The Specialty Contractors

We had a plumbing problem that caused water damage in our kitchen, bathroom, hallway and other areas which led to us needing to have tile replaced, cabinets repaired, as well as baseboards ect. I was referred to Specialty Contractors by USAA, which is a fantastic insurance company and I've always received good companies to work with from in the past. Tom Gurule from Specialty Contractors came out to provide an estimate for work. It took about a week to get them to come out, and another week to get the estimate back. I expressed my desire to change the type of tile installed and other details since we were having to replace, and I wanted to talk details, however Tom basically told me "they will take care of it" and brushed off my questions. Very irritating for someone very detail specific about work done on their house (I'm detailed down to what specific materials are used.) If he would have gotten me in contract with the people that do the work, maybe I could have gotten somewhere. The process was moving so slowly, that we decided to get a quote on some tile and wood flooring. The company we went to select from offered to provide a quote for the work (no surprise there) The rep from this other place came out the next morning to take measurements and a day later I received a quote for the work, BAM fast, not only that but they were over $2000 cheaper installing WOOD FLOORING for 1/3 of the surface area and upgraded tile in the rest! Given the drastic price difference and responsiveness I decided to go with this company instead. In all the communication delays from Specialty Contractors, I never received any communication of why there were delays, anything. I always had to engage them and call them to get updates... as a result I changed their contract and reduced the work they would perform down to only the cabinet repair....I didn't want to have to bother to find someone to perform that work myself. I received their updated contract for work just before a trip I had to take, and did not get it back to them until 4 days later due to a long weekend trip. I emailed them asking if they received the signed copy (which I emailed a digital copy to them so it should have been instant), and waited a full day never hearing back from them. Being irritated with constant communication delays I contacted USAA and complained, and then I left a voice mail for Specialty Contractors complaining about the poor communication and how frustrated I was. I get a call back the next day from Tom stating he doesn't wish to perform the work. During the whole interaction with this company I learned that this company does not hire/maintain it's own workers they subcontract out all work. So you have no affirmations that you are getting reputable third parties performing the work. The person I dealt with Tom Gurule (told me he is part owner) is a polite person, however a poor communicator. I do not wish to slander anyone so I won't say anymore than that. I am very glad they are not doing the work on my house. If they are the general contractor managing sub contractors that aren't their own people....that is just a recipe for horrible mistakes and problems. I will never deal with this company again and I hope that this information is useful to others.

Really great - Tom and Chris were very professional and very helpful! All of their contractors they work with have been great ! No complaints and I've gotten some good advice concerning some other issues I'm having with my home.

They were very good. They rebuilt a lot after the water damage. They were very good people to work with.