ESI Construction

They provided these in about a week. The drawings could have been better. Communication with them was OK.

I don't think I could use the company just based on my attempt to obtain an estimate. When I called to make the appointment, the receptionist, while waiting for something on her computer, launched into a speech about how she was on painkillers for her fibroids (as I recall), but she was looking forward to going back to school, since she had never had the opportunity after having her son so young, and things were really tough lately because she didn't have a place to live, owing to the fact that the son was a long time heroin addict. And then she said, "How's Thursday?" I laughed it off later and decided to keep the appointment. The owner of the company came. He was nice enough, but one of his first questions was where was my husband? I explained that it would just be me for this appointment. For the rest of his time there, he made references to my husband, as if my husband would naturally be the main decision maker. I explained which estimates I would like. He asked that when I got closer to doing the work to give him a call, but he said he wasn't going to give me an estimate now. I really couldn't figure out why not, but he also told me lots of stories about how much his previous clients loved him, and how he was a flexible guy. He gave me some ballpark numbers. I didn't receive any written estimates, and I felt the interview was a waste of my time. Perhaps this was supposed to be a preliminary meeting, or perhaps the owner felt I was not a serious client for some reason.

The crew was hard working and professional. The work was done in a timely fashion and came in on budget. We are thrilled with our new bathroom and master bath.

This work was performed for my elderly parents and I was not present for the installation. However, my father (who is 92 years old and very sharp) did not like the job and thought something was wrong. Because of health he was unable to go into the attic himself and check things out. I have had to move in to care for my mom and in the process of moving in, hired some work to be done by another contractor. I mentioned to the contractor that the air conditioning didn't seem to work in the back bedroom. He brought in one of his subcontractors to check it out for me. We were horrified to find that the unit installed was not new, but used - that the pieces weren't meant to be used together (the wrong sizes) and that one piece was meant to be installed in a vertical position, not horizontal as in an attic. Four different outlets were not even connected to the duct work and the large condensor was installed backwards. My contractor then asked another one of his subcontractors to check things out as this all seemed to be ridiculous. The second a/c contractor came out and told us exactly the same thing. We decided to have the situation fixed by the second subcontractor and he showed me all the problem pieces as they came out of the attic. They even had to take 5 buckets of water out of the attic before they could take apart the a/c. My granddaughter, who was here during the first installation said she had a bad feeling when it was being done. That one man spent a lot of time just distracting my father from the work being done (Dad was watching). I guess the tip off should have been when the thermostat was being installed, the worker put a hole in the wall way up high and then put a picture (one of my mom's pictures) over it to cover it. Would I use them again? NEVER!! This isn't just bad workmanship, it is fraud. I have the contract and it says "new" not "used". It is taking advantage of our elderly!!

After job was completed, the shower handle from one bathroom fell loose after the guest used it for a few times. The second crew came to fix it and it turned out that the first crew used glue to extend the pipe so that the show handle could be attached to it. 8 months later, we found leaking from upstairs guest bathroom to downstairs entertainment room. We called a plumber and found out that the toilet was not installed properly during remodeling. Because this was an emergency, we had the plumber repair it immediately. We also called our insurance company and had service companies to treat mold like substance and dry the area for days. Since we had high deductible insurance, we paid $3200 out of our own pocket because of this incidence. We contacted ESI for reimbursement but were refused. This company may be cheaper than other contractors, but the job quality sucks, at least based on our experience.

They were little too high. My experience with them was okay. They came out on time and were really thorough.

