Jerry Harris Remodeling

I was fearful that I’d have so many of the problems and delays one normally hears about when undertaking a major room remodeling, but my experience with Jerry Harris Remodeling was pretty painless and fairly quick. My husband and I met them at the Mid-Atlantic Home & Garden Show this past April where they appeared down-to-earth and practical. Jerry Harris was someone you wanted to work with. They also had a wonderful display. When we called them for an estimate they were quick to come out. We liked what we heard, signed a contract, and they came out the next day to take measurements. We had a preliminary plan within less than a week. The actual work, from tear-out to the last detail, took only 8 weeks. We did spend more money than we originally planned, but overages were my fault since I selected extra details and upgrades. I only plan to do one kitchen remodel in this lifetime and since it’s the room most heavily used and should last until they put me six feet under, it was justified. The cabinetry was made by Waypoint and although they didn’t have quite all the options or colors I wanted (I can be quite particular), I was still able to come away with a kitchen that I absolutely love. The cabinetry is solid wood with dove-tail joints and soft-close doors/drawers. We especially love the trash/recycling cabinet and the glass doors look fantastic! All of the subcontractors (electricians, plumbers, plasterers, cabinet installers, and granite fabricators) were courteous and easy to work with. Each one of them did an excellent job and we were particularly impressed with the plasterers who performed miracles on our wonky ceiling. Every employee was polite and helpful. They were professional, knowledgeable, and considerate with answering our many questions or concerns, as well as in taking care of our home. They were consistent in performing daily clean-up. Kelly was so patient with me during the design process while I slowly worked out all the details. Did I mention that I’m rather particular? I’m also detailed-oriented down to the very last inch. He was creative when I needed solutions to one problem or another and even came up with a couple ideas I’d never thought of – and that’s saying something seeing as I’d spent the last ten years designing this kitchen in my head. Hunter did so many things from tear-out to the backsplash tile. He did a fantastic tile job even though my design had him cutting 8-10 tiles for every 2 uncut ones. He never complained about how much more work it made for him and even seemed to enjoy it. Chad did an awesome job with all the minute details of my punch list and the shelving I had installed over my bay windows really looks fantastic. Now if I could only figure out a better decorating plan for it. Dan was our project manager and he was very understanding with any concerns we had and made sure everything went to plan and flowed smoothly. The one issue we had with a corner cabinet was resolved easily with minimal stress. He always put me at ease and I really enjoyed working with him. All the behind-the-scenes folks at the office must have also done an incredible job considering how well everything went. Without reservation we recommend them and their exceptional team. They performed superbly for us and we wouldn’t hesitate to call Jerry Harris Remodeling again for any future projects that we’re not comfortable doing ourselves.

Very well. It's always good.

