BETTER HOME IMPROVEMENT INC

On 27 October 2014 I contracted with Better Home Improvement (BHI) to take an already existing porch and turn it into a sunroom. The porch had an existing roof, patio deck, and support posts. As outlined in the original contract, BHI was contracted to complete the following tasks: 1. Windows and Doors: a. Frame walls with thermal break framing. b. Install tempered LowE glass knee wall. c. Install Simonton 5500 Lifetime warranted windows. d. Install two insulated fiberglass doors with LowE tempered glass. 2. Flooring: a. Place 3/4-inch plywood over the existing Decking. b. Place a Radiant Barrier under the 3/4-inch plywood. This task was NOT COMPLETED. When it came time to install the plywood, I asked about the radiant barrier and I was first told by BHI that a radiant barrier and vapor barrier were the same. Then, after I did some research and questioned what I was told, I was told by BHI that a radiant barrier could not be installed because putting plywood with a radiant barrier on top of the existing decking would not allow for the proper application of a radiant barrier. This should have been identified from the onset since they boast about having 22 years experience. 3. Electrical: a. Install two interior electrical outlets. b. Install two exterior GFI outlets. c. Install two exterior security lights. 4. Wrap the already existing support posts with aluminum. This task was NOT COMPETED. The subcontractor installing the windows for BHI was not informed by BHI of this requirement and he installed the windows without considering the wrapping of the posts. By the time this failure was noticed it would have taken removing all of the already installed windows to correct the oversight. So, instead of removing the windows BHI advised me that there were too many electrical outlets to cut around. Again, the number of outlets were known from the date I signed the contract and if this was not possible they should not have contracted to do it. They did, after the fact, offer some additional work as compensation. However, I terminated my relationship with BHI and hired another contractor to fix my leaks and he was able to wrap the outside of the posts with no issues. Either BHI mislead me from the beginning or they were unwilling to remove the windows to make it right so they manipulated the situation to avoid doing so. Based on BHI's guidance, I ended-up I purchased paneling, trim pieces, and other misc. materials to cover the inside of the posts at an additional cost of approximately $400.00 plus the cost of my time (approximately 40 hours) to mitigate something BHI was contracted to do. The follow-on contractor advised me he could have wrapped the insides of the post without any problems but by then it was too late I already had them covered with paneling. In short, BHI did not wrap the posts as contracted because of a BHI screw-up that BHI later attempted to recover from with a fabrication. BHI did offer to do some other aluminum work as compensation but that is not the point. The situation was a total manipulation by BHI to save them the additional costs of removing the windows to correct their failure. 5. Wrap an already existing center beam with new wood. 6. Install HVAC supply and return lines. Prior to signing the contract with BHI I explained to BHI and all of the contractors I interviewed for the job that the project needed to be completed ASAP. This requirement was because, for legal reasons, the home had to be refinanced by 01 March 2015 and I was planning on moving into the home the middle of March 2015. All contractors, including BHI, estimated a realistic time for completion to be approximately 60 days with a maximum of 90 days and stated my time constraints would not be a problem. In fact when asked, I was specifically told by BHI?s Sales Representative prior to signing the contract that if there were no ?problems? they could complete the project in as little as six weeks. Along with the work requirements as outlined above the contract also states the following: ?The contractor agrees to use best effort to commence work approximately 10 days from the contract date and complete work approximately 90 days from the start.? Along with their timeline guarantees, BHI also offered larger windows and a lifetime warranty. The larger windows, lifetime warranty, verbal timeline assurances, and contract language resulted in me being confident that BHI would complete the effort as discussed and within my timeline requirement. During the month of November 2014 and most of December 2014, after paying BHI an initial installment of $5,000.00 or 32% of the total cost of the project, we waited patiently and on 17 December 2014 we finally received an email from BHI?s Engineer asking us to approve his Engineer Drawings. The next day I pointed-out to BHI