Texas Outdoor Designs

Description of Work: They removed a curly willow tree.

Description of Work: This is the 3rd year we hired this company for Christmas light installation. The first year ( 2010) they were not punctual, but we were pleased with the end results. The second year (2011) again, they were over a week late with the install. For the remainder of the holiday following the install we had problems with the lights staying on and working properly. Then they were two weeks late in taking the lights down. Over the summer we discovered that two of our outdoor outlets needed replacing. Because of the faulty outlets we decided to give Texas Outdoor Design the benefit of the doubt and try them again for the 2012 Christmas lights. We made a deposit of over $400. and they were suppose to come and install the week after Thanksgiving. They did not arrive to do the work that week, nor did we hear from them. When you call their office it is always a recording and you have to wait for a call back. They called and told us they would be here on Wednesday the following week. Wednesday came and went with again no lights and no phone call. At this point we are trying to cancel and get a refund of our deposit. I would not recommend this company. They are unreliable and unprofessional.

Description of Work: In November 2011, we paid Texas Outdoor Designs for the purchase of outdoor Christmas lights, and installation and take-down of those outdoor Christmas lights. Their charges include storage of the lights for the year, and the company will bring them back and install the next year. Around $1500 total. The service at that time wasn't great, they showed up a week late to install, and a week late to take down, and the lights didn't work most of the time they were up, we had to keep calling them to come replace the timer. We were extremely busy with family issues during the holidays that year, so we let it go. In Fall 2012, since Texas Outdoor Designs was already in possession of the Christmas lights we purchased, and had charged us for storage all year, we again paid them for their installation/take-down services. Again, there were issues with the timer/breaker and the lights didn't work. However, this time when we called repeatedly... REPEATEDLY... leaving messages asking them to call us/come look at the lights because they weren't working, Edward Karram/Tx Outdoor Designs never called us back. My husband and I both called multiple times, with no call back. Finally my husband went out and purchased a timer, replaced it and got the lights working on his own. He then called them REPEATEDLY and left messages letting the company know we NO LONGER wanted their service and we did NOT WANT them to come take our lights down. We planned to remove them ourselves and store them. We made it clear in the messages, but no one ever called us. In January, three weeks after Christmas, Texas Outdoor Designs/Edward Karram's company, just showed up, removed the lights and took them. They didn't call, they didn't knock on the door... nothing. I consider our ~$700 worth of Christmas lights to be STOLEN PROPERTY, STOLEN BY ED KARRAM/Texas Outdoor Designs!!! I would like either 1) a refund of the cost of the Christmas lights, or 2) to have the Christmas lights I purchased returned to me IN WORKING ORDER and EXCELLENT CONDITION, as they were when Mr. Karram stole them!

Description of Work: Edward Karram and his "company" were hired to build an outdoor kitchen on an existing patio. He advertised during the interview process that everyone working on the project would be a company employee, specialized in his field (electricians, painters, granite installers). They clearly were not. They were a pitiful assemblance of inexperienced handymen who didnt show up on time and didnt know what they were doing. Edward consistently oversold his capabilities. Ultimately, beginning after labor day 2011, they laid a gas line, demo'd some concrete, framed and built the kitchen counter and got everything to within 85% of completion. (That was after making a horrible rookie move and mis-measuring the space for the grill and having to re-cut the granite!) On the day he installed the granite, he immediately asked for the entire balance due to be paid, despite the fact that many things were not complete. He was very insistent on this (more onthat later). At that point, just before thanksgiving, Edward informs me that he will not be back to finish my job until "mid-January" because his main business is hanging Christmas lights and his guys are too busy! Two months? I was completely shocked that anyone would say that and expect a positive response. And what about these "electricians" and "painters" and "carpenter" that were on his staff? Those guys do not hang Christmas lights in their spare time! The best use of their time is electrical work, painting and construction. Within 30 days (now Mid-December), the problems with his work began to emerge. Because he had not sealed the granite properly and had filled the seams properly, moisture was getting underneath the granite and the plywood was expanding and warping. This was in turn causing the granite to lift in certain areas. Additionally, when Edward installed the gas line to the new grill, he failed to install (or ask me if I wanted to install) a valve to restrict the flow of gas to a safe level. I am not a plumber, but it turns out this is standard practice when installing any gas fired appliance that gets tied in to a home's main gas line. The results was that I almost melted my brand new grill when I ran it on High with the lid closed for 5 minutes and the temperature spiked to over 1000 degrees. No exaggeration. In late-November, I hired a real plumber (not one of Edward's phonies) to install an approved valve on the house gas line. Cost me an additional $300+. In early December I asked a friend who is in the construction business to take a look at the work product because I was increasingly concerned about the warping and rotting wood under the granite. When he was done he had come up with several things that were major issues and were only going to ge worse. At this point, Edward was not even returning phone calls, so I assumed the guy was done and I would never hear from him again. The main impact of that was not that he didnt finish the work he was hired to do, but that the Warranty he offered wasnt worth a dime. So I took matters into my own hands and hired my friend to fix the problems. Before it was all over, he had torn out the entire structure because the framing was done so poorly. He re-framed, re-faced everything with stacked stone facing (the original material could not be salvaged) and properly installed new granite with proper bull nosing and sealing. I was out another $5000, but at least now I know I have something that is done correctly and looks professional. When Edward emailed me in mid-January to say he was ready to get back to work, I told him to take a hike. I am happy with my kitchen now and he doesnt owe me anything, not that he would stand behind it in any event.

Description of Work: We hired Texas Outdoor Designs for construction and design of a custom outdoor kitchen, tile flooring, wood deck, and arbors. The company started the project on Aug 8th without pulling any permits from the city. As a result, the entire project was red flagged by the city and the building code inspector found that there were areas that required exposure. By this time Texas Outdoor Design had installed tile flooring on a 638 sq. ft deck, wood deck and installed an arbor. The travertine deck was improperly installed resulting in cracks in much of the grouted areas and instability. This is caused from not installing on a concrete slab. The wood deck was improperly installed with nails instead of screws (which was requested in the beginning of the project), resulting in loose boards and rusted nongalvanized nails. In addition they did not remove the previous wood framing and simply added new wood on top of the previous frame. The water piping, plumbing, gas lines were not installed correctly and in violation of city code The arbor was improperly installed due to it not being a custom arbor to fit my house. The company did not perform the custom woodwork but charged me over $5000 for non-custom work, which was performed by a Home Depot contract labor force. Since Texas Outdoor Designs failed to consult with me regarding the specifics of the height and placement of the arbor and failed to monitor ins installations, one of the arbors was incorrectly installed. Due to lack of experience Texas Outdoor Design had to be terminated from the project and refund delivery of paid appliances has been requested without any response.