Reid Construction & Maintenance

There were a lot of projects that had been stacking up at my house for years, and having rats resident in the garage and getting under the house was the last straw.  I purchased a big deal (40 hours of contractor time for $1499.00, plus materials).  Toward the end of the job, Mike found some dry-rot in the floor at the back of the house, and that added extra labor time and materials.  Mike did the majority of the work, and he did an outstanding job.  The quality of the work is excellent, he was good company, and he cleaned up very well before leaving. 
I really wanted to give them "A"s across the board, but Ben needs to work on his follow-through.  I made sure to schedule the work while I was home on vacation - making it clear (I thought) that it was important for me to be home while the work was going on - but toward the end my job was re-prioritized behind another one, and Ben didn't let me know until it was too late for me to do anything about my work schedule, and I had to leave a key.  At the beginning of the job, Ben told me he would give me daily invoices for materials, but I only received one for the first day.  It has been almost a week since they finished, but I have not received any more invoices, nor have I heard from Ben at all.  I don't even know how much I owe him.   
I am very happy with the work that was done, and would probably call them again, with the stipulation that communication and follow-through have to improve.

We purchased a $500 kitchen redesign package for $50 so our expectations were low.  They contacted us right away about setting up a time to meet but we weren't ready.  When we called them back, they were able to meet with us.  We wanted to redesign our kitchen to get more space and utility.  We were open to structural changes and possibly adding space.  We wanted a designer to help identifiy ways to maximize space and give us some ideas.  When we met with him for the first time, he asked very few questions and we had to prompt him to consider what we were looking for.  When we met with him the second time, he had left out several key features that we specifically asked him to include.  He as going to redo them and meet again.  We had to cancel the appointment and asked that they send us the newest set of drawings.  We've never heard back from them, we've never received the updated drawings and we've never followed up because we were so disappointed with what they provided.  In our opinion, we could have done the same thing with basic home redesign software and saved the time and trouble.  As a contrast, we have been working with another designer who prepared 6 different design layouts for us after meeting with us and asking a lot of questions about how we use the space and what we were looking for.

Bottom line is the work was not finished and not in a timely manner. I am still without electricity in my closet.  I finally installed one of the doors they were supposed to install.  On the door they installed, a swing-in door, they cut the carpeting back to the outside of the door jamb so the closet floor is in the room.  On the door I installed, the carpet goes under the door so it looks seamless.  However, these guys are very nice people, kept the work area clean, and were respectful while they were there.  These are the kinds of people you would hang out with in a social manner.  They would be good but have no concept of follow up.
My work was started July 23 and was to last three days, with two guys working.  The sub forgot to bring the casing for the prehung doors so he said he would come back on the following Monday to install the doors.  Unfortunately, the sub had a family emergency on that Monday.  I did not hear back from him. (He did say that he was going to be busy, but he still should have called to schedule!) On August 13 or so, I finally called Ben who came out on Aug 14 to evaluate the situation.  He was going to send out another guy and was going to charge me "not more than $500" to hang the doors and install the electric.   I was not going to pay additional money for work that should have been done.  He also took some measurements to give me an estimate on some other projects I needed done.  I received a phone call from the sub on Aug 23 to install the doors on Aug 27.  His prior appointment ran late.  He called me and I missed his call because I could not pick up the phone in time. I called back immediately, and left messages every day for the rest of the week with no response.  On Sept 8, I received my estimates  from Ben with a statement that the sub had not heard from me.  Really? I finally installed the one door on Sept 10 because I just gave up.  Finally, the sub came on Sept 11 to hang the other door.  The irony is they were critical of how a contractor had not finished some work I had done prior to this project.  As I said, these guys are very nice, and I would consider them for future work, but only if I don't care when it was completed.  My advice to anyone who gets this deal, make sure you get what they say they will do in the 40 hours in writing.  I was terribly frustrated by this situation.

Edited To Add: In reading the company's response, I have found that their response is completely false.  They have not completed any additional tasks and I didn't insist that they complete extra tasks. I always returned phone calls but they did not and I have the records to prove this.  Their laborers left a tool behind and I joked that I'd hold it for ransom.  I've not heard back from them since.

I purchased the Angie's list coupon for kitchen design plans, and immediately sent an email requesting an appointment.  It took a couple of phone calls and a few weeks to schedule the visit.  A few emails and a couple of months later, I received the plans which were fairly detailed.  However, in the months between the initial design planning purchase and the time the plans were delivered, I decided to to another direction.  
I believe Reid Construction underestimated the Angie's List response to their offer, and were not prepared to meet customer expectations.

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Overall I would say that I was happy with the work and the experience.  Ben and his people are soft spoken
and pleasant and they made a real attempt to keep work areas clean and neat.  They are open about their limitations (e.g. they are not concrete contractors) but they have the ability to tackle a huge variety of projects and I plan to generally call them first.  What kept me from making this an unqualified excellent rating was the following:  1) there were some communication issues.  For example, the fence has boards that warp severely when the temperature changes at times preventing the latch from closing.  Ben's employee later stated that was to be expected with the quality of materials used.  However, it wasn't explained that there was a choice of materials and what the expected results would be.  We can tolerate it, but the problem remains.  2)  The barrier to roosting animals has worked wonderfully,
However, it is plainly visible (it is over the doorway) because excess materials were simply gathered and left on the structure rather then being carefully trimmed.  That would have made the structure almost invisible and an "A" rather than a "B" 3) a potentially serious problem occurred when an outdoor plumbing leak was fixed very poorly and actually increased in water flow.  Had I not inspected the job after I was told it was "fixed" a serious amount of water would have been lost.  It is important to note that as soon as I contacted Ben he rushed over and corrected the problem in an expert manner.
I would also suggest that a customer discuss with Ben job vs time issues and his interpretation of how the time in a big deal will be figured.  
I believe that the initial experience with Ben will improve our communication and I am optimistic that the next job will end with an A+
rating.

