Alpha & Omega Stove & Sweep

Not good at all!

Fine, as expected.

Mr. Will was surprisingly on time, courteous and polite. He took his shoes off every time he came in, and even though it was pouring outside. Super awesome!

We scheduled an appointment for Alpha and Omega to come out and perform a yearly check and cleaning of our chimney. We have used this company several times over the years and are always satisfied. They arrived on time and were very friendly and willing to answer questions. We felt that they cared about what they were doing, and that they wanted to make sure everything was clean and safe. We would certainly have them out again!

Will arrived on time very professional. Did the work, explained what he did.

On time, reasonable price friendly answered questions satisfactorily gave safety information. Completed job to expectations in a timely manner.

It went well. The guys worked long days in extreme heat and coped with a 3 day power outage. The work was completed promptly, and the mess generated was cleaned up before leaving.

A and O called set date for start. Started when they said they would cleaned up, ashes if we were satisfied Great Job. pleasant workers- very professional.

Everything went really well and I was pleased with the work. The person who came out was congenial and easy to work with.

It went very well. (Please see above).

Well good service. Arrived on time performed through inspection as requested.

Two guys came and performed the service promptly and professionally. They were friendly, the work was clean, and they were very knowledgeable. The best part of the service, aside from a thorough inspection of both a wood fireplace and as masonry grill, was the advice that they were able to give me. They spent time talking about options for repair, heating, aesthetics, and made sure that they understood both my budget and my goals for my home. I'll be calling these guys again in the future when i need work done!

It went well. The workers were friendly and efficient, and they left area clean.

It was great. They were very accomodating and did an excellent job.

They were very prompt, professional, and pleasant. They did a good job, and I would definitely use them again.

It was great. They arrived on time, were very professional, and did a good job at a fair price.

They were very professional, very polite, and left no mess.

They came late. Took down old chimney and rebuilt new one. They must have been short on bricks because the chimney was shorter than the previous one and the inside stacks were sticking up quite a ways higher than the chimney and looked unsightly. When I complained they said that was what I ordered. When they were done, there was mortar that had been slopped on the bricks. When I complained they took some red paint and painted the spots. The mortar joints were uneven with some that appears to be an inch and a half to two inches while other joints are much closer. They were suppose to do a free chimney inspection and sweep which they forgot to do.

They did real good. I spent a bunch. A friend recommended them. I would use them again.

