Capizzi Home Improvement

The Job: Restore integrity of red cedar clapboard siding through needed replacement and repairs prior to painting or staining. Contacted Capizzi: June 11: Representative 1 recommends restoring the integrity by replacing up to 400 square feet of siding on two side of the house, after which, power wash. Contract signed June 11 for ~$24.5K with 1/3rd down. July 24: Representative 2 recommends power washing first, then replace and repair. Contract for additional for ~$4.9K for power washing signed July 26. July 27-28: House power washed. (Total property power washed.) August 1: Work begins by stripping the just power washed boards. Agreement made to replace two corner boards; additional ~$1.2K. August 3: Two sides of the house are now stripped and clapboard is about one-half installed. Representative 2 calls to say the original estimate of 400 square feet per side was a little low; he needs an additional ~$24.5K to finish the job. Even though Capizzi assigned a Project Consultant and a Production Manager to the job, there was no conversation or agreement with the customer prior to the expanded scope of the work. Initial contract: ~$24.5K; Final cost: ~$51.K

Waste of time. After reading these reviews, I'm glad they wasted my time which caused me not to hire them. They came and met with me for over an hour discussing work I needed done at my BnB. I was told the estimates would take a couple of weeks. Six weeks later, still no estimate. I completed a 'dissatisfaction' survey with them, and they miraculously contacted me to see if I still needed a quote because they would provide it by Friday. I said yes. Friday came and went. Still no quote. If this is how they deal with giving estimates, I would not trust these people to do anything on-time and on-budget.

Overall, it was an excellent job with warranties for plumbing work and painting honored. They warranty their work for 5 years. There were a few issues, but you cannot tackle a project this large without some issues. All were resolved to our satisfaction. The Job foreman was outstanding and one of the most talented carpenters I have ever come across. Aside from being very talented, he was honest and receptive to customer wishes and needs and very reasonable with out of scope work orders. One of the things I really liked about Capizzi is they had very detailed work contracts clearly spelling out what the quote covers. This protects you and them. The foreman started his own business, and is no longer with Capizzi, so I don't want to mislead you, but Capizzi picked him for this large project and I will assume they would find someone equally talented for a project of similar magnitude contracted today. They had an excellent design consultant and her work was readily converted to building drawings eliminating the need for an architect (saving us at least $10k - more if we altered the initial design- which we did several times). We has all three bathrooms fully renovated, the first floor front rooms enlarged by coming out 5 feet, architectural trim upgraded inside and out in all rooms, new interior doors throughout the house, the two front 2nd floor bedroom redone replacing a single doghouse dormer with a full length shed dormer adding three large windows in each BR where there had only been one small one before, the Master bedroom over the garage improved by replacing 2 doghouse dormers with a very large Nantucket Dormer, replaced the deteriorating front steps with new wider brick steps and added a portico entrance with Half moon Boston Townhouse style Transom window by Anderson and a well done entrance with simple Federal columns. We replaced all our windows with Anderson 400 series true divider window, replaced the roof with lifetime warranty shingles, replaces gutters and downspouts, replaced 3 roof windows and installed one new one, and repainted the entire house. Capizzi provided excellent work overall for a very reasonable price.

Capizzi cost estimating is sneaky, so you must be very careful and thorough in reviewing the quote. They put very little dollars for allowances, providing an illusion of total cost reasonableness, but once you actually go the the "only warehouse" they have a relationship with (wink, wink) the allowance isn't enough to buy anything in the store. Hence I spent double on fixtures than was budgeted. Secondly, I was promised design support and got none - this caused many downstream issues in construction - as there were no drawings and measurements to go buy (for the tile design in the shower, vanity size, etc). Third, when they quoted, they never even inspected the plumbing - the most important thing in any bathroom - and I have an old home. So then they hosed me for 4K "to upgrade the pipe in the basement" in the middle of the project. This cost is double what any other plumber would charge ( I checked). 4th, like other reviewers have said, once you sign the contract, the sales guy is MIA - never follows up. 5th, despite multiple emails and phone calls to raise the issues, no real effort to reach to me to discuss and address. It was only when I call the owner of the company did I get some level of response. The project lead, Jim, was a nice guy but I got the impression that he didn't really care about the project and just wanted it done already. Lastly, I was told they would clean the house once done with the project and that just didn't happen. Also, they broke my basement steps and my front door end never made good on it. My overall impression is that Capizzi has a lot projects and they are just trying to pump the projects out and pump the money in. They have a lot of overhead, hence their exorbitant costs. I also think they are less interested in the smaller projects like mine. After all the mishaps and cost increases - the end result is that the bathroom is beautiful - the tile guys and the carpenter did great work. But the management at Capizzi is disorganized, disjointed and really only focused on the money. I will never use again.

Roland from Capizzi was very helpful, spent time reviewing all of the related issues and provided an clearly outlined quote very quickly. He was also very responsive with follow up questions. We did not hire Capizzi because they could not accommodate our fast schedule, but would consider them for future work.

Met with me to assess repair Quoted repair I accepted Work was done as stated. Good job.

