Ranieri Construction Inc

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Mr Ranieri provided an estimate for the work as described to install a paver patio (20' x 22') and small retaining wall replacement after having visited my home on two occasions to evaluate the work. He provided a quote of $13,300 which we felt was fair. He said he would email us a contract the next day. We received the contract 4 days later. After having reviewed the contract, we noticed his fee schedule to be concerning (wanted us to pay almost 60% upfront and only left $300 for final work completion) so we asked our attorney to review it further. Our attorney said the terms of the contract were not industry standard and suggested a list of changes. Additionally, Ranieri Construction wanted indemnity against any damages made by his company to things like our driveway, etc. We wrote an email back to Mr Ranieri proposing an alternate fee schedule and removal of the indemnity clause. Three days later, we received an email stating that he would not consider the proposal and that he had moved on to another job so we would have to now wait at least a month even if we wanted to hire him. Additionally, we called Mr Ranieri once during the week and once today to discuss but did not receive a return call. We are not proceeding with the job due to the non-standard terms and his relative inflexibility. As I deal with contracts on a routine basis and understand the usual course of business, I am very disappointed with his level of professionalism and response.

Let me start with the punch line: We could not have had a more favorable experience with Louie Ranieri and his family. I would recommend him without hesitation for any concrete or masonry work you need to have done. My experience was delightfully similar to Louie’s other customers who found him honest, responsive, reasonably priced, helpful, and remarkably fastidious not only about the quality of his work, but also about ensuring that we were completely informed and satisfied throughout the entire job. Louie called me back the same day, came out two days later to quote the job and began work the following week. He runs a family business and they were all involved in one aspect of the project at one time or another. They are all incredibly hard working and gracious, with an old school orientation for quality workmanship and integrity focused on ensuring that the customer is fully informed and satisfied with the outcome. Louie would not dream of taking shortcuts with either the quality of the materials or his construction technique. The lower part of our exterior chimney base had at least 3 layers of stucco piled atop each other which would crack and simply not adhere to the base. Louie’s son spent the day stripping the old cement stucco down to the block so that he could have a solid surface to apply a cement/glue based product used in in-ground pools designed to withstand harsh conditions of chlorine water and extreme pressure. In addition, when he saw the foundation wall, he knew immediately that if he simply applied concrete to the wall, the bond would invariably fail because it would not address the root of the problem: water pressure on the foundation because of inadequate drainage away from the house. He explained the options (short-term vs permanent fix) clearly and honestly and we chose to go with the permanent option that addressed the root problem (water drainage), rather than simply the symptom (flaking foundation). Louie finished just two days before Hurricane Sandy struck, so his drainage system was put to the test under extreme conditions and worked like a charm! Throughout the process, Louie called us each day to tell us when he was coming, showed up when he said he would and completed the job on time. I wouldn’t think of using anyone else in the future for this kind of work.

I called to get an estimate on getting our above ground pool closed for the season because we were so late in doing so. I explained right up front that it was an above ground pool and checked to make sure he serviced our area. He said on the phone and quot;Oh we don't really go there anymore because parking is so difficult!and quot; So, I told him not to worry we had plenty of parking on the side of our house and he could park there. Then he began asking me all kinds of questions about the pool and what kind of filter and questions about the filter and supplies and such. I didn't really know all of the answers to those questions so I had him call my husband at work. He called him and my husband said that he seemed to be more worried about parking than about anything else. This struck me as odd considering that I had just told him we had a driveway free. My husband said he was concerned that his truck wouldn't fit. My husband said even a semi-truck would fit. Finally, my husband said he was going to leave the pool supplies out in our backyard, so that the guy could come and take a look. He didn't come the next day, but called to explain that he had been sick and had to go to the doctor. We didn't have an agreement about the day or anything, so no big deal. He was very personable on the phone, no bad manners or anything. And I assured him once again that we had parking. We agreed that I would hide a key for him so that he could come take a look at the stuff if I wasn't back in time. As it turns out, I was back in time, but I decided to leave the key anyway just in case I didn't hear him turn up. I never heard a truck but I did hear the gate outside. So when I went outside, I was surprised that there wasn't a vehicle in our driveway. I said where is your truck? And he said and quot;I parked it out front.and quot; I said and quot;Aren't you worried about getting a parking ticket?and quot; He said, and quot;I'll only be here for a minute.and quot; (After all that?!) Then, he proceeded to make comments about how my liner was bad and he doesn't usually service above ground pools and who did we use last year? He said he had to talk to his son, to see if he would do it. And we were going to provide him with our own air compressor, but still he quoted $400 for the job, which seemed rather high to me. I was wondering why he would go to the trouble of coming and looking at the pool when he didn't really close above ground pools and why he seemed to give all kinds of excuses. And in the end he never got back to me and neither did his son. Although, he seemed very friendly, it didn't make sense why he had agreed to come and also why he didn't park in our driveway if that was such a worry for him.