Owner Steve Hunt removed the porch railing, steps, old brick and jackhammered the concrete porch cap. He failed to frame under the cap and allowed the concrete to fall into the basement. Only after concrete began falling did Steve throw a bucket over the water meter and a tarp on the floor and doorway to the basement room under the porch. He continued to allow concrete to fall into the basement, and thick concrete dust filled the area. Then the furnace turned on and sucked concrete dust throughout the house. The porch was supposedly repaired and new brick was laid while I was not present. I was surprised to find that subcontractors John and Ron did the porch repair, as I was led to believe that A and O's licensed masons were to do this work. Steve informed me that they'd worked with these guys for many years, and the job was covered by a one-year warranty. Although John and Ron had installed wood framing to support the new concrete and had supposedly sealed the framing to the house, wet concrete ran into the basement and down the walls as the new cap was poured. It seeped through the paneling into the next room in the basement. When I showed this to Steve, he told me to throw old towels over it, and they'd clean it up later. When the concrete truck arrived, I was surprised to find it was was a rickety old truck that mixed concrete on demand and not a cement mixer. John told me that Beck's Mobile Concrete was much better than using ready mix. After the driveway was poured, I noticed the finish was not smooth, and where the driveway abutted the house, it was lumpy and uneven. John insisted that "sometimes (concrete) just comes out that way," and there was nothing wrong. John then saw cut expansion joints every 16 feet. He did not cut joints at the corners or down the center of the driveway. When I asked why, John told me "it looks nicer" with fewer joints, and that other companies "put in too many." Every time I asked a question because something differed from my research, I was told everything was fine and because I had a one-year warranty, I shouldn't worry. By this time, it was early June, and when it rained, a puddle formed on the new porch cap at the front door. Ron cut a groove where the concrete met the house brick and insisted water would drain away. He also insisted a few extra layers of concrete sealant would fill the low spot. Further, I had water in my basement, and John was not surprised, as he hadn't yet sealed the porch brick to the house. Again I was reminded they'd clean everything up and that my warranty would protect me. As I'd used A and O previously with good results, I let my concerns go. When John tried to install precast steps at the side door, he discovered the driveway was too low, so he couldn't make the steps fit. We agreed a small deck would work, and Steve told me he budgeted $200 for the steps, which would only cover the deck labor. I would need to provide the materials. Steve then asked me to pay my balance, as the job was "almost" finished. I was reluctant, considering I had no side steps and didn't know if the porch cap would be OK, but once again, I was reminded that A and O stands behind their work, and that I had a one-year warranty. So I wrote the check. As John built my deck, we had more rain, and it became obvious the low spot on the porch was a real problem. Further, water poured into the basement around the new cap. John assured me he'd replace the cap again if necessary, but he wanted to try leveling it first. He began by coating the cap with thinset, but it checked and created an even larger puddle on the porch. By this time, John was only coming out some weekends and was full of excuses as to why he had to postpone. Finally John ground off the thinset and coated the cap with latex concrete patch. He told me to stay in the house, because the dust was caustic (yet it was somehow not necessary to tarp my landscaping), and when John finished, I was horrified. Not only had he ground off the thinset, but he'd ground down the side of the cap, hoping water would pour off it. You could see the ground down area from the street! Further, concrete/thinset dust covered the plantings and Michigan Rock in the beds as well as the red brick front of the house and the driveway. John assured me he'd clean everything up and all would be fine. He also agreed to pour a new cap. I immediately called Alpha and Omega, but my calls went unanswered. I had to call repeatedly until I caught Dustin Taylor at his desk. Dustin agreed that he and Steve would come out to survey the damage, but no one ever showed. Next John told me he was angry at A and O, because he'd called asking them to cover materials for a new cap, and Steve had refused. When I finally reached Dustin and accused A and O of shirking their responsibility for my job, he insisted they were just holding John responsible. He insisted I let John finish the job, and that they'd come out and make everything right once John finished. I wasn't happy about this, but I didn't know what else to do. By this time it was July. John asked me to advance him the cost of the materials, and I refused. John then said he'd have to "save up the money for the concrete." By then there were arguments over who had paid for what, and I reminded both John and A and O that I had paid for it all, and that I expected the job to be done properly and all damage to be repaired. John somehow came up with the money for the concrete. The driveway and front walk began cracking. John insisted the summer heat had caused the concrete to crack within the first two months. When I asked him to cut additional joints, he threatened to "cut the driveway into 12-inch squares." When I finally reached Dustin Taylor and told him this, he laughed and said, "I know some guys who might cut it," and said he'd get back to me, but he never did. John finally did cut additional joints, but by this time, each corner had cracked. Over the next month, John and Ron worked to replace the cap. My front door was completely unusable, and they griped about A and O and how Steve had ripped them off. John was angry and his outbursts scared me at times. Although I repeatedly called A and O, I only managed to reach Dustin a couple times. Despite that I'd repeatedly told Dustin that John was doing damage, Dustin insisted I let John finish and said I should call when he finished. Again I was told they'd make everything right. John eventually poured the cap and replaced a section of the front walk that had cracked. But there was much wrong with the job. I called A and O, and when I finally reached Dustin, he agreed to have Steve come out on 8/12. Although Steve was late, he didn't stand me up this time. I showed him all the damage, and he simply apologized. He said, " I hope this can stay between the two of us. John's always been a heavy drinker, and I think it's getting to him." Steve also told me to gather estimates, and he would submit them to his insurance company. It seems there was to be no one-year warranty. When I began getting estimates, I realized the job was far worse than I'd previously realized. There were code violations (no flashing between porch cap and house, variable height rises on front steps). The driveway continued to crack and heave, and water pooled against the foundation. Water continued pouring in around the porch cap, and it even poured out of electrical outlets in the basement. John had dumped muriatic acid in the landscape beds, over the driveway and on the front of the house. He dumped unused concrete sludge on the rock beds behind my garage. Both front and side storm doors, garage door, much siding and trim was ruined. John got latex concrete patch all over the new porch brick and the front of the house, and when the concrete and porch was torn off again, I found they had not repaired the porch cinder block. Although I'd paid for both fiber and mesh reinforcement for all concrete, there was no fiber in the driveway, and though John had shown me the mesh that would go into the porch cap, there was no mesh. The expansion material was installed upside down and screwed into the foundation. The porch cinder block had to be tuck pointed both inside and out. Damage to my foundation was severe enough that it was more cost effective to install a basement waterproofing system. Total damage including the cost of redoing the botched porch and driveway job totaled $44,339.62. Alpha and Omega finally submitted the claim to their insurance company after receiving a letter from my attorney. Although the insurance company did send out an adjuster, they sat on the claim for almost six months. It was only when threatened with a lawsuit did the insurance company finally agree to cover some of the damages, ~$4800. The claims specialist told me their adjuster agreed with me 100%, but that A and O felt they weren't responsible because they'd had subcontractors do the work. He maintained that this was shoddy workmanship, not an insurance issue. It's also breach of contract. When I'd told Dustin Taylor that they were behaving like a bunch of yahoos who'd been paid $50, instead of a professional company to whom I'd paid $13,000, he assured me they were a professional company and stand by their work. Steve told me that due to the poor economy, he'd let his licensed staff go. John told me he was a handyman, not a "concrete expert," and when confronted with this, Steve admitted John was a general laborer, but that he'd "been on big jobs." Ron has a criminal record in Virginia. Steve also told me he "wish(ed) more customers were like me." Buyer beware. I'll revise my review accordingly if Alpha and Omega ever rectifies this situation.

