JAMES FRYE CONSTRUCTION

The overall experience in dealing with James Frye Construction was excellent. He had several bids, and although they were not the least expensive, they were not the most expensive either. We just felt more comfortable with the reps that came out to bid on the job. It turned out to be a wise decision as the other workers - carpenters, drywallers, painters and siding guys were also very professional, friendly and hard working. I can't really think of anything negative to say about the entire process. They showed up on time, finished on time, and our basement looks fabulous! I would highly recommend them to anyone needing any type of work done.

He did a fine job.

Upon contracting with James Frye we requested their certificate of insurance. As a contractor we understand the liabilities that are involved with having a contractor perform work on your property. They faxed their certificate; however there was not any coverage for workers compensation. This is ok if the company is a subcontractor with a workers compensation clearance certificate for the State of Indiana. This certificate releases your liability if a worker gets hurt on your property; without it they can sue you if they break a toe! When I questioned their office about the missing certificate and coverage they said they subcontract their work out. Now if a company says they subcontract all the work out then you must have a copy of their subcontractors insurance, otherwise you are still responsibility for any job injuries. Due to the fact our roof was leaking I scheduled the work with the acknowledgment that the subcontractor's (who would be performing the work) certificate was on its way. Upon arriving the same contractor that was with the estimator was there as well as another worker with him. I immediately called the Frye office and asked for the sub certificate with workers comp because he obviously has employees under him. They did not supply therefore we canceled the job with them and paid for their bought materials. I informed our insurance company of their practice and requested a new contractor who is properly insured to complete the work. I will say that James Frye made every attempt to schedule another contractor out that was properly insured and they tried to retain the contract with every effort. However at that point it was already decided by the owner to find another company.

We were very unsatisfied with their tardiness, work and length of time to complete the work and the building inspector had to put a stop work order on the work. They did finish the work. They cleaned up the work area and at one point we got a flat tire with the nails left on the driveway.

They would tear off a large portion of siding, and not be able to finish installation before leaving. In one case, it rained and water came through the ceiling in my garage because they had neglected to cover it. There were several other occasions where these areas were left opened and it rained. They then gave me a very hard time about repairing the garage ceiling, which would not have been necessary if not for there mistakes. On one side of the house, the siding was all rippled. He claimed this was not his fault, it was due to the wall studs. I hired an independent inspector to look at this who documented that this was a terrible installation job., Only with this written complaint would he fix the problem. Getting him to do anything was like pulling teeth. He was constantly sending different crews to do different things. The one foreman that seemed to be adequate was never allowed to supervise for more than a short time before Jim Frye would call and send him to another job, leaving my house unsupervised. He billed me for things he never did. He promised discounts, but would not honor them until i reminded him. They re roofed the entire house. I have a large set of windows inside my living room. Every time we get a storm from the west with wind, it literally rains inside my living room. I had a window repair company come out, and we discovered that this was not a widow problem, but a roofing problem. Jim Frye tried to tell me that this was normal. He came out to fix the problem twice in the fall 2008. He had stopped returning messages at this point. I am still getting leaks in my windows. I have had several window repair companies out to address this issue, and they have suggested that I approach this through the insurance company, or the licensing agencies. UPDATE (03/23/2010) This is an update on my unsatisfactory report dated 2/10/2010. I have since had a private inspector come out to inspect the roofing job Mr. Frye did in 2007. I am still having major leaking problems. He documented, with photographs, a number of serious quality issues. Roofing nails driven right through the shingles, bad enough, but then they were never caulked over. Torn shingles, poor installation of a ridge vent, gapping all around it with caulk sloppily applied that never sealed anything. Plus the gap for the vent is almost 3 inches wide. It should be about 1.5 inches. Damaged flashing that was never replaced, and is actually now laying 3 inches ABOVE the level of the shingles. A chimney vent that is seriously damaged and never replaced, but I was charged for it. Mr. Frye also never pulled any permits to do any of this work, which I didn't know. So, there was never a building inspector that would have caught these problems.

It turned out okay. I liked their work, but felt that I was overcharged with their price. I found another construction company that I am happier with.

They were prompt and professional. We did not have any problems. Everything looks good.

Good people to work with. Considerate personality and skilled professionally. We are pleased with the outcome. However, due to our circumstance, the time line for completion was very important to us, which they knew from our first conversation. In spite of this, the work took almost twice the length of time they had estimated and missed our agreed finish date by several weeks.

They damaged the existing facia and soffit by putting roofing nails through the soffit among other things. Their overall communication wasn't good because there were multiple layers on the edge of the roof they didn't want to deal with. If they'd informed me of that I would've paid a bit extra to make that look better, too. Overall, I wasn't happy with this company and wouldn't recommend them to anyone!