J & J General Contractors Inc

Dealing with Juan and Kathy (owners of J and J) was a nightmare. Very dishonest people. I requested an add on to the grill area before the work started. I asked how much it would be. They said "not that much more". They did not give me the additional cost until the ground was already dug up. It was almost $2000 more. Kathy kept telling me concrete had almost doubled in price. I could tell she was lying. I looked it up on the internet and called some local concrete distributors and was told that was not true. Concrete had only gone up 1-2% over the past yr. That was just the start of dishonesty with this company. After we came to a compromise over the cost of the addition there was the first attempted bate/switch with the PVC pipe. As his wife (Kathy) stood with the contract that clearly stated PVC pipe was to be used for the gutter extension, Juan started to use cheep corrugated plastic to extend my gutter to the ditch. When I called him on it, he acted like he was doing me a favor by stating "Oh, if you want PVC I can get you PVC!" When the concrete was finally poured there were rough deep groves in the finally quarter that they ran the broom over. I immediately complained so they could fix it as the concrete was still wet. I was told not to worry it would all blend together. that he had been doing this 35 yrs and gives a 3 yrs guarantee on his work. ( But he won't give it to you in writing.) . The patio section with the groves DOES NOT MATCH the rest of the patio and LOOKS DIRTY all the time. And I have to live with it because there is noting they can do NOW. After being told by them and other concrete experts that you CANNOT walk on fresh concrete for 24 hrs. They came back 17 hrs later, in the rain and ran a wheel barrow with heavy dirt over it.( I have a couple of grooves from the wheel barrow being run over the fresh concrete" Now Juan was saying, "You don't have to wait 24 hrs you can walk on it after 3 hrs" because he want to rush the job and get the dirt poured that day. I did not let them continue going over the fresh cement . They already left 2 lines from the wheelbarrow. When they did return to bring back the dirt they claim they took from my yard. The dirt was loaded with rocks, cement chunks, TONS of glass and a kitchen knife. Kathy kept saying that was my dirt and she was not going to replace it. Even after I called two landscaping company's in to look at the dirt and they stated "that dirt never came from your yard or anyone else's, that is was crap." . She still insisted it was my dirt and was not going to do anything about it. There was dirt that never left my yard that they used to cover the gutter extension. It was clean dirt. So to say the dirt they switched was mine was stupid! I was able to put a stop payment on the check before she could cash it. I told them when they replace that debris/glass filled with the dirt they took from my yard they would get paid. I got decent dirt. (NEVER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN IT IF I DIDN'T STOP PAYMENT ON THE CHECK). They got paid and I got my new gate bent by them. Horrible dishonest people. I started to carry my phone with me and started recording our conversation right after the lied about the cost of cement almost doubling. It seemed if their lips were moving they were not telling the truth. On my phone I have Juan talking about the 3 yr .guarantee, Kathy talking about coming to fix the gate, admitting they bent it and still insisting the dirt with the glass/debris was mine. I feel Juan and his wife Kathy thought because I was a senior dealing with them alone I would be an easy target to scam. There is so much more that went on but I did my best to keep this short. I HAVE PICTURES! I have recordings. Nothing else needs to be said.

The work was great, the price was great, the employees were great, we just had an issue their communication. Two different times they showed up unannounced. However, we will still use them in the future and recommend them to others.

waited for EVER for the company to respond as to what date they woulddo job

He was very good, he was on time and punctual, he stuck to the estimate, they cleaned up after themselves, they cleared everything we me before they did it.

HE'S VERY GOOD, VERY PUNCTUAL

WE RECEIVED THE PROPOSAL ON 5/25/01 AND THE WORK WAS FINALLY COMPLETED ON 9/26/01 AFTER SEVERAL PHONE CALLS TO THE COMPANY. AT LEAST TWO TIMES THEY SAID THEY WOULD BE COMING AND DIDN''T SHOW. I WOULDN''T SAY THE QUALITY OF THE WORK IS REALLY BAD, BUT WE ARE NOT VERY PLEASED WITH THE COLOR AND THE JOINTS IN THE CONCRETE. THEY DIDN''T PUT ANY CURING COMPOUND ON THE CONCRETE WHICH WOULD HAVE MADE THE COLOR UNIFORM. THEY DID NOT CLEAN UP THE CONCRETE OFF OF THE SIDING OF THE HOUSE. THE CONCRETE SLOPES TOWARD THE HOUSE AND WATER PUDDLES ON THE CONCRETE AFTER IT RAINS. THE EDGES OF THE SLAB AND THE JOINTS ARE CROOKED. THE PRICE WAS LESS THAN OTHER BIDS AND NOW WE KNOW WHY.