The other reviews are dead-on, besides the one reviewer that gave Louie an F. I can't explain that. I would urge you, as I did to ignore that review. It was clear to me from the beginning that Louie takes pride in his work and truly cares about doing things right. I am certain that their are Mason's out there that will do your job for less money. However, I feel that every penny I gave to Louie was money well spent. We have all had experiences with contractors that don't call us back and don't come when they say they are going to come. I have never done business with a contractor that was as responsive and available as Louie! He would call us every night to update us on the status of the work! He would be available when we called him with questions. He actually came when he said he was going to come! Louie delivered on every promise he made to us. He did extra things that were not spelled out in the contracting, like patching our driveway and working with our 50+ year old garage door to make sure it shut properly. I loved a previous reviewer's comment that said that the Ranieri family restored his faith in humanity. I laughed when I read that because it really sounds over-the-top, but it's actually true. Louie works very hard, delivers on his promises, cares very much about a job well-done, is very talented, and is a great communicator. This is very rare in this industry. It was a pleasure to have Louie working for us. I will not hesitate to use he and his family again. I will also be recommending him to anyone I know that needs masonry work. I wish we could use Ranieri Construction for every project around our house!

What to say about Ranieri Construction. The Ranieri family's Integrity, Honesty, Professionalism and old school sense of pride in work and relations with the customer is rare in a business that is rife with dishonesty, shoddy work practices and only a concern for the almighty dollar, was inspiring. Lou was upfront and honest about the problems I was facing with my pool. His consultation was invaluable and his and Lourdes' generosity with their time and expertise, I cherish. In short; The Ranieri family has restored my faith in mankind.

I have an Autistic Grandson and The Ranieri family at all times made sure his safety was never compromised and they worked longer hours to get the pool open and ready as this is my grandson's greatest joy swimming. NO MATTER how cold the water is. Plus once again very pleased in all facets of the job.

This is the second time I have used Ranieri construction for concrete and masonry work. I posted a previous review about my garage floor in which I described them a wonderful family business (feel free to read it below). As in the first review, they were thorough, efficient, prompt and professional. I also plan to hire them to point and repair the brick wall in front of my house. Regarding the person who is upset about the estimate and who is posting F marks, I cannot speak to that reviewer's experience or other reviews on this string, but I can say that my two reviews are VERY real and without bias. In addition, I have also had some of Ranieri construction's prospective clients call me and even stop by to look at my garage floor to inspect their work. NOTE to all reviewers: I did not know anyone from Ranieri construction prior to my dealings with them on my garage and I gain NOTHING by posting this.

