Queen City Construction

Gerald Nesbeth is very thorough and explains everything carefully (and at length). He pointed out different options for us to consider both before and during the job. He asked if we would like to add a ceiling fan to the installation. We agreed and are happy we did. We mentioned the other work we were thinking of having done and Gerald said that he could add that into the job. Since we had agreed to an hourly rate for some of this additional work he was very clear when we chose options that might increase the number of hours. We were willing to do that to get the results we wanted. Two items will tell you a lot: (1) The ceiling to be installed was in a room with wood paneled walls. Mr. Nesbet began the job by carefully removing the moldings between the ceiling and the paneling without breaking a piece (although he warned us that some of it might have to be replaced if it broke). At the end he put the molding back just as it had been. (2) The ceiling to be installed was in the master bedroom that my wife and I use. We were not looking forward to sleeping on a pull out couch in the living room for three nights during this job. Gerald and his helper covered the bed with plastic sheeting. (We did not mind that they might have to stand on it at times.) They cleaned up each night so that we could sleep in our usual bed. We are not picky and we were willing to live with a certain amount of dust around. Someone else might have made a different choice. But we were happy. Gerald did everything he could to accommodate us. The approximate costs for the individual items in this job were: Install & paint new drywall ceiling in bedroom (14' x 12') & install ceiling fan: $1925 Paint kitchen (10' x 10') and other miscellaneous areas: $1140 Install bathroom vent fan with separate switch: $800 Install exterior screen door (including door priced at about $225): $445.70 Other misc. jobs: $160 I felt his prices were fair.

It was awful. They did not seem to want my business. They were very rude and abrupt on the phone and I did not use their services.

He was extremely professional, responsive, punctual and took his job very seriously. He examined everything he needed to do and took pictures of everything. The estimate ended up being just a bit too high.

They appeared to do a good job painting my house. However, after about 8 months the paint began to peal. I called an Gerald to look at it. He came and realized there was a problem. He spoke a lot about ways to fixed it but did nothing. After 18 months the house looked like it had not been painted and needed to be fixed. After numerous emails, calls, and meetings with Gerald I said enough talk either fix it or not. He had guaranteed his paint job for at least 5 years. I feel as though I made a very generous suggestion in an effort to get him to repaint the pealing areas. I agreed to pay him 50% of his hourly rate I was not interested in making a small business owner be fully financially penalized even though that was our agreement. But he did not agree and would not repaint the pealing sections. He is a nice guy but he continued to be non-responsive to my requests to repaint the pealing section of the house. Before I wrote this review I called him and told him that I had no other recourse than to right this review and did he want to take responsibility for his work or not. Hence my review. I am disappointed that he did not take responsibility for his work.

They came gave us an estimate and were able to start soon after. No mess, no fuss and very professional work. They did an excellent job at a good price and finished on time and the detail work is perfect. You can't go wrong with this company!

We didn't even get to this part, I never got a response except after I contacted Angies List. Then I received an e-mail asking to either resend an e-mail (which I did & got the same automated response) & to call them, which I also did, however, I did not get a response to that. Unacceptable. In response to the providers rebuttal: The way you state your rebuttal paints an inaccurate picture of communication. The initial request was sent on August 26th, the first automated response came that same day & nothing further. I gave you time to reply thinking you might be busy then contacted you again on September 12th, with another automated response followed by a request for a call or an e-mail (of which I did both), still no reply. Finally I sent you a last e-mail on the 18th of September & one to Angie's List asking why you were receiving high ratings with service such as this & then filed my report, because my request for contact had gone on ignored. It was after that, on that same day, that I finally received a response from you stating: "Sorry for that but we have extremely busy lately and as a result, will have to pass on your project. Thanks and good luck." That is 3 points of contact with lots of time in between for a call back or e-mail contact. I do not find that to be prompt response, it certainly was not, as you state, a 24 hr response time & if you had told me "no" on August 26th or anywhere between that date & the final time you actually did respond, this report would never have been issued. Very interesting that you waited until the day I contacted Angie's List & filed my report to issue a decline, very convenient. I have 3 reports in total, yours is the only poor report. A little communication & professionalism go a long way, taking responsibility for mistakes also counts, as we all make them, but laying off your actions on a prospective client is neither respectable, nor is it professional. My post is not the only negative report, take action on your failings & your reports will likely be more positive.

Services included painting ceilings, kitchen, hallway, living room, dining room, master bedroom and foyer. I was concerned about painting the ceiling over the stairs which is very high but it went fine. He also sheetrocked/plastered the ceiling in the hall where he recommended removing a non-functioning vent. Looks lovely. I had a lot of water damage on the wall above the fireplace in the living room which needed plastering and also an area with water damage beneath the windows that he repaired. I would definitely use Queen City again and recommend them to others.

