MATTHEWS GENERAL CONTRACTORS

Mediocre work with a very poor overall experience. Steven subcontracted the entire job and never came to the site to oversee progress or quality despite stating during the proposal phase that he regularly visits his jobs. The crew did not do quality floor and shower tile installation or finishing work. They cracked several floor tiles, caused a very large crack in a large piece of stone in the shower entry, and cracked a room-to-room transition piece. They tried to hide the damage with grout that did not match and with lies by stating that the cracks and grout, which could be physically felt, were the stone’s veining pattern. They installed chipped and damaged stone pieces in the shower niches instead of working to get replacements. In Steven’s only visit to the site, which was at our request to view these issues, he commented to his crew "you shouldn't have put this in" but took no steps to fix the issues and left it to us to coordinate repair with a third party. After this, we expressed concern over the quality of work and pleaded with Steven to be onsite to oversee the remaining work. He indicated he would, but never showed up. His crew proceeded to incorrectly place electrical outlets by not following the plan agreed upon with Steven via text messages. They did not open the remaining materials that would’ve allowed finishes to be properly laid out and, therefore, incorrectly placed mirrors and light fixtures. When brought to Steven’s attention, his crew claimed that plumbing in the wall prevented agreed upon placement of electrical outlets. When photos showed this was a fabrication, his crew again lied stating that all aspects of placement of all items were discussed with us despite the fact that we were not home. When our disappointment and the fact that his crew was untruthful were brought to Steven's attention during a phone call, he launched into a profanity-laden assault at us for expressing our dissatisfaction. He angrily stated that he told his crew not to put those items in without speaking to us, but they did anyway, and, enraged, asked “What do you want me to do about it?” A suggestion that he be on site to oversee the final work was dismissed with a statement of “Well, it’s kind of far.” It should be noted that he was well aware of the job’s location as he visited on several occasions to quote and measure while doing work in a neighboring town of equal or greater distance from his residence. For the days that followed, Steven did not attempt to be present and made no contact. We had to take time off work to oversee removal of the outlets, mirrors, and fixtures, and to lay out every detail for their proper placement down to stopping his crew from installing a medicine cabinet in an unusable manner. Steven made no inquiries about the job's completeness, our satisfaction, the overall quality, and he never set up a time to review the work in person. We were left with unpatched holes in walls, grout haze and debris to clean up, a window to caulk and seal, broken and improperly grouted tiles, and other items to either address or live with. Despite coordinating in advance, Steven did not show up for the final Township inspection. After two months, Steven sent a final bill via email that double-charged for some of the work along with a request to come in two days to collect final payment and take pictures for promotional use. When we replied that we were generally unsatisfied, but that we would pay him in full as we didn't want to subject ourselves to another one of his tirades, he initiated a tirade of insults via text and email calling us scumbags and refusing to read beyond our opening statement of dissatisfaction. He threatened legal action and passed our email to his lawyer. Within minutes of being informed by his lawyer that he was going to get paid despite our dissatisfaction, Steven sent emails and text messages apologizing for his conduct. He stated that if we had only told him about the things that were wrong, he would have fixed them until we were happy because “that's what we do.” Our experience throughout the job suggests this is not the case. This is additionally noted by the fact that even in that final message of apology, Steven never asked to view the job in person, never requested pictures of the poor-quality items, and never offered to actually fix them.

We used Steve to do demo work on the purchase of our new home. He worked on a difficult project and got it done on time. We called him back to do new tile floors in our family room and two bathrooms. He also replaced damaged moldy walls in the laundry room. He made a lot of suggestions and helped solve problems that came up on the job, such as a frozen pipe that needed to function for the new laundry equipment. He is very quick to respond and would always return my calls or text that day. As we are now moved in to our new home I will keep him in mind for future repairs. His prices are fair and I was able to "haggle" with him a couple of times. I would definitely recommend him.

We were on a budget and a timeline and needed to get certain demolition of items in our newly purchases home done. Had this horrid wallpaper that was painted over that we needed removed. I got Matthews Contracting on a tip from a highly recommended Angie's List business. Steve assured that everything would be done but what was great he let us know he would do a good job. Ran into some problems with the wallpaper removal and he assured us that it would be resolved and it was. Never tried to nickel and dime us on additional scope items that up and always gave us a fair price. Did all the work in a timely manner. Would definitely keep him on my list for future work for our home.

Steve Matthews is very professional. His prices were reasonable, he completed the jobs beautifully with no pauses or delays. He made numerous suggestions which made the finished jobs better and more useful. Steve is easy to work with and totally honest. His work is first rate, he accepts changes with no complaints, and is a great person and general contractor. In our basement, Steve added French drains and an additional sump pump and this solved our water intrusion problem. In refinishing our basement from the very old paneling to a new, clean look and new design his suggestions opened up the basement rooms and gave us an open, airy feeling when in the basement. He just completed re-doing our from stoop, removing the old concrete steps and replacing them and the landing with blue stone, and he added a portico roof over the stoop. He faced the risers with stone and was able to use our current vinyl siding that he removed when adding the portico to complete the portico. The new work is beautiful and was completed without delay except those caused by us. We plan to work with Steve to redo our kitchen and bathrooms. We highly recommend Matthews General Contracting.

Half of our basement was finished with now dated wood panelling - many years ago - and needed to be redone. We also had water problems after heavy rains. Steve Matthews added French drains and an additional sump pump to deal with the water problem and it worked - no issues. He also refinished the basement and worked very comfortably with us, making many very useful suggestions. His suggestions helped open up the refinished half of the basement and make it feel much better when we go down stairs and use the TV room he redid. We have a second refinished room in the basement for exercise with a crafts work area for my wife. He did a really great job, very reasonably priced. His work is very professional, he completed the work on time and did not leave us waiting while he worked on other projects, as other contractors have. He kept to his price and worked very clean. He is currently redoing our front stoop - new stone steps, fixing our brick walk, intstalling a roof over the steps, etc. As before, his work is very professional, his suggestions are great and the work is getting done quickly. I highly recommend Steve Matthews and Matthews General Contracting. I cannot think of any negatives! He is also a great guy.

We had an extremely pleasant experience with this bathroom renovation. The project was completed in a timely manner and we actually came in under budget. Steve was willing to work with us to keep this project within budget without compromising quality or workmanship. The work was meticulous and our finished bathroom is beautiful! His expertise and knowledge guided us through the many decisions we had to make along the way. I would highly recommend using Matthews General Contractors, as you will not be disappointed. We will definitely be using them for any future renovations that we do.

MY HUSBAND AND I WERE VERY HAPPY WITH THE WORK THAT WE HAD DONE ON OUR CABINETS. THEY REALLY LOOK GREAT NOW AND WE THOUGHT THE PRICE WAS VERY REASONABLE.

THEY TOLD ME THEY COULD GET THE JOB DONE IN THREE WEEKS AND THEY FINISHED THE JOB IN SIX WEEKS. I WOULD RECOMMEND THEM TO OTHERS AND I WOULD HIRE THEM AGAIN. THEY DID CHARGE US A LOT LESS THAN OTHER COMPANIES WOULD HAVE.