Not well, when I challenged Mr Raneiri on the price he started to tell me things, intricate things that anyone who pours concrete would have to do. He responded to me in an abruptly negative manner when I told him I have experience with Concrete and to charge someone $18.88 per Square foot was too expensive. It is obvious Mr Ranieri thought I was a naive person who could be had. I would be weary of hiring him in the future. I would contact at least 5 customers of his and get what they paid and their satisfaction with the job. I am not sure I trust the postings attributed to his work. I am upset that First of All Mr Ranieri's Son called me directly and began to yell and scream and threaten me. I am also upset that Mr Ranieri is trying to game Angie's List. If you look at my posting it was posted on March 24th. On March 26th the day that Mr Ranieri's son called me screaming and not getting me to remove my posting, suspiciously the postings that were identical to the ones I read before choosing to look at Ranieri Construction appeared that day. It is my belief that Mr Ranieri is gaming the system!!! I feel this man and company are unethical and do not meet the requirements in being able to be posted on Angie's List. I would like them removed. **UPDATE** This is a follow up to my earlier review on March 24th. Following posting my review I was contacted by Mr Ranieri's Son who screamed at me and pressured me into removing my review. I was not impressed by his lack of professionalism in dealing with me. I told him his father quoted me a price that worked out to be $18.88 per square foot, he denied it and told me his father quoted me another number which was half of what I was quoted but in the end still more than double what other contractors have quoted me, in fact the one that I have decided to go with is not even the cheapest contractor, but has provided verifiable references and jobs I have seen in person. To that extent Mr Ranieri has seem to conveniently regurgitate 2 reviews I saw when I engaged his services. They pooped up out of thin air on the day he called to berate me on March 26th. It seems quite suspicious and I would be weary of using his services.

Louis quickly determined that my idea of adding a bluestone skin to my concrete pad would have resulted in water penetration in the basement because the level of the finished surface would have been higher than my basement floor. I'm glad he pointed that out because I put alot of effort into finishing the basement and he saved me from the aggrevation of dealing with future problems. Unfortunately, the solution was to remove the concrete pad and lay a new paver base at the proper level. This pushed the job beyond what I had budgeted for, so I wasn't able to go forward with my plans. BUT, I would encourage others to use his services...and I will certainly call on him for future masonry projects.

Very reliable--did everything with great care, detail and quality. Very very nice people. Work was outstanding ..Review by John

The owner responded quickly to my inquiry, came out very soon after and gave a quote, and then started the job almost immediately (he did the job with his son who also works with him). I know that you are not supposed to take the cheapest quote but they were indeed the cheapest by far of the 3 or 4 quotes I received. Seems like they did a good job to my untrained eye but I guess the test will be in the rains and snows to come!

I did not use them for the job. I was aggravated because I had contacted the guy and given him my husband's cellphone number. I wanted him to deal with my husband, but he kept calling the house. He was very professional on the phone, though. However, when he came out, he seemed weary. He made it look like it was a very big job for him. I ended up using another company. He gave me an estimate, but he had called the house. So, I decided not use him as he could not follow through the instruction of calling my husband. He was very professional and very polite. He originally does not do stamped and stained concrete. So, I wanted him to come out on a Saturday as I wanted him to give me information about a concrete slab. However, there was miscommunication regarding his coming out. I thought he was coming out, and he thought otherwise. However, he did come out on time when he came out the second time when everything was figured out. I would consider him for a future quote as he had high reviews.

Initial quality was good, however, after only three winters, the concrete patio surface is now spalling. I've been told that the likely cause was improper finishing: typically, the finisher hard-troweled the slab surface while bleed water was still trying to escape. The trapped water creates a weak layer between the top surface and the strong slab below. Repair is now required. Also, subsequent to the patio install I've never been able to grow grass in the areas where Ranieri stored there vehicles on my lawn during construction, most likely due to leaking fuel and the heavy weight.

Overall, it went very well. I priced out other flatwork providers and found that Ranieri construction was very competitive for the job that needed to be done. We did not go with the cheapest provider as we wanted to make sure we had quality work done. As far as the value (price vs. quality of work) of the work done, we got a great value. Louis and his family were very responsive. They were also very personable and we met all members of this family business (including the wife, sons and brother-in-law). Their professionalism was very good as all of our goals were outlined in a contract and they stuck to what was agreed upon and delivered many extras. They took extra care to make sure that our family and our neighbors were not overly disturbed by the jackhammering and construction. They went the extra mile on multiple items and not only delivered an outstanding garage floor, but made several improvements including ice/water shield adjacent to the house, filled in several cracks/holes in the garage foundation and took great care to install extra re-bar to make sure the floor would not sink again. The concrete work that they do was outstanding. It is very evident that they take great pride in the work that they do as not only did they put saw cuts in the floor, but they came back multiple times on multiple days after the job was finished to ensure that the concrete was staying wet to absorb water. They also did a great job cleaning up our driveway and making sure our neighbors adjacent driveway was in good shape. If you want work done by a true family business that treats your job as if they are doing work on their own home, then Ranieri construction is the right firm.

