STS Remodeling

STS Construction Services recently completed a remodel of our kitchen and living room. The goal of our remodel was to make our kitchen completely wheelchair accessible and functional. We had been designing it and drawing up plans for several years. Having been through a couple remodels, I knew that we wanted a contractor who was skilled, prompt, reliable and gave good value for money. In hiring STS, we got all of that and more! STS, from the top down, from the estimator to the crew to the end-of-project cleaners, have a strong determination to do the very best work they can and to make sure the customer is happy. They don’t just get it done, they do it with a pride and thoroughness that is quite amazing in this day and age. Our site supervisor, Trai, took a personal interest in our project. He communicated very clearly, so we always knew what was going on. He and his crew always left the site as clean and organized as they could at the end of the day. Every STS employee we dealt with was caring and considerate and exceeded our expectations of quality of work; they treated the project as if it was their own. Some contractors that I interviewed seemed to be unwilling to work with homeowner designs and expected the customer to work with a professional designer or architect. After reviewing our plans, STS felt they were good enough to do the project, and there was no talk of bringing in professional design people. To make sure that the cabinets for our kitchen were exactly the right height, and also to save money, my husband built them himself. Not all contractors would be willing to work with customer-built cabinets, and we found out later that STS was a bit dubious that he would get them done on time and that they would be of the quality and precision that they were used to. But they took a chance and, for the record, he did and they were. STS responded quickly to any issues or problems that we had. They didn’t cut corners and they made sure that the quality of the final product was excellent throughout, even if it meant doing something over. There were things that I didn’t even notice that they insisted weren’t good enough, and they fixed them. Our experience working with STS Construction has been wonderful. While I don’t miss the dust and inconvenience of the remodel, I do miss the crew. They became like family and friends. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend STS to anyone for any project, and I certainly would be happy to work with them again on a future remodel.

A friend of mine who deals with property management referred me to STS Construction. For two weeks they did not return my phone calls. I finally went back to my friend and she said "that's ridiculous" and called them up. They immediately answered her call. They then came out and did the water mitigation, which involved cutting all walls 2' up from the floor and also removing all hardwood flooring. Kevin is the one who did the cutting of the walls and he was very professional. Every time I tried to call the company (Jed, the project manager), I would never receive a call back, NEVER! I understand that this was during the holidays and he had a sick child and wife, but I still think he should have made at least one attempt to return my call or had the job passed on to someone else. I should have been told in the beginning how this was going to work. I asked if there were going to be any sub-contractors and the reply was "NO," they only used their guys. All of the sudden they sent me to a flooring company to pick up flooring, Bogel Flooring. I questioned STS again about them using sub-contractors and was told "well, we can't do everything!" I went and picked out the flooring, met with Brad Bogel and picked out transition strips and advised the type of base that I wanted to use. They delivered all of the wood. My floor is concrete so it was going to be installed as a floating floor so the product had to acclimate. I came in one day and there were painter's that I had never met and who was from another company (obviously that had been sub-contracted), but I did know that they had a very good reputation. My complaint starts here.... My house was an absolute pig sty every single day that they were here. The painters textured, primed and painted the central wall over and over again and it was obvious that it wasn't textured right so they had to redo it three or four different times. When I said something to the painters, they stated that they were just doing what STS told them to do. I still could not get Jed to call me back during all of this. I came home another day and there were two young boys installing my hardwood floor... I would guess them to be in their late teens. They were sub-contracted through Bogel and was under the direction of someone named Robert, who was supposed to be the best of the best and who was also a sub-contractor for Bogel Flooring. I came in one day when the two guys were here and because the boxes containing the flooring had been sitting on the concrete, when they moved the boxes to each room and turned or swivel the boxes to grab another piece of flooring, it caused the new flooring to get scratched up from the concrete residue that was on the bottom of the flooring boxes... I had deep compass like scratches all over my newly installed hardwood flooring. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and called Bogel Flooring and he said "I had the best of the best" and was yelling at me and saying how dare I call him. I also received a call from Craig yelling at me because I had called Bogel and he yelled and asked me what in the h*** was I doing calling Bogel when I should have been calling him! I sent at least 3 emails advising that I did not want the base to be installed and low and behold, I came home one day and they had already installed half of the base and said that I gave them permission! I kept telling them that I did not and finally Jed came forward and knowledged that I was right, and that he had just seen my emails. I came home another day and instead of installing the transition strips, they had installed reducers.... upside down and they were sticking up off the floor a good inch and half in every door entryway. I called Craig Haberson, the owner of STS, and was complaining that no-one had been getting in touch with me or returning my calls. He then started yelling at me saying I had the best of the best. I called him back and advised him that if he wanted to see what the "Best of the Best" was doing, then he needed to come and look at my flooring. That afternoon Craig sent Abe (a field supervisor and Roy who was his helper. When Abe walked in he said he was appalled at what he was seeing and stated that he was embarrassed to be working for STS. By the time he and Roy left, my house was completely clean, I couldn't believe it! The next day I had an appointment to meet with Craig for the first time (who had not been very nice to me during this whole process and who yelled at me and never treated me with one ounce of respect or treated me like a paying customer). When I met up with Craig, who had been at my house inspecting and getting the low-down. Craig introduced himself and immediately stated "I have to tell you, you got the worst of the worst!" After that, the flooring guys were fired, it was thought that they might have been under the influence of something while on the job. When I showed Craig the scratches on my flooring, his comment to me was, "What?... you're never going to scratch your own floors? and asked if I expected him to replace the entire floor!?" He agreed to replace a certain section back in my bedroom and that was it. The whole customer service was lacking! When they replaced the drywall sections, they dry walled all of my cables and computer cords behind the wall. They ended up having to come back out to fix it. An older gentleman that had not been with the company for very long, came out and did an amazing job repairing my drywall. I so strongly feel that he and Abe should be cloned and be the only people allowed to work on any construction project, ever! These guys definitely were "The Best of the Best!!!" The insurance company kept saying the check was in the mail, but Craig continued to accuse me of me withholding the check, even after it arrived and clearly was dated and obvious that I had not withheld his check. I had contacted them the day it arrived and tried to get it to them but I was just not able due to my busy work schedule, so I advised them that they could pick it up. They ended up sending Jane (who is no longer with the company but who always listened to me and was always very courteous and professional) out to retrieve the check. I was so good to the regular crew and baked for them and brought food by the house (to Abe and the older gentleman). I called Craig once again to advise him that the painter's had painted my breaker box shut to where I could not open it. He yelled at me and said there was no way in the world that his guys would have paint my breaker box door shut! I didn't know what to do, so I contacted Mr. Sparkey (a local electrician) and his wife answered and said her husband would be home soon and would be over to open it and there would not be a charge. She also advised that they did not work with STS and understood my issues with them. I later had to call Scott Wiseman, who is West Seattle's #1 appliance repairman and whom I've known for years to fix the water line on my refrigerator. When he pulled my refrigerator out, he seen that STS had used 3" nails in the baseboards and that they had went right in to the side of my refrigerator. I called Craig to tell him and he said that it was no big deal and said that if he was to even mention my name to any of his workers, that they would walk off the job! He was yelling and screaming at me for a good 10 minutes, but then stated that as a person, I was probably one of the nicest people that he had ever met (I had offered him a pair of baseball tickets but he said he wouldn't be able to use them), then advised that as a customer, I was the worst customer anyone would ever want to work with. Also, when Craig said he took Jed off the job, he said that he actually didn't take Jed off the job and that Jed had quit! I knew that the two of them were best friends so I intentionally tried to stay low and not complain at every turn. Craig said friends or not, business comes first.

