L Ray DeHaven Co Inc

I'd chosen Dehaven due to apparent cost vs. work scope and the seeming customer care exhibited by co-owner Linda Dehaven, who was my main contact during the assessment and project. Things started well, but deteriorated as soon as I signed and submitted the first payment. Linda was unprofessional and argumentative on the few times I asked for project clarification and especially any requests for re-do (as there were some minor problems ... all fixable). Since it's been three years since this project, I cannot/shouldn't try to recall exact conversations. The gist of it was my asking for fixes and submitting punch list items as we progressed, and Linda either ignoring them AND/OR lecturing me for being picky and trying to "milk" her of her profits. She also had me paying the crew (very personable and accommodating I must say) personally, versus through her ... an uncomfortable activity for me. I'm a very reasonable guy, and understanding customer. But Linda was aggressive, and at one point screamed on a voicemail response. She later apologized, via text message, and explained some personal events were going on. Out of empathy I let it go, and to wit this is why I didn't submit a negative review. Now, though, I see that others had similar experiences ... and have some "3 years in quality" results to report on. The paint and stucco patching has held up well, except for one area -- the area that I'd asked for special attention in my punch list: peeling paint where wood meets stucco in the front of the home. It's noticeable. As this may have not been in the project scope, I will qualify it as "normal aging," and declare Dehaven's work as STRONG. Too bad that Dehaven's customer care wasn't nearly as commendable.

Everything about this job was a struggle. I would not use this contractor again. I had to pay her workers and I never seen or heard from the contractor the last 2 weeks of the job. Final payment was made to the construction worker. We were told the job would take 2 weeks and it was 6 week in all when the final window was installed. I would give more details but dehaven will have an excuse for everything.

Can't speak highly enough about this contractor. Linda showed up to look at the small repair job despite having a car accident the previous day. I asked her to bid on the small garage door threshold job and also look at some other settling cracked in my seven year old building. Of all the contractors that came out, she was the most knowledgeable and clear about what she could do to fix the cracking. I hired her for the small job. Her crew showed up on time, were fast, efficient, no over-spray, great matching texture, color is so close no one will ever notice, and they left the place cleaner than when they arrived. Thank you Linda and thank your crew for me. I only wish that I had hired Linda to do the stucco work when I build the building!

The work is still holding strong love these guys!

I was impressed by their work and the courtsey of the owner and workers. I would consider using them in the future for some driveway work as well.

The crew cleaned up their work area every night before leaving. Our building inspector told us it was the best stucco prep he had seen, complimented the crew every time he did an inspection on the job.

Their price was the best estimate we received and the workmanship was excellent. I would recommend them to anyone. Craig R

I would not use this company again or recommend them. These people are wiley like foxes when it comes to coming up with excuses or blaming the customer. It seemed to start well. Linda DeHaven came and took notes on the requirements of the job and gave me estimates. After that it went south. Ray could not make it over to measure for the new door. He made an appointment to come over, but never actually did. He asked me to measure the old door, but I guess since I'm not a professional, I didn't know how to measure right. My new door is smaller than the old door, which I thought was too small to begin with. Linda tried to blame it on the manufacturer not making that sized door, but I bet that's not the issue. The stucco work went well. The door hardware doesn't seem to have been done right, as there is a screw that's stripped. Because the measurement of the door was not correct, the wall inside the house had to be patched and I was left to paint it and the new door frame to get it to match the rest of the kitchen. It really went south when the painting of the outside of the house started and I discovered that although Linda helped me pick colors for my house, she did a crappy job at actually making sure the right colors were noted on the contract. I was looking to her guidance on how to read the color charts, but she's so good at covering her own behind, she knew to have me write down the colors on the contract in my own writing. That's so that even if she told me the wrong color#, I could not hold it against her. So on the first day of painting, I had a fit when I discovered they were painting my house in a very loud yellow. I actually had to pay over a grand extra to get them to paint my house in the color I had originally wanted, but that Linda could not help me identify correctly. The installation of the new kitchen fan went well, as did the installation of the new rain gutters. Another thing that made me feel like this company was on the edge was how quickly they wanted payment upon completion of the job. I mean they wanted to be paid on the same day the work was completed. Not sure if this is usual and customary, but it made me feel like they wanted my money before I could really tell if the work was done right. I would say if you are not a professional at reading paint color charts or measuring windows and doors, I would not recommend using this company. I can't wait to see how they're going to blame me for their not being able to perform in that way. Oh yeah, I really hope I don't end up with a lien on my house because the release form they provided me was blank.....did not have anything filled in, which is why this review wasn't filled in sooner.