BEWARE of ESI Construction. This company is very shady and seems to exist as more of a "contractor referral" service than a real construction company. As of 5/25/2011 we have filed complaints against ESI construction with both the Contractor State Licensing Board and Better Business Bureau. Most likely, we will also be pursuing legal action against them for the following reasons: Primary Reasons for Dispute: Work was not done in a professional workmanlike manner Work was not done to code as legally required ESI fraudulently misrepresented their credentials Narrative Summary of Dispute: The flat roof on our house has had multiple leaks over the last few years. It has been patched many times and could not be patched any more. Thus, after the recent storms in Southern California we had no choice but to tear down and replace the entire roof. We obtained multiple quotes for redoing our entire roof. Prior patching had been inadequate so we wanted peace of mind knowing that the entire roof would be torn down and built up with the proper permits and inspections. David from ESI met with us multiple times during which time my wife and I emphasized how important it was that this roof to be done to code with the proper permits by expert roofers. He assured us that ESI was licensed and qualified to perform the necessary work and outlined the many things ESI would do to ensure that our roof was done in a proper legal manner. Despite the significantly higher quote ESI provided, we decided to go with them as we did not want to risk a poor quality roof by going with a lower bid. An online search did not show any issues with ESI’s license #886872 A deposit was made in the amount of $1,000 on 1/4/11 (not part of the Amex dispute as this was made by check) with the expectation that a full contract would be forthcoming and the work would not start until the proper permits had been obtained. We did receive the attached Contract Addendum dated 1/24/11 and were told a more detailed description would be forthcoming. At the request of ESI, a charge in the amount of $12,740 was authorized in order for them to begin work. The removal of all layers of our roof (down to bare wood) was started on a Friday. On Sunday, the workers brought their children who sat in the workers' trucks and played in our yard. They stayed until after dark working on the roof. In retrospect, we now understand why this was done: in order to avoid an inspection as LA County inspectors do not do on-site inspections on Saturdays. We received another call from ESI stating that they would need final payment prior to finishing the work. A second payment was authorized in the amount of $4,200. After the work seemed to stop (no final communication was given by ESI), I went up on the roof and took multiple pictures of the "finished work." There were many things that were not to done properly. When we requested to see the permit and inspector's report we were given the run-around. Finally, David sat down with us and explained that he did not obtain any permits in order to “protect” us from pre-existing work (unrelated to the roof) that an inspector might find fault with during the on-site inspection. We made it clear that this was unacceptable, as tearing down and replacing an entire roof in LA County without a permit is illegal. We demanded that ESI obtain the required permits for tearing down an old roof and replacing the entire roof with a new one. We have since discovered that it is not possible for ESI to obtain the proper permits for a number of reasons. (1) A torn down and built up roof must have a “sheathing inspection.” Per the LA County inspector, LA County will not perform an “invasive” inspection (requiring removal of previously installed materials). This inspection must be completed prior to final placement of the roofing material. (2) ESI is not licensed to tear down and build up an entire roof. ESI has since requested multiple misleading permits from the County of Los Angeles: one for a hose bib, one for smoke alarms, and one for "apply torch down roofing over 1 (E) layer - 14 squares." The permits for smoke alarms and hose bib were for work we did not request nor was this ever done. As per the inspector’s notes the work required by our contract addendum was for “a built-up roof,” not the “torch down roofing” as per the requested permit. In summary, none of the three permits pulled by ESI accurately reflect the work performed. ESI refused to obtain a permit for the actual work done - re-roofing our entire house. On 4/28/11 we received a fax from ESI Construction. The fax cover letter (attached) stated: “These documents that I faxed to you are the documents showing that all matter with the city is in order and that the job for your house was done up to code.” However, the permits attached to the fax were not representative of the work done. I also received an email from ESI with the same incorrect permits attached. The email message stated “The attached documents are proof that the inspector signed the city permits and according to the city report all is completed and up to code.” These statements are in direct contradiction to the facts. On 4/29/11 my wife took these misleading permits to the County of Los Angeles permit office and spoke to the inspector. He pointed out that ESI is not licensed to tear down and build up an entire roof (see attached copy of license provided to us on this day by Los Angeles County). ESI is contracted only for a “B – General Building Contractor” license whereas a “C-39” is required to complete a full roofing job. As already mentioned, David from ESI previously represented that ESI was appropriately licensed to perform the work requested. The marketing materials of ESI also attest to their false representation that they are licensed for this work. However, as discovered by my wife's visit to the Los Angeles County office, ESI is not legally allowed to perform the work done on our roof. Although it is true that as a general contractor, they can subcontract out to others with the appropriate license, neither David nor the workers had such a license. In summary, ESI fraudulently represented that they could legally perform the work requested. Legally, they could not, which explains why they have been pulling misleading permits. We now have an unpermitted (illegal) roof that will have to be torn down and built back up by another contractor in order for it to be permitted and up to building code. There is simply no other way to obtain the necessary inspection. As per the LA County inspector Inspection Notes, “A built-up roof was installed w/o benefit of roof inspection.” Without the proper inspection, the permit is not valid and we will never have the peace of mind that our roof was properly installed. We have not received what ESI represented they could deliver. The work performed was unpermitted and unlicensed. As the license held by ESI does not permit them to tear down and rebuild an entire roof, for this project, ESI was “unlicensed.”

This firm gets very high marks. Our main contact was extremely professional, helpful and friendly. They showed up on time every day, cleaned up everything at the end of each day, and did very high quality work.

We decided to remodel our kitchen and our master bathroom. After interviewing 4 contractors we went with ESI Construction, they were not the cheapest but they were the most professional, and made us feel very comfortable with them. Avi, the project manager had a long list of happy customers which I spoke with and we went to see a couple of jobs, one was in the middle and was recently finished. After seeing the jobs we decided to go ahead and sign the contract. The company was great they put us in schedule and they were there on the day they were supposed to start. We had a few hurdles along the way which they were very helpful with (thank you again Avi you?re your design ideas they were great, the kitchen would never look the same with out them). They also finished a week earlier then anticipated which is very important to us, they worked very clean and planned everything out. I would recommend them in a heartbeat and I can?t wait until next year when I am ready to do my outdoors living & BBQ area with them.

I paid for good material but the overall construction is poor.