The work started in April and was finally completed in August of 2014. I felt like my project was not a priority for them and I was always having to ask when the planned to finish. When it was done there were several things that caused some concern - wobbly deck railing, cracked cement and wooden posts set directly on the porch. The porch was poured so that it now has standing water and the posts are set directly on the concrete. When I tried to get STS to correct these issues the owner was combative. I hired an independent inspector to review the project. He recommended some fixes for the deck but only commented that the porch design was bad. STS made some minor reinforcements to the deck but it is still not solid.

These folks are awesome. They explain everything to the 'not so knowledgeable ' about repairs. What I really love about them is the crew is ALWAYS on time and friendly.
The main person that you deal with replies with any questions on the very same day you ask, weather it be phone message, email, text or actually talking to them.
Very easy to work with and would recommend them to anyone.

We contacted STS in June when the inspection on the house we were purchasing identified rot in the roof deck and that the waterproof decking needed to be replaced. Craig came out promptly and gave us a bid. In September the work began. Unfortunately we didn’t have a normal dry September, because they found that the rot was more extensive in on area, and went all the way down to the ground. They then had to wait and work on the clear days. They did do a good job keeping the area dry in between. Oh yeah, part of the deck was above living space. Now the deck, wall, and bedroom closet (re-dry walled) are all repaired, painted, and look great. I wish had taken less time, but I understand what they were up against.

STS was very professional and friendly to work with. The porch/deck turned out awesome. The new owners will love it!

Despite a few bumps in the road (they broke the water lines coming into the house twice) they did an excellent job. They were a joy to work with and very creative. Special thanks and credit go to Tim Hopkins (Project manager), Robert (who did most of the work) They were very profesional and had many suggestions about the look and finish of the Job. STS was on time and was 4% below budget. The quality of the work was and is outstanding. They have followed up the job with several calls to make sure that everything is good. I never had to chase them, They kept me fully informed at every point in the job. I am very happy with the result and would recomend STS to anyone. A truly good company

They are excellent. They are on time, on budget and they propose cost-effective solutions. All of the workers are gracious and accommodating. I would highly recommend them.

We sold the house recently, and our client got some work done from him, and we did have some issues where a home inspector had said he had done sloppy work. We had a couple of our own inspectors come and inspect the house, and we found that he overbuilt the project and it was done quite well. Our experience with him was extremely good. He was very good about meeting with us and going over exactly what he had done on the project. He was very responsive and he came out three times to meet with us and go over what he had done. He explained the reasons why he went about the way he did it, which was exactly what my client wanted him to do. He is patient, his pricing is good and his work is outstanding. The structural engineer said that the work he did the way he did it he had never seen it before, and it surpassed any of the standards that he has ever seen for that particular project.

Responsible, good budget, always discussed before moving forward. Responsive and prompt, very respective. Very good value.

I am very happy with their high quality work and with the final results. The finished product really looks great. The kitchen cabinets that they did look very nice as well. I would rather not disclose the price but I thought it was good.