Matt's Custom Decks

Matt's Custom Decks was fantastic. We originally bid the job as a whole 14'x30' covered patio integrated with our existing roof line of the house along with a 14'x8' L-shaped kitchen. The bid price for the kitchen was higher than we wanted, but the covered patio was exactly what we expected. We signed the contract to build the patio while we worked with Matt (and a few other potential bidders) on options to reduce the price the price of the kitchen. We mutually agreed that there was some wasted spaced and reduced the size a bit. He worked with his granite supplier and fabricator and with the kitchen equipment supplier to get some savings. At the end, he was able to get the kitchen back to a price where we could proceed and still get what we wanted. Overall, I couldn't be happier with the patio and kitchen. Matt and his team did a fantastic job with the installation. It was done well and managed very professionally which was tough for them since we were also having a pool installed by a different builder at the same time. They did an excellent job on the detail work. The fit and finish looks great. The material selection really works well. The brick is an exact match of our house. (Note: our brick has been discontinued, but we found a batch of brick that was an exact match from the original house build at one of the ACME plants about 100 miles away. Matt didn't question or upcharge us - he got the exact batch delivered with no issues). The carpentry is very well done (tongue and grove vaulted ceiling, matching brick on the kitchen, color matched roof shingles, large column lines, quality granite installation) and the kitchen equipment that he uses is very nice. I can't say enough good things about the service, work, and support of Matt and his team.

Matt and his crew had done an incredible job. With the strange angle we had from the house to the garage, he tied it all in very nicely. They are truly great craftsmen and work well together. Walked us through the project each day and gave us suggestions for color and material choices and it worked out beautifully. We couldn't be happier and I would highly recommend  Matt's Custom Decks for any outdoor additions. Thanks again for a wonderful patio to sit out on and enjoy!

Couldn't have asked for a better experience when doing a major home renovation. Matt or Adam kept us up to date on all progress and promptly notified us of any changes. They handled all paperwork and applications required by the HOA. After the actual work started, the patio was done in a timely manner and all work was done as promised.

We had a patio built in our backyard.  We interviewed many contractors for the job.  Matt was not the most expensive or the least expensive.  We chose him based on how he responded during our interview with him and we called some references.  He seemed very capable and had some photos on his website of patios similar to what we were looking for. 

Both my wife and I worked and we have dogs in our backyard.  Being timely was very important for us because we had to put our dogs up, and at the time of the work there were day time break-ins occurring through the back yard bedrooms in the neighborhood; so, it was important that our dogs were out patrolling the entire back yard to deter any would be burglars while we weren't home. I would say that timeliness for the subcontractors was hit and miss.  Sometimes they would show up when they said but other times they wouldn't show up until hours after they were supposed to be there or they might not show up at all. 

I would have liked to see them do a bit better cleaning up for each day, but I guess it wasn't the worst.  There were always buckets of nails on the ground and trash and debris.  I suppose you would probably find that with most jobs.  Our yard is still damaged from the construction nearly a year later.  We still don't have grass growing near the patio and the ground is very unlevel where they dug to put the gas and drainage lines.   

Because I cared about how this project was going to turn out and wanted to think about what I wanted, I actually spent time to lay out some rough plans of what I was thinking in a CAD program.  I gave this layout of my plan to Matt (and the other companies we interviewed) for quoting purposes.  He came back with the quote and agreed to our payment plans.  We awarded him the work.  When we started to have some issues about details, I asked Matt for his detailed plans.  He never provided anything.  I honestly think he was using my layout and they were kind of just going by what they had done in the past.  This was extremely frustrating to me because they would start to do something or put something somewhere without even asking my wife or me about it and in these instances what they were doing would have taken away from aesthetics or would have been much less functional, or both.  I would have to stop them and ask them to change what they were doing.  Much of the time I felt like I was doing the work of the contractor (Matt's job) and making sure that the work was being done properly to what was agreed. 

They were supposed to tear down all but one beam on our breezeway that runs from our house to the garage to build it wider.  The contractors simply built on top of the existing structure.  When I called Matt's supervisor about it, instead of him agreeing that is was not correct, he wanted me to explain why it was a problem.  I talked with Matt and Matt agreed that they shouldn't have been building on top of the existing breezeway and that he would come out the next morning to look.  He did show up to look and agreed that it was not correct, and after he left, the roofers showed up to start roofing over the structure.  I again had to call Matt's company and talked to the supervisor again who was seemingly irritated by my insistence that the roofers not roof over that section that was built improperly.  Ultimately, the breezeway was torn down and rebuilt the proper way.  Next, I had to argue to get these guys to strap down the main beams of the patio to the walls of the existing structure.  We live within the 90-110 mph Hurricane wind zone and it doesn't help much to use hurricane clips on the roof rafters if the beams they are strapped to are not anchored to anything.  They did finally strap them down, but they were not going to.  We had an outdoor kitchen installed and they ran a gas line for the grill.  They had no intentions to put a sleeve on the outside of the gas line.  You need this for two reasons: 1) if you need to replace the line you can easily pull it out if it is in a conduit and run another line in if necessary, and 2) the gas can escape should you develop a leak.  I had to ask them to do this and again they ultimately did it but not without some insistence on my part.  I also had to ask that they put a tracer wire on top of this PE gas line so that utility companies could actually find it with their detectors should I not be around to point it out. 