WORST SERVICE EVER!!! 6 MONTHS TO DO A BATHROOM THEY SAID WOULD TAKE 6-8 WEEKS!!! Do yourself a mental favor and choose any company beside Jerry Harris Remodeling. They started off great during the sales speech and which stated 6 to 8 weeks to complete the job of a full bathroom remodel. I specifically asked would it be 6 or 8 weeks and they replied 8 to be safe so that’s what we based our decision on. The job took 26 (twenty six!!!) weeks, 6 months (!!!), half a year (!!!) from start to finish which was totally ridiculous. A previous remodel job of our entire kitchen, dining room, and an office took 2 months so how does a bathroom take 6 months! If they would’ve been up front and honest with me that it would take even 10 weeks to do a bathroom remodel, I would’ve gone with another company that was more honest with their estimate. It would take a small novel to go through all the issues that arose during this long headache, so here’s just some of the fun highlights we experienced: • New openings for two doorways were built and both of those were so crooked at the top that it was obvious to anyone that looked at them. The kid they had doing the work should never have been left alone to do this. He ended up leaving midway through the project which was a good thing. • During the wall construction, they inserted moldy boards as part of the framing. Yes – moldy. We pointed that out to the project manager and asked why anyone would put in a moldy board and get ready to cover up with drywall? Isn’t it just common sense not to put visibly mold boards into a house? Why do we have to point it out and why in God's name would anyone do it? • When leveling the bathroom floor (by a kid that had no experience with that sort of thing), he knocked a hole in the ceiling of our recently remodeled kitchen so had to have that fixed. When they fixed it, they did a sloppy job of painting it so it stood out from the rest of the room. After multiple complaints to the project manager, they finally took our advice to paint the entire portion of the wall and not just the section where they did the repair • The shower and floor tile job was so bad with crazy messed up grout lines (too thick or too thin), crooked and uneven tiles in the shower and the main bathroom floor – both of which required tiles to be completely removed and then reset, grout stains (smears) on every piece of tile because they didn’t clean it off properly and immediately after they put the grout on, chips in the shower marble from working in the shower to fix issues after the marble was installed (if they had made the fixes before marble was installed they wouldn't have heavy equipment to drop on delicate brand new surfaces), chips in the shower floor, etc. Every day we would look at the progress and find a new issue, these are all things we should not have had to point out and they should have been fixed quickly, but they would take a week for each item, meet and discuss, then come to do a half-*** fix, all to have us say again it was unacceptable and start over with a new half-fix. The list of items was long and we went through this for each item on the list, stretching the job out for months. It was absolutely unbelievable. The project manager Brent (not the tile subcontractor) said he could fix the shower entry way himself so he had a go at fixing and his job after waiting another week or two for new tile to come in was just as bad with tile crooked. In the end, the subcontractor (I believe it was the owner of that tile company) ended up having to pull it all down and start over. They did a much better job than the first time, but there were still a few flaws that we decided to live with rather than go through all that again. The whole shower grout stain issue took months for them to come to agreement on what to do instead of just taking it down and starting over like we suggested. They claimed it was a delay due to the grout representative company needing to be involved which took forever for them to take any action on so we sat there waiting for weeks to get some movement on that. • There were days when nothing would get done since nobody was around. Our project manager’s excuse was that they had other jobs to do including warranty repairs so our project kept getting no attention. I think that once they realized they missed the original end date in December that they may as well just focus on other projects to try and keep those on track. • At around the 4-month mark (yes that’s 2 months after the original end date), the project manager Brent either quit or got fired, but nobody bothered telling us. We found out from the guy that did the shower glass – who did a great job btw but was hired directly by us without going through Jerry Harris Remodeling. • The paint job required 3 different times for the painter to come back and correct his bad job. The first time the paint wasn’t even in spots, wasn’t cleaned up off cabinets or floor, the window trim didn’t have enough paint on it, and at one point the paint was actually peeling off in places on every wall just a week or two after they put it on. • The marble caps they built for the shower half-wall were so poorly cut that our shower glass guy couldn’t install the glass correctly so we had to have them recut and replace those TWICE. The marble cuts in general were ridiculously crooked with so many flaws. The guys doing the marble install were literally cutting pieces away in our driveway rather than have them laser cut the first time in their shop based on proper measurements. I honestly don’t think they even used a tape measure to measure since the cuts were so off. To this day, the caps are still hanging over too far on one end vs the other but we’ve decided to live with that rather than go back to them. The threshold was so poorly fit but Brent the PM suggested we wouldn’t notice when it was filled in with grout. Say what??? • The marble slab that they used was not the one we originally selected in the store. They didn't follow through on our selections and gave us the wrong slab from the wrong company. We managed to agree to make the sink countertops work (because we didn't know until they were already installed, then would have ruined the custom cabinets), but made them replace the shower threshold, seat, and wall endcaps. They screwed up the shower seat cut and replaced that agreed upon piece with a totally separate piece that looked worse – something we agreed to leave to get the job done. • Whatever chemical they put on the shower walls to remove the epoxy, they splattered on the wall and toilet seat so had to have the seat replaced. We originally hired Jerry Harris remodeling since they came across as ‘we’re a little extra money, but better quality’ service. In fact, their shoddy labor, poor quality subcontractors, and terrible service as a whole left us not knowing what was going on for weeks at a time was totally inexcusable. After the 3.5 month mark, the general manager Jake Harris started dealing with us directly after I called and asked for something to be done. Jake was better to deal with than Brent our project manager that disappeared on us, but didn’t help expedite the job in the timeframe we wanted. This is a direct quote from their website: “From the initial appointment to talk about scope and budget through the final walkthrough at the completion of your project we will strive to take care of you”. Simply put, they totally underdelivered on an expensive bathroom remodel and I would never ever ever recommend them to anyone based on the poor quality labor we got throughout the project, poor ability to keep us updated and keep the project on schedule, constant mess-ups and duration it took to remodel a bathroom – I feel like you can build a small house in 6 months! Though they did follow through to the end re-doing things until we were so over it we stopped asking for good quality and accepted what we had, we were only given a simple apology and a refund of around $1800 as a not even close to a token amount of what I asked them to refund, which was the

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From start to finish the team involved us in every step and kept us totally informed every day. Each member of the team were extremely polite and put us and our satisfaction first.

