Solstice Builders, LLC

unknown

Cliff Pender is professional and responsive. Work was performed as contracted and was of very good quality and we are completely satisfied with results. The only issue we had was that it took 10 weeks and it was supposed to be a 3 week job. We were very pleased with the end result, but were frustrated that the tiling contractor seemed to bounce from our job to other jobs and sometimes did not show up as planned. We would however, recommend the tiling contractor because the quality of their workmanship was very good.

After one year, the entire shower completely failed. Water content in my walls was at 40% when normal is between 8 to 12%. It was leaking behind the walls, under the flooring and into the crawl space. It was leaking behind the fixtures. The shower pan had been put together in pieces, held together by duct tape and silicone. On sides of shower, tile was affixed directly to sheetrock with no Durarock or other waterproofing material to protect. (Photo proof) Shower tile grout had not been sealed, as required by the type of grout used. The new toilet was gushing water into the crawl space. The shower doors leaked immediately and continually. Baseboard around shower rotted with water and coming apart because MDF was used. The bathroom exhaust fan was installed upside down so that air was forced back into the shower instead of venting to the outside. (Photo proof) Contractor cited for code violation which was upheld by the NC State Contractor's Association. Contractor refused to honor his warranty and make repairs. . Be sure to check out subcontractors. The tile guy, Julius Ogden was in bankruptcy. The plumber, Don Spencer, showed no assets. My insurance company sued and this case was ultimately settled.

We cannot complete this recommendation at this point except to assess the job estimation process. However, as a result of the experience described below, we made a positive hiring decision. The work will begin in February 2013. The contractor was extremely thorough in estimating the cost of the home addition (a finished family room over the garage created in an area with non-attic trusses ). He broke down each and every segment of the project, and used conservative guesses in the very few instances where factual data was not yet available. He brought in subs from the various trades to our work site, and we had the opportunity to discuss our project with them. He provided recommendations from other home owners who had completed similar projects with the contractor (one was almost exactly like ours), and we actually visited those home owners. The finished projects looked outstanding, and the owners had nothing but praise for the contractor and the performance of his workmen and sub-contractors. His estimate provided exact numbers for each segment of construction. The estimate was reasonable for the scope of the project, and the home owners we visited verified that their projects were completed on or before schedule, and on or below estimated price except where they admitted that they had increased the scope. Based on the detail of the estimate, the experience of the contractor, and home owner experiences with him, we made a positive hiring decision.

They do wonderful work. Cliff got the scope of the work, gave me an estimate, got his crew to work and they were skilled and I would highly recommend them.