Tupper Construction

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This was my second engagement with Tupper Construction. The work performed was part of a program offered by the local electric utility company where the utility would pay approximately 75% of the insulation work and I, as homeowner, would pay for 25%. After the first engagement with Tupper Construction, I specifically asked to have Tupper Construction return for the second engagement. The reason I needed a second visit from Tupper Construction was that the house had a suspended ceiling just below the attic and the Utility would not authorize air sealing and insulation of the attic until a solid ceiling was installed. A gypsum board ceiling was installed. Approximately 30-45 minutes before the scheduled arrival time I received a phone call that Tupper Construction would not be coming that day due to a "medical emergency." We rescheduled the work to be done a few days later. A few minutes after I hung up with Tupper Construction I received a phone call from the owner offering to take my wife and I out to dinner on him and said he would drop by during the work to apologize for canceling the appointment so late. I declined the offer for dinner. The owner never stopped by during the engagement. Also the owner told me that the medical emergency was a worker had called in sick. The day of the re-scheduled appoint the crew showed up on time. We reviewed the work that needed to be done. I had a signed contract with the Utility designating Tupper Construction to perform the work. The contract was on two pages. The crew leader showed me a sheet of paper he had with only 1/2 of the work to be done on it and was told by the leader that he could not deviate from his piece of paper. In his packet of papers had the identical two page contract I had with the Utility. For the next 1/2 - 1 hour the leader made numerous phone calls to Tupper Construction and to the service group of the Utility. After waiting a period of time, the leader told me he needed to leave because he did not have the materials to perform all the needed work. The leader told me he was not sure if he would return that day. Approximately an hour later I received a call from the team leader stating he would return, but was unclear if the work could completed that day. The crew returned at approximately 11:00am. He told me a second crew would arrive to ensure the work would be completed that day. Upon the crews return, the work was started and was proceeding well. During the afternoon I checked up on the work and found that a crew member had put his foot thru the hallway ceiling. I was told that a little calking would "fix" the ceiling. The crew leader called back to the office and to Tupper Construction credit, the leader of the construction team for Tupper Construction arrived and began to fix the ceiling. The ceiling was broken in two areas: one large area where the board was broken thru and one smaller area where the ceiling was pushed down and was cracked, but was not completely broken thru. I told the construction leader that I wanted the gypsum board cut out between the strappings and new board, that was not damaged, installed and screwed to the strappings. The work fixing the ceiling was done, however the board was not cut out on the small breakage area. So I have a weakened area in my hallway where the board has been broken and pushed back up with spackling. Due to the needed dry time of the spackle, the ceiling repair took two days. An "ok" repair job on the ceiling was done, the ceiling was painted and one wall that had spackling on it was also repainted. After the attic had been sealed of air leaks a box made of rigid insulation was fit over the whole house fan. The second crew did arrive only to run the tube used to blow insulation from the truck to my attic. The second crew then left due to the only work that needed to be done was to blow in the insulation which did not need the second crew. Six inches of blown in insulation was installed. Rigid pieces of material where hung from the rafters to indicate the applied thickness of the blown in insulation. I was told there was a handle on the box to allow me to remove the box during the summer when the whole hose fan would be in use. After the work I looked in the attic and have verified the blown in insulation and have seen the handle on the insulation box they constructed. After the air sealing and the insulation was applied a door blower test was done. The results of the test indicated my house had more air leaks than the first time Tupper Construction was here. The team leader blamed the replacement of the dropped ceiling with a rigid gypsum board ceiling. I did not agree and I told the team leader that there was a problem with the test that needed to be addressed. The next day repair continued on damaged ceiling caused by the insulation team. I was given the door blower results paper to post. I refused to accept the results to post. Later on that afternoon the team leader arrived to perform the door blower tests. I placed all of my storm windows in the down position, removed and screens from my storm doors and replaced the screens with the glass. The blower door test was rerun with better results. I asked to have the door blower left for a few minutes while I checked the house for leaks. I found a few placed in door where leaks were identified. The team leader told me that weather stripping the doors were not in his contract and he could not do the work. He admitted to me that he was supposed to perform the door blower test on the house before he performed any sealing work or installed the blown in insulation. He did not perform this test. I let the team leader post the door blower test results as required by the utility. I went to my local home supply store and purchased the needed door weather stripping parts. This conclusion I came to was that the team leader did not care about the results and was more interested in doing the blower door test and leaving.

Crew (three individuals) showed up on time as scheduled and reviewed work to be done with me. They were friendly and courteous. They first performed an initial air sealing measurement and then the crew split up on performing the different tasks as agreed. As a task was completed the crew members would help the others complete tasks. Problems / issues were brought up the the crew supervisor who quickly dealt with them. Work was going a little slower than expected and later on in the day crew chief asked if they could come back in the morning to finish the work. I agreed. The crew was very neat and clean and cleaned up after the work was done. They were very careful with the movement of any of my items and returned to the original position once there work was complete. Job was finished with a second air sealing test and they shared the results with me. Work was subsidized by my local electric company, so I can not comment on price. I would have no reservation about hiring them again for work for my house.

Their price is A plus.

Rick Tupper gave us a detailed estimate. In addition to an entirely new kitchen, we also needed 2 walls removed and a portion of our wood floor replaced. Rick helped us pick out lights, cabinets and counters. He came daily to check on the crew and returned all our calls promptly. We were impressed by the work, especially the plasterer who redid our ceiling, the cabinet designer and the tile person. Our kitchen was finished in a timely manner and is beautiful. We love it.

Our kitchen was in need of remodeling - from the ceiling to the floor. Rick Tupper gave us an estimate which was reasonable and in line with the others we received but we liked the idea the he is the owner and has been in business for years. He completely remodeled our kitchen - putting in new floors, counters, cabinets, appliances and lighting. He did a great job. We love our new kitchen.