My initial meeting with Linda was fantastic. She was very kind and just seemed like a really nice lady who I wanted to do business with. She knew it was my first home and that I was on a strict budget, so I needed to choose materials and repairs that would be cost effective, but last long. She opened up my eyes that doing all stucco would be the least expensive for me, but also give my home a very clean look. I decided to go with her company for this reason because other contractors kept trying to sell me on things I didn't need and wouldn't listen to my real needs. I'm in the real estate industry so I know how much jobs should generally cost, and this company was the perfect combination of price and quality... going with the lowest BID is usually a bad idea and you will pay for it in the end. They were right in the middle, and it looked like they have been in business for years. The main man onsite was Sergio, and he was absolutely great to work with. In fact the entire crew was great and they kept everything as clean as possible while they were working. They were always on time, and so far the quality of work seems great. I did have a concern as to why the stucco was painted so quickly, as I believe stucco needs to completely set in before it is painted. I emailed my concern to Linda, but did not receive a response. I trust they are experts, and maybe in this CA climate it is not absolutely necessary to wait to paint it. The job was completed very quickly. My only concerns where how Linda handled her communication and permit for the job. It put me off a little that she didn't want to pull the permit herself at first. The scope of the job wasn't major, but at the same time I wanted to do things right. After doing my research, it became apparent to me that if I the homeowner pulled the permit, too much liability would be on me. She finally pulled the permit under her company which was the right thing to do. She is sincerely a nice lady, but I think she is so busy that she mixes up her jobs sometimes. I would receive calls to pay for things I already paid for, or we would have miscommunication abotu who would pay for what. I was also given 2 discounts in the beginning, but the "extra" work and material that that was needed ended up negating the discount. I would have had no problem paying for the extra work (extra fascia board and window preparing), but because of other communication issues I grew a little suspect. After paying for the entry door install, I was charged more money because the lockset hardware needed to be put on...once again, it would have been nice to know that up front. After I addressed this fact, she ended up painting the door for me which made things even. It was a little stressful going back and forth with Linda, but we got through it in the end and there were no major issues at all. Once again, from my experience her pricing was fair, so I also don't expect to be treated like a king...just more clear communication and less surprising costs to make sure we were on the same page would have been nice. My advice would be to definitely use this company, but just make sure you go over EVERY detail of the BID and get it all in writing up front so that more charges can't be added later if it is a straightforward job. Please understand that on bigger jobs, contractors can't see everything so expect more costs. I don't want to take that away from this company as it is common and just the fact of life...just not on a straightforward stucco, prep, and paint job. Overall I was impressed by the working crew (Sergio), the fair pricing, and so far the quality of work.

Not well. I have a second story balcony that needed some repairs and waterproofing, then painting. The estimator was late to the appointment, having lost her way after she ignored my explicit directions to my house. She obviously did not use Google maps or a Garmend. When she arrived, she did not allow me to describe the project but launched into what she could do. She required a pad of paper and a pencil to write down what she promised to do. She had no business card. When I asked for collateral information, she took me to the trunk of her car which served as her file cabinet along with other parts of the car. I asked for a detailed description in her estimate of what she proposed to do along with a cost break down. She ignored my request and quoted the job at $11,700 plus an additional cost of $1,100 for a balcony railing wrap in coil with very little construction detail. The closest previous estimate was $6,000. Obviously, I did not consider her a serious contender for my project.

It was an excellent experience! They did a really nice job! They were always on time, and actually finished earlier than we expected them to. I would highly recommend them. It was the best experience we have had so far.

Originally went well. Then the next summer the paint began to bubble around my trim. I paid for very expensive paint at their recommendation so it would last. Called them and they came back twice and painted over. This year again same spot around trim paint bubbled. Called them and they ignored me. Told me to talk to the paint manufacturer as to why it is bubbling. I hired them as professionals and they want me to do their research. They should solve it. I suspect they did not put a primer coat and now the sun is bubbling the paint. When you pay $9200 and hire professionals you don't want them to tell you to go and find out why their paint job is coming loose and bubbling. I got stung! Now I am left with paying someone again to do it right.

