H HERBERT CONSTRUCTION

The experience was kind of mixed. I met him originally when he was running an ad in the paper and he did some work for us previously, and when we were ready to build our home, he was our general contractor. He built our home for us and he did a wonderful job. We were really happy with him. We have an acre property and he did some additional work for us later, and that is when things kind of fell apart. We just had a whole lot of trust with Herbert and we just felt like we could tell him what we wanted and go out of town. We just felt like we could come back home and everything would be done and it would be fine. We had to have the shower totally torn out later and have it redone because it leaked. It just wasn’t done properly and he wouldn’t come out and make that right. We had to have a lot of grout work dug out and redone because that wasn’t done right. Everything just fell apart. He just didn’t do the work right and he wasn’t here and wasn’t supervising. The custom cabinets were too tall when he brought them in and they wouldn’t fit under the faucets. So, he had to cut off the legs so that the vanities could fit under the faucets. I no longer have the custom legs for the vanity because they had to be cut off. They were just done wrong. Herbert did not come back and I had to hire other people to come in and finish up what he had done wrong. So, I spent even more money. It ended up costing us an additional $10,000 to get everything fixed right. I was so angry that I just wanted him away from my house. I haven’t talked to him since then.

They were very good and highly professional. They did excellent work and we would highly recommend them. They were respectful of our furnishings and house which was very pleasant.

Herbert appears to be a really nice guy.  He was referred by one of my friends who had his bathroom redone.  Herbert was on time for our first two meetings.  After reviewing what needed to be done, he submitted a quote with a one year guarantee.    He gave me the names of 5 references.  I was able to contact 3 of the 5 who each gave very positive remarks. His estimate was slightly higher than the others I received, but I liked his attitude and knowledge base.  We contracted him to do the work.  He could see that I was somewhat hesitant, and he did not require money up front.  His workers showed up about 10:00 each day.  They seemed nice enough--his brother seemed to be in charge.

Over the course of 2+ weeks there were anywhere from 2 to 5 workers.  Some were very diligent;  others were sloppy and did not respect our property.  I was constantly picking up cigarette butts and trash.  Two of the workers were very conscientious, but the others could not wait to be finished.  Paint was spilled on concrete.  Our hoses were caked with paint.  The workers would leave their tools in the yard and leave our water on.  At one point when I was quite concerned about the quality, he was in the hospital.  I mentioned my dissatisfaction with the work quality and was told to let the workers know what was not acceptable.  They stayed 2 extra days to correct shoddy and missed work.

The final day Herbert returned.  He was paid in full and reminded me that I had a 1 year guarantee.  Within 10 days I called him to let him know there were some places that the painters missed.  I also mentioned where paint had been spilled and other concerns.  He was to get back with me in a week or so.  After contacting him 4-5 before December he reassured me that after the holidays his guys would come to correct the 8-10 small but noticeable issues I mentioned.

By April of the following year the work had not been done.  I called Herbert because the 1 year warranty was almost finished and the work was still waiting not to mention some of the work previously done was now starting to show issues.  A family member was ill and I was concerned about the warranty.  Herbert reassured me that there was no reason to worry and that he would honor my contract.

In August, more than a year after the work was done we finally met.  I showed him that there was no sanding, screws had been put through the gutters into new wood causing deterioration, no primer was used.  Herbert indicated that he wanted to make things right.  We arranged to get the work done in 2-3 weeks.  We never could get him to come back.  He would return phone calls and was always very cordial, but after 10-13 calls I finally gave up.