It started out well, we were given an approximate 3 month finish date, but almost immediately the worker(s) started to show up intermittingly, and then not at all for long periods of time.  We had a new back porch (appx 3 foot square) and steps put in, and this went okay, except the brick stairs were not level and had to be ripped out and done again.  We had planned to have Hardie Board siding put on, but the materials were not handled or stored IAW Hardie installation instructions, and when it was installed, it was not installed IAW Hardie installation instuctions.  Nails were put in too close to the edges in spots and splintered the Hardie board, and they did not install proper vapor barrier IAW Virginia building code requirements.  This was removed, and we elected to have a top grade vinyl siding installed, but again, the vapor barrier was not correct, and they had to rip out and replace the bottom flashing a couple of times as the flashing was at an angle that funneled water back to the house.  Additionally, when it was discovered they did not have the vapor barrier correct again, they had to remove the vinyl siding, and contrary to my orders to not reuse the materials that had been removed, they attempted to use the old materials and they actually glued broken pieces of styrofoam to the back of the vinvl.  The really bad part is that they had an entire box of new siding in my driveway and they didn't use this until I made them remove the damaged siding they tried to slip past me.  They misrepresented the cost of LED lighting, and when I told them I had found out what they installed was not what Mr. Harris pointed me to on a web site, I was told that they had no control over the electical company/group that purchased and installed the lighting, so I could not have a change to the cost, but this was one of the features presented us when we signed the contract, i.e. they didn't use sub-contractors, but apparently they do.  It was clearly known that I was going to have a tile floor installed, and they even lined me up with a company (or person) to do this, but this fell through; however, I was lucky this happened.  The floor had aterribel hump in it that they did not correct, so installing tile over this would have been a disaster later on.  The trim wood and plywood sheeting they used was the lowest grade, and the trim wood was not sanded to round off the corners; this is either really poor workmanship or laziness, but either way, it is not quality work.  I could go on, but I think you can get the picture that I would not use trhem again and wish I had not originally.  Oh, and they took over six months to finish the job, and it really was not finished, I was just glad to have them leave.  And lest anyone think I'm exagerating, I have saved telephone messages and emails from both Hardie and the vinyl siding manufacturer identifying the problems I had.  Oh, if you get impressed with their 5 year warranty, the problems I discovered most likely wouldn't have surfaced until later since moisture rot often takes a long time to show up.  Am I positive I would have had moisture problems?  Well, if the vapor barrier  and flashing is not installed correctly, I can guess that I would most likely have problems in the future.  I caught these issues because they took so long to complete the work and I have a pretty good knowledge of building codes, etc, but I don't think a lot of people do.  I know I don't recommend them based on my experience.

My initial interviews with the "designer" went well. I was assured that the company would act professionally and with utmost integrity while working in my home. This was of major concern for me, as I had to provide them with a key to my home so the job could be accomplished while I went to work. After the contract was signed, contact became irregular and inefficient. Although the job started on the date promised (April 20) work was not performed daily, and I was not provided with any information as to what tasks were scheduled. Due to space restrictions, construction materials had to be stored in my garage, along with kitchen wares, my dining room hutch, and sterling flatware that was hidden. At times, I would return home to find that wall board and timber were removed or rearranged as work progressed, and the dining room hutch had been moved. It was damaged in the process. The evening after Mother's Day, I discovered that almost $8000.00 worth of my sterling flatware had been stolen. I immediately filed a police report, and then contacted the project manager, who notified Mr. Harris of the incident. It took almost a week for him to contact me (by email rather than phone). He created a cursory process for "investigating" his employees, and I then met with him at my home to outline expectations and revised boundaries for completion of the job (at this point, I had an empty space where my kitchen had been). After I reported the burglary, communication with the company became contentious. Mr. Harris promised to reconcile the loss, but he had no contact with the insurance company and told me that he had "no control" over their process. In June I met with the adjuster, and soon after received notification that they had determined not to reimburse. I discovered that my final check had not been cashed, and I stopped payment on it, hoping to provide myself with the leverage needed to encourage Mr. Harris to fulfill his promise of reconciliation. I also joined AList and posted my review. Almost immediately, I began receiving intimidating emails from Mr. Harris in which he accused me of trying to ruin his business. The content of these has verged on verbal abuse. Mr. Harris has chosen not to reimburse me for the balance of my loss. I have yet to receive the certificate for the five-year guarantee.
This project lasted fourteen weeks. The kitchen receives many compliments from visitors, and is a huge improvement over the previous one. The decisions I made for cabinets, hardware, flooring, countertops, and backsplash make the space a lovely and efficient one. Jason Brewer replaced the former project manager near the end of the project, and he handled my questions and any necessary adjustments with professionalism.
Update: Mr. Harris has not responded to any of my requests to settle our dispute. He has filed a suit against me for the check I stopped payment on. I intend to issue him a new check in that amount so that I no longer have to be involved in his battle against accountability.

