Scott Harris Custom Carpentry & General Contractor

Another contractor noticed problems with the work, which prompted me to call an inspector. I stopped the job when the home inspector advised the work being done was defective and would need to be removed. For example, Gorilla Glue was used instead of a proper bonding agent. This oozed out and dammed up the gutters. Through-holes in the downspouts were too small and off center so they couldn't be placed properly, and the gutters were non-functional. It cost over $15,000 to have the work redone, plus the initial $6,000 I paid to Scott Harris for the work.

This is a contractor horror story on all levels. The job was never completed by the contractor. The contractor engaged in deceptive practices and deceived me about securing a permit. Not only did he abandon the job, he refused to refund the money. Thinking perhaps I could get another contractor to pick up on the work he did I discovered that not only did he not secure a permit he failed to build the project to code. The work was done so poorly and out of compliance that more than three contractors refused to deal with it. Through a professional aquaintance I found some in kind enough and professional enough to take it on. What we learned, the work was wildly out of code. Due to the lack of proper permitting the permitting cost me more to do that normal and required additional documentation. The code issues involved the framing, the stairs, the roof, the connection to the house. I won't go on but I strongly recommend if you think about using this contractor to check references including myself. I have great documentation on how poorly and unprofessionally this was done. I will be pursuing this contractor legally to reclaim all of my costs and additional damages created by his work which included interior flooding, squirrel infestation, and frozen pipes. The contractor may indicate that I fired him. I did when I learned he had deceived me. I also did offer under certain conditions to bring him back on the job if he secured permits, he chose not to do that.

Scott and his crew demolished a rotted portion of our old deck and built a beautiful new mahogany deck. Our deck plan was somewhat unique but Scott's carpenters handled it with aplomb and professionalism.

The work was messy.

I am a Realtor and have used many contractors in past projects on my properties and for my client's properties. Found Scott at the TOP for Professionalism, Reasonable pricing, Finishing on time and most of all QUALITY. Our Insurance required higher porches on our 3 Family and we were left with a very tight time frame. Scott chose to use white against our light gray vinyl siding that matched our window and post trims making the added height a border that blends in and is now just part of the original house. Work is superb and above and beyond the result expected. Finished work added style to our property which always helps property value.

Would not call him or hire him

Scott was wonderful, very quick to respond to any questions etc. Very professional, 3 day job, everything was clean and neat after each time he left. Let us know when he was leaving and returning. Great communication!!

Couldn't have gone better. Scott was punctual, extremely polite and accomodating. He brought a second man with him to help. He picked up the lumber necessary to complete the project, something that he was not required to do but volunteered to do nonetheless. The stairs he built are well-constructed and he modified their design from the old steps based on my request for less high, wider steps. Upon completing the project, he cleaned up and offered to take the lumber from the old steps to the dump, an offer I took him up on since it saved me having to cart the lumber to the dump myself. Top-shelf job! I highly recommend Scott.

I did not hire Scott Harris, but would recommend his expertise.

The only reason why Scott Harris did not do the job on the date we had arranged for is pure and simple- he's honest. I have exposed electrical wiring that was redirected during another project that involved this area and I wasn't aware that it presented a problem. Scott pointed it out and told me what I needed to do and explained why the supplies that I purchased on the advice of a friend (who is a contractor) weren't completely appropriate for the job. I really appreciate his honesty and will be calling him back to do the job I need done

I put most of the information about how my experience went in the "services performed" area -- please read that for the full story. Overall I was SUPER pleased with the work and the price for the projects I had done. I was so happy that I am working with Scott to scope out additional projects for our house (custom built in entertainment hutch for the family room, a shed for the back yard, and possible plans to finish our walk up attic space). We moved to MA from Colorado and had an excellent carpenter there who did many projects for us. I am happy to find another great carpenter here!

Scott Harris gave a fair estimate and price. Scott was very cooperative in discussing the job at hand and offered suggesstions, giving thought to the big picture. He (and his son assistant) were very helpful in moving furniture that could not normally be moved out of a small basement room. We would certainly hire him again for any future hardwood flooring needed.

Overall I was impressed with Scott's professionalism. He was punctual, articulate and accommodating.

1. Removing the old deck: They worked very hard to demolish a very large and seriously rotten deck. They carried the old timbers and decking uphill to the front yard and the dumpster. A tough job and they did it very well. They even removed the old concrete footings. 2. Constructing the new deck: They quickly set up the frame, but the work was disrupted by a blizzard that dumped 2 feet of snow on the construction site. They shoveled the snow and resumed construction. Winter conditions required extra time for the curing of the new concrete footings. The railings on the deck were of particular concern to me because the view is of a lake. The design allows a very good view of the lake and meets code for railings. 3. New gutter: The water from the roof creates a serious problem by dripping large amounts of rain and melting snow on the deck, creating icy conditions and water coming into the porch. Scott Harris put up a new, large gutter that is handling the water and diverting it away from the deck and house.

From start to finish our experience with Scott was great. He was always on time from the very first visit to give us an estimate. He started and finished the job when he said he would. At every step he let us know what he was doing and why he was building things in a certain way. He always took the time to answer our questions and worked with us to get the stairs just how we wanted them. He was always respectful of keeping our home clean too. When he was done, we were left with a beautiful new staircase. We couldn't be happier and would recommend him to any of our friends.

It went very well. We were concerned about having to replace the entire rail system but Scott was able to dismantle the existing rail system, the repair the deck, and rehang the railing. This saved us a bundle and given the deck was only 6 years old, we were in no mood to spend more than necessary. Scott was very professional. We picked a start date and he and his assistant kept to the schedule and completed the work on time. Scott replaced more of the original mahogany then planned but did not charge more for the added materials.

