Kelly Contracting LLC

I needed a full rubber roof to be replaced on one house and a shingled roof to be replaced on a smaller roof that was on an addition to a second house. Steve seemed very professional at first. I paid him per the signed contract and work started. After a day or two his workers started showing up less and less and I think I only saw Steve twice after that- both times to received his checks. The workers put the first roof on the first house (which was a rubber roof ). Then Steve suggested that rather than put a shingled roof on the second house (which was the addition), he could put another rubber roof on. The second roof needed shingles to match the rest of the house. After that things seemed to go downhill. The workers also needed to rip off the decking on a small back deck and put new decking on. The footers did not have to be replaced, so it was a pretty easy job and I purchased the deck flooring. The railing boards were not mitered and were never cut right. The nails on the floorboards were never set and several popped. The back roof started leaking with the first storm after it was replaced. I called Steve several times and never received any response. The second roof had a vent that Steve's workers took off and shingled over the hole. Now there is no ventilation in that addition of the roof at all. The workers broke the motion detector lights and a piece of siding when the threw off the roofing at the start of the job. Steve did replace these. It took the workers almost 3 months to complete the job. Unfortunately, I referred Steve for a job prior to having my issues above. The job I referred him to turned out to be a disaster and has cost the man a significant amount of $$$$$ to redo all the mistakes that Steve's crew left. I understand that Steve did not do the work himself, but he is responsible for his workers performance and he should stand behind the work done. I felt like he just took the $$ and moved on. I would never refer him again.

Absolutely terrible experience. 8+ months for the project, start to finish, and when it was "finished", there were still critical mistakes in every area that was touched: Master Bed/Bath - they ordered the wrong shower, installed it incorrectly, then "made it fit" by cutting out the brand new tile and baseboard rather than replacing properly. And it still leaks. Sink faucet leaks after only two years. Never reconnected exterior power outlet behind master bedroom wall. Kitchen: Measured incorrectly, one drawer is completely non-functional. One cabinet door will not open correctly. Incorrect measurements led to purchasing the wrong appliances - can't open the refrigerator door fully due to lack of space. Never fixed the kitchen window that was on the list. Tile grout work is mediocre at best. Built a half wall for cabinets - it's crooked by at least 2 degrees. Incredibly poor flooring install around heater - large visible gaps. Living Room: Hardwood Flooring was installed incorrectly and has completely buckled. Wall was built crooked (which is probably why the floor buckled - guys clearly mismeasured the floor boards by almost three full inches and then forced it to fit, damaging the wallboard and covering it up with baseboard). Never fixed the front door despite repeated promises. Replaced a hard wired doorbell with a cheap battery operated one that dies every 3 months. Never re-wired an exterior outlet. Broke a window screen when they forgot the combination to their own key lock box to get into the house. Didn't allow crown moulding to acclimate to temperature and humidity, so there are large gaps in the seams. Paint job is mediocre at best. Smaller bedrooms: Crooked outlets, lousy paint job. Cheap closet doors hung incorrectly. One closet door never replaced. Broke a lamp in one of the rooms, never replaced. Never refunded money from original quote for using significantly cheaper materials. Main bathroom - Broke two tiles on a wall and tried to hide it by re-hanging a large mirror over it. Terrible floor tile install - large visible gaps around heater pipes. Bent a section of baseboard heater - never replaced/repaired. Never refunded quoted money for using wallboard and wainscoting on a full wall instead of tile. Lousy paint job. Sink faucet leaks barely 2 years after installation. Attic - Installed a pull-down unit for attic access, but it is too short to reach any kind of solid base. The "fix" was to have a 2x12 board handy to lay across two other 2x12s that were attached to the walls (narrowing the stairway down to the basement), and then balance the pull-down on the board. The first time someone stepped on it, it broke and had to be repaired. Roof - rubber roof installed cooked with large visible creases. Gutters hung at incorrect angle - they leak in any major rain. Basement - crew never cleaned up the basement from all the saw dust and wallboard dust that fell through the exposed floor. First heavy rains led to water in the basement, pushing all the dust into the sump pump well and breaking the pump. New pump was installed by "balancing" it on top of bricks in the well, because that was cheaper than purchasing the correct, submersible pump. These are just the problems that I have found over the last two years. I'm still not convinced that the house was insulated properly, or with the R-Value that was agreed on. In the summer, despite running two or sometime three AC units in an 800sqft space, the temperature doesn't get below 75. And in the winter, the baseboard heaters run nearly 24/7 just to keep the house above 60 degrees. Neither of those things should happen in a house that "supposedly" just had brand new insulation installed on every exterior wall and throughout the attic. Finding out that they have used photos of my house as promotional material, when the work was so incredibly shoddy and sub-par, is frankly infuriating. I'm happy to provide photos of the garbage work to anyone who wants to see them.

