Real Deal Home Improvement

Description of Work: Thes guy's are awesom! Needed to have a set of deck stáirs completed or face a from the county. Being true professionals they showed up on time built the stairs above what I had askèd for with no up charge. Totally impressed and recommend them to everyone I know.

Description of Work: Please be mindful of work charged by the hour vs. monies paid for the job itself. Do not agree to pay for hourly work separately because it's too difficult to monitor & it mysterically increases the cost of service to considerably more than the initial quote for the actual job. Demand a completion date. Many times I'd get a call in the morning informing me of a late start only to get a call later to cancel for the day. This was highly inconvienent, unprofessional, inconsiderate, & detrimental to my schedule. My time was taken for granted with no measure in place to make good for all the times there was a no show. Because I don't punch a clock, Jerry Smith frequently & greatly inconvienced me when he decided to not show up. For example, Jerry Smith informed me he needed to go to Woodbridge to help someone move two items, & according to him, he ended up "moving half a house." I structured my schedule to accommodate the project, & there was no time built in to accommodate his extracircular activities. Yet, here's the irony. If the homeowner inadvertently forgets to unlock their house before leaving in the morning, the homeowner is charged $200. Make sure you have verbiage in place to protect yourself so the rules aren't made up as the job progresses. I didn't hear about this until after the job began. They place value on their time, yet, when the homeowner is inconvienced, nothing is in place to make it right. He or she is just out of luck. Make sure the contract is reciprocal. Jerry Smith locked he & his son out of the house on one particular day. When I arrived home he told me of the "policy" where if they don't have access to the house, the homeowner is fined $200 because we're allegedly costing them other work. It occurred to me that I left them inside the house. This is when Jerry Smith admitted they actually locked themselves out of the house, but were able to find a way back in. He was abrupt & confrontational in tone. When I mentioned his attitude, Jerry admitted that it was "probably left over from a previous client." One of the major home improvement stores made a delivery of some cabinets to the house. The deliveryman accidentally dropped one of the cabinets & before anyone could say anything, he said, "I owe you a cabinet." Jerry immediately told the deliveryman not to worry about, it's okay. He said this w/o inspecting the cabinet, consulting with me (I was standing right there & saw the whole incident), or w/o my permission. He had no discretion, permission, or authority to accept potentially damaged cabinets on my behalf, especially w/o inspecting the item. Of course the deliveryman was satisfied to go with that, so I walked over to inspect the cabinet very gingerly to send the msg. that I had concern about accepting the item w/o at least looking at it. This is when Jerry tells me I can return the cabinet if I wanted to, but that he wasn't. He was rude, totally out of line, abrasive, unpolished, crass, unprofessional & discourteous. The only time he should have spoken on my behalf is if I accepted damaged goods, & he wanted to protect my interest, in which case to advise me otherwise. Come to find out later, the cabinet was damaged. Jerry had the nerve to tell me he guesses I'll (meaning me), would be taking it back. This is when I suggested he should return it since he's the one who accepted it. I feel he felt he could "push me over" since I am a single female. Always stay on guard, & speak up for yourself because other people are quick to look out for themselves. This same deliveryman apologized they couldn't make it to the house sooner, but one of their teammates died suddenly earlier in the week. Jerry chimes in, "The nerve of him." That wasn't funny, and nor was it cute. Speaking of "looking out for themselves," watch your wallet whenever you shop. On several ocassions, I was told, you should buy me this (whether it was a hammock, carpet, lunch, or anything else he saw in the store he wanted at any particular moment. It was like being in a toy store with a child). On the first ocassion in particular, Jerry saw some carpet he felt would look nice in the back of his van. In an effort to foster good relations & because I didn't want him sore with me & therefore, do a half job because I likely wouldn't be able to tell the diff. anyway, I went ahead and bought the carpet. Once some people detect kindness & willingness to spend $, they come at you repeatedly. Another ocassion we visited a store & I was barraged with "you should buy me this. You should buy me that." I