed, etc. All in all it was a very well coordinated effort that made the best of what mother nature gave them. When there were changes, Matt explained what changed, gave us practical options to choose from and kept them as close as possible to the original budget and design. He and his team had a high attention to detail. He was always stopping by and making sure his team was touching up stuff before we even had to point it out. Even came by to fine tune the finished product (when he didn't have to) while we were on vacation. It was a nice touch and nice surprise to come back to.
He was personable, passionate about what he does and could tell he and his crew took great pride in their work. All around a great experience. I will gladly be a reference for SOA.

it went great. Matt Channel was great and this was a very challenging job with the back of the deck 11 feet high off the back of the pool. Matt worked well with the pool company and the end result is quite impressive.

We were extremely happy with the quality of the work as well as the price for our new outdoor covered patio.  We received about 5 or 6 different quotes.  Many of the quotes tried to talk us out of the sloped and shingled roof given our budget.  Southern Outdoor Appeal worked with us to get under our budget and still have a roof that covered the patio and matched the house.
Southern Outdoor Appeal drew up the designs and plans so we got to see a visual of how the porch was going to look and approve it.
When they started, we were extremely impressed with the carpentry.  The carpenter they used was incredibly detailed and would actually walk us through what he was going to do.  
We even changed up the design slightly during the building and it was not a problem whatsoever.  Southern Outdoor Appealed rolled with the changes.
When it came time to stain the concrete, the existing patio just soaked up the stain.  Matt came out several days in a row to keep adding stain to get it to match the new patio.  It looks great.  It's nearly impossible to tell that the part of the concrete was laid 10 years before the other part.
We've had a number of gatherings on the porch since and all of our friends have commented on the craftsmanship.  We recommend Southern Outdoor Appeal to our friends and we would highly recommend using Southern Outdoor Appeal to anyone using Angie's List.

This company is run by such a professional husband/wife team. They have a staff who are also very professional over the phone. After the crew completed our 1st deck in a very timely and quality manner, we had them do our 2nd deck. The crew is very skilled; the owner is very hands-on and available any time I had a question; the work area was cleaned after completion and the whole, overall experience was was of ease and satisfaction. I truly can't say enough good things about this company. You won't be disappointed if you go with this 1st class operation!

Matthew Channel was timely, professional, and did an excellent job on our deck. We still love it 3 years later.

The work was outstanding. and the supervision excellent. They had to coordinate their work with a pool construction. I never had to be involved. Matt does not forget any details and is reliable to a fault. 
The work was done as advertised and modifications were made as needed in the most cost efficient way. Matt and Sunnie are outstanding people. I would rate their business as one of the top 1 or 2 we have ever dealt with. I would enthusiastically endorse them without any hesitation,
In addition Matt works with a fencing company that are equally as good.

I met Matt Channel, the owner, when he came out to meet with us for an initial consultation.  I found him to be very knowledgable and professional in all he did.  He showed us photos, and examples of his work.  He subsequently sent us a proposal with different options and prices.  We hired him to build a rough cedar pergula that measures 17 x 24 - very large.  Two stucco columns were added to blend the pergola into the original architecture.   We  also applied polygal on top to make it more weatherproof with some UV protection.  
Matt's people were very professional.  If we had any questions or inquiries, he was quickly on the phone or at our house to clarify.  It took a few more days than we had anticipated but in the end we are extremely pleased with the finished product.  The very last crew - the stucco guys - didn't clean up quite a well as I thought they should.  All I had to do was give Matt a call and he not only came over to clean up, he even brought over a magnetic machine to make sure all metal items were picked up in our grass area.  You can't ask for more than that.  I feel Matt always goes the extra mile.  
I would not hesitate to recommend this company to anyone.  I believe he will do everything he can to make his customers happy.

We're so glad we found Southern Outdoor Appeal and the project was great from start to finish.  Our expectations were met and exceeded.  They were very timely in contacting us and Matt, Sunnie, JW, and all involved were great to work with.  They take pride in their workmanship and it shows, we could not be happier.  We are looking forward to calling them back for future outdoor projects and highly recommend them!