the following issues with his drawings. Height of the knee wall was incorrect. Tempered glass was not required on left rear elevation window. East Door Deadlight width was not marked. Requested verification the East Door Deadlight width should be 10-inches. Overall measurements throughout the drawing were incorrect. By 19 March 2015 my sunroom was still not completed and we had to refinance as was discussed with BHI at contract signing. We could not proceed with the refinance because of the Notice of Commencement filed with the county. So, I approached BHI and asked that an addendum be added to the contract outlining the remaining work and that BHI guarantee the work will be completed within 30 days. In return I would pay them the final installment so they could close the Notice of Commencement so we could move forward with our refinance. BHI agreed but failed to complete the work within the 30 day period. Meaning with the additional 30 days BHI had six months to complete a job that should have taken 60 days. At one point when I was pressuring BHI to complete my sun room I was told by the owner "the more pressure I apply the longer it will take." I finally filed a charge dispute with my financial institution. After filing the dispute and providing the evidence to my financial institution, I was informed by my financial institution that they were positive I would win the dispute. I did have follow-up discussions with BHI and the only resolution to the situation offered by BHI was for them to be allowed to continue with the project. Otherwise, I was informed by the owner that if I did not allow them to continue and the money was taken back he would file a lien on the property. In BHI's dispute response, BHI stated that all work had been completed which is absolutely not the case and is proven by the evidence. Furthermore, BHI references the county inspection as being completed thus verifying that all work has been completed. This is also not the case. The county inspector did nothing more than compare the engineer?s drawing against the porch, verified the correct number and types of doors and window were installed, and inspected the railing and stoop for fall risks. The inspector did not assess the quality of the work completed and did not pick-up a hose to ensure there were no water related issues. The inspector could not inspect the HVAC work as BHI choose, for whatever reason, to schedule the county inspection prior to installing the HVAC lines. Therefore, within BHI?s own dispute statement lies proof that not all work had been completed at the time of the inspection and that the statement is nothing more than an attempt to cover-up the actual events. Since the owner would not agree to voluntarily returning the money and allowing us to part ways, I dropped the dispute, for the sake of my girlfriend, due to the lien threat made by the owner. I finally contracted with another contractor to accomplish the following: Remove all windows and doors. Replace all bottom flashing with Z-flashing (BHI installed off-the-shelf roof flashing). Replace the incorrect 2? X 3? Patio Framing with the correct 3? X 2? Patio Framing. Reinstall all windows and doors. Wrap outside of posts with aluminum (BHI advised this could not be accomplished). Re-caulk entire porch inside and out. Clean-up of old Caulk inside and out. Install missing screen on window #1. Install missing plastic window stop on window #1. Install missing window installation caps and bumpers. Clean-up and repair of installation damages. One-year warranty. Additionally, my only option to resolve my HVAC cooling issues was to install a mini-split system at a cost of $3,200.00 and pay an additional $225.00 to have the supply and return lines installed by BHI capped-off. Throughout this entire ordeal I communicated with BHI via phone, email, and text. I re-arranged my schedule to make every effort to be home when I was told subcontractors would be there and they sometimes failed to show up or even call. It took BHI, based on when the HVAC work was attempted, over five months just to accomplish what they did when it should have taken at most three months to finish the project correctly. From the onset and prior to signing the contract, I was guaranteed by BHI they would complete all the required tasks within the time constraints I presented. That did not happen. Then BHI was given a second opportunity to correct the situation by signed an addendum stating they would complete the remaining work within 30 days. Again, that did not happen. Based on these missed timelines, broken promises, the chain of events as outlined above, BHI?s unprofessionalism, and BHI?s poor quality of workmanship, I terminated my relationship with BHI and obtained the professional services needed to fix BHI?s induced issues and complete my sun room.

