J T General Contracting

Used coupon good for 4hrs. labor @ $89.

Tom came to the house, inspected the problem and sent me an estimate.

I got through Angie's a coupon for 4 hours of dry walling for $99.00 (one person only) When the person in charge came over, he indicated that it would take him additional time to complete the job. He gave me the estimated and agreed on it. They came over a total of 2 times. All of the work was satisfactory, except a couple of small areas that I think could have been finished better. As a matter of fact, I noticed them as the crew was finishing for the day. I mentioned it to them, but they told me that it would not be noticeable when I primed it and painted it. Well, I can see them still after the painting was done. Too bad.

Overall they did a good job.

I had difficulty finding a contractor with the specialty needed to restructure the support beams in the garage of my coach house. The original supports were inadequate. Angie's List pointed me to JT Contracting and Jim responded right away. He took the time to thoroughly discuss the ultimate goal of the work and touched on every detail necessary for completion. The quote I received was spot on for the work that I required and the cost was more than reasonable. Jim and his crew showed up on time and began work right away. The chimney was removed with surgical precision. They were able to remove it with minimal intrusion into the interior walls. The garage floors were cut to allow new support footings to be installed. Footings were poured, support posts and beams were installed and electrical conduit was rewired. During the process Jim identified a more structurally sound way to secure the support posts which added $400 to the original estimate but the value of the addition was well worth every penny. Jim and his crew were very friendly and consummate professionals. They kept me informed of the progress, answered any question I had, and left the unit cleaner than when they started. The work passed the all important "My Dad the Engineer" scrutiny with flying colors. They exceeded my expectations. I will definitely use these guys again!

Went great, they did a great job. During the repair, JT cut an electrical wire, I was not there but they called me, told me about, and repaired it. Speaks to good character

They were very professional. Came in and put on boots to cover their shoes. The owner gave me an estimate and told me what he thought we should do. After they took the plaster board down, they found that there wasn't much insulation left in that section of the ceiling. They added that. When we initially spoke on the phone, I told him about the size of the problem and that I didn't have a way to get a sheet of drywall. He picked that up and brought the drywall to the job. I had saved all the tiles that had come down, and his team redid all the tile in the ceiling. It looked great. There were only two tiles that had gotten a corner broken and he told me how to fix it so it wasn't noticeable. They cleaned up everything afterwards. My experience with this company was all good. I would ask them to come again.

Terrible. When I showed them the bathroom I wanted painted they immediately told me they couldn't paint it for the coupon price. It would take an additional full day of work which meant an extra $800, not including materials. Really?! I then showed them the small area in the ceiling that needed to be repaired as a result of a previous roof leak and again they started with the back pedaling about how long it would take to do the job, how I couldn't use two coupons at once, blah, blah, blah. Finally I said I would just give the coupons to my nephew who had just bought a house and could use some painting help. They then agreed to do the ceiling job using both coupons, but with an extra charge of $80 -- really?! Frankly, I was so fed up by this point I didn't care anymore so I said fine. Unfortunately, they didn't do what we agreed to...they didn't cut out the damaged area and replace it with new wallboard as we'd agreed. Instead, they simply repatched, sanded and then painted. They said the angle of the area around the chimney made it too difficult to cut out the wallboard. How disappointing. I won't use an Angie's List Big Deal again because I now know it is simply a way to get a foot in the door to get a bigger job. If my little patch job could not be completed in the 8 hours of time that came with the two coupons, I can't imagine what could be completed in that time. It was a total rip-off.

They were horrible. They immediately try to sell me more services. They were not there for the full time nor addressed things properly. I just needed advice but he tried to up sell me. He was trying to leave as quickly as possible and I did not get my moneys worth. He was very curt and short when I would not purchase more work from him.

They were OK. They came to do the work, but said they needed more time to do it. They would need to charge extra, beyond what was paid for the Big Deal. They were pushing to do more than just the Big Deal work and I ended up going along with them. The quality was OK, but I thought they could have been faster.

Went fine. Took longer and costed more than I expected, although I think that was more my expectation of what it would take than reality (ie, seemed as though they were working diligently throughout the time). All in all, satisified with the job.