I enthusiastically recommend DeHaven Co. for painting. The work crew, led by Sergio Rodriguez, works quickly with high quality, talks with the owner to be sure they are complying with the owner?s wishes, are friendly, work hard, and clean up thoroughly every day and at the end of the job. The quality of all their work - patching, prepping, and painting - is excellent. If I had only had them do the painting, they would have finished my two story house in about 1 ½ weeks. However, due to difficulties obtaining the new windows, waiting for inspections, and scheduling me around their other jobs, making the changes to the windows and walls stretched the total job to more than two months. One of the new windows was very tall, and the manufacturer had trouble with it breaking. They finally offered to make it in two pieces, with the bottom part openable, which is what I had originally requested, and been told was not possible. I think this change in ?possibility? was entirely the responsibility of the window manufacturer, not DeHaven. After the 3 windows were installed, the city inspector required that one of the installations be reworked, because the code required a larger header beam over the window. All other inspections passed cleanly. The other issues that were somewhat upsetting were: 1). the colors were chosen from very small paint chips, and DeHaven only provided a larger sample swatch of the stucco color. They applied the trim first, without me seeing a larger sample, and it was then clear that the trim color did not go well with the stucco color. In order that they not have to repaint all the trim, I had to choose a different stucco color, so did not get the colors I really wanted. Be sure you see large samples of the colors you choose before the crew starts painting. 2). I was never able to get scheduling information ahead of time, so did not know which days to expect the crew to be working. This caused additional delays because there were days when they needed access to the interior of the house, but I could not be home. Some days Sergio would tell me that they would be back the next day, but they would get assigned to a different job instead, and Linda DeHaven never called to tell me that they were not coming. This was probably my biggest frustration with this job, since it lasted so long. It was very hard to schedule around the work, because they typically called early in the morning on the days they wanted to work, so no advance planning was possible. 3). DeHaven would tell me that they had put in the request for the city inspector to come, but when I would call the city I would be told that they had no inspection request for my property. When I put in the requests myself, the inspector always arrived the next day, so I?m not sure what the problem was, but it caused additional delays. In summary, I am very pleased with the work quality, and the final appearance, but the process was frustrating. In the future, I would definitely hire DeHaven for painting, but probably not have them do additional construction-type work. Also note that they do give an Angie's List member discount.

It did not go at all. They stopped somebody else from doing the job. They did not come, they did not call, not only once... THREE TIMES. Stay away from this people

We had two pieces of wood at the rear of our home that suffered dry rot and termite damage. One piece was a fascia board 12" x 14' long and the other was a major roof support beam 22' long x 12" x 4". Other contractors suggested replacing both pieces of wood. Ray recognized there was still a significant amount of solid wood remaining in each board and suggested sanding, filling and priming the smaller fascia board and doing the same to the 22' support beam plus, wrapping the 22' beam with wood grain aluminum to protect the wood from further sun damage. This large beam faces directly south. He was also concerned with maintaining the structural integrity of the roof when removing such a major support beam. DeHaven's bid was significantly lower than other contractors wanting to replace the wood. The DeHaven crew completed the job within one day and we were very please with the quality work and the clean-up at the end of the day!

Our entire house was stucco except for the front of our two-car garage which was wood. We interviewed three contractors and contracted with Ray DeHaven because of his years of experience and their high satisfaction rating on Angie's List. Ray came out to give us an estimate and spent over an hour with us explaining the pros and cons of several options. For an "as-built" finish, Ray recommended we remove the wood siding down to the bare studs instead of putting stucco on top of the wood as other contractors had recommended. He also recommended we have Multi-tex stucco system applied to the wood fascia boards around the top of the garage because it would match the look of the stucco. They started the job on Monday 12/5 and completed it on Friday 12/9. Due to the wet weather the Multi-tex did not have an opportunity to set-up and ran in a few places. Ray had his crew out first thing Monday morning to assess the situation and remove the damaged area. Once the weather cooperated they promptly returned to finish the job and it turned out perfectly. We were very pleased. We also asked Ray for an additional proposal on some wood repair that we will report separately. Ray and his crew are professional, knowledgable, friendly and did a great job of cleaning up the area at the end of each day. We are very happy with the job and would highly recommend their services!