Buyer Beware: While this business was prompt and professional through the sales and installation process, they refuse to provide documentation of completion or confirmation of warranty of the product and installation. I purchased and paid a premium for lifetime warranty of the materials and labor and now they refuse to provide a paid Bill of Sale after being fully paid. I have asked repeatedly for a complete Bill of Sale that indicates a lifetime warranty and even spoke with the business Principle, but to no avail. So now I am left without suitable documentation to substantiate a lifetime warranty. Too bad.

Fantastic. Great service. great job!!!

The crew was very hard working, very fast & skilled at there trade. Completed job in record time & very pleased with the results. I had my entire house redone in hardy board siding & painted.

We were very impressed with BHI. After having several companies come out to give estimates, we got a fair and comparable estimate from BHI. They then showed up on schedule with professional workman who were always pleasant to deal with and always left the job site clean and tidy at the end of the day. The work was completely in a timely fashion in spite of quite a bit of bad weather here. Our detached garage was quite old with a lot of rotted wood and now looks brand new and should last a long, long time. Also, the potential we had for wood rot from where the aluminum siding on the main house was wearing away has been corrected. Thank you BHI!

The salesman that came out to the house was very professional and overall I was impressed with the work minus a few things. 1) My back door was not installed correctly and I have about a 1/2" to 1/4" gap under the door. 2) When they were installing the siding near the garage they cracked the Sheetrock on the inside of the house in the kitchen. 3) My door bell is not correctly installed. Now those things don't bother me as bad as when I called back on June 23, 2014 about the few problems I got "We will have a service order put in to fix the issues." Ok now it's August 16, still I haven't got a call saying when they are coming out to fix the issues. I get the same answer each time I've got in contact with the company, "we will put in the work order and have the guy call me." 2 months have gone by and still no call and none of the issues are fixed. Yeah some issues are small and i could fix them myself but when I pay for a service I expect it to be done right. They are quick to get my money but I guess I'm not top of there list now that they have my almost 24,000 dollars. So much for making your customers happy. Well I've got in contact again on August 18 and was told someone would be out that coming Thursday, 21 August. Yet again my wife sat around the house waiting and no one called or showed up to inspect or fix the issues.

We were very pleased with this company. They gave us a price and a time frame and completed the job to our satisfaction. We were happy with the timely manner in which the work was done.They did all the permits, our association papers, and kept their work area clean and back to the way it was at the beginning. The manager checked all work before the painting was done. The construction crew and paint crew both did a great job. We would recommend them to others.

Better Home Improved was hired to renovate my sun-room. This company was problematic from the beginning. The were slow starting the project, and when they finally started, their worker cut electric wires, which almost caused a fire. Next, their worker removed shingles from our new roof and did not replace them or cover our roof. The roof was exposed and it rained all night. Our ceiling and wood floors were damaged. After damaging our home, Better Home Improvement refused to complete the sun-room. This company has taken $5000 from us and have refused to finish the job. This is the most unprofessional, and unethical company we have dealt with. I am disappointed with their service and their lack of integrity. Our sun-room is approximately 30% complete and Better Home improvement has refused to abide by the contract. My husband and I have hired an attorney and are in the process of taking them to court, for breach of contract. I would advise anyone, not to do business with this company, inevitably you will regret it.

Better Home Improvement did a great job. The work started sooner than I expected and the work performed was excellent. The on-site workers were courteous and accommodating. The job was completed well within the time frame quoted and the final results were great. I will use BHI again when I have a job of this size.

I was most pleased with the whole process. , from the initial appointment and estimate during and after my home was finished. Kevin and his crew at Better Home Improvement were always professional, courteous and efficient (sounds like the boy scouts) but it's true. I was at first skeptical and reluctant after all this was a major home improvement project. but Kevin and his crew were very confident and helpful. I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism of all of his crew , from his receptionist at the office to the man who installed my new chimney cap at the end. Even the painting crew took the time and sat with me for over an hour with samples and their expert advise helping me to make the best decision for me and my home. I was surprised every day even in the middle of the project, the worksite was picked up and cleaned up. You wouldn't know that they had been there except you could see the wonderful progress every day. My satisfaction of a job well done was their number ONE priority. Kevin himself, was here everyday to ensure the I was satisfied and kept me informed on every aspect of the job. I am proud of my home again thanks to the folks at Better Home Improvement team of professionals. Come by and take a look you may not like the color of paint that I have chosen, but you will see the quality and beautiful job they did for me. Thank You Guys

Prompt and profesional service

They got to work right away. Everyone was professional and courteous and did a great job. The job was completed really quickly and it totally transformed my house. They were always there to answer any questions or concerns. Very helpful, great work, reasonable prices and I would definitely recommend them.

Very Well, they arrived in a timely manner and were very professional and neat, estimates for new windows and doors were close to when promised and were correct. Only hiccup was one of the screen doors for the patio door could not be installed as ordered but Kevin Hurley found a suitable replacement. The new windows and doors cut our energy bills and noise inside down quite significantly. Recently in March 2013 4 of the south facing windows developed a problem and Kevin Hurley put us in contact with the local representative who ordered replacements which arrived in only a couple weeks. Mr. Hurley volunteered to come over and help us replace them if necessary but wasn't needed as the double hung windows were very easy to replace. The lifetime warranty of the windows and excellent service provided by Better Home Improvement made us very happy with our choice of product and contractors, we will definitely use them again.

Everything was good. I have no complaints. The work was done in a timely fashion.