They did a really good job cleaning for us. They were very neat in their work with no mess. They were very nice people as well.

The first appt. was bet. 2:00 and 4:00 so I took the afternoon off (for which I don't get paid). The guy calls me at 4:25 and says he's 15 minutes away. That would have made it too late so we rescheduled for Saturday morning early and they showed up over an hour late. When I scheduled the appt., I asked for the owner/operator to come because I wanted a proposal to redo the fireplace mantle. Someone else shows up who couldn't not discuss the proposal with me. He said the person I needed to talk to was the person who was supposed to keep the appointment. I said, calmly, to the worker, 'your company should work on its communication; he was supposed to be making this call and you were supposed to be here over an hour ago'. They proceeded to clean my chimney, install a cap, take pictures and show me that I need a new lining. I have no complaint about the work that they did (i.e. clean my chimney and install a cap). A quote was promised for the end of the following week which came and went. After 2 weeks, I called and left a message. No response. I called again a week or more later and left another message. Again, no response. I think they did not call me back or submit a quote because I said they need to work on their communication. I think they think my time is not valuable.

Everyone I spoke with was very knowledgeable and polite, answering my questions and making me feel comfortable with the whole process. I especially liked that during the estimate process, digital photos of my chimney were taken while they were on the roof so I could see exactly what we were talking about on the camera's LCD screen. The day of the rebuild, the mason was on time, introduced himself before starting work (had me sign some paperwork), and moved his truck so I could leave for work on time. The chimney looks very nice, the cement crown extends a few inches beyond the bricks for better protection in the future, and both caps were put back into place. I am very pleased with the work that was done.

They did a fine job of sweeping the chimney last year, but dumped the leftover creosote out in my backyard, and some along the road as well. Had also previously used them for a chimney crown replacement - that was ok, except that they left a streak of concrete 'juice' running down the face of my chimney - doesn't look good at all.

I did use Alpha and Omega to rebuild my brick/concrete porch and replace the driveway and walks (spring 2010). Not only did they do a horrendous job, they did significant damage to my home's foundation. See my detailed review under Masonry. I gave Alpha and Omega an F.