CAVALIER BUILDERS

Cavalier builders were subcontractors of another company sent to us by our insurance company. Another company had to cut out an area in the garage and Cavalier Builders patched up that hole and repainted it. They also put in new high quality laminate flooring. Everything looks great and it looks like we never had to have the work done. Jacob Wood is the owner. I was highly impressed with Jacob and his men. They were extremely professional, courteous, and well mannered. I felt comfortable with these guys and they all got along like family. I even trusted them alone in my house. I have recommended them to others. We also plan to use them again in the future.

It was hell! We knew to expect a parade of workmen and tons of dust and debris. But we also expected the very best in workmanship, timeliness and consideration of us, the homeowners. We researched this company before plunking down so much $$$$! The owner, Brian Twiddy, had been elected to the board of the Tidewater Builders Association Remodeling Council in 2006. Cavalier Builders was awarded the "Best Builder" award in 2007 from our local newspaper. How could we anticipate anything less than the best, with such sterling creds? What we got was a year-long nightmare of work done wrong the first time, work which was not up to city code (and I -- luckily -- accidentally noticed it), piles of plaster left in our front yard, rude, surly, incompetent workmen, weeks of not seeing or hearing from Cavalier, a revolving door of job coordinators and just plain crappy work! Some of the workmen were OK, especially the electrician & the plasterer, but generally, the work was lousy. It was almost as if they were doing the crappiest job they could and daring me to discover it and/or complain about it! I wish I had taken a picture of the first attempt at installing the glass blocks, they were about five degrees crooked! The workman was furious at me for mentioning it. He stood on my new bathtub to reset the blocks and scratched up the tub! I am sending pictures of the crooked mirrors. the one on the right fell off the wall and shattered! I am also sending a picture of the lousy installation that was revealed after the mirror fell. And then there was the pathetic attempt to hang the linen closet doors! Jason argued with me when I told him the work was unacceptable! This company has now gone out of business and since we didn't ever settle up, they kept asking us for more and more money that was not in line with the degree of job completion. Former owner Brian Twiddy owes us a substantial amount of money.

Company did 1/3 of the work and went Chapter 7. Did all of my homework, with references, licensing, etc. Based on reputation, I put too much stock in the company's ability to finish the job. I paid more ahead than I should have and didn't see it coming until it was too late.