ignored the pleas because I wasn't going to support a pattern of being used. However, after seeing I wasn't falling for the game, Jerry bartered & stated he'd paint my crown moulding if I buy him a certain hammock. I entered into the agreement. Later, when I was speaking with Jerry about his schedule & the fact he inconviences me tremendously when he shows late, or not at all, he threw in my face that he didn't charge me to paint the crown moulding (completely overlooking the fact I purchased the hammock for him in exchange). Stick to the contract & the terms of the contract only. Ignore the "you should buy me lunch" (which I heard repeatedly) because the requests only escalate & it's uncomfortable so don't encourage it by buying anything other than items for your home. Following one of these trips, when we returned to the house, Jerry informed me that he's keeping the receipt (he bought at least one item for himself during the trip to the store). A professional would have asked me if I minded if he held on to the receipt, explained that he needed the receipt also, or asked if I wanted a copy. Instead, Jerry curtly informed me he's retaining the receipt. Jerry explained to me he has told homeoiwners what to buy & if they bought the wrong item, he'd charge them to return the item & buy the correct one. Make sure all issues such as these are well clarified "going in" because the homeowner will inevitably come out as the loser. When the h'owner is charged under such circumstances, whose to say personal purchases aren't simultaneously being made? Why pay someone to go shopping for themselves? Then, when he does go with you, he bugs you to death to buy him stuff. Get a copy of the contract. I never did. Since he had no written contract (huh?), Jerry tape recorded the cotract. I repeatedly asked for my copy, was told it'd be provided, & never was. Keep any private papers out of sight. I kept notes of specific concernsthat re. the project, nowhere was the co. name on my handwritten notes, yet, Jerry took it upon himself to read my personal paper & confronted me about what he read. Don't leave anything lying around that's not for publication. Always ensure that you have input re. products used in your home as you may wish to "upgrade." For instance, the agreement called for Smith to supply insullation, yet, I was not informed there are diff. grades of insullation in the event I wished to "upgrade." Keep an eye on everything. Smith sent me to the store to purchase water based stain for the cabinets. During conversation with the salesperson, & after speaking with the manufacturer, I learned this was not the best type of stain for my project. When questioned Smith about it, he admitted he wanted to use the water base stain because it dries faster. Don't let the quality of your project suffer because someone else is in a hurry. I had a "mask" on my face one day (the ladies will know what this is, a substance applied to the face to make it even tone & get rid of dead skin). Masks are typically light in color. The one I happen to be wearing was white or white-ish. Jerry sees me & says, "You look better white." I was offended (I'm black) by his comment & didn't take it to be comical at all. Yet, in the interest of not wanting a careless job because the contractor is upset w/ me, I bit my tongue. Don't ever let a contractor get so comfortable with you, they feel they can make offensive comments & get away w/ it. There was another incident that, in my opinion, that goes to credibility. Jerry referred a young man & his brother to me to perform certain work around the house. I was standing next to Jerry in my kitchen when he spoke w/ the young man. Following the conversation, Jerry informed me w/ certitude that they charge $20.00 an hr. Upon further questioning, somehow in the conversation, the fact was revealed that this is not what the person told Jerry . Jerry created this figure on his own volition. He said he felt the guys should be paid more, but don't make that decision for me. Jerry should have told me the amt. they charge & let me make the determination whether I wished to add more. He had no right to take this decision from me, and to present it as though it's fact, is misleading, & represents his scruples. I was upset he'd misrepresent what someone just told him w/o giving me the option of determining whether I wanted to pay him additional, but Jerry took that decision away from me in his approach. My dogs got into a scuffle in the backyard. Jerry, who was in the garage, heard them, looked over the fence, saw the commotion & didn't have the decency to stick his head in the door to let me know what was going on. My vet bills ended up costing me over $600 when much could have been averted had he just taken a few seconds to alert me, instead, he just went back to what he was doing. This was callous and lacked concern.