Thank you for the great review and for the work! We are happy that you are pleased with the project! A short note to all Angie's List members and review-readers: Please keep in mind that I am the Owner/Operator of a small specialty company that, as this client mentioned, is highly in demand. Don't let something like "responsiveness" cause you to end up with a deck that is not worth your hard earned money. To be fair, I responded to this client the very same day as their initial contact. They asked me if I wanted to look at doing some repairs to the deck. I answered immediately with a detailed response and I also had some questions for them. It was 3 months before they responded back to me. And when they did, my questions were still unanswered. Once we got to where we'd both communicate it all went very smoothly. I DO admit that I have dropped the ball several times this year on responding to people in a timely manner since we've been so busy. But this client was not one of them. As the Owner/Operator, and to keep YOUR costs down, I work on site and assist the small crew; I also do all of the appointments, all of the drawings, all of the bids, all of the research you may request, and send out all of the detailed emails explaining the plans & bids. Not to mention all of the marketing (fb posts - haha) and the business paperwork that is an everyday thing. There is only so much time in a day and I get back with people as fast as I can being the guy who takes care of all of these things. For me to hire a guy to respond to you faster would cost you more money. For me to never assist on the job site (so I could respond to emails all the time) would mean that, when we are working on YOUR job, I wouldn't be around to make sure you're getting what you're paying for. Your initial email may just be asking if I even want to come LOOK at the work to decide if we want to do it. The answer is always YES! Yes I do! I may not be able to come today or even this week, but YES I do want to meet with you! So if you don't hear right back from me, feel free to keep emailing me. I'd rather you do that than hire someone you know you don't want to hire or to leave us a review on something like "responsiveness" that has nothing to do with the quality of the product you will be getting. Not to sound out of order here but, do you want the best deck you can get for your money? Or do you want to see who will respond the fastest? We are in the DECK business and that's where you want us. I honestly don't think you want us to be the top dog in the "responding business". I WILL respond. Here is what can help me respond faster: 1) Email (don't call) 2) In that FIRST email, provide ALL the info you can (address, deadline or timeframe for wanting the work done, basic scope of the work you're wanting done - doesn't have to be too detailed, how you heard about us, days & times that are best for you to meet with me initially so I can measure and talk to you about the proposed project, anything that may be important). If I know your deadline or timeframe that will help me respond to you before I respond to people that aren't in a hurry. 3) Email me again if you haven't heard from me. 4) Dont' text me until we are already contracted to do the work. Texts come in from friends & family too and your's will get lost in the shuffle. My dedicated chris@customdeckworks email is just for YOU for that reason. 5) Once I do respond to your initial email, set an example in fast-responding and I will follow suit. If I sense you are not truly very interested then my very limited time will go to those that are. Note: Calling won't help since I may not be able to answer anyway and my phone is constantly flooded with telemarketing calls & voicemails - so much so that my phone is actually ineffective except for when I need to make a call. Once you & I decide we're going to work together I'll put your name in my phone and I'll be sure to answer your calls if I can at that moment (if I'm not on a ladder holding up boards, etc.). But I implore all you good people to not leave bad ratings on things like "responsiveness" because it can prevent other people from reaching out to (what YOU all have called) the best deck builders in the area. When our workmanship, our work ethic, or how we treat our clients or their property starts becoming an concern, then by all means, PLEASE warn the public. But to fault a small company that is in a level of demand that would be tough for a big company to handle over something like how long it took them to respond, especially when we are putting quality first above all things, is just not nice to us or to the other people that also want the best deck they can get. Another thing to keep in mind is this: Each & every week of the year, at the request of people, I use gasoline & time to come out to a house, listen to clients wishes and take measurements. I then (for free) go back to my desk and spend HOURS drawing plans, checking current material prices to be sure I'm as fair as I can be, figuring the bids, creating folders (on the computer & in the real world) to keep the client's project organized, drafting long detailed emails explaining the plans & bids and offering to do it over & over until it is the right plan for them. And each and every week of the year there is at least one (sometimes 4) who never gives me the common courtesy of EVER responding to all of my hard, free-to-them work. No "Thank You. We'll let you know"; no nothing. And I don't go around telling the other contractors not to work with them because their "responsiveness" (or even their GRATEFULNESS) is lacking. You see, contractors understand that YOU are busy too. We get it that sometimes you are just focused on other things or in your project in general and that it's not personal - that it's not all about us. We know how to send another email in a week politely asking if you've had time to review our bids. And we know how to move on if you never respond - and without thinking we need to punish you. Now.... if we contract with you and you breach the contract in any way (especially financially) then we probably will think that warrants taking the time to warn other contractors or the public. But over "responsiveness" when we are ALL busy people out here? No. We DO want work. We will ALWAYS need more. We are not EVER so busy that we will purposefully ignore anyone. So, (hoping not to sound too out of line here) if you have seen our work, have seen our reviews, have seen the other choices out here for a deck contractor, and therefore you KNOW that we are your first choice if pricing and other things work out, then please don't let something like "we didn't get back to you as quick as you thought we should" stop you from getting what you want. If you want us - get us! Remember: You made a quick call or sent a quick email and we didn't get right back to you. But.... 1) You are not the only one trying to pin us down for a one-of-a-kind deck (we are busy making people happy that already went through what you are going through right now). 2) I lose time with my family, my crew, and my other clients (and therefore I lose actual money) when I spend those HOURS working on a free estimate for you and you never respond to me. When you factor in that I am a person too (not just a "business robot" that has no purpose in the universe but to serve the immediate caller) and that I may be worn out from physically & mentally going non-stop for 12-14 hours seven days a week (yes, for the DECK business), and that sometimes when your 1st email comes through asking me when I can meet with you that I might literally not have an answer right then due to all the duties I have and unknowns that each day brings in construction, then surely you will understand that I'm doing the best I can do. And that to change anything would mean quality will suffer somewhere. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather my initial "responsiveness" quality be sub par than my craftsmanship - or even my attention and focus when it comes to managing YOUR money during the project to be sure you don't get left with a half done project like so many fly-by-night contractors will do to you. I'm truly sorry if it is off-putting to some of you that I speak so bluntly about this; that I'm basically saying 'get over yourselves' when it comes to needing to hear back from me so fast. I'm NOT saying this from a perspective of 'We've got work so we don't need you' or anything like that. I am humbled and grateful for ALL of the people that reach out to us and ask us to be a part of their projects. I even do projects by myself w/o the crew, at the cost of my health and my family's needs, JUST to help people out that need something done and can't endure the waiting list we sometimes have. And FYI: ALL of our jobs come in at "barely break even" if we're lucky. So I'm not saying this stuff from some "full of myself" place; I am simply saying that if we are ALL HUMBLE and GRATEFUL TOGETHER then it will all work out. Again, if you have a deadline, let me know in the first email. I'll be honest and let you know what we can do so you'll know if you need to move on to another contractor or not. It's not a game. It's not a contest. Just be real with me and give me a chance and, if you can (sometimes) wait for a response, then I'll always be real & honest with you and I WILL make you happy if I get the chance. Re-read the review I'm responding to and you'll see that. Thanks for listening, Angie's List members! You are ALL important to me and I'll prove it if you just don't give up on me too quickly! Thanks for your patience!