Creative Remodeling Solutions

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Existing door, frame and trim between kitchen and laundry room was badly damaged. Keith replaced existing hollow door with a solid door that is much stronger and decreases noise from the laundry room. This door frame was never square from the original home builder and the replacement by another contractor. Keith recommended a solid door and it is definitely an improvement. I had requirements that could not be provided by the big box stores or their contractors. I wanted a painted six panel solid door with natural wood framing and natural trim. The new door is nice looking and square. Keith will be replacing additional door in the future.

I found Keith (Creative Remodeling Solutuions) Back in February of this year (2013). I had just purchased a condo and needed to have a quality job done on time and budget so i could rent it quickly. And boy did Keith do a great job. I have gone on to purchase two more houses and Keith has continued to provide amazing service and quality! Doing everything from installing siding, replacement windows, new kitchens and baths... the list goes on. It is clear he has experience beyond his years. He does what he says he is going to do and has been on or under budget on all three of the properties. Which is really saying something if you know the investment property business. I also had Keith build me an amazing deck at my own house which i couldn't be happier with. I had the deck built with Trex decking. I wanted a wood but did not want any knots in the decking, Keith took the time to explain to me that to get wood with out knots in it is nearly impossible and that trexx made a beautiful line of decking called tiki that looked just like wood. Even though that material cost more then the wood, I'm so happy Keith steered us the right way! Now we have an amazing deck I couldn't be happier with! I would HIGHLY recommend Creative remodeling solutions for any of your home needs!

Contractor and his helper were very personable. In fact we hired the helper to do some landscaping work. We hired this contractor because he was local and his rating on Angie's List. His estimated price was in line with a previous estimate we recieved from Bauhaus Construction. He saved as much of previous deck for me as I asked so that I could use materials elsewhere. Site was clean when job was done except for the occasional escaped screw or bolt. The bad part: Main deck was constructed square, second deck framing was 3and quot; off square when I checked it before decking was put on.Contractor came to me and told me it was a little off square and asked me if I wanted it lined up evenly on the radius of the pool. I said yes and assumed that it would not look that bad. When job was completed the one railing is over 6and quot; off parallel with the front railing and looks terrible. This will be something I fix next spring. Cutouts in decking that go around posts are sloppy with gaps. I will be making some moulding to go around these. Many cuts on framing and deck boards are uneven and look unfinished. I will be refacing most of the second deck decking to make a better transition to the pools edge as I am unhappy with appearence and even though the gaps may be legal I don't like them. Stiles for railing should have been predrilled as many of these are split as a result of screwing too railing. While work was in progress I asked for some deck and rail boards to be swapped out or turned over as a result poor quality on the face of the board. Something I will address later in this report. The building inspector remarked on the poor quality of fit and finish when he inspected the job. Structually the decks seem solid. I have agonized over putting in this report. Someone said that I relied on Angies List for this contractor and would I have used him if I had read a negative report. He is a very nice man and I might still have used him if I would have asked for references and been able to see some of the work he has done. I think this job was too large for his experience level. Now lumber: Kelly Fradet Lumber has a good reputation as a quality outfit. I have purchased many things from them in the past and been happy. They offer contractors a computer designed plan and bundle all the material for the plan with the standard overage and deliver it to the site. Many of the boards should have been returned to the supplier for replacement due to knots, bad edges, and not being a uniform height. Some of the joists were 3/16and quot; different in height than others. Which my contractor should of caught and matched up boards of similar dimensions. In the future I will check Angie's List and then get references and ask to see some previous work. Two other contractors we have found throught the List have worked out fine. MEMBER RESPONSE We are putting in a reply to his response where he says he tried to please us. We did call him after 2 days after he was paid and said he stands by his work. We tried to put the pool cover on our pool and could not because a frame member was hard against the pool frame. We had to use a lever to pry the frame out to install the cover. That was the last straw and we called him for some resolution on some things that just were not what I consider quality finish work. The first 3 pictures show the gap between the decking around pool. I can see a child getting their foot caught in the gap even though gap is and quot;legal to codeand quot; according to the contractor. The inspector did not see it as cover was on to keep sawdust out. The saw cuts on profile radius around pool are very rough with jagged splinters. This has nothing to have to do with the frame member pressing against the pool wall. 4th picture shows how one cross member on pergola does not have the same spacing as others. 5th picture shows how much of an angle the railing is to the deck boards. My understanding was the the railing was going to be lined up with pool radius, which I agreed on, nothing was said about the railing put in crooked to the deck boards. 6th picture shows shows one of many examples of edges that should not have been used for finish work. Lumber yards will replace boards like this. Contractor did flip over some deck boards and a railing that we caught before he got to far into project. 7th through 10th picture show examples of finish work. Uneven cuts, shims not finished, cutouts for deck boards with large gaps which I consider to be hurried work. In further reply to his response we paid him in full as per contract. We did not ask for any money back. When we called him out 2 days later we offered to pay half the cost of some decking. The response we got was and quot;I'm not eating itand quot;. We are the ones and quot;eating itand quot; and consider it a lesson learned. One of our neighbors complained and lectured him on the right place to park his pickup on town road so he could back out of his driveway. The second incident while contractor tried to back off our lawn the neighbor sat on his tractor on the town road right behind contractors truck preventing him from leaving for 5 minutes. We did make humorous comments about this with him and crew. We relied on his skill and experience for a job well done. As you see in our pictures we did not get the quality job we expected.

Keith did a fantastic job and we are very pleased. He went out of his way to solve some complex issues that we have because of handicap accessibility issues. We now have a very nice looking and usable deck. Keith's workmanship is top rate and he cares about the quality of his work. Keith did everything he said he would; he started the job when he said he would, he completed the job wen he said he would and he left a clean site when he was done. Keith communicates with his customers. He kept us updated on the project, he would call if he was going to be late (usually to stop by a supplier) and he would inform us of any problems along with ideas to solve them, never at extra cost to me. He communicated better than any contractor I ever dealt with. Keith did an excellent job at a very fair price. We are already planning to use him for some other projects. If you want a job done right and at a very fair price, call Keith. I highly recommend him.