We were provided the $95K quote, and when my husband questioned that price, he was told that was the cost to get the work done as we requested.  We did not use his service and completed the entire project ourselves, including sub-contracted plumbing, electrical and stone work for $35K.

They told me in January that they would show me samples of the molding but I still haven't seen anything after several promises. Was originally quoted $800, but because the wood needed to be maple, it went up to $1301.  I spoke with them on 2/23 and they said it would be ordered the following day.  I called twice today to determine what was going on and they said the materials weren't ordered until March 11 and wouldn't be in until 3/27. The salesman, Kevin Anderson, has also not returned a couple of phone calls that I've made during the process.  Received a call from Larry asking them to proceed with the work and after a long conversation, agreed to take the $205 Investigative fee off.  On another call from Dan, he informed me the materials would not be available until April 2 or 3.  This would make almost 3 months since they first came to my home Jan. 9.  Was informed Friday they would do the work Monday, April 6.  Received a phone call that morning stating they wouldn't be picking up the materials until that afternoon.  They called today (April 6 at 8:30) saying they would be there about 10:00 they arrived about 10:30.  The work was done and it is a great improvement over the crown molding and looks very nice.  They only took $50 off the total price.  I was just happy to have it finally completed.

On 1-22-15 Kevin came by the house for the Home Improvement consultation. Consultation went smoothly and a pre construction meeting was going to be scheduled in two to three weeks. Unfortunately I had to go out of town for business within that two to three weeks, so they scheduled the pre-construction in the morning prior of me leaving out of town which they went out of they way to do.

 On 2-02-15 the pre-construction meeting the Jason (Project Specialist) properly planned on the material, equipment, and the scheduled project. The pre-construction meeting went well and a date was set for the project for 02-23-15  to 02-25-15. Right on the project date there was a scheduling issue. Management said they called my wife on 02-20-2015 for a scheduled change. As I complained that my wife had no phone call from them, and that I never gave them her phone number, Jason (Project Specialist) still manage the time to start on the project on the preconstruction contract. Jason squeezed two projects, one at my place and at another household bouncing back and forth on the project and also coordinating with the electrician.  Jason superbly finished the job on time on the written contract. Also Jason's communication was great letting me know what was going on with his other project, coordination with the electrician, fighting traffic and bad snow conditions.

Overall the experience was good with the project but management conflicted with the scheduling. Management needs to understand to keep proper written contracts, and to do one project at a time for a great quality of work and time efficiency.

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I am a stickler for professionalism and punctuality. Jerry showed up early and was extremely professional. He knows his stuff and was able to answer any questions that I had regarding the work that I wanted done. I even called the office later in the day to ask a few more questions that I didn't think of...he called me back within an hour! We will more than likely be hiring him to complete our guest bathroom remodel.

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Construction was right on time and completed as per estimate. All work guaranteed for 5 years. Knowledgable staff and crew. Have used for multiple projects. Cleaned up as project progressed. Have additional projects for the future. All additions appear as if part of original build. Project manager completed all items as contracted. The project manager answered all questions and kept us informed of progress of each project. We found Jerry Harris to be an honest and forthright business man whom we trusted from the initial pre construction conference to present. We trusted the team at Jerry Harris Remodeling with our home and they never disappointed. We had special needs for our bathroom and Jerry's design and attention to detail provided accessibility we did not know we would need at a later date. If any problems were to arise, we feel confident contacting our project manager and knowing the concerns would be addressed. We are confident that each and every project was done by permit and passed city inspection and code, and look forward to using the team at Jerry Harris Remodeling in the future.

