Simple Solutions

Price was not the lowest or the highest so have competitive rates but after reading this you'll see that's not always a good sign.  Project started out good until they ripped up the driveway.  They proceeded on taking out a huge slab of concrete found underneath the driveway, right next to the foundation of the house instead of stopping and doing some further investigation.  When they finally got the slab removed it was found it was actually supporting that part of the foundation.  So they ended up bringing in concrete and filling in what they removed saying problem solved.  Funny thing is though, when I walk in the house over that area they refilled, the floor bounces/vibrates and it didn't before they removed what was there.  Things just went bad to worse from there.  I wanted a concrete patio laid where they removed that big slab of concrete and I wanted it laid to be even with the concrete slab of the foundation.  That couldn't be done due to them having to refill that area with concrete so my patio is higher than I wanted and it's above the concrete foundation, basically against the wood sill of the foundation, which was the whole purpose of removing the driveway because it was that high.  The patio is actually higher than the driveway was.  Then the grading they did around the patio into the rest of my yard only left me with 4 inches of topsoil making it impossible to fulfill my planting plans in/around the patio.  When I questioned Jason (owner) on this he explained the gravel/sand mixture that I hit after the 4 inches of soil was needed to keep water away from the house.  Since my new patio comes out at least 3 feet this didn't make sense to me since there is obviously a sand/gravel mixture under it, 3 feet out from my house.  He knew my planting plans for around the patio but didn't bother telling me 'you know, you'll only have 4 inches of soil at the most'.  This sand/gravel mix goes all the way to the road and the road is a good 50+ feet from my house.  Personally, I think he laid the sand/gravel mix because it's cheaper than top soil and they had alot of yard to fill after ripping out the driveway.
Then came determining if there was any rotting of wood undernearth the aluminum siding.  There was, which was no surprise to me.  I already had a contractor scheduled for doing other things inside/outside my house after Simple Solutions was finished so I explained to Jason I'd have that contractor look at it to fix/replace the wood.  Then the pressure started.  Jason was around when my other contractor came to inspect it and Jason did nothing but blast the guy.  Jason kept saying 'he kept scratching his head' and looking and looking.  Jason asked me more than once 'are you sure you want to hire this guy to do ANY work around your house because he doesn't give me the impression he knows what he's doing'.  When I explained he's been in the remodeling business for over 18 years and that I would call and talk to him then Jason explained how he was told by the contractor it could be a few days to a week before he could work on it, which the contractor did confirm when I called to talk to him.  Jason said he could have his guy 'Scott' here the very next day and give me a break on the hourly charge which turned out to be way more than the other contractor would have charged.  Jason also applied pressure on me using 'his guy' by threatening me with an equipment charge for hauling his equipment away and then bringing it back due to the other contractor not being able to start on the project right away the next day.  So Jason's pressure worked and I ended up spending a ton more.  On top of that when the new concrete patio was poured Jason said no one can walk on it for at least 48 hours and I come home the very next day (24 hours) to find them walking all over one side of it to put the new siding up.  Needless to say that side of the patio looks rough compared to the other side.  When this was brought to Jason's attention he said all he had to do was come out and buff it with a buffing stone....which he did but the two sides still look different from each other.
One day I came home and Jason was explaining how my neighbor came over and talked to him about his plans to put a boxed in garden in a area close to my lot line on the side of the house Jason was working on.  Jason explained to accommodate the garden plan the swale would have to be in a different, less effective area.  I told Jason, then my neighbor doesn't put his garden where he wants to if it's going to cause water to sit up against my house.  Jason gets all huffy and says 'that's great, I even went through redesigning it'.  I looked at him and said 'I'm sorry you wasted your time but who is paying you for this work, me or my neighbor.  You don't replan something based on what a person NOT PAYING YOU wants.  You talk to me first and if I say it's ok then you replan.'  Obviously he had no comeback for that, which surprised me, because he's a master of excuses.
Then came the planting of grass.  It was spread by HAND.  I would expect a professional company to at least use a spreader for even spreading. Then straw was spread.  I could've done this part myself if I'd have known this was how they would do it.   Now I'm left with thick patches, thin patches and bare patches here and there because it was done by hand.  Very, very poor job of grass planting.  The grading in the back by my patio where they removed the railroad tie wasn't done correctly because now when it rains I get a huge puddle of water on my patio, too close to my foundation for my comfort.  They offered to come back and replant bare areas in the spring but by that time I wanted nothing more to do with them.  I told them to just drop off seed and I would handle it.  And now I'm stuck having to hire another company to fix their bad grading in the backyard.
DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY!!!!!

It went bad from the start! On 5/24 Simple Solutions came to tear off the two layers of our roof. They didn't take any precautios to protect our house. We had black "scuff" marks over all over our vinyl siding and brand new front door. Our landscape on the side of our house was destroyed as well. We told them about it and they used a chemical called Oops to clean off the scuffs (which is not safe to use on vinyl siding). This caused severe clouding and obvious "spots" all over our siding. We again brought it to their attention and they used another chemical to try to clean it up. I contacted several other roofing companies and they told me it was permantely damaged. I told Jason, the owner of Simple Solutions, and he disagreed. He wanted to continue trying several other cleaners and I refused. I didn't want it to get damaged worse nor did I feel comfortable anymore. We discussed our options and couldn't come to a resolution. In the meantime, our roof became an issue. It started leaking with the first rainfall after our roof was completed. So I brought this up to Jason. He came over and looked at it and they cauked it and said that should fix it. Well it didn't!! We have a visible "hole" or space around the chimney where you can actually put your fingers in from the inside our attic and see your fingers on the outside of the roof. Which means there was still an issue and water was still going to be getting in or leaking in. This was again brought up to Jason and with a lot of calling and pressuring Jason came out again. His solution again was adding more cauk to fill the holes. The results again were that the roof was still leaking. So once again it was brought up to Jason's attention. We arranged for a meeting at our house to discuss our options. It became a heated discussion and Jason and his sub-contractor Bill were not happy with what I was saying so they both got into their vehicles and drove away speeding and squeeling their tires. We tried to contact him to let him know that the roof was still leaking and he didn't do anything. This was our last contact with Jason and Simple Solutions. So we contacted Jason's insurance company. His insurance company came out to the house, looked at the roof and said he did a bad job. The insurance company told us that they don't cover bad work so we needed to contact Jason to get something worked out with him. The insurance company would cover the siding and the landscaping that got damaged but at a pro-rated rate. We never heard back from the insurance company and left several voicemail messages etc. So now we only had one option and that was to contact an attorney. The attorney said we had a good case and we proceeded. The case came to mediation and we ended up wining. This has caused alot of stress and time for me and my family and I don't want this to happen to anyone else!!