In the fall of 2014 I started conversations with Capizzi and one other contractor about tearing out my 28 year old kitchen and doing a complete remodel. The project would be for demo of old kitchen, new cabinets, floor tiles, tiled backsplash, granite counter top, painted walls, and installation of new appliances, along with associated plumbing, and electrical work. After a lack of follow up and communication from the other bidder I continued my discussions with Capizzi. The sales contact, Doug, and kitchen designer Betsy met with me a few times and were always very professional and helpful. I knew that the Capizzi bid would be higher than others, they being a large general contractor on Cape Cod, but I decided the cost trade off had value. Despite some negative reviews, which will always be the case with a larger contractor, Capizzi has been in business many years and has a generally good reputation on the Cape. For example, I initiated contact with another large contractor, referred by a friend of mine , several months prior to meeting with Capizzi. I indicated that I intended to budget $100,000 for some remodeling I was planning. I never got one phone call or email! If my job was considered too small for this firm or they had a huge backlog of projects, etc. then at least spend a minute of time communicating that to me. But I got zero response! Another contractor I talked to declined doing any work explaining that he was building his own home and would not get to my work for at least 9-12 months! The supply-demand economic cycle has been surely favorable to the Cape's construction and remodeling industry for a few years now. At least Capizzi will respond and bid on any job and they seem to really care about their reputation which in my experience has not been the case with too many contractors on Cape Cod. So I signed a contract with Capizzi and they followed through on it. They started the job about when they said they would, and the project manager Gary was professional and always available if I needed to discuss an issue. The carpenter, Jimmy, was excellent and impresssed me with his attention to detail and the pride he took in making sure everything looked perfect. He installed the cabinets, did the floor tile, and backsplash. All perfect!! The electrical and plumbing subs were on time and did an excellent job as well. The project was completed in the estimated amount of time. Overall, it was worth the added money for a general to run this job. I knew I could have done the kitchen for less money doing some work myself and hiring out to subs, but I decided I did not want the aggravation and hassle of dealing with that process.

To be fair, this happened many years ago before Angie's List. The date is approximate, as is cost. I am hoping they have changed since then. We wanted window replacements but they did not have what we wanted. After a very hard sell by a man who would not leave our house with even a strong hints, we agreed to the above work, then never saw him again. No one came to check on progress or quality of work nor called to follow up when the work was done. Cigarette butts were left behind and I found one worker urinating in my backyard. I was younger, and just wanted the whole thing done. I wish I had said something at the time. The work was only fair quality at best.

It went extremely well. Kitchen is gorgeous and so is our new enclosed foyer. All subcontractors worked very well together to keep the project completed on time.

Contact was nonexistent after contract was signed and deposit confirmed; I had to initiate the follow up meeting. There was also a glitch in the start date which wound up being much later than anticipated/ promised. That being said, I am completely satisfied with the outcome of this project. Gary, our project manager, was professional, responsive, and extremely easy to work with. The subcontractors especially the painters and the tile installer took such pride in their work and were sensitive to our schedules and to protecting other parts of the house from collateral damage. Pricing was higher than other estimates I received, but the competence and quality of work was well worth it. I would definitely recommend this provider without hesitation. One caveat: presentation at the home office recounting accolades and awards is overblown and boring.

I like their professionalism and the quality of their work. The pricing was fair.

Never supplied an estimate to me. Just never responded back to me

Badly. We did not get along with him and we had the impression that he was pushing a job twice and much as our two other estimators. He irritated both of us. WE TOLD HIM NOT TO COME BACK.

Later I asked to do some roofing on a cottage I own, but had to cancel for family reasons. they kept most of the money I had deposited and gave a chance to apply some to future work. I was not pleased!

We started this project on Sept 16, 2013 and finished just before Christmas except for some minor lighting and cabinet details. The project manager, Gary Gustafson, was exemplary in keeping things going and handling unexpected changes due to the house being old (thus the new roof shingles) and because we added some extra services. The accounting was always clear and straightforward and the accountant, Dana, always easy to work with when making various adjustments to charges. The entire area was demolished in two days. Even though tarps were hung over doors and furniture was covered, dust gets into everything, but the crew did try to minimize that. The carpentry sub-contractors, Pete and John, were excellent workers, fast and precise and very nice guys. How they managed to raise that 15-foot steel beam into position by themselves was a marvel of strength. Pete is also an excellent tiler and did a beautiful job of tiling. All other sub-contractors were very good: electrician, plumbers, insulation, sheetrock, plasterers, painters, flooring and roofers. They all left the premises clean.The building inspectors often commented on the good work when they came to sign off on the various stages. We were very glad not to have to locate and hire all these professionals on our own, the great advantage of having a good contractor. The cabinets were ordered from a company in Ohio and they are beautiful. Betsy Laughton, the designer from the start, did a great job of planning in everything we wanted: spice drawer, knife drawer, recycle and rubbish compartment, etc. The cabinets first arrived in the wrong configuration but that was righted within a couple of weeks. Granite and soapstone counters came from Skyline in Middleboro and they, too, were good to deal with although they sold the slab we had selected and we had to choose another one. A major kitchen remodel is going to have its ups and downs but I would say we had a very good experience with Capizzi and would definitely hire them again.