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We couldn't afford their price that was quoted.

Exactly as promised, Jerry came back to me within a week with a very competitive and reasonable estimate for our remodeling job.  His design was innovative and creative given the relatively small space that he had to work with.  He also priced out each option so that we could make informed decisions on "must haves" vs "nice to haves" vs "I'm curious but don't know if I want this" features.  I was impressed with Jerry's responsiveness, professionalism, and attention to detail.  He was also very accommodating when I asked to add and delete some features from the original proposal/estimate, and quickly provided me with the details I had requested.

Bottom line, it was easy to see why Jerry Harris Remodeling has been on Hampton Road's "Best of" list in multiple categories.  Although we decided not to go ahead with the remodeling job at this time, I would have been very confident hiring Jerry Harris' team based on my experience with working with him.

The workers were very professional and courteous.  Always on time and professional.  Cleaned up nicely and did beautiful work

Overall, the work was completed as ordered, although there were a lot of what I considered unnecessary delays.  Lots of wasted time where it took a long time to get minimal work done.  It took about 6 weeks to get the job done.  Some days the solitary worker would spend more of the day on the phone presumably managing other jobs, while demolition or other work was being left undone at ours.  Not to mention that one of the subcontractors actually stole some of my wife's medication from the bedside table.  When informed, they fired the individual and then provided direct supervision of the remaining contractor, but nonetheless, obviously suboptimal.

I also felt like there were additional charges for re-routing the plumbing that was obviously going to be there, considering that the wall being opened up backed the kitchen sink, and was below an upstairs bathroom.  They wound up billing extra for the plumbing re-route.

They contracted Winn Stone to match the granite, which was done perfectly.  The bar also looks great, but the corbels that we were provided a line art drawing of were much larger than anticipated.  We refused to pay for them considering their size was unnecessarily large, which was reportedly not a returnable item.  They said that they would be stuck with them, although I'm certain they could be used on another job with a bigger bar.

Finally, when there were concerns about a water leak causing the hardwood floor to swell, they tore and left a hole in the wall for troubleshooting.  Turned out that the problem was our dishwasher leaking, but the hole was left for me to repair.  I did so because I didn't want them to come back.  I feel fairly certain that this was done because of the corbels.

I wound up replacing the cut out drywall, patching the mud work, and repainting it myself instead of dealing with them any further.

Bottom line, they did good work, were overpriced, slow, and unwilling to make reasonable accommodations without retribution, in my opinion.

They were great. Always on time and very professional. Brent was the best always explained what was going on and kept us informed of any issues. I would suggest to make sure you know your budget and make sure you are staying within it.

End result very satisfactory. It took longer than expected. Original estimate was substantially under so the reconciliation was a shocker. Subs were very experienced. Cleaned up the property each day. Continues to follow up on warranty work.

Our remodeled bathrooms are absolutely beautiful and I am very happy with the quality of the work. Mike Martin, our Project Specialist was a true professional. The quality and Mike's work and commitment to excellence was first rate. Like everyone undergoing a remodel, we would have like the work completed faster. Mike worked without an assist the majority of our project which was part of the slow timeline.

Excellent work quality, average price, slow response, poor communications.  I contacted Jerry Harris Remodeling to replaced a failed piece of glass in a patio door.  The company was one of several recommended by the door manufacturer for the warranty replacement of the glass.  (The door company paid for the replacement glass, but I had to arrange for the installation)  It took over two months to arrange for a date to do the work.  Communications were slow and complicated by the small size of this work.  I understand a small job like this takes longer to arrange, but our scheduled date was missed twice without so much as a call to let us know the schedule had to be changed at the last minute.   Jerry Harris' hourly rate is a bit more expensive than others who provided me quotes, but their work was very good.  One thing I did not appreciate was that the gentleman who did the work took every opportunity to criticize the quality of work done by other contractors in my home.  I'm of the opinion that a company's work should speak for itself.   Do your work first, then suggest other projects to the customer.  Arriving after twice failing to show up only to criticize my home did not sit well.   The quality of the work was excellent, but given the time it took to get the work done, the price, and other points noted above, I would not use them again.