I had the cement contractors put down a bed of crushed granite and bank sand under the concrete slab.  We have terrible clay in our area and the granite and sand will help limit some of the movement from the clay hydration and dehydration.  As an important tip, make sure the brick absolutely matches the house if they have to knock out any brick in your home.  The actual order of brick may not match as good as the samples you look at.  Get an actual brick if possible.  The brick we got for the patio was much redder than what was on the house and what the samples looked like.  The brick layers were able to do some things to make them look like more of a match to our house.  Ultimately, it was a good thing I was able to find some old bricks from the house to fix the hole in the side of our house; otherwise, we would have had a bad mismatch on our house and a real problem.  The electricians that did the wiring for the outdoor patio were a couple of hacks.  The dimmers they used do not appear to be very good quality.  The lights flicker on any setting below full brightness.  They told me I had a problem with one of my volume switches when it turned out they just didn't know how to wire a speaker (or didn't want to).  They did everything haphazard.  The switches were crooked and cut marks went beyond the cover plates of the switches.  They didn't align the speakers or bother to make them straight.  When I questioned them on it they stated that a stud was in the way.  They straight out lied about it and I caught them on it.  Matt was willing to redo it, but I did not want to wait more time and deal with more construction and frustration, and I definitely did not want those electricians back at my house.  By this time we were sick of it all.  Finally, the quality of the outdoor kitchen seemed a bit lacking.  The sub-frame was sheet metal that was screwed together.  Other companies actually discussed welded frames.  Had Matt provided me a plan of any sort we could have discussed this.  It may last a while.  I do not really know, but the welded frame would have definitely been stronger.  I felt like Matt did not oversee our job close enough and was counting on his subcontractors to do the job right.  I realize that he tries to keep these subcontractors happy so that they help him out, but it seems to be at the expense of the person he is doing the work for. 

To his credit, Matt ultimately did what we asked of him and was pretty accommodating, but I felt it was too much of a struggle and lacking in detail for someone that is rated an "A" on Angie's list.  It did not seem that he was building our patio to last.  Before anyone does work, make sure they are working to detailed plans and that they go over them with you to make sure you are on board.  I felt like I had to work entirely too hard for this project, and they were the ones getting paid. 

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Matt was on sight almost every day.  The job went off without a hitch and the patio cover looks like it came with the house.

The installation was started and completed on time without a single issue. Every sub (framer, roofer, painter electrician....) was timely and professional and cleaned up after themselves every day. Matt made sure the job was completed to our satisfaction. It turned out better than we anticipated and everyone thinks that it was part of the original house - not an addition.

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Absolutely beautiful stone and woodwork!!!!!!

They showed up on time and the quality of the work was great! They cleaned up after themselves and even moved some lawn sprinkler heads for us at no extra charge. They did what they said they would do and more and showed up when they said they would. I have referred them to a friend.

I know I received at least half a dozen bids and was actually referred to Matt's Custom Decks by a landscaper I had out for a separate bid.  Matt's quote was probably in the middle in terms of cost, but I felt as though he had the right mix of price, experience, and attitude for a quality build.  I did not have confidence in some of the other bidders regardless of prices and my gut kept telling me Matt was the guy for the project.

When I say that they expanded 12'x35' to our 10'x14' existing patio, they actually tore it down and rebuilt it too from scratch so that it is all basically an entirely new patio.  It looks phenomenal and was really the only way to do it right.  The rebuilt area is constructed so much better than it previously was and the entire area is build like a beast!

The best intangible of this project was that it went really smooth.  There were a couple of really minor issues, but things were fixed without issue and stress!  The crews that came out to the house were always very organized, punctual, hard working, and cleaned up very well after themselves.  I actually saw one guy picking up small concrete drippings out of the grass in the back yard!

Matt was always within contact if I needed anything and the project manager Brandon was very responsive and let me know what and when to expect different crews.  Matt is very professional and personable and I would recommend anyone looking for these types of services to contact Matt.  I've already had a couple neighbors check out our project during and after construction and have already contacted him for bids prior to my project even being completely finished!

Very very pleased. Attached to existing roof to make it look as if it was original to house. Stained underside of patio for natural look, added lighting and fan fixtures and refinished concrete. Cost was a littler higher than another contractor, but the finish work was far beyond what we expected. Have recommended his service to friends. And would not hesitate to use his professional service again. His crew were on time, always professional, they kept the site clean all the time. We had existing pool and was worried construction material would make it in pool, but this never happened.

