Johnny Werks

Scheduled a saturday morning appointment for Johnny to look at job and provide quote. He arrived on time with his son, measured the roof, told us what his installation fee would be and gave us an approximate price for materials. He stated he would provide an accurate price when he called the metal roofing supplier on Monday. He stated it would take him 2 days to complete the job. We also requested an quote for a small interior paint job which he quoted at the visit. He called as he said he would and provided the materials price and asked that we call the company to order and pay for the supplies as he had no more credit on his credit card. No big deal, we understood as it was a small self employed business. Materials were delivered as promised the following week, and he stated that he'd begin the prep work on the following Wed. He then asked me to call the lumber yard and pay for wood needed and he'd pick up material on Wed to start the job. I arrived at the house on Wed to find the metal roofing material had been delivered, and no work had been started. Early evening his son arrived at our house and delivered the wood, stating they'd be there in the morning to start the job. I ran an errand on Thursday am, returning to the house at approximately 11 am to have the son and 4 other teenagers and an adult female on our deck. The teenagers were installing the wood strapping in preparation of the roof. No one introduced themselves or stated what they were doing or why Johnny wasn't on the job site to supervise. The female adult was hanging out on my deck smoking while the boys worked. We had left our door unlocked, and it was clear from the cigarette ashes on the living room floor that someone (maybe this woman) had entered our home uninvited. Found out later she was the painter. She won't be painting my house! A hour after they began the job, they ran out of wood and sent one of the young men to get more. I asked the woman if Johnny was her husband, and she stated he was. When i asked very politely, where he was, and was he going to be helping the boys with the job, she became very rude to me, walked away from me, while stating "do you have a problem with that, he's busy somewhere else, if you want the work done these boys are going to do it". Then she yelled for the boys on the roof to come down and talk to me as she wasn't going to explain herself to me. Very rude. At this point, she was cussing me, and I asked her to leave the property immediately. The boys who were on the roof were very confused as to what had taken place and came down to call Johnny, apologized repeatedly and stated she had been a problem and wasn't the wife. She left as asked and didn't return. She apparently was a friend of the owners, and is the person he hires out to do interior painting. Perhaps that why she was in my house uninvited. Rude! Johnny apologized on the phone to me, and I informed him I didn't appreciate someone coming to my home and being rude. I also told him she was not to be allowed back on my property. The boys waited an hour or more for their friend to return with the wood so they could carry on with the work. Later in the afternoon they again ran out of wood and asked me to call and pay the lumber yard for more wood. They also didn't check their metal roofing order as the metal roofing screws weren't in the delivery as ordered. They had me drive 5 miles back into town to buy roofing screws. Johnny arrived around 5 pm with the needed wood, apologized again for this woman's behavior. He didn't make eye contact with me, so I assumed he was embarrassed. He assisted the boys for approx 2 hrs putting up the remaining wood and began the tin installation. They completed approx 1/4 of one side of the roof and quit for the day. When I asked how early they would be at the house on Friday they stated by 11 am., because they didn't like to get up early in the morning. I waited for them until 4 pm after repeatedly attempting to reach Johnny by phone and they nor Johnny every showed up to complete the job. They resurfaced a few days later and completed the remaining one side of the roof, we were repeatedly calling them to find out when they would be done. Johnny didn't return our calls or return to finish the work for 7 days. He stated he had to replace his phone. No excuse, apparently he must have lost our phone number is all I can guess. Why he didn't use his son's cell phone is beyond me. When my husband finally reached him 3 weeks after the start of the job, he said he was missing one metal piece and had it now to install it and that he'd be done in a day. As we live at this house only part time we have yet to check on the quality of the job. If this man's lack of professionalism, punctuality is any indication, we are regretting giving this self employed contractor this job. He stated he was licensed, he is not. He's insured just not licensed. Live and learn!

The job started under fair skys with excavation of the required area to build the wall. Johnny Lester, the main man, was one earth moving master and although the soil removal was at times difficult to get the right position, Johhny handled it all with determination and accuracy. The excavation took 2 complete days, and to be honest, I was actually surprised it was done that quickly. The wall building was carefully planned out before even attempting to lift a block into place. Now, to be on the up and up, I had viewed some You Tube videos on retaining wall building because I wanted to know something about what my builder was going to try to sell me. To his credit, his proposals agreed with what I had viewed, so I was fairly sure he knew what he was attempting to do. So, a trench was dug and filled with gravel, tamped down, and the 1st painstaking row of block laid down. Never realized just how time consuming it is to get everything perfectly level side to side and front to back for a length of 59 feet with a 90 degree corner in the middle, but Johnny never hurried or lagged behind as the very 1st row is the most critical,,,,and he finished that 1st row in a single day, less in fact, because it had rained the night before and we had to wait a couple of hours for the area to dry out. The remainder of the wall went up quickly at a pace of 2 to 3 courses a day plus the gravel drainage and packed dirt and reinforcing geogird every 2 courses. This man worked hard, he worked harder than I ever thought possible. Overall, I was quoted 2 weeks from start to end, and if was 1 week and 6 days to be exact. The wall came out just beautiful and I'd not find a worker more dedicated to the job.