Mr. Nesbeth met me at my house, examined the room carefully, took photos and measurements, and then contacted me with his estimate and the times he was available to work. He came when he said he would, and did what he said he would do, all on time, and all in a workmanlike manner. I recommend his services highly for anyone who needs a reliable handyman.

I decided that this was not the right time for me to pursue this project.

. It looked to me that they actually spend a lot of time on it. There were two people who came out and they spend a total of at least of four hours. The price included the cost of the material and the labor for four hours. In general I am happy with the job they did and the price quality ratio. But communication was a bit cumbersome because they were supposed to give a proposal of how much it would cost to do a few other things. It took several weeks for that to come. Then I had to question them about that, and it is still unanswered. I am trying to use them in the future.

I cant say enough good things about Gerald and his company, Queen City. I had originally called Gerald to come look at a number of different projects that needed attention at my house. This included gutter repair, painting, window screen replacements, and a front door that badly needed repair work. Gerald is super intelligent and extremely knowledgable. He explains all possibilities thoroughly and with patience and care. He is very honest and offers multiple solutions on how to best address issues. He works hard to try to save his clients time and money. During the course of the job, when he found other issues, he presented me with options on how to best deal with them. Never pressured me to do anything or follow one particular path. This man is very kind and VERY HONEST. He does first class work and researches any and all things that may come up, directing me to the source information as well. I live in an older Tudor home that has mandated a number of contractors over the years. By far, Queen City has been the best experience I have had. I would recommend them in a flash, and will not use anyone else ever again.

His estimate was too high for me, even though Queen City tried to make it work. I think they would have done a wonderful job. They were very professional.

They did the work well. They are good all around. Their price is competitive. I’m planning to use them again.

They have been wonderful. The work that they did is absolutely beautiful. Everything came out exactly the way I wanted it to. They worked wonderfully. I would absolutely use them again in the future if needed.

Gerald gave me a 30-minute window for his arrival time, but was 15 minutes late / outside of that time window. I showed him the powder room, and provided an itemized list of what needed to be done, in my opinion. We went over the list. A week later, I received a proposal to remodel an existing kitchen (?!), that nevertheless referred to removing a toilet - and contained some of the things I did not request, like removing an existing door, and missed a number of jobs that were needed, e.g. electrical changes. After two emails, clarifications, and modifications, the estimate reflected the job that I wanted to be performed. Queen City Construction was the lowest bidder, but I had no confidence that they would listen, and that they would pay attention to the job. I hired someone else.

It went beautifully. He did an excellent job of plastering 4 holes in celings, and they look great. He spent a lot of time advising me of issues that he could be helpful with. I was more than pleased with the work and the time he spent with me discussing the work.I will use him again for further work in the future and wholeheartedly recommend him to others.

Gerald was always prompt, polite and professional and explained everything in detail. If I had questions he would answer them in a timely fashion. His work was very thorough; he provided exactly what I asked for and was able to resolve any problems that arose during the course of the work. He went out of his way to obtain the materials necessary to finish the job. I was not home during most of the construction; however I was always confident that the work would get done. All his equipment was removed and the area cleaned up at the end of the project. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised that several small cracks in the living room as well as the outside corner of the exterior porch were also repaired. All in all, it was a pleasure to deal with Gerald and I would not hesitate to use him again in the future.

Gerald called me back immediately and discussed with me several options for replacing a cracked undermount bathroom sink. He then called back shortly after with the best, most cost-effective suggestion of all, which was to do it ourselves, and he explained in detail how we should go about it. He was honest, straightforward, and extremely helpful. I will definitely contact his company for future work.

The estimate was more reasonable than some others, but still higher than other estimates and we selected another contractor. Gerald was prompt for the appointment, but the company took longer to get back to my initial email inquiry and to submit an estimate than other contractors, which is why I gave them only a B for responsiveness.

Gerald was punctual, thorough and clear in his explanations and answers to my questions. This, AND he completed the work quickly and well. Thanks Gerald!

Spent a lot of time going over project and offering very helpful advice.

The work was excellent. Gerald carefully inspected the problem and discussed options with me. I found him easy to work with. His team arrived on time and worked hard through a brutal heat wave. They dealt with a couple of hornets nests in the soffits and did a very good job dealing with the roof issues. I felt that the crew worked very well together and that Gerald's expectations were communicated well in terms of their execution and quality. Everything was finished on schedule. Because the extent of the soffit repair was unknowable at the start, we agreed that work would be done on the basis of "time and cost of materials." This led to a small problem when the work was finished. No one had paid close attention as materials were being used so Gerald and I had to spend some time figuring out the cost of materials. In the end I was quite satisfied. I would recommend that if you have work done on a "cost of materials" basis that you make sure someone on the worksite is keeping track.

