JEFFREY ESPOSITO PROFESSIONAL TREE

This is a father-son outfit. I dealt only with Dan Esposito, the father, never met the son, Jeff. They specialize in large tree takedowns. Dan is genial, friendly, talkative. For all I know, he?s great at what he does, but he mishandled the front end so badly I eventually had to decide not to use him. This was basically, one version of the ?aggravating b.s. contractor scenario?. He talks a good game, sounds like he has a lifetime of experience cutting down and trimming trees, gives lowball prices, chats you up really well in a likeable way, then repeatedly fails to follow through. He gave me the lowest estimate on the job $950 when others wanted $1300 and up to take down a large red oak in my backyard. This was an urgent situation for me because I wanted the tree down before I get a new roof put on the house, since the tree leans over the house and we need to open the roof, the acorns and leaves would fall into the open attic, etc. during the roof job. We met 9/12 for estimate, it took me several weeks to get the money together, then I called saying I wanted to hire him, contingent upon his showing me his insurance policies. Several other tree men had advised me to make absolutely sure I saw proof of adequate insurance from whomever I hired, otherwise if they get hurt they can sue you for compensation, the cost of medical care, lost income in the future if disabled, etc., or if they damage the house (tree is leaning over house) I have to use my own insurance, raising rates, getting dropped by insurance company if file 2 claims, etc. Over a period of 10 or more days he completely flim-flammed me, a classic runaround. At least 4 times I called and politely asked for a copy of his insurance or to set a time to show it to me. The first time he said he forgot after over a week had passed. Then he started saying he?d do it, giving a vague time frame when he?d put it in my mailbox, and he never did it. That happened at least 3 more times, and wasted 2 weeks of important time. At the same time, the date when he?d do the work kept getting put off. There had been a rainy stretch, in fairness, but even a week after the weather dried out he kept postponing when he was supposed to do the work, and worse, never brought over the insurance to show me, which I?d repeatedly told him was a requirement for me to want to hire him. The last straw was he agreed Thursday 10/14 to do the job on Monday 10/18 and bring by the proof of insurance to review in advance Fri or over the weekend. Didn?t happen. No proof of insurance or followup call by 3 pm Sunday the day before he was scheduled to do the work. The day before the supposed job and nothing. I didn?t want to be pressured into letting him go ahead without proof of insurance by just showing up Monday am with a crew so I called Sun pm and left a message cancelling. He hasn?t called back. Other details: on the phone he told me he had liability insurance but not workman?s compensation because ?it?s just a father-son company?, yet in another conversation he stated how long the job would take to complete ?would depend on how many men I bring?, obviously indicating sometimes he does in fact use more men than just his son, in which case if true he?d be operating without worker?s comp. And get this ? he basically went ?missing in action? on the job himself, yet he gets a home remodeler he knows to show up unannounced at my home to try to talk me into hiring this other guy as my roofer. He?s got time and energy for that, but doesn?t do his own job! My advice: don?t use him, he might be skilled in a tree, but it seems entirely possible he was hiding not having adequate insurance. Who blows a job by failing to show proof of insurance if he actually is insured? His house is 10 min. from mine. And don?t be fooled by the charm. He?ll quote you a low price, but will it happen, and when? I lost a couple weeks of precious time on this guy, am starting over 5 weeks after the original estimate, and still have to get the tree down before getting the roof put on in a race against the coming winter. I have a yard full of trees, so this pretty much guarantees that even if I get this one tree down soon, the delay will mean that the leaves from the other trees will be falling while I get the roof work done (which involves recarpentering the sagging joists requiring opening the roof). That could lead to a lot of extra hassle if a mess of leaves keep blowing into the open attic and exposed insulation etc. I don't hire many contractors, but this was the worst ever. Caveat emptor.

Went great from beginning to end no complaints, very professional

THEY DID IT VERY QUICKLY. THEY CLEANED UP EVERYTHING. THE PRICING WAS VERY GOOD. THEY CAME RIGHT AWAY. WE KNOW HIM, AND HE HAS DONE A LOT OF WORK FOR ME AND MY FAMILY.