UNIVERSAL SERVICES OF LI INC.

Ultimately we decided to go with another company that was recommended by a family member, but Russ and Dave were very nice, appeared honest, knew what they were talking about. Their pricing was comparable to others. They followed up a few times. Overall a good experience, i would definitely consider hiring them for future projects.

At our first meeting I specifically asked Dave if we needed permits for the proposed work. His reply was that it wasn't necessary since I didn't plan to sell my home. The workers showed up the next day and began the work. Two weeks into the project (on May 23rd) an inspector from the Village of Hempstead showed up to check on a new hot water heater and oil tank that I had installed (by another company) and asked to see the building, electrical and plumbing permits for the work being done. I explained that my contractor had told me that it wasn't necessary and the inspector immediately placed a Stop Work Order on my home and sent me a Notice of Violations stating that unless permits were obtained and posted for building, plumbing and electrical work by June 9th I would be subject to fines and or/other actions. I immediately called Dave who told me not to worry. I sent Dave a copy of the Stop Work Order along with a copy of the Notice of Violations. A week later, after not hearing anything back from Dave I called him again to find out what was going on. Dave said he was working on obtaining the necessary paper work for the permits. I then called the Inspector from Village of Hempstead and he informed me that Dave had never visited their office to begin the process. The next time I heard from Dave he said he would need to stop by to take measurements so he could have plans made up in order to comply with the request for a building permit. Another week goes by and I called Dave again for an update. His response was that the Town of Hempstead (note that he didn't mention the Village of Hempstead which is an important distinction and was clearly stated on the violation) was very demanding and he was trying to comply with their regulations but that it was difficult to find an electrician or plumber willing to vouch for work done by someone else. By this time four weeks have passed so I once again called the inspector at the Village of Hempstead offices and he once again verified that they had still not heard anything from Dave. Finally, Dave called and told me that he had a plumber willing to come over and look at the work so he could file for a permit. Dave and the plumber came over and at that time he informed us that he didn't have the spare key that I had given him at the start of the project - it seems he had given it to his workers and they (supposedly) made a habit of leaving it under a statue in my backyard for easy access. Needless to say it wasn't there. As a result I had to call in a locksmith (see my separate report for Install a Lock) to come and change my door locks at a cost of $200. He was still trying to find an electrician certified to do work for the Vilage of Hempstead but was not having a lot of success. At this point I had reached my breaking point. We're now five weeks into the Stop Work Order and I am now subject to accumulating fines for not complying with the request for the required permits and nothing has been accomplished so I called the Village of Hempstead and found out that they kept a list of approved plumbers and electricians - something Dave had never bothered to obtain. I sent Dave a letter (via Certified mail) canceling our agreement and assumed control of the project myself. Within two days I had hired someone to file plans for the building permit for the new walls and also hired a licensed plumber and electrician (approved by the Village of Hempstead) to obtain the required plumbing and electrical permits. The plumber will have to redo the work that was already done for the installation of the new toilet (it turns out that they didn't do it properly) move the toilet (they placed it too close to the wall), change the connecting hoses they installed for my washing machine and properly vent the space for my hot water heater. The electrician will have to recheck all of the outlets (the one he checked in the the half bath immediately shorted out due to too many wires beings stuffed into the space and not grounded properly). The door that they hung leading into the boiler room has to be replaced because it's not up to code, the other doors were cut wrong and the door frames were poorly done. At this point I am out an additional $2500 but at least the people I am dealing with now are qualified and honest with what they will need to do to correct the problems. For anyone who is in need of work I would recommend that you do not use Universal - Dave talks a good game and is very good at coming up with excuses for why he can't do something but the quality of work and follow through are non existent.