They did a wonderful job, but I wasn’t completely happy with what they did with the siding.

He went above and beyond. The work turned out very well. I’d call him again for other projects.

This job did not go well at all. I wish to state immediately from the start, never hire this company for any work. Do not hire them. It will cause you nothing but grief. Our job was contracted on 9 Nov 2012 with an approximate completion date of 4 - 6 weeks. All contact with Better Home Improvement was with their salesperson (a very nice outgoing, happy to please, people person). With the exception of the prefab structure, windows, and door, all other work was completed by subcontractors. The work started quickly with the removal of the existing structure and pouring of the new (raised) concrete slab. The next work to be done was the install of the prefab structure. From this point, the correct window openings could be measured, and then the windows could be ordered and installed. Here is were our difficulties with Better Home Improvement (BHI) began. Every promise we received from the owners of BHI to have further work done kept being met with delay after delay. The owners (father and son), Kevin Hurley and William Hurley were now in charge. After each delay either my wife or I would call to find out when the next phase of the work would be completed. We are now at Christmas time and BHI promised they would do the prefab installation the week following Christmas. This didn't happen either. I called and talked to the Son, William Hurley only to have him yell at me on the phone that the job would get done as promised and that I was calling him a liar. No such thing happened. All I did was ask why the workers were not there when promised and when would they be there. The prefab install to include the door happened approximately 10 Jan 2013. (reminder, this was supposed to be a 4 - 6 week project). After the prefab install, BHI's next promise was for the windows to be installed. Now that the prefab framing was installed, they could take measurements for the windows. The original contract called for three payments (draws) for this job. Each approximately $4500.00. The initial draw upon signing the contract. The second draw when the prefab supplies were ordered, so we were now into the project for over $9000.00. Once the structure was in place, we were told the windows would be on-site within one week. and would be installed that following Wednesday. On the following Tuesday, I received a call from the owner (father) Kevin Hurley to tell me that the windows would be in the following Wednesday and his install team would be there then to install them. I took this call and passed the info on to my wife. She exclaimed to me that I must be wrong and I had to be talking about the next day (Wednesday). I said I didn't think so. She was sure they would be there because the promise was for one week, not two. The following day, there were no windows or installers. My wife called Kevin Hurley and asked him what had happened and why the windows weren't there with the installers. Without any anger and in a normal voice my wife asked these questions. I was there for this phone call and Mr. Kevin Hurley was yelling at my wife. I could hear him from over 10 feet away from the phone. He was telling her that he was in control of this job, that he never promised her one week for the windows, and they would be there the following week. My wife (in tears) said, "Please, all I want is for this work to be completed." The phone call ended. Less than five minutes later Kevin Hurley called back and I took the call. Before I could say a word or even hello, he started yelling at me. He told me that my wife had really ticked him off and that as far as he was concerned, he was ready to quit the contract. He said, "In fact, I do quit this contract and the only way I will continue to do the work is for both of you (my wife and I) to call his office, set up an appointment to see him, that we would go to his office, and we would settle the issue on how this job would be completed." I was flabbergasted by his approach, yelling at a customer, making demands, quitting the contract unless we yielded to he demands. As a business owner/contractor, you never talk to a customer in such a manner or make demands, or quit a contract. I made an attempt to settle this by contacting the Better Business Bureau. They were of no help and told me that I was not being reasonable because I wouldn't accept Mr. Hurley's offer to go to his office to settle this issue. They put me on to their "Dispute Resolution Department." This is nothing more than a mediation team sponsored by the BBB. I was also told by the BBB, that any costs incurred would be up to me and my wife since we were the ones refusing to go to BHI's office. All of my friends, neighbors, and family told us we needed to contact a business lawyer. This we did. If it wasn't for the lawyer, no further work would have been completed. As things went, Kevin Hurley demanded that our final payment be placed in an Escrow account to be paid upon approval of the work by the County permit office. Even this was ridiculous, but we placed the final payment into our escrow account with our lawyer and let her handle all further contact with BHI. It was our lawyer, Kimberly Held, of the Israel and Held law firm that assisted us. She knew her business and made sure BHI and the Hurleys fulfilled their contract requirements. This all didn't happen until March 2013. BHI was paid their final payment on 22 March 2013. - Whatever you do, do not hire this company for any reason. Both Kevin and William Hurley seem to have anger issues and will do their best to intimidate you and delay the work as long as they can. Things were so bad between us and the Hurleys, that I was forced to call the Clay County Sheriff's Office to file a complaint that we were being threatened and harassed by the Hurleys and that their methods bordered on extortion. Unfortunately, the Sheriff's Office couldn't file an official complaint. The sheriff told me that what they had done was border line so as not to break the law. The sheriff was more than happy to place our entire conversation into their call log (computerized) and told us that we could request a copy at any time should we end up in Civil Court. We are just one customer. From my experience, I believe that there must be others out there that have the same complaints and experiences to talk about concerning Better Home Improvement. Good Luck should you decide to hire this company. They will do anything to get your business with their very nice up front business salesperson. Don't say I didn't tell you so. The amount spent includes costs to the lawyer.