They didn't show up the first day that they were scheduled to begin work. Then, they worked for a few days and disappeared for a while to work on another job. Scott Harris requested full payment for half of the work done. I withheld a certain amount as he had not completed the tasks he was supposed to. After that, his crew packed up everything and did not return, despite numerous e-mails and phone calls (which were not returned). After several months of no response, I contacted an attorney who sent out a 93A letter on November 14, 2011, which was ignored by Mr. Harris. A follow-up letter sent by my attorney shortly thereafter was also ignored. I am extremely disappointed and upset over the lack of professionalism and respect on the part of Mr. Harris, and the fact that I paid a considerable amount of money for a job that was not completed. It's too bad that, in this day and age, that contractors like this continue to get away with bilking consumers. I should add that I had to hire another contractor to finish the work that Mr. Harris didn't do, as well as fix mistakes that his crew made. I ended up having to pay much more than I had budgeted for, as a result. Not a good experience.

Scott Harris cannot be trusted. In 2009 we paid him a deposit on a contract to replace the roof at our house. He did not show up to do the work on the date as promised. After giving several excuses and changing the date several times, he disappeared altogether, not answering his telephone or e-mail. We found out that there were other customers from whom he took deposits as well. He contacted us again in 2010 and gave us sob story about how he had family issues and had to go to Florida for a while. We made the mistake of believing the story and rather than asking for the deposit back, gave him another chance to do the job. At the time the house was rented out so we were not there to supervise the work. He replaced the roof but the work was sub-par. He did not put in the soffit vents as stipulated in the contract. There were roofing materials all over the yard. Some of them went down the downspouts and clogged them. We discovered leaks in 2011. We contacted Scott to ask him to come and fix them. Twice he did not show up on the time promised and stopped answering his phone. When we finally approached him at his residence, he promised to come but again failed to show up. We finally found a professional roofer to do the repair who said that the roof vents were installed incorrectly.

Scott's work was outstanding. We've dealt with a lot of contractors. Scott's carpentry is exceptional and his analysis of the underlying structural problems involved in both jobs went to the core of the problems. In terms of the rot, shoring up the structure of the barn, and dealing with a tricky roof configuration to prevent ice build-up, Scott was very clear about what needed to be done and why. In no case did this require costly add-ons - he simply did the work efficiently and right. Scott is a pleasure to deal with - very friendly and direct and accommodating. His prices are very reasonable and he works with excellent sub-contractors, including electrician, tiler, and painters. At times he can be difficult to reach but I still gave an A for punctuality and responsiveness because when he said he'd be there, he was always on time, and "responsiveness" I interpret as a willingness to hear our concerns and respond to them. He also had a number of creative suggestions that improved the overall solution to the barn. We ordered the barn doors from a company in Pennsylvania - Scott installed them. All went very smoothly, Scott is great to work with, and we strongly recommend him.

He did a good job. He was responsive.

Overall the results were quite good. Scott and his assistant replaced all the boards with Azek and built the soffit box in my closet. The worksmanship was very good. His price was competitive. Also, he came out after the major work was completed and addressed my punch list point by point. The only area for improvement from my perspective would be to ensure that he communicates more actively with the homeowner. In our case his work was interrupted by an emergency jobs that he took for someone he had done previous work for and the impending delays were a little frustrating to my wife. I left him messages and it took him a few days to get back to me (he was clearly busy with work during the time he did the repairs at my house). Fortunately, the project was succesfully completed and I am very satisfied with the results. I would use Scott again for similar work.

Scott came out to giv me an estimate on repairing walls, ceilings, floors inside my home that were damaged to water leaks caused by ice dams as well an estimate on rebuilding/replacing my three decks. He kept the appointment we scheduled, was very pleasant and appeared to be quite knowledgeable. He took measurements, made notes and said he'd get back to me with an estimate. I never saw or heard from him again. He did mention that he was attempting to limit his work to his local area.

Not well ---- no follow through

We had a little bit of confusion, but it was fine.

Update: June 6th, 2011 - Scott emailed me to explain his side of the story (see below - my original version), while I am still skeptical, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on the "story" he told me. Also if it is true that his grandfather died during the time he was putting the proposal together, I am sorry and hope he is doing ok. However he never made mention of any family emergency and just told me number of times that he "thought he sent it". After still not getting the proposal, I did have to call a number of times further with no response to try to get the estimate. Finally, and It seems to much of a coincidence, when I switched to using someone else's phone, he answered and sent the estimate. I have taken out the majority of my original post because the real issue was the "story" he told me and the infuriating fact that I had to chase him down for the estimate. I will admit that I made a mistake with regard to his pricing. $5,800 was in fact the price for the entire job, I was mistaken in thinking this was the price for just the porch. Original post: Scott came out to the house when he said he would which is why I gave him a "C" for punctuality and professionalism, but that is where it stops. He was generally a nice guy and seemed to know about what he was talking about. However he threw a lot of BS my way. The best example is a "story" he told me that went pretty much like this.... "I price low, extremely low. In fact I had a job to re-do a kitchen in Wellesley, I had submitted the permit application and was waiting to hear back. I got a call from the inspector who said 'I'm not going to give you this permit". I ask him why, he said come on down and I will explain. I went down to the office and he said 'you forgot to sign here", so I signed. Then he said, "I am not going to give you this permit because I don't believe this price, it's too low" I said, that's the price, I do great work for a low price"