Universal Builders of America Inc

They stated they would clean up after themselves but they did a very poor job. They knew we have a small child and a dog whom like to put small things in there mouth like nails... We have already picked up at least 100 nails from our front yard, back yard, and even where we park our cars. We also have had to pick up a lot of pieces of shingles. We are just very disappointed with how they completed the job. Over all the roof isn't terrible but there are a couple shingles that are not completely flat against the others which causes concern for leaks. I would not recommend them...

I had a positive experience with them. I would recommend them. They did a good job. Their quality of the work, they are prompt, attention to returning on call stood out. I would use them again.

roofing was completed on time, was very messy and parts of the roof had humps in it.. contractor failed to correct the problem and blamed it on the builder... totally unacceptable, the quality manager was very rude and unprofessional with no PEOPLE skills. Siding at the second property took too long and the trim didn't look professionally done. had to call them out to bring back some siding as a back up. at Both locations they took back all the shingles and siding my insurance company paid for ,they should leave all that behind unless asked.

First I called them out for the free inspection and then I called Angie's List because I couldn't find them on Angie's List and they have a partner apparently in Evansville and St. Louis so it looked like it was fly-by- night, like they were just following the storms around, so we were leery of them. But before I did the research we said okay with the free inspection. They came out and the first guy was, like, I don't see anything here, it's fine. A few days later, another representative from their company came and knocked on our door and said they were in the neighborhood doing inspections and asked if they could give us a free inspection and we already said we did and that there was no damage. He asked if he could look again and so he comes down and showed us the pictures that he found damage. He did take a picture of damage on our roof. We thought it was good he looked so we called our insurance suggester and had them come out and look at the roof and they said there was no damage. There is a little bit of damage because you can see sometimes like the downspout but it's just not enough to where it's worth the replacement of the roof or even repair, there may be a couple of little things on the whole roof. That cost us to have a claim against our insurance even though it was zero dollars and it didn't sound good. I think he just recorded what he found but he seemed to think that we are going to get a new roof. They did several other roofs in our neighborhood. It was kind of a neutral experience. I was kind of suspicious of them, they are kind of storm chasers but they did do a bunch of houses on our street and from what I can tell from the other homes, they seemed to have done an okay job. My only concern was that maybe it seemed like a month before they actually started any work. I wouldn't be happy with that but I didn't make an arrangement with them either but as far as I can tell, the only complaint one of my neighbors had is that they didn't like the color but after all, that was not their fault. I didn't hear any negative experiences with any of the neighbors. One of the neighbors actually indicated that this company had done his roof replacement 4 or 5 years ago when there was another hailstorm too. Apparently even if they are just storm chasers, they are at least doing good work. My experience with them was kind of confusing because the first guy said there was no damage and then the second guy said there was damage. I sort of think the second person is younger and has less experience and maybe more anxious and eager to try to get a job and so therefore it cost us additional time and effort to go through our insurance company and now has a claim against us. He did find something but he needed to be a little more experienced to just let go and say that it's not enough to do more of a replacement. After he met with our insurance person, he has never spoken to us again. I think the punctuality is good although I felt like they were slower in the neighbor's houses. My husband said they wanted to get the job and then they took their time after that with the neighbors.

Showed up and delivered shingles the evening before. We have a large roof but they finished in 2 and half days. Cleaned each evening. Very honest w estimate, no hidden fees.

It was a good experience. Jim White is a good project manager and always returned our calls. The job was done in a timely manner even though they had to track down aluminum siding which is not not used very much anymore.

Universal Builders does high quality work at a great price. Chris and Jim worked hard to get the hail damage claim approved by the insurance company and kept in constant contact with me each step of the process to let me know exactly when and what was going on. Very responsive, I sent a text on Sunday evening and received a response within minutes. Have a standard leak-free warranty with every roof, so they do it right the first time. The quality control person came back the next day and built additional custom flashing between the chimney and gutters to make certain the water flowed properly. I talked with the crew while they were doing the work, they all had 5-10 years of experience installing roofs. Insurance company paid for the roof but I wanted some additional upgrade options so I got estimates from a few roofers, Universal had the best price and appeared the most competent in their knowledge and ability to work with insurance companies.

Good sales and supervisory people ... held to their contact ... their roofers worked hard to install in one day after weather broke with no rain.