He was personable and friendly. I thought that he really explained to me what he needed to do and why he needed to do it, and why the cost was the way it was. He did a really good job. I was very much satisfied with the service, and in fact, I am getting ready to hire him to do something else.

Ben was very responsive and was able to get the work started on the fence within a week.  The work took a little longer than expected, but the final result was very good.  One of his employees, Dave, took the extra time to ensure that the details were taken care of and that I was happy with the result.  I was extremely impressed both with Dave's dedication and the final product.  This is the second time we've contracted with Reid Construction and we plan to use them again.

The contractor was very responsive, very friendly, and did an outstanding job.  It took a little longer than expected, but it was done right and works perfectly.  The result looks like the house was built with these features.  Very happy and have already used them again - and plan to again down the road.  Thank you, Ben!!

I went with them because of the deal I was offered. He was very thorough and detailed with his work. He wanted to make sure it got done right. He was very good with clean up. He put down drop clothes when He was doing the screen door. He had some issues with his truck and had some trouble getting there on time.

Overrall, it went as planned.

It took a little longer than I expected to get the design back after initial consultation but this was only due to the high demand for this Big Deal.  Overall the experience was great.  My ideas for the remodel were taken in to consideration and the final design was very much what I had in mind.Mr. Reid was very thorough in taking the measurements of the room and the design plans were easy for me to understand. I will be using them as a basis for the remodel.

 He is wonderful. He has not been able to finish the work because my husband got sick and has not pulled the permits. As soon as we get the permits they are going to finish the job. We got the big deal and he did do more than what was covered by the big deal. He did a lot of work. Like moving plumbing, moving electrical and taking out walls. The plumbing was a huge deal. He completely gutted our bathroom and put a new tub for our shower and a new shower where the master bedroom walk in closet use to be. The walk in closet is going to be ajacent to where our bedroom is. It is going to be part of our huge loft. I will continue to use him.

The microwave works, and hasn't fallen down it's been over eight months.  :)

Ben is the one who performed the work. From start to finish he did a great job! I am very pleased with the work he did. Everything is as good as new. I would definitely use Reid Construction again if I need a contractor.

Overall, I was pleased with the work done.  The contractor who did the work was unable to replace the thermostat because he could not remove the old one, but other than that all the little projects I wanted done were completed within the timeline.  I am happy with the results.

Ben responsed quickly to my response to his ad.Work was to start several weeks after estimates per my request.The delay made it possible for all the materials available when we started.The workers sent were very professional, worked hard each day.The workers started a little later in morning d/t the travel time from Fairfield.The bathrooms were done first and then the windows.When taking out the old windows, dry rot discovered & a large wasps net.Repair necessary and required justified additional equipment and labor.Repair was done as quickly as possible. Exterior painting done by different crew and was very thorough.They discovered  trim that needed to be replace.  The weather was very hot at this time. The workers worked very hard. D/t heat, time was adjusted to start earlier. All in all I am very pleased with the finished product.

It was wonderful. Darell, was great. He was very helpful and worked really hard. He also did what I preferred. Ben Al's went above and beyond our expectations.

Grab it while you can! 

We picked Ben Reid Construction for his 'contractor special', that we believe is an Angie's List top value!  Mr. Reid's associate, Troy, completed various home repairs in our SACRAMENTO home with expert skills.  We found Troy to be a hard worker, who insisted on finishing our tasks in the best manner possible. 

We will definitely ask Troy Simmons Construction (Reid Construction) for help when we need it again in the future!

It was fine.

The job was completed very well, it is all that I had hoped for. Only problem was it took over a week to complete the job and that was the fault of the four storms thar swept through the area during construction. I have already asked them to do a smaller project for me and would recommend them for any project, big or small.

Ben is fabulous! 

He did exactly what he said he would do -- called me when he said he would, emailed me pictures of the results, showed up when he was supposed to.

He also managed to figure out how to install the bars without instructions, which was a little tricky because of the release mechanism.

Great work at a reasonable price.

Thanks Ben!
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Original review above.  Since then Ben has done a couple other jobs for me (repair fence and replace planter box and installed a window shade).  While I like Ben and his company a lot, I should note that a couple times I've had some less than A+ experiences.   For example, once an appointment that we made was completely forgotten. Another time, the guy he sent went to the wrong place and the fence repairs eventually made actually blew down in the next windstorm.  Of course they repaired the fence again.  On the next job (planter box replacement), he did a great job, but did not confirm for me until I asked like 3 weeks later whether the job was done, so I was left wondering if the work got done.  Overall a good company.

He hauled away a lot of junk like trash and he was really cool about taking that and didn't charge me extra.

Reid Construction & Maintenance 

Reid Construction & Maintenance, would call if was running late.

Prompt and courteous service. Ben is friendly and helpful.