Element LLC

In short, I started off really liking Jimmy and Element. Being that this was my first renovation, I wanted to get along with contractor. I was seeking a general that would: install new HVAC, renovate kitchen and baths, put on new roof on house and garage, re-truss garage, new electricity in house and garage, new doors, tear down walls, open staircase, refinish hardwood floors, paint....the works. In short, I wanted someone who would make the house turnkey ready. I really did not want to do any of it. I began to get leery when Jimmy said he could do the renovation for whatever price I told him. That is, he could do a $40K or a $80K renovation yet still make me very happy and get all the must-have things done. This sounded fishy. I wanted to see other projects he did. He spent a day taking me around to various locations. The only kitchen remodel he showed me was that of his friend's. To be honest, I would not have showed that place as my marker of quality....poor quality craftsmanship for sure. The other projects he showed me were obscure things like a patio or a garden. Odd. Nevertheless, I asked for a detailed budget. We went round and round with him saying he would do it all for my given price but I wanted it on paper. He asked for something like 20% down BEFORE a detailed budget would be produced. I said I would not agree to that.ut after a while he did finally agree to do a budget. The next day his partner(?) called to tell me not to worry that they detailed budget comes after the signing. Sorry...not for me. That ended our communication all together. Jimmy never called me and I did not follow up. In the end I was not comfortable with Jimmy. I found his company to be a little too 'slippery' for my taste. Although he does hold an office on Short street, if you look at it closely you will see it is a model and not a working place. That was my first clue that something was a little off - too much show and not enough action. A year later the project is done (by me as the general contractor) at a cost of $100K. So in the end I have no idea how Element would have pulled it off for $40K as was promised over and over again.

Upon first meeting Jimmy, he was very professional and courteous. He had a good sense of humor and explained everything they would do in layperson's language so we would understand (or so we thought) what would happen throughout the process of demolishing our kitchen and refinishing our hardwood floors. Probably the most daunting of the entire process was the contract he has for all of his construction projects. He minimized its importance in terms of how "serious" it appears on a surface level when we first met with him, but we had to sign on the dotted line and put down 30% (without his team even stepping in the door) before the project commenced. Jimmy went through the bulleted items point by point, and even told us that a "cleaning crew" would come through at the end and make it seem like new--like they had never been there. Definitely appealing and sounded reassuring as we knew the project would create quite the mess! What we didn't know, however, was the deception hidden in-between these bullet points. Starting from Day 1, we were off to a bad start. In the contract it was stated that the appliances and cabinets would be "removed" from the site (exact words). We made it clear we wanted the cabinets in the garage to be salvaged, and hindsight being 20/20, should have explicitly told them we wanted our range (the only appliance left in the kitchen as we had sold the rest) left in the garage as well. It was a 1950s Vintage Magic Chef Oven in pristine condition. We were working downstairs in the basement when the crew began to demolish the kitchen. We heard some laughs and "yee haws" as they began to tear out the kitchen, but little did we know our stove was the brunt of their fun. After they left for the day (which was an hour after they arrived), we found our stove destroyed. When we approached Jimmy about this, he said he couldn't be held responsible for it. Think of an incredibly well conditioned 36" gas range that was smashed in because the "Element" team didn't take the time to ask us (remember we were 20 feet away) if we wanted to keep it. From that point on, it was downhill. The following points illustrate our incredible frustration with this business: *We were given an estimate of $8/sf for the installation of hardwood flooring, but it came out to be more than $10/sf because of "patches" that were apparently not taken into consideration when Jimmy first provided the estimate.*A large 4 inch gash was found on the wall of the stairway with a huge penciled circle, meaning that one of his team members must have gotten one of the tools a bit too close to the wall when refinishing the stairs. Instead of acknowledging the damage, Jimmy questioned US and said he couldn't be sure that OUR MEN didn't do it. First of all, the only "men" we had doing any kind of work was a plumber, who took his pen and paper around the house to do an estimate for us. Just like the stove, instead of accepting responsibility for the damage being done under his watch, he tried to shift the blame. He insisted we pay the full amount (although even in his contract, we were to only pay the full amount when the project was completely finished) before he had "his men" come to repair the gash in the wall. A simple "I am so sorry that happened, let me fix that for you" would have sufficed. Now given that we had to pay the full amount, we have to trust that he will do the right thing and repair the damage that one of his men created. *When the hardwood crew was running behind (they were supposed to be done a day prior to their actually finishing) and we had booked our plumber and electrician, Jimmy refused to have his hardwood crew come in after all of the messy work of the plumber and electrician was complete. He pointed to line 5 of page 3 on our contract: "The project has a beginning date and shall flow unfettered to its completion." This certainly didn't account for their delay in running behind schedule, and is there to simply protect them and not work in the best interest of the client. Thus, we had to get our hardwood floors completed before the plumber and electrician came in, meaning everyone had to tippy-toe around and put down extra materials simply because Jimmy did not want the hassle of having his guys come in at a different time (although it was their error in running behind schedule to begin with).*The "Cleaning Crew"? Well, if it wasn't detailed in the contract, it wasn't part of the price we paid. That's right. So even though Jimmy went out of his way to talk about how great it will be after the Cleaning Crew comes through as it will look like new (again, deceptive), we were signing to a price that did not include this. We found this out of course after the fact. Jimmy's response? "Your budget didn't allow for it." No responsibility for his business-oriented approach that simply looks after his bottom dollar. It's been a stressful experience to say the least. Please take heed and be wary before signing on Element LLC's dotted line.