The experience with Queen City (QC) construction/Gerald Nesbeth (owner/ general contractor) has been dissatisfying & painfully challenging from start to finish. The home renovation QC was hired to complete was for a 203K streamline home renovation of a kitchen and master bathroom. As the terms of this loan product, payment is allotted by the bank under strict provisions. These provisions state the construction company hired will receive 35% of the total funding at the start of the job and 65% at the completion of the job, after inspection has been passed and all permits are closed. QC construction has been challenged to understand these provisions, even after having them fully explained multiple times. QC construction has sought to change these provisions and insists the homeowner provides payment out of our own pocket according to QC terms of business (30%, 30%, 30% & 10%). This has been the underlying issue of much distress between QC and the homeowner throughout the entire renovation, despite a signed contract with the funding bank. Throughout the renovation, QC construction refused to comply with basic terms of the contract. Their regularly scheduled hours, maintained in the contract, were M-F, 8am to 4pm. In real time, QC construction team members arrived at the house anywhere between 9 - 11am and then vacated the home anywhere between 3pm and 12 midnight. Team members would show up on weekends, often times either unannounced or with less than 20 minutes phone call notice of their impending arrival. There were at times weeks when work was left unfinished & incomplete. The contract was signed in June 2010 with a deadline for completion by 10.31.10. Little to no work was performed on the home for a total of 5 weeks straight AFTER a discussion emerged concerning the funding issue referenced above. QC insisted more funding outside of the 10% was required to continue with work. The homeowner refused QC access to the home for five days until mediation concerning this funding could be established. The decisive 5 week delay on the part of QC pushed the entire project back. The framing inspection was not scheduled or completed until 10.27.10, a full 4 days before the project?s anticipated completion date. The homeowners were renting an apartment at the time, with the lease ending on 10.31.10. We were forced to move into the home with active construction going on; no kitchen and only a partially working hallway bathroom. A sink was not installed until 12.23.10. On one occasion the QC team showed up on a Sunday, unannounced, stating they were there to catch up on work and put the kitchen cabinets together. In this incident the master carpenter and his assistant fused the incorrect cabinets together. Upon noting their mistake, they pulled the incorrect cabinets apart, cracking side edges and leaving nail holes in the finished edge of a prominent upper cabinet. It was offered by QC construction to remedy the mistake by using wood putty to fill in the holes and repainting the mistakes. Our request for the broken cabinet to be replaced was denied. We were informed by the master carpenter we were being ?nit picky? by wanting our cabinet to be replaced. From this point on the homeowners felt unconfident in the quality of work provided by QC and requested family members & friends to sit in our home to monitor the remaining construction process. In both rooms tile was installed for flooring. The kitchen tiles have been audibly popping in confluent areas throughout the kitchen. The grout has been cracking in multiple areas as well. The grout issue has been repaired more than a few times by QC construction, although it still proceeds to crack. In the master bath the tile floor is severely unlevel in multiple areas. It was explained to us by QC, this occurred because we installed radiant heat under the tile. In conferring with other seasoned professionals, a radiant heating system would not cause tiles above it to be unlevel; improper tile installation would be the cause of unlevel tiles. River rock was installed in the shower floor of the master bathroom. The grout of the shower floor has cracked in areas where the river rocks were placed too close together or where too much tile adhesive was used. The cracking grout has created a ?wet, seeping, mushy? quality to the shower floor indicating water seepage to surrounding areas. The master shower has been used only 4 times and is currently not operational until the grout issue is fixed. Lastly, QC was told multiple times to set aside the original (1932) base floor molding of the kitchen prior to the kitchen demolition, so it may be used again in the reconstruction. During the demolition of the kitchen this molding was both destroyed and discarded. An attempt was made to re-create the lost molding although it is not an equivalent match to the original molding found throughout the house. We thought QC construction and the owner Gerald Nesbeth would perform a satisfactory job due to their current ratings on Angie?s list. As stated above are our reasons for not recommending QC construction?s services and for providing a failing rating in Angie?s List.

I called and scheduled an appointment with Gerald Nesbeth for an estimate for replacing my kitchen ceiling. He did not keep the appointment nor did he call to cancel or reschedule the appointment. I called again and asked what happened. Mr. Nesbeth apologized and said he had a personal emergency. I scheduled a second appointment. Mr. Nesbeth did not keep this appointment either. He called about 10 minutes after he was scheduled to arrive at my house, and said he would be unable to make it because he was having car trouble. I am actively looking for someone else to give me an estimate for my kitchen ceiling.

The person I dealt with was Gerald Nesbit. I felt he was unreliable because he didnt return calls nor did he do what he said he was going to do.