Absolutely terrible experience. 8+ months for the project, start to finish, and when it was "finished", there were still critical mistakes in every area that was touched: Master Bed/Bath - they ordered the wrong shower, installed it incorrectly, then "made it fit" by cutting out the brand new tile and baseboard rather than replacing properly. And it still leaks. Sink faucet leaks after only two years. Never reconnected exterior power outlet behind master bedroom wall. Kitchen: Measured incorrectly, one drawer is completely non-functional. One cabinet door will not open correctly. Incorrect measurements led to purchasing the wrong appliances - can't open the refrigerator door fully due to lack of space. Never fixed the kitchen window that was on the list. Tile grout work is mediocre at best. Built a half wall for cabinets - it's crooked by at least 2 degrees. Incredibly poor flooring install around heater - large visible gaps. Living Room: Hardwood Flooring was installed incorrectly and has completely buckled. Wall was built crooked (which is probably why the floor buckled - guys clearly mismeasured the floor boards by almost three full inches and then forced it to fit, damaging the wallboard and covering it up with baseboard). Never fixed the front door despite repeated promises. Replaced a hard wired doorbell with a cheap battery operated one that dies every 3 months. Never re-wired an exterior outlet. Broke a window screen when they forgot the combination to their own key lock box to get into the house. Didn't allow crown moulding to acclimate to temperature and humidity, so there are large gaps in the seams. Paint job is mediocre at best. Smaller bedrooms: Crooked outlets, lousy paint job. Cheap closet doors hung incorrectly. One closet door never replaced. Broke a lamp in one of the rooms, never replaced. Never refunded money from original quote for using significantly cheaper materials. Main bathroom - Broke two tiles on a wall and tried to hide it by re-hanging a large mirror over it. Terrible floor tile install - large visible gaps around heater pipes. Bent a section of baseboard heater - never replaced/repaired. Never refunded quoted money for using wallboard and wainscoting on a full wall instead of tile. Lousy paint job. Sink faucet leaks barely 2 years after installation. Attic - Installed a pull-down unit for attic access, but it is too short to reach any kind of solid base. The "fix" was to have a 2x12 board handy to lay across two other 2x12s that were attached to the walls (narrowing the stairway down to the basement), and then balance the pull-down on the board. The first time someone stepped on it, it broke and had to be repaired. Roof - rubber roof installed cooked with large visible creases. Gutters hung at incorrect angle - they leak in any major rain. Basement - crew never cleaned up the basement from all the saw dust and wallboard dust that fell through the exposed floor. First heavy rains led to water in the basement, pushing all the dust into the sump pump well and breaking the pump. New pump was installed by "balancing" it on top of bricks in the well, because that was cheaper than purchasing the correct, submersible pump. These are just the problems that I have found over the last two years. I'm still not convinced that the house was insulated properly, or with the R-Value that was agreed on. In the summer, despite running two or sometime three AC units in an 800sqft space, the temperature doesn't get below 75. And in the winter, the baseboard heaters run nearly 24/7 just to keep the house above 60 degrees. Neither of those things should happen in a house that "supposedly" just had brand new insulation installed on every exterior wall and throughout the attic. Finding out that they have used photos of my house as promotional material, when the work was so incredibly shoddy and sub-par, is frankly infuriating. I'm happy to provide photos of the garbage work to anyone who wants to see them.

Work started 3 weeks late after many excuses. Bad sign. The actual contractor, Steve, showed up only for the demolition and the morning I threatened to shut down the job. Our calls were not returned or returned a few days later. Work for a day then no work for a week. TV area was framed too small to accommodate cabinet, I called and told him, he told me they fixed it while I was at work so they had the plasterers come in. No change and smaller after plaster. Also, half wall moved about 3/4"side to side - was never secured. After he searched for crown moulding for 2 weeks and work entirely stopped, we fired him. Half wall had to be taken down and totally redone, TV cabinet area had to be removed, re-framed and plastered, all new trim had been taken away so we had to replace and have installed, fireplace had been untouched. We spent more with a different contractor but he started on a Monday and the entire job was completed by Friday.