.The first conversation with John, the project manager, he told me the three things I needed to do as the homeowner. He asked my insurance company and gave me the 800 number to State Farm to file a claim. I got the name of the adjuster I would be working with.When I got the appointment to have adjuster come to my home, John met us at my home to be there to help me with the process. The very experienced adjuster was very impressed with John, the company and wrote me a check that night to get the work going. John kept me informed of everything. The delivery of supplies etc. It rained for 2 weeks after the supplies were delivered so the roof had to wait, but John called to let me know what to expect.One Saturday early in the morning a few days after the supplies were dropped off John came by because he had gone over the supplies sent and found that they (the supply company) had sent the wrong skylights. He brought over the correct ones and took back the incorrect ones. He also brought some tarp to cover some of the supplies. When the sun came out 10 days later he called to let me know the workers were going to be there on Monday. They were here and completed the job by Tuesday afternoon. John had told me it would take 2 days so when I came home after work on the first day I wasn't upset that they were not done. Two of my neighbors came to my houst to let me know how clean, professional and hardworking the people were. They landscape was protected during the roofing. The entire yard was cleaned up and a magnet roller was used to make sure every nail was picked up. John also came to my home during the project and after to make sure I was satisfied! John helped me pick out the roof color and the gutters. It may not seem like a big deal but it is when you are trying to blend new with what is already there. I guess I could go on and on but I hope I have pointed out the quality of the company Universal Builders of America.

We learned about Universal Builders from a neighbor who had used them in the past. He had been pleased with their work, so when their salesman contacted us, we met with him right away. The Universal Builders agent met our insurance adjustor at our home, and they went through all the damage together. He worked directly with her on the financial aspects. When everything was settled upon, we were kept in the loop as to when to expect the various crews to complete the work. We always knew in advance when the crews would be arriving. Each crew was quite professional, covering plants, and making sure that nothing in the yard would be damaged. They also were wonderful at cleaning up after they were finished. We found no damage, and no debris was left in the yard or bushes. Our roof, gutters, and gutter guards look wonderful, and everything seems to be working just fine. We feel that this company worked quite professionally. Our renovation was paid for by our insurance this time, but we would certainly choose Universal Builders again, even if we were paying out of pocket.

We were extremely satisfied with the work of Mr. Deskins. We would call him again if we need house repairs. We do like using local companies to support the local economy and would be sure to clarify this in the future. The roof work team came from Kentucky. ( A person who came with Mr. Deskins on a second visit (name Mark or Bob?) stated that the team would come from south side Indianapolis.) I suspect that the load of work due to hail storms caused a crunch on the availability of work teams. The roofing work team did use a machine that seemed to be a magnet yet we found nails in and around the driveway during the next two weeks. It could be that the nails came from the roof and gutters with rainfall. The gutter company did a very satisfactory job in replacement. We would have appreciated a quicker turnaround and improved communication by this company. They arrived one day to do work and had a problem with electrical equipment on their truck. They returned week later. We had to initiate calls to reschedule. Again, we were very pleased with Universal and Mr. Mike Deskins. The Universal office was prompt in communications as well as Mr. Deskins. We would use Universal again.

I will not sign an exclusivity agreement with any company prior to work being completed to my satisfaction.

It was a GREAT experience! The communication was outstanding! I got lots of phone calls to make sure everything was going to schedule. The contractor rep. was amazing! Jim was just like having family there to watch over everything! The roof crew really cared about thier work. They made sure everything was RIGHT. They moved all the yard items out of the way and made sure nothing got disturbed during the installation. I was impressed with the methods used. They DID NOT RUSH!! We are very proud of our new roof! When they left you couldn't even tell they had been there! It was like a and quot;Roof Fairyand quot; came and left!! The siding was up and down in less than 5 hours!!! Very good job! Again, the communication with the company was outstanding! I felt like we were important to them. Thank you SO MUCH for helping my family!!

Job seems to have been done right. The workers cleaned up everything plus cleaned gutters.

Very low credibility. They did not even go on the roof, but just walked around the exterior. They wanted to meet with the insurance company to lock themselves into the work, but they did not perform the inspection. Seemed like storm chasers. Do NOT confuse this company with UNIVERSAL ROOFING, who I would recommend.

went very well, lead contractor was very organized, described in detail what would happen, when and by whom, went the extra mile for us with the insurance company and was friendly. if there was a delay due to weather, he called to let us know and when they would then be out. he checked with us as the work was in progress, both on the phone and in person and again when the work was completed. let us know how things would work with the insurance company.