Matt's team did an excellent job and we were very pleased with the finished products. I must say the price was slightly high for me, but my wife said and quot;you get what you pay for?and quot; Isn't it so true? Before I made my final payment, Brandon, the building supervisor made sure that I was completely satisfied and gave me a weekend to inspect the entire project! The project was about two weeks behind schedule, primarily due to heavy rain in Jan. 2013. When I was not too happy with the finish of the roof, Brandon had the roofer came back to even out the cement underneath the roof tiles, as they are right in front of our sight line from the up-stair balcony. Again,they make every effort to give us what we wanted. Finally, Chris, who did most of the cleaning, did a h*** of a job in making sure that everything was complete clean and put back in place.

Matt was actually referred to us by Bob at Houston Patio Covers (highly rated on Angie's list as well) because we live in Magnolia and he doesn't work this far North of Houston. Matt called immediately and we made an appointment for him to come out and talk about what we wanted. He was early to the appointment, and after a bit of discussion and looking at pictures of previous projects and our home, we decided on the open gabled patio cover. A couple of days later, Matt sent us the schematics and quote. We considered the price very reasonable, and Matt made an excellent first impression, so we opted to go wih him and forego other bids.

Once we accepted his proposal, Matt went to work getting the project apporoved by our POA, no small feat, believe me. In less than 3 weeks, he had answered all their questions and we had the approval letter in hand on a Thursday afternoon. We expected to wait a couple of weeks for the project to start, but when I let Matt know we were approved, he said and quot;We'll be out next Tuesday at 8:30 AM to get startedand quot;.

I worked from home for the first 3 days just in case anyone needed access to the attic, or breaker box in the garage, etc. during the beginning phase of construction. Matt or Marvin were there every morning to check on the previous day's progress and let us know what was going to be done that day. The crews were very professional and efficient, and they had the site cleaned up very well at the end of each day.

The entire project, from start to finish, took just over a week, less than half the time allotted in the quote.

The end result is absolutely beautiful. Everyone says it looks like it was part of the original home construction. Our home is 7 years old, so that is quite an accomplishment. I can't say enough good things about Matt's Custom Decks and I have zero negatives. I would recommend Matt to anyone and have already referred him to several people at work and in our neighborhood. Bottom line, you can't go wrong with Matt's Custom Decks. Thanks Matt!!

On the first scheduled day (Tuesday) the team showed up as expected. They were very professional and appeared to have worked together for a long time. The figured out the framing and built that aspect and started with some of the finishing work. They cleaned up after but not completely since this was just the first day.

On the second day they continued including putting on the tech shield roof that I paid $200 extra for to reduce heat under the patio cover. They put in a ceiling with grooves that added to the ambience and pre-wired for the electrician. They also cleaned up more thoroughly on this day. (Note that I'm a very clean person and with a dog that walks in the back I cleaned a little more but their cleanup work was very acceptable including using brushes and a blower to get as much as possible cleaned up.)

On the third and fourth days the roofers came and essentially finished the patio cover and it was usable for the weekend. And the brick people came in to add back in the brick that had to be removed for the main roof supports. They also built the quarter brick around the column. Once again a very professional group and they did clean up. I couldn't tell where brick was added back.

On Monday the painters came and caulked as needed, painted the ceiling and any new wood, and painted any areas dirtied up by the work to build the patio cover.

On Tuesday the electrician came and installed the fans (from the closed boxed fans I had purchased along with an extension pole for each), installed the dimmer for the 5 recessed lights and put in bulbs, wired the electrical to my swimming pool electrical panel and even added a covered outlet for my use. The great thing was that they did all the outside work and then came into my house for a short time (10 minutes). The patio builders had already put wire in my attic so the electrician pulled it to the pool panel area, drilled the necessary hole to get it outside, then left the house. The rest of the work was done outside.

On Thursday (as I was told by Matt it would be Wednesday or Thursday), the gutter people came and made quick work of tying in the gutters to my existing gutter.

The project is now complete and Matt guarantees his work so I'm confident I will enjoy this cover for years to come. I highly recommend Matt as this point but do still recommend getting multiple quotes.

On time; got everything done like they said they would. They had a great price. We would use them again in the future.

I had a great time dealing with them. They took every single detail we wanted, and put it into the addition. Our patio was sort of dull, but with the work they did on it, it really looks good. They used very high quality products (weather treated material, etc), and the craftsmanship was superb. We weren't sure if we could get it all to fit into the area we wanted, but they made it happen for us. It took very little time to complete, and they took care of all the clean-up.

The deck that was put in did not take very long to finish. It was a standard design, which we did not deviate from our financial purposes. There is only one set of steps that is directly in front of the rear door. The roof covering does not have any gutters, but it keeps dry. We use it all year long. Matt s completed the deck in about two weeks. They were no nonsense about the work, but were still well mannered to us. I'm happy with the way it turned out.

MATT WAS VERY POLITE AND FLEXIBLE CONSIDERING WE WANTED TO PAINT THE COVERED DECK OUR SELVES.