At first it was great. Not everything went according to the contract, but initally overall I was happy. Until near the end when it was time for all of the small things. Then Steve suddenly changed. Since the big money payments were already made, he didn't have an interest in the small things. He literally blew off appointments multiple times (even in a row) before he finally showed up. Problems included, but were not limited to, the following: 1) The bathtub was not installed properly and the wall was wearing away in the corner. He kept telling me it was my fault and backsplash. After he re-plastered the wall three times, he finally looked through the hole in the wall and realized that there was a lip on the tub and he had to really fix the issue. This took over ONE YEAR to finally be resolved and it was very frustrating because he kept blaming me first. There were times I left my door unlocked for him and neither he nor his worker showed. 2) My kitchen pipes froze. He blamed the plumber, but it was his plumber. He did come out twice to "re-insulate" the pipes better. This meant he had to take off my cabinets twice and also go through the siding. They still freeze in the winter if I don't let the water run. 3) My "brand new" smoke detectors would go off randomly. He did come out and finally replaced one of them, but upon checking the others, it was learned that they were dated 2004 and installed in my house in 2009. For OVER A YEAR I called and called and asked him to replace the old ones. He blamed the electrician. He finally told me point blank to stop bothering him about it and he was not going to fix them. This is a safety issue and he left us with old detectors. 4) The new roof he put on was not angled and caused a huge ice dam that damaged my siding. He did finally come out and replace the siding pieces; however, he never warned me that the new roof could cause an issue and as a result, my step ladder and patio set were damaged beyond repair. 5) The kitchen wall cracked from ceiling to floor. He blamed the ice. He did finally come back to repair; however, it was not an easy process. 6) There was a crack in the beam dividing the old house and the new house. He did finally have someone come and fix that - although I had to beg and plead because I was having a company party and wanted it done in time. 7) There was another crack in my wall near the addition. Still there - not too noticeable - but ever present. 8) The grass seeds he planted next to the deck were TERRIBLE. It is splotchy and not a nice job. 9) Speaking of the deck, I had to have him replace a couple of the ballasts within the first few months. 10) There are many painting marks that are not neat. For new walls, they should be like glass - but they are more dimply than they need to be. 11) The kitchen floor tiling, bathroom floor tiling, and shower tiling - not all even. Should some corners really be raised while others are depressed? 12) Kitchen cabinet - one of the doors was really marked up by the manufacturer. It looked like someone took a dark brown marker and drew on it. I had to repeatedly ask for it to be replaced, which it eventually was. 13) My boiler - his plumber re-vented it due to the addition. He re-vented it WRONG. After $1,000 worth of repairs I am now working with the Better Business Bureau (first) and going to file in small claims court for reimbursement. I even had the boiler manufacturer come out and inspect it and inform me that it should never have been vented the way it was. Did I mention he had the plumber bill me separate for this - even though it was a known part of the job? 14) My closet had a wood bar that caused the wood holder (with a big knot in the wood in the center) to break. Steve blamed it on my clothes (I really don't have that many). He did finally fix it - leaving long sharp screws on the floor and a mess. The closet interior was never painted and there are unfinished nail marks and scrapes on the wall. Two years later, fixed bar - same clothes - not broken. 14) Multiple nail marks, crappy unfilled outlets, floor & counter seams, and small scrapes top ioff the list. Upon looking at my contract and what ended up being done - I was definitely overcharged! Maybe most of it would be blamed on the people he hired to do a lot of the work - and maybe not. He is, after all, the contractor and should be responsible. And as for follow up, accountability, and resolution - just plain awful. I wish I did my homework a lot better before this project began. I often feel that when I look back, he took advantage of the fact that I was a female, a single mother, and very ignorant of the process. He was often condescending - even though it turned out that on all occasions I was in the right. He often made me feel like my complaints or issues were invalid, an inconvenience, and bothersome. He had even brought me to tears a couple of times. I feel taken advantage of in many ways, but did not realize at the time what was happening and what my rights were. I paid him when he requested and never held that over him or made him wait. I wish I had a lawyer to assist in the process or at least someone who knew the business better than me. I hate to play the ignorant homeowner - but that was just who I was.