Capizzi did contact us on 10/30/13 to tell us that the parts had been delivered and they would show up to install them within a week. They did come on 11/4/13 and spent the entire day here, replacing the railings on the deck. They followed the directions for installation and the deck is now once again usable. I stand by my original statement of not using this contractor again. I think they did make a "good faith" effort with the deck repair, but only because we were persistent in requesting it. Left to their own devices, it is my belief that we would not have gotten any satisfaction from them.

While the overall kitchen addition came out good, there were a number of concerns with the deck and some with the kitchen area. For example, when it came time to lay the floor in the kitchen, there was an elevation discrepancy between the existing floor and the new floor. It was off by 1/4 - 1/2 inch. I'm not sure how an experienced contracting company misses something like that for so long. They were unable to fix it, so you can feel the change in the floor at the junction of the old and new. As for the deck, there was a small leak that we asked them to resolve. They came back several times, claiming they could not find the leak. After their 4th visit, they did find it and fix it, but had drilled holes in the kitchen ceiling to troubleshoot and forgot to come back and fix them. Once reminded, they did, in fact fix them. However, the reason I am writing this review now, 7 years after the work was done, has to do with a warrantee inspection that Capizzi requested. They had been asking us to do this for some time after the construction was finished. in the fifth year, we relented and scheduled the inspection. This was in early 2012. Their inspector pointed out that the deck railings were cracked and bowed and should be fixed, under warrantee. When he reported this to the company, they told us that there had been a recall on the products used, so it would most likely be resolved through the recall. However, they said it was the homeowner's responsibility to pursue the recall. We refused to do that, as it was the company's choice of product, and their installation, so we felt they should follow up. They did finally schedule someone from the manufacturer to inspect the railings. When he did, he found that they had not been installed correctly in the first place, which exacerbated the issues from the recall. The manufacturer's rep gave me his report, along with the listing of replacement parts that would need to be ordered and installed by Capizzi. It took several months for the order to be placed, and the materials were delivered in December, 2012, so we had to wait until spring (2013) to be installed. It then took until August, 2013, for Capizzi to return to install the new parts. When they did, they found that they did not have all the parts they needed. At this point, we lost patience with this process and said that they needed to replace ALL of the railings, since the deck is unusable at this point, because of their "repairs". The saga is ongoing at this point, although Capizzi did tell us that the materials have been ordered and should be delivered soon. They are hoping to get the installation done before the snow flies, but we have our doubts, given the past history. While we remain very happy with our remodeled kitchen, our experience with Capizzi has been such that we would never work with them again.

They did stand behind their work often tho making excuses for sub-par contractors. They did try to make you happy. They did come back and fix things that went wrong, but too many things went wrong, so it was not a good experience for us.

Really poor lack of performance.

as above not great with the first flooring cabinet was beautiful but doesn't slide well 1 cabinet still not right electric outlet doesn't work on the island

The person who came to the house to give the cabinet refacing estimate came on time and, as I remember it, gave a good presentation. My wife and I had a good impression. For some reason it was not a regular salesman but someone from their staff. About a week or so later when we had gotten estimates from all other bidders but Capizi we realized that it was not that more expensive to replace them. I called Capizi (as well as the other bidders) and left a message that we did not want to proceed. No one ever got back to us to acknowledge this. When I sent them the e mail about possibly bidding the shower job they never even responded. I am a retired engineer and have dealt with many contractors. I find that one of their biggest problems is that they fail to communicate. Now, in fairness to Capizi, I don't know if the problem was the person I was dealing with or he had left the company. Also, I cannot comment on the quality of their work because we never got that far. However, the lack of responsiveness soured me to the point that I did not contact them to bid on a much larger project that I have undertaken since then.

I'd use Capizzi for anything related to the house. They're not the cheapest, but their value is high! Everything has gone well.

The salesman was very professional and thorough. The company invests a lot of time and energy in presenting their proposal. The start date was a little problematic and got moved several times. The workman that did the installation was on time, very professional and excellent at his craft. He worked steadily and the job was done in a reasonable amount of time. The work area was cleaned and the salesman came back to inspect the work. It looks very good and hopefully the work will stand the test of time. I no longer wish to get on high ladders to paint and I don't want the hassle of having to find a good painter every five years. I don't think I would recommend coving the trim on a first floor level because you can see the small nails that hold the coving in place. Hiring a general contractor tends to be expensive. The advantage is that the contractor has the ability to chose who does their work and they accept responsibility for the outcome. Is avoiding hassles worth the extra cost? That's up to the consumer. Capizzi will return this year to inspect the work again. I feel confident that if something wasn't right with the job they would see to it that it was fixed.

he was at and no one ever pulled in that drive way. When I called him on his lie he apologized and asked if he could reschedule. If he had just apologized without the lie I would have, but I can't work with a contractor I can't Trust!

The workmanship was fine. It was an average experience overall. They were very responsive to our requests. I don't plan to use them again in the future.