HOME IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST

They were great!

unknown

unknown

unknown

unknown

.

.

They were very nice but slow getting the estimate from them. They were very expensive compared to the others.

Scheduling and meeting were efficient .. No services were performed.

he brought us to cabinet store, sink store, ceramic tile store and counter top store and show us a way to select what we want in our kitchen.

If we felt the words matched action we would have done the job with them.

The owner called me up on the following day, around 7pm (so basically I spent the whole day at the house for nothing and received no estimate, which I would have likely signed off on the spot to get the work done), and stated he could not get any of his guys to come over and give me an estimate because they were on BIG jobs and that they would not come out and give me an estimate. I guess he decided not to give me an estimate as well because he did not show or call me to at least give me the courtesy so that I would not waste a day hanging around the house. I really don't have a problem with that, except 1) the owner should change his website to cross small jobs out when it states they do big and small jobs "At Home Improvement Specialist of New Orleans, our name says it all! No remodeling job is too big or small for our skilled carpenters." The above needed to be changed, they only want to do BIG jobs. The owner should simply inform callers that they do not do those types of projects. It saves everybody a lot of time and aggravation. and 2) they should learn how to pick up the phone and tell the customer that they are not going to show up so that the customer does not wait all day at the house. When you don't call to tell me you are not coming you are basically stating that my time is worthless. At my job I fire contractors and vendors that pull that stunt on me and I do it in my personal life as well. When I tried to call during the day the answer machine picked up so that was no help either. See, what the owner / GC and these guys / subs don't understand, is that I had other work that I needed estimated. I also was looking for estimates for having the house's siding replaced, as well as the wood trim around the house; I needed a significant drainage project performed; a kitchen demo'ed, the cabinets taken down, the walls patched and skimmed, as well as painted; and two bathrooms completely remodeled. In addition, I needed a patio cover replaced. If you add that all up, you are talking over $50,000 worth of work mostly to be paid for by insurance, which is a lock on payment for the most part when you complete the work. In the New Orleans market, that is the best you are going to get. People in the New Orleans market are for the most part middle class to poor. There are not really that many BIG jobs out there. How many new houses do you see getting built these days? Not many. . . . . Before you do a bathroom remodel, a siding job, or a roof job for me, I want to see what your quality is. You start with a small job, and if I like your work and your people have a good attitude, can perform the work with a good quality, and the price is fair, then you get to the bigger projects. You think I am going to let a general contractor and his subs do a bathroom remodel if they can't even replace a ceiling fan and patch the ceiling? Why would I let you remodel the kitchen if you guys can't even do a simple job? You guys and all of the other GCs in this area need to understand something, when we call for an estimate, it is like an interview. I am gauging whether I want to work you. I want to see if you show up on time, if your people look like they have a substance abuse problem, I am looking at your insurance, whether you guys can even put together a decent estimate, whether you know how to conduct business in a professional manner, etc. I am trying to figure out whether I can use you for all of my general contractor needs. And the small job I am calling you with, is another type of job interview. You do that job, and I determine whether to use you for other things. So this guy, basically failed the first job interview by both not showing up and not calling to inform me that he would not show, and therefore was unable to proceed to the second job interview, which would have given him an opportunity to show me some good quality workmanship and the beginning of a working relationship. Again, I don't have a problem with that, I just want other people to know that if you call this guy, don't hang around waiting for him to show on your day off. Schedule some other general contractors to come so that you will have several estimates. Do what you need to do, and make him call you when he is on his way 15 minutes out so that you don't waste your time. Moreover, make sure you only call him for BIG jobs, because as the owner states, "they ONLY do BIG jobs."

The work went pretty smoothly, the pace was a little slow. The materials were not delivered or brought in the morning all days, but sometimes would be brought to the work site after the crew was already here. This seemed to be loss time to me, but I wasn't paying by the hour, but by the job, so I wasn't really worried about it. I am retired so I could pretty much be here all the time to answer any question the builders had. There were a few questions, such as where do I want the ramp to end, and what color stain to use and the like, all minor personal preference type of questions. The dirt that was dug for the ramp clearances was spread or hauled away, so that that was never a problem. The work went smoothly, working around some rainy days. The only issue I had was that one of the workers was not as attentive as he should have been and some wood went up with the "bad" side facing out. In other words, wood that had blemishes on one side went up with the blemish facing out where you can see it instead of facing in where it was not seen. To their credit, after pointing these out, the wood was either changed or taken out and turned around. Absolutely no argument or problem to get this done, but it did extend the time to complete the job. There was a problem with a top rail that "curled" after sitting a full day in the hot sun, after calling Doug, the problem was fixed the next morning, no questions or hassle. The city inspector came by to do the final inspection and said it was a good job and easily passed it. Conclusion: Some issues with time management (I thought), some issues with not paying attention, (never was "bad" wood used, just wrong face exposed). I have received good reviews from family and friends, especially after I dressed up the outside of the ramp with stepping stones with plants and solar lighthouses on them. After the entire experience, I would definitely not hesitate to use this company again for projects in the future. I was very happy with the outcome of the ramp. The ramp was built with 4 foot clearance for the turnaround to the front door and my handicapped relative moved his wheelchair easily up to and through the front door, and he was happy as well. The finished job came out "better" than I imagined after looking at other ramps in the neighborhood. Overall I thought an excellent job was done.

The inside crew was very efficient and clean. The work was done timely considering the drying time needed for the mud and taping. All the time someone was keeping the mess to a minimum and constantly cleaning up after every stage. The end product is terrific and beautiful. The crown molding looks great. There are no blemishes to be seen. You can't tell where the old damaged section of the ceiling or the ceiling fan used to be. All in all, it was a great job. On the outside job there was an issue with the workers about putting an insulation board under the siding, but that was handled with one call to Doug (the salesman and contact person for the company). The insulation board was installed and the siding was installed over that. That was the only issue to the entire job. (Except for a missed nail that found its way into my wife's car tire, easily repaired.) The entire job, inside and out, has been completed to my utmost satisfaction, and better than I imagined that it would, especially the inside work. I have already had people come over to see it (and to look for flaws...they found none) and everyone compliments on the good job. The entire job site was cleaned and all the trash hauled away from inside and outside. I would not hesitate one minute to use this company again should I need other work done in the future.