Tier 1 Construction

I was living in a home that this company was hired by the landlord to provide a new roof. They dumped a trailer in my driveway and left it there for 4 days blocking my driveway during a holiday weekend and refused to move it. When they finally started the work on Tues, they removed the old roof and left. Wednesday the storms hit and the house was left un protected. It was 10pm and it literally started raining in the house! It was coming out of the light fixtures, the AC vents, the ceiling fans and the ceiling. I had a to buy tarps ($250) to help protect my belongings. Went back the next day to assess the situation only to have it happen all over again! This happened in June and to this day he has refused to provide us his ins. Info. We had to hire a lawyer to help and he still refused. We finally were able to obtain it from the building dept. We had a lot of damage and were put out of the home and had to find a new place to live, pay movers, etc. No compensation for damages yet.

Rain damage to sheet-rock, set off fire alarm, some nail damage to sheet-rock. Just done at wrong time and we did not have to replace at that time. Could have waited until drier time.

They did not finish their job, stopped responding to calls, left unfinished and unpainted walls, sent their worst people to do the work, laid down carpet going in at least two different directions. I could go on and on. Do run away from these people. Do not hire them.

In spite of a weeks worth of terrible weather, they not only did a good job but stayed in contact with me at every step. All issues (mostly weather related delays and such) were handled in a timely manner. HOWEVER (several weeks later) - When several issues arose and I tried to contact Brent, he would not return my phone calls. I met with him face to face at the Home Show and he made an appointment to come to my house to inspect and hopefully repair the improperly installed dryer vent duct work. He did not show up for the appointment or call me to let me know that he couldn't make the appointment. This shows a total lack of respect for my time and concerns.

This review is written about nine months after the project was completed. I am a licensed professional engineer with 30+ years in design of architectural structures (commercial, multi-story, institutional, educational, and military structures. We interviewed five or six contractors for this work, all of whom had their own unique approaches to the work and limitations to their scope. We finally spoke to a contractor who wanted to take on the entire project, and offered a reasonable price. We explained that we weren't interested in cheap, but high quality was our expectation. I told him Mike Holmes (of Holmes on Homes fame) was my standard, that I had 30 years in the construction industry, and that I would be his toughest and most demanding customer. He replied that he welcomed the challenge. Contract was signed 11/03/2011 with 50% deposit, with the other 50% due upon completion. Due to holidays, travel plans, and time required to obtain materials and permits, work commenced first week of January 2012. Job was estimated at 4-6 weeks, but we requested the new foundations which added a week to the schedule. The contractor presented an invoice for the foundations, which were done as a change order to the contract, which we promptly paid. The porch design we requested required aluminum structural posts to eliminate all wood below the window headers; to his credit, the contractor's design concept was ingenious, and was allowed by the building inspector. Rough framing proceeded efficiently with an experienced and highly competent carpenter and one or two helpers. The roof profile exactly matched the existing hip-soffit-fascia-overhang profile and the pitch of the existing roof, as specified. We selected T1-11 plywood on a pitched interior ceiling. Once the porch was framed, another crew arrived to do the re-roof. This crew worked rapidly, and the entire 4000 square feet roof was stripped, sheathing re-nailed, underlayment, and shingles installed in about three days. The quality of the roof work was high, but the clean-up was poor. I collected several large handfuls of shingle fragments, cellophane, tar paper and nails. Nine months later I still find more. At this point the interior work began, and that is when problems arose. I requested the paint on the porch doors to be rolled instead of brushed, and when my instructions were ignored, the contractor justified it by telling me I wouldn't like it that way anyway (believe me, I have no problem knowing what I want). They had cut out a section of the concrete pool deck to install the foundations, and wanted to fill in with gravel. When I insisted that they pour concrete back with a tinted knock-down finish to match the existing, they complained and argued but eventually complied. In doing so they placed the edge joint form in the middle of the slab instead of the edge, and when I pointed this out I was told I didn't know what i was talking about. (I have designed, constructed, and inspected eight story buildings with concrete framing systems) The exhaust fans were then cut into the new roof - I had specifically requested them to go in before the new shingles were installed, but this was ignored. Then we selected a stain finish on the porch ceiling. The contractor explained that the plywood would stain darker than the samples we had picked from, and true it was darker than we wanted but we accepted the color. It was the uneven joints in the plywood that became unsightly. One of the workers suggested applying batten strips to cover the pints, and I said this would be acceptable as long as the batten strips were spaced evenly throughout the ceiling as a design feature, and not just covering the joints. This became a fiasco, as the employee began installing the strips in both directions and at seemingly random spacings to cover the worst of the joints. When the contractor arrived on site to find out what was taking so long, he immediately began complaining about the extra work and wanted to charge extra. I explained that this was suggested by his own employee, whom he had assigned to manage and complete the project, but he would not accept this. From this point forward, everything became a problem. Ceiling fan hanger rods, mismatched window heights, caulk joints, rain deflectors, gutters, electrical work became topics of dispute, punctuated by demands for early payment. I had to remind him that it was his contract we had signed, and that we had already advanced payment to 75% as a compromise. One telephone conversation descended into a shouting temper tantrum, at which point the relationship we had previously enjoyed was replaced by mutual contempt. In summary, the first 70% of the project went very well, the next 20% was problematic, and the last 10% was difficult when quality was abandoned for expediency and insults. We did have one call back when part of the skylight frame became detached from the ceiling (it had been glued, not nailed) and they did send someone out to fix it after a few days. We still have issues with a door that won't latch, a stone step that came loose, and I'm eventually going to roll those doors with paint the way they should have been.

Overall work was completed as contracted, working through rain delays. The contractor said that since they were a preferred Owens-Corning contractor that I would get a 50 year shingle warranty through Owens-Corning. I assumed I would received something in writing from Owens-Corning to have written proof of the extended warranty. After several phone calls and e-mails I have never received a response from Tier 1 nor anything from Owens-Corning. If this had been handled properly I would be more than happy to recommend Tier 1 for roofing services. In fact I did recommend them to one of my neighbors who ended up contracting with them. He has had the same issues trying to get a document for the extended warranty.

They were very friendly and very easy to talk to. I would recommend them to others.

The workman was courteous, forthcoming, and even took pictures of the exterior damage for me. The work was done quickly and efficiently, without overcharge from estimate.