They came out when promised and did all the work as promised. I soon noticed some gaps in the grout/sealant at the bottom of one shower and then noticed that one whole area no longer had any grout ... I had not noticed this prior to their being there and I think they sucked the old dried up grout out with their vacuum and did not look to see that it was gone. The shower points directly on this area. This resulted in more leakage and NEW stains on our cieling below. I called to let him know things were not quite right; he said they would come back out. I foolishly did not nail down a time. I did not hear from him for several weeks and bugged him again at which point he did come out and attempt to fix it, free of charge. Subsequently, I still noticed problems. I gave up and called in Sir Grout. THEY fixed all the problems. And in the other shower, JT had used grout which did not match - the Sir Grout guy chuckled and said JT had obviously run out of the correct color grout (because he had used it elsewhere) and used what ever else he had. So, I spent $435 only to end up using someone else and to get more water stains on my ceiling!

They did good work, but it wasn’t the full 4 hours. There were two men out on the first day for about an hour and a half and then one did have to come back the second day after the drying for about an hour or less. I figured they may have calculated the time for both and not just one. Other than that, the work was good, just not as good of a deal as I anticipated. The wall looks great though. As I do not quite remember the specific details, I did not feel I could grade the responsiveness and punctuality.

Not well. Owner came in to review area to be re-grouted and he said he would need more time ( I think it was about 2-3 hours for about an additional 400.00!!) . Workers arrived and began grinding out the grout but didn't put up any plastic to prevent or minmize the spread of dust throughout the house until after I pointed out that they needed to do that and they said th ey didn't bring any plastic sheating so they went to the store and installed after the house was filled with dust! Clean up was meager. Now months later some of the grout they installed is falling out perhaps they too didn't use the correct grout and was money and time wasted.

Contractor seemed determined to do a good, thorough job and did not rush through it with the minimum effort as so many contractors are inclined to do.

I purchased the Angie's Big Deal that indicated 4 hours of drywall work. Initially the vendor indicated he would have 2 workers giving me 2 man hours each. He arrived with four workers and said they would only be there for 1 hour (i.e. 4 aggregate man hours). The job was hurried and the drywall was not screwed flush with existing holes. The vendor said it would cost in excess of $500 to "finish" the job and multiple days. My advice after this bad experience is to NOT purchase Angie's deals based on time, as subs can game this system any way they want. They can make a trip to a home improvement store for 3 hours and stretch the job out. Only buy Angie's deals predicated on the completion of a job for a fixed lump sum.

In January we had purchased an Angie's List "deal" of "$89 for up to 4 hours of grout restoration", and called and left a voice message in early August about using the coupon. Jim returned my call the following day, saying he didn't have his calendar but was pretty sure the following Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. would be fine. I told him I would confirm that my husband would be home during the time they were here working, and that I would let him know if Thursday was a "go". After I confirmed with my husband, I again called the phone number given on the coupon, but the voicemail would only allow me to leave about a 10 second message, so I had to call three times to confirm my name, address, phone number and confirm our date of service. I didn't receive a call back from Jim, but assumed the appointment was set. Thursday morning arrived, and by 8:45 a.m. I was wondering if Jim hadn't received any of my earlier messages due to the phone trouble, so I called and left another message. Jim and his assistant arrived a few minutes later: they had come from Riverside to Skokie and had hit much traffic and been delayed. Jim immediately set to work assessing the work needed in our bathroom, which is fairly small. We agreed that the walls would all be done, but not the floor. He then gave us an estimate for $110 more than the $89 coupon "deal". He explained that every job is different, and that because he'd have another man helping him, he'd need to charge for the additional help, but that would allow him to get the job done in under 4 hours. We weren't happy to learn there would be an additional charge, but agreed that he should proceed with the badly-needed grout restoration. They carefully placed dropcloths, brought in supplies and worked steadily to complete the job. They were polite and businesslike. And the bathroom looks great! They cleaned up well, and except for a spot or two of grout which was easily cleaned off, they did a fine job. I believe our town is out of Jim's usual service area, so he may have been unfamiliar with how long the trip would take - that would explain his being more than 20 minutes late. They did do a good job and we are satisfied with their work. However, we felt disappointed that we had to pay well beyond what we thought we'd already paid for with the Angie's List "deal". Due to the distance between Jim's business and our home, and being disillusioned at having to pay extra. we will probably not call his company for service in the future.

I don't think it was a good experience. It was a lot more money than what I paid for the coupon. He did use the wrong caulk and it is not paintable.