One of thier agents came to my door after our town had a hail storm. The agent made an appointment for the following Wednesday to have someone come and inspect my roof for damage. I took the day off and waited - they neither showed up nor called to reschedule. The entire day was a waste and my time is as valuable as theirs. I would not use a company that is unreliable.

They seemed to understand my needs. The work would have been a lot different if I had signed a contract with them earlier. I signed the contract recently. I continued to do my research, and they finally met me on where I needed it to be from a price standpoint. I have no major complaints or issues with them at this point.

Universal replaced the roof and gutters in 2007 on the house we bought in 2008, and warrantied the work for 2 years. The gutter guards did not extend all the way to the end of the gutters, and we had 2 bird's nests in those spots with accompanying bird doo doo. Eddie stated they would come fix it, then stopped answering or returning my calls. They closed their local office in town, then the receptionist at the 1-800 # refused to give me any info or forward my calls to anyone, and no one would call back. Finally after 3 months of this, I got Mike's phone #, who always answers his phone and was helpful. He tried several times to send someone, but no one came. Finally after another 2 months of this, Charlie came and fixed it and was very nice.

The new roof looks great and we haven't had any problems with it. The problem occurred because the work crew damaged our gutter guards while they were installing the new roof (the gutter guards were jostled and twisted, and eventually ended up looking terrible because various pieces stuck up out of the gutters and you could see them from the street). The supervisor for the project, Eddie, told us that he would have someone remove the gutter guards since they had been damaged by his crew. Eddie came out one day a while later to remove the guards, but it was cold and rainy, and we told him that this wasn't a huge priority, and he should feel free to return at a later date when the weather was better. The trouble is.......he never returned. It moved into winter and we certainly weren't going to make them remove the guards while it was snowing and cold! Finally, about a month ago I called to remind him, and he said that he would set up an appointment with his workman who works in this area. Each week since, I have called to remind him and he tells me the same story. We are selling our house and the gutters looked terrible--I finally lost patience, climbed on a ladder, and removed them all myself. Removing the gutter guards shouldn't have been such a big deal--he should have apologized for never finishing the job, and he should have sent out a worker immediately to take care of the problem. Instead, he no longer answers his phone or returns my calls. Therefore, while the roof installation was fine and they would have received an "A," the company was very unprofessional with cleaning up the mess they made, so they are receiving a "C."

Our insurance approved this modification due to leaking in the roof. The project Manager, Joe tried to change or alter what the insurance clam stated. It seems he tried to do as little work possible for inside the home. There were parts of the home that had leaking due to the roof. Furniture needed to be moved, I ended up doing the moving myself while they got paid for it. This was just a bad experience.

This company did the work to our satisfaction. They cleaned up after themselves and were very professional.

I called the phone number 317-876-9999 and asked for an estimate for complete roof and gutter replacement. Shasha answered the phone took all of my information including home and office phone numbers. They never returned my phone call!

Joe said that he was positive that we had enough hail damage to justify a re-roof, and that he would meet the insurance adjuster at our house for the inspection. He came, but when a second adjuster was needed because of the steepness of our roof, Joe wouldn't return their phone calls. When I called Joe, he agreed to come to the inspection the next day, but then he DIDN'T SHOW UP. I also told him that in less than two weeks the tarp that he had nailed onto the roof was shredding and pulling away from the roof. He wouldn't replace it. After Joe didn't show up, I called his supervisor Eddie Eismon about my concerns. Eddie said that he would talk to Joe and call me back the next day. HE DIDN'T CALL. A week later when my husband called, Eddie told him that they weren't interested in doing our work. It seems like they only want to perform work when it's paid 100% by the insurance company. We'd pay out-of-pocket to replace our roof, so I guess they didn't want our business!

After being turned down by one insurance adjuster and having a couple of roofing contractors indicate that they were not interested in working through the insurance process with us, Joe Slye from Universal inspected our roof and gutters and said that he was confident that he could get our damage approved. He bypassed the insurance agent and worked directly with the claims department. The second State Farm adjuster approved our claim on the spot. As Joe promised, the roof work began within 4 weeks and took less than one day to complete. The crew worked diligently, did a quality job and cleaned up very thoroughly. Before the gutters and downspouts were replaced, a representative from Universal called to say that he didn't think that the color that we had picked out was going to match. When we explained that our intention was to leave the color the same, he told us what color we should use. The color that he suggested was perfect.