Linda DeHaven came out to give us the estimate. She was very thorough but a little too exuberant at times suggesting we have some work done that we really didn't want such as getting a new patio cover. Also she was using construction terms that I wasn't familiar with without explaining them which was confusing to me. But when my husband and I had a chance to discuss everything in private, we could think better and made our decisions as to what we really wanted done and what we didn't want. We had gotten other quotes for the job and the price quotes were fairly close. We decided to use L Ray DeHaven company based on the reports on Angie's list. We were very happy with the end result.The entire crew is employed by DeHaven company and so there are no subcontractors. Sergio, who has been with them for over 20 years, is their foreman and his son and brother all work with him They were extremely knowledgable, nice, and caring. They didn't mind redoing or changing something if it wasn't exactly the way we wanted it. They always cleaned up very nicely at the end of the day . We have a dog and they always made sure that they closed the gate to our yard when they were going in and out. They were always there when they said they would be and Linda always returned my calls within an hour or so. I really like that. Ray, the owner and contractor, is a very nice and easy going man and knows his craft very well. I do have one suggestion, though. I know he came by every day to talk with his crew, but since some problems did arise along the course of the project, I think it would have been a good idea for him to come and talk with us as well. As a result, a couple of times there was some miscommunication. But it all got resolved to our satisfaction in the end. When we did get a chance to talk with Ray, he had some very good suggestions about some of the problems that had come up. We had an epoxy floor put on our garage floor. Because we have an effervescence problem, they had to redo the entire floor using a different product a second time and didn't charge extra for that. Because the floor had to cure for 72 hours, we had to leave everything out on our patio. We had to go out of town and so everything would have to be left out even longer than 72 hours. They covered everything with plastic very well (it did rain while we were gone, and nothing got damaged) and came back to put everything back right when they said they would. The new stucco matches the existing stucco and you can't tell the difference. They did an amazing job and it all looks great. We would definitely use them again.

For a week, he did not call and response to my request. I am very disappointed as he show no professionalism and responsibility.

They did a great job. The texture appears to match perfectly.

Ray DeHaven is a very friendly, knowledgeable, honest contractor; he is also extremely flexible - a quality very much needed during this project. We met with him several times over the course of our project and had numerous phone conversations regarding the project. The DeHaven crew is very friendly, knowledgeable, and thorough; they never left the job site without completely cleaning/clearing the entire area; the quality of workmanship is excellent. We are very well pleased with the end result and highly recommend this company.

Ray was friendly, on time, flexible, and efficient. The crew was on time, friendly, worked tirelessly, to complete the work. They always cleaned up the area at the end of the day.

I cannot tell that there was ever a crack there. Professional group that performed exactly as expected. Would absolutely use this contractor again. On time and very fast service.

Owner showed up on time-very personable, knows what works and has keen eye for design/color etc. Very impressed with professionalism, and quick response with written quote for each item (i.e.windows, texcote/paint, gutters) Quote just a little high but still reasonable with own workers - no subcontractors. Would not hesitate to hire in future.

Day after contact they here, examined and gave bid. Since this was a saturday they couldnt start til Monday. Monday showed up on time. After stucco fixed had to wait 24 hrs to paint. Showed up exactly on time again and finished.

I?ve used them before and they did a ton of work. The job went unbelievably well. They actually do whatever little issue is of concern to me and they make it a concern to them. It doesn't matter how small it is. I got exactly what I wanted, not close and not an approximation but exactly what I wanted, which is rare. These people did so much work on my house and it hardly got dirty at all inside my house. They take everything off so I never had dust floating around in the house. They took care of any concerns I had. They addressed all my concerns, no matter how frivolous. They addressed them in short order. Besides incredible service Linda, who works there, has a really good feel for what is esthetically pleasing. She had some really good ideas that were simple and the place looks really beautiful. It is almost like she is a quasi-interior designer. She has very good ideas and she has a vision. Her ideas are very clear and good. Their prices were very good. I would absolutely use them again.