We did not choose them because it is just the value for the money. It was the difference. They responded quickly. They showed up on time and gave us the estimate.

They were very good. The quote amount was about $9700. They were professional and timely. The quote process was excellent and they followed up very well.

Got the estimate and work began on time. Ran into a problem with sub-contractor and new one was hired. It's very hard to step in and finish someone else's work. The work was completed when I was away on vacation. I had asked to have that the work done when I was home. Consequently I didn't think the work done was as well as it could have been. There are large caulk lines that I think could have been done better. The individual I assigned to over see the project was informed that they had no athority to make changes or question the work being done. I had informed Better Home Improvement that she did have a say in what was to be done. This obviously didn't matter to the sub-contractor , Jerimy. The caulk will shrink and then I'm left with half inch openings that will have to be caulked again. Even though I approved the plans for the sun room, I didn't notice that the door swung in therefore taking space away from the interior of the room. I think the designer should have pointed out all options. I also had to call Kevin several times to get things fixed that were not satisfactory. Kevin was always available and ready to fix the problem. A project that should not have taken more than a week to finish (their estimate) took 3 weeks.

Steve arrived on time for out initial appt. We went over what I wanted then he measured and quoted a price. The work began on time. The house painter arrived and power washed the house and filled holes where neccessary. The next day he was back to paint. So far so good. The next day the soffit and facia guys were here on time. We had a small problem with the builder and the facia guys. They were a bit in each others way which caused the facia guy to make a mistake near a pole in the soon to be sun room. I didn't know it was a mistake until the sun room was built. I had a vacation planned and the work should have been done before I left but it wasn't. Any way, the gutter guy showed up next and everything went well. The sun room construction began next. It was framed in and the screen room was framed. The screen door was installed and one (of three) panel of screen was put in. They didn't have the rest of the screen with them (?) so that was not finished on time. While all of this was happening Kevin was in contact every day. He is the complaint and praise dept. Well things started to go down hill a bit. The builder didn't come back for a couple of days so I contacted Kevin to find out why. He came by the house and got right on the phone with them. Well, things did not work out with this builder so another was hired to come in finish. Not an easy thing to do. Ok, in the mean time the front patio was poured. This was done in two days. Good Job! I left for vacation and Kevin assured me the work would be done when I got back. I was a little skeptical. On my return, the work was done, but not exactly to my liking. I call Kevin the evening of my return to tell him of the problem. He was at my house the next morning at 8am to see what he could do. The builder came back and fixed the problem. All is well. As for the windows, they were installed in the sun room and are beautiful. They slide beautifully and lock easily. Absolutely no problem with them. All of this work was to be completed in about a week, it took about three weeks to get it all done. That is why they get an A minus. I know the grade showing is a B, but they are better than that. I will call them in the future if I need more work done. GOOD WORK Kevin and the rest of the BETTER HOME IMPROVEMENT team.

My one complaint was some of the cleanup wasn’t as good as I wanted. However, it turned out pretty well.

It took longer than I expected but it was ok.

They did a very good job. They cleaned up well after they finished.

I think one of our major problems was that I felt the owner is not good at listening to the customer throughout the project. I was the only person here most of the time during the job and I felt that in a way, he was sometimes disrespectful. The project itself turned out pretty well however, there were a few problems. One of the problems we found was when you sign up, you get to choose the person you want to do the work with; we had a chance to look at their previous work so we selected to go with the people we liked. Unfortunately, those people were not available to do the work. I also had to do a lot of foot work myself, that I felt I paid them to do; I felt this work should have been done by them. Again, the end result turned out pretty well. I would not say don’t use them, I would say to make sure you have everything in writing and they listen to you.