Classical Details

I hired Classical Details to repair my slate and copper roof and to replace old wooden gutters. In particular, I paid a fortune to have my roof repaired after experiencing leaks from ice dams a few years ago. Last winter, I experienced leaks in the exact same areas where they had repaired, and they were worse than before, going from my attic to my basement. When I called Steven Dimeo, as always, I received many excuses before he finally showed up, telling me it was not his fault, that it was a bad winter, but he added that he had fired his entire crew that had done all the work on my house. Several phone calls later, he finally showed up to remove the ice dams. His guys were here for one day and removed the icicles but not the dams, which they were supposed to come back and do the next day. Instead, he took another job, telling me he'd be here the next day, but again he didn't show, saying he had to finish the job from the day before. The next day he showed up late with no crew, telling me his ice dam removing machine broke on the prior job, that it is a $3000 machine, and he had to drive an-hour-and-a-half to Littleton to get it repaired and didn't know when it would be fixed and so he didn't know when he'd be back. He also said he wanted $3500 to remove my ice dams. This kind of song and dance of excuses is typical of him. I told him not to return, hired Landmark Roofing, who charged me less than half of what he wanted, removed the ice dams in one day and stopped the leaking. I subsequently hired them to re-repair my roof. They found the cause of the leaks - no ice and water barrier under the slates even though it was in the contract. Also, snow retention rails were put up on old roofing paper and bare wood. Furthermore, the snow retention rails shouldn't have been installed in the first place in most of the areas where they were as they caused the ice dams to form, and so I've since had to pay to have them removed.

I spoke with the owner, Steven DeMeo several times. I had originally called him to do some siding / gutter repairs on my home, but the work I needed was better suited for a handyman. Steven was very friendly & helpful. He recommended a handyman & had him call me right away! The gentlemen he recommended was terrific. Very impressed by Steven DeMeo & Classical Details!!

One week after the completion of a 2½ month total bathroom renovation, water began to drip through the brand new ceiling and down a newly wall-papered exterior-facing wall. Because of the way in which the water was coming in, we thought the problem might have to do with the gutters. In a panic we called Steven DiMeo, the owner of Classical Details, who had done some gutter and porch roof work for us in the past. After listening to our description of how and where the water was coming in, Steven assessed that the problem could require either a plumber or a carpenter; he sent over the very next day (despite the fact that he was flat out with work) two of his men ? Pete, a carpenter who had previously worked on our gutters and porch, and Chris, a roofer and registered plumber. The two of them immediately got to work, climbing onto the roof and into an attic space to try to locate the source of the water. Within a very short time, they?d found the problem ? a cracked vent pipe leading into the bathroom. By the end of the day, Steven had submitted a bid to us for the work and scheduled us for the repairs. They were completed quickly and, I?m confident, properly. Instead of just replacing the cracked vent pipe, they also removed some old and unnecessary plumbing tie-ins (which likely were contributing to the leak), installed some copper flashing in a roof valley, replaced some slate roof tiles and eliminated an additional un-needed vent pipe. These guys and this company clearly know what they?re doing. We felt when Classical Details worked for us before and feel even more so now that this is a company whose work you can trust. It?s probably the only one we?ve ever worked with that we don?t feel the need to monitor as the work is being done and judgments ? including aesthetic ones - need to be made. We unequivocally recommend Classical Details and will definitely work with them again in the future.

They are technically expert. They do high quality work. They use the very best materials. Every person in the work crew was extremely professional. The work was done emmaculately. They have excellent follow-up service.

Classical Detailing came recommended highly. When I called Steven DiMeo, the principal, at first he seemed quite interested and knowledgable about historic restoration. However, as soon as I told him that we were looking to take bids from his company as well as one or two others, he abruptly told me he was not interested, I should look at his Web site, and hung up. Weird, unexpected and unprofessional behavior. The lesson I learned is that unless you are comfortable with a roofing/copper restoration company that will only look at a job if there is no other competition, do not call Classical Detailing. Is their pricing that bad?

They were very knowledgeable. I live in condos and we have copper gutters and they really understood what I was needing. They bent over back wards to get out to my home for the estimate but their schedule was a little full so it took a lot of work to find a time that would work. We decided not to use them because they recommended replacement and another contractor that looked at the gutters determined we could wait a while. If we had needed the replacement we would have used them.

The estimate was for about $5000. It was way too much, so we didn?t use them. The owner came out when I wasn?t here, so I never met him. He called me and he was nice and informative. The crew was of high quality. They are probably great if we want to restore an old historic house and have money to invest in long term solutions.

He is an artist. The final job was worth anything we encountered during the entire process. His work was magnificant and he went well above and beyond our expectations.

The owner of Classical Details, Steven Dimeo, evaluated the gutter situation in August of 2008. In the process of developing an estimate, it seemed reasonable to me to replace the asphalt shingle roof, as staging would already be in use, and the roof had reached the end of its trustworthy life. The start date slipped from Nov. '08 to April '09 (!) due to uncertainties of weather and some of my concerns re: use of staging. The company has a belief that people should be interested in and understand the building in which they live, so questions received prompt and detailed answers. The crew was efficient, courteous, responsive, and....quiet! All of them answered questions on the spot as much as possible, and they seemed to work well together. Communication was clear and generous from the start and follow-up was detailed and prompt consistantly. Clean-up was really complete, and was done EVERY day. My neighbors liked them, and those in the neighborhood whose work is in similar areas were really impressed.....

Perfect-from returned call, email communications, punctuality, thoroughness of all details, exact estimate and very clean work. We are looking forward to continued work with Steve.

I would seriously consider hiring Classical Details in the future.

They repaired the original gutters and the copper finish for us. I tried to report on this company, but for some reason it didn't take it. I don't know if the company owner has to agree to be placed on Angie's List or not. We thought they did an excellent job on the gutters.

Steve is obsessive about the quality of his work and his attention to detail. His work is careful, neat, very attentive to building aesthetics. He started the job on time and finished on time. They cleaned up the job site thoroughly.

Comments: Steve was replacing the gutters and doing other roof work on our house when he recommended replacing the roofs on two of the three dormer windows. Because of the shape of the dormers, they can only be roofed in copper, which must be custom-worked, and the flashing was tricky. The work is beautiful.