Louis is very professional, nice and had some great ideas for replacing my walk and stairs

Initially hard to get on his calendar, but once he showed up for the job, he did thorough, high-quality work. I would hire Louis again. Update 8/2/11: Louis came out again this past week to fix an area that had cracked over the winter. He did it cheerfully, without complaint, and at no charge. He explained that the stairs are likely to do it unless we replace them--a more costly and time-intensive project. We are aware of the structural issues and thanked him for his good work

He did a great job from the beginning, take the best solution even though it coated him more and I am not aware the solution. He alway returns my call on questions. Overall I am very happy with my experience.

Lou Ranieri visited our home and gave us an estimate for the work which took about four days. Lou and his son came in and did everything we expected and more. Honest, hard-working and professional are a few words I would use to describe them. They never left a mess and made sure everything was neat and clean when they left for the day. They went beyond the call of duty and did other small items unrelated to the cellar floor too. We are very, very pleased with the cellar floor. It is wonderfully smooth and functional again. I would highly recommend Lou and his company, Ranieri Construction, in a minute. They did a tremendous job and we are very happy we discovered them on Angie's List. Lou even came back a few weeks later to seal the floor!

This family enterprise epitimozes the old school ethic of doing it correctly and doing it too last. I was in a hurry but at no time did the owner Louie allow me to get ahead. I have an autistci grandson who loves to swim and the Tanieri family at all TIMES maintained the saftey and integrity of the security system to insure his safety. Nearing completion, my grandson reached out and watched the son of the owner Andrew and worked with him attaching some fittings. This was monumnetal as autistic children like him never gravitate to others. My grandson summed up our experience as this company is old school and if they ay they are going to be on sight and do something they do. And if something happens weather wise or other they are the first people on the phone. Thank you for a great job and anybody please feel free to contact me. Brian Keefe

Work was done highly professionally and very definitely on schedule. Ranieri was veryu intent on letting me know exactly when he would be able to begin the job and kept me fully informed as to the day he would be on site to start the work. In other words, he communicates with his clients, who are never at a loss as to what to expect. Ranieri is completely up front with his customers. Ranieri procured exactly the right kind of block, matching the existing block of the remaining portion of the stairs. He took justifiable pride in mixing a very smooth mortar that looked to me like butter and was the smoothest I've seen. He applied this mortar in the grouting between the blocks and the space between the top of the stair below and the bottom of the cap for the stair above. The result is a very smooth surface between the blocks. i

All work was promptly and professionally done. When I would outline the problem, Ranieri would propose a solution that was always reasonable and often better than my own idea. Conscientious and always putting the customer first, Ranieri grasped my requirements and carefully coordinated with me on what he considered to be the best approach to what needed to be done. Never did he just do what I said; he improved on whatever ideas I brought to the job. A family organization, Ranieri, in the course of the work, introduced me to himself and four family members, all of whom were open and friendly. I always was made to feel that my satisfaction was uppermost in this contract, which is a direct result of Ranieri's pride in his work and a palpable professional integrity. Ranieri was reasonable and up-front on costs, often sitting down with me and reviewing written contracts before and during work. If a problem or new idea came up during the work, Ranieri would pull me in for a good give-and-take before proceeding. He always made sure I understood and we agreed on the work, whether new or revised in the course of work. I would re-hire them in an instant.

They came in with a good attitude and a professional manner when they looked at the job for an estimate. Their quality was exceptional with a long reference list. I liked the fact that they are a family owned business and they are the actual people who were doing the work at my home. The crew was very respectful and accommodating. The final product was excellent, especially the swirl finish they put on the concrete and how the cement dried out to a light color. I would definitely do business with them again.