Savoy Properties

To be fair, the job had a few delays. These were the result of a contractor with a busy schedule, a material shortage and home owners (my wife and I) who did not always communicate in a timely manner. Also, the project engineer wanted to eliminate a section of the balcony, but we thought it was necessary to keep the character of the house; so Bill had to go back and get him to see things our way. As a result, the project was delayed for a few months. But when work started, Bill and his crew finished the demo in about 3 days and had the new balcony finished in approximately one week. Our neighbors, who were watching progress, reported to us (we no longer live in the house) that Bill and his crews were efficient, focused and friendly when approached. Bill's wife Carole sent us daily snapshots of progress and let us know how the project was progressing. When the job was finished, we drove to Richmond to see the final product and we were completely blown away! The balcony will out-last the house; it is absolutely "bomb-proof". There were a couple of cost overruns, but everything fell well within the original estimate. Bill was a pleasure to work with, listened to what we wanted and made suggestions where he saw fit. We never felt condescended, "talked down to" or that we were being BS'd. We would definitely use Savoy Properties again and we would recommend them to others. Also, Bill keeps pictures of his projects at http://www.savoyhistoric.com. Search, "31st st", to see the end-to-end record of the project.

TERRIBLE and AGGRAVATING experience. During the estimate and hiring process they were professional and explained all about historic value and inspection. The demolition went fine. Then the trouble started. They didn't pass inspection for their first attempt at the new porch floor. When they reworked it, they warped part of the floorboards, but couldn't fix it without pulling a huge section apart. Then they built steps that just barely scraped by on minimum tread length code, after we specifically asked them to make the treads as deep as code would permit. When they rebuilt the steps, they ended up with treads of different lengths -- by inches -- causing us to trip up them until we got used to the "special" step. They were supposed to include a gate, which was included in what we paid, but after 9 months of us calling them to follow up and them saying they were looking into it, we gave up. We never got the gate, and ended up spending another $750 from another company. Their craftsmanship was very good and they did stay true to the historic details. That said, it's been a year and ALL the new column bases have split and need to be re-caulked. In addition, we've already had to repaint the porch and steps because it cracked and peeled.

We are a Home Owner's Association having work done on common area fencing. Painting was based on a fixed price quote. Repairs were time and materials. Mr. Pangburn (owner of Savoy Properties and apparently the sole employee) started work on time. From the beginning I became uneasy with Mr. Pangburn. He spent a lot of time telling me how much he knew and of the big jobs he had done. I decided to keep all instructions and agreements in writing. When he announced the job was finished I provided a punch list. Several items on the punch list were never been corrected. When he presented his invoices the painting was invoiced as quoted and was paid immediately. The invoice for the repairs was far more than I had expected. The detailed breakdown did not reconcile with the invoice. The amounts charged for individual tasks were in many cases beyond comprehension. I wrote Mr. Pangburn asking several questions and asking that he meet in order to clear up the issues I had. His reply was, "Pay what you think is fair". In order to develop a fair price for work done I met with two men who are professionals, one a carpenter the other a general contractor. I asked each of them to provide their best estimate of time required for each task performed by Pangburn. Using Pangburns quoted hourly rates I then developed a 'what I think is fair' invoice. I mailed the proposed invoice along with a check to Mr. Pangburn asking that he come discuss it if he had any problems. I noted that his cashing of the check would constitute his acceptance of the proposed invoice as presented and would be payment in full. He did not call. He did not cash the check. Time passed. On February 15, 2010 (approximately) one homeowner received notice that Pangburn had filed a lien on her house. Then another. In the end he filed liens on six homeowners property. The HOA retained the services of a good lawyer and we were able to get the liens removed and Pangburn cashed the check as payment in full. But it was very unpleasant and expensive. I cannot find any reason to recommend Mr. Pangburn (Savoy Properties). Quite to the contrary.

The project delayed from the very beginning because Mr. Pangburn did not have adequate insurance for me to secure funding from the bank. Once this issue was remedied, Pangburn was unable to stick to the schedule or the budget. I was not made aware of this until the end of the job when, without ever sending me an invoice or a notice of an unpaid balance on my account, I was served a lawsuit! Many aspects of the job were changed without my knowledge (adding to the cost), many areas of the job were underbid by Pangburn, and in some cases ended up costing twice what he anticipated. All in all, this man does beautiful work but is very shady as a business man. I would not recommend him to anyone who isn't willing to write him a blank check and just say "make my house pretty." In the end, we had budgeted 108,000 for the job, I paid 126,000, and he sued me for $77,000. I lost $10,000 in court to my attorneys before he dropped the suit in arbitration. Beware unless you have $ to burn!