Despite showing up about 30 minutes late, James and his painters did a fine job painting the bedroom. The problem was that he essentially pulled a "bait and switch" and proceeded to charge an additional $230 for the job. My wife paid him, but i called him later that day to ask how $99 for a room of paint turned into $329. James claimed that every job is different. I explained that I purchased the deal based on its clearly stated claim that this job would be $99, not subject to any other conditions like time spent. The deal did not say that he would paint my room at some hourly rate; it said that he would paint 1 room for $99. He said again that every job is different. We went back and forth like this for quite awhile, and I don't know if he was just being deliberately obtuse, but he would not acknowledge that he did not honor the terms of the deal. He concluded by saying that he would read the deal over again. This was an incredibly frustrating experience.

I had an Angie's List deal coupon for $100 for 4 hours of drywall repair. When I discussed the work with James over the phone, he said the coupon would likely cover the cost of the job patching some warped drywall in our basement. 2 workers, for two hours. When he arrived, the job was more involved than he expected, so he broke down the costs for my wife. After completing the initial work, he also stated that they would have to come back to our house to sand and inspect the work and that would be another $130. They arrived at our house at 11:15am and after discussing the job, James' two workers brought their equipment into our house at 11:30am. They finished at 1:30pm so the coupon should have covered this initial work. But after they were done, James then told my wife they started at 11am and he helped his two workers so he would have to charge us an additional $100. We didnt appreciate being cheated out of the time so we paid him to be done with the job and I handled the rest of the work. Its always a shameful practice when contractors aren't clear about all the costs and this was certainly the case in this instance. It was apparent that this job was a nuisance for James and he was trying to squeeze more money out of my wife. He might do quality work for a larger job, but I would never consider him for a small job.

They were able to complete the work within the two hour time slot that was allowed for the Angie's List Big Deal. They were responsive and arrived on time. The people who came to the house were very professional.

I found this contractor on one of the Angie's List big deals. The deal was $89 for $189 worth of work. It was a great deal and I needed the grout repaired in my bathroom around my tub. A day or two after purchasing the deal. The contractor called me at work, and asked if I would be around to have the repairs made that day. I rushed home to meet him. He's prompt and I take this as a good sign. The contractor was supposed to repair the grout around my bathtub. My assumption was that he was a professional he could see what the problem was and fix it. He looked at the problem and came back with a caulking gun, and ten minutes later he was done. He didn't fix the problem in the way that I expected, but he had put clear caulk around the bathtub, by the window of the bathroom, and by my bathroom sink. I'm not the most handy person in the world, however I own a caulking gun and I know how to use it, however I don't charge myself $189 for ten minutes of work. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased, but I thought that my expectations may have been too high. After the contractor left, I was looking at his work more closely I saw hairs embedded in the caulking. I didn't want the clear caulking to set so I had to remove everything that he did. I called the contractor to mention the hair problem, and at the same time talked about my expectations and the work was delivered. I was heated. He was courteous and professional, and he promised to return and fix the problem. Four months later, I still haven't heard from. If you want good work and value look elsewhere.

It took a while to get it scheduled, but it was worth the wait. The tile and the grout was a disaster, and James and his crew turned it around so it looked brand new in about 3 hours. He showed me where the problems were that were causing the leak, and fixed all of them. They really went above and beyond, and the crew was respectful and worked fast. I can't even believe it's the same tub and shower! I would definitely hire them again.

I bought an Angie's List "deal" for four hours of grout restoration for $89. I scheduled my appointment (one month in advance). When Jim arrived that morning, he assessed the bathroom caulking and grout restoring needs. My bathroom is not very large so four hours should have been sufficient. Although he said it needed more work and therefore added $145 extra (what's the point of buying a "deal" if they're going to charge extra once they arrive on the appointed date). I also showed him some floor grout in my kitchen that needed to be cleaned; so for an addition $79 approximately, they also cleaned the grout in the kitchen. Both kitchen and bathroom were done by two men and it took only four hours. Within an hour after they left, I noticed my stainless appliances had black spots on the bottom of each appliance (dishwasher, range and refrigerator). I called Jim right away - he came back to look at the damage and claimed that it could not have been one of his staff. He then attempted to clean it with a stainless steel cleaner (but this is not dirt, it's some kind of acid from the grout cleaner). Since he didn't know how to handle this situation, I told him I would check around with other professionals and he said he would do the same to rectify. HE NEVER RETURNED OR CALLED ME TO RECTIFY THIS. I'm still waiting for him to get back to me.

It went well. Jim arrived on time and gave an estimate and actually had some time available that morning so the job was performed the morning of the estimate. Called in a crew member to help out since 2 rooms were involved. They laid down drop cloths and cleaned after the work was completed. They were prompt, professional and reasonable along with good workmanship.