Kevin A Klepper A-1 Home Improver Construction Co

Kevin Klepper showed up on time for the initial interview, along with a "cousin who's also part of the family business" (and who turned out not to be related to Kevin at all), and was in touch occasionally between that appointment and our closing on the house. None of his references ever answered the phone or returned my calls, but his "cousin's" references were good, so I continued with them. Stupidly gave Kevin $7000 to special order fixtures for a handicapped accessible bathroom. On the day work was to begin, Kevin did not show, and did not respond to repeated messages. When he finally called, he claimed he was sick, said he wouldn't be able to do the job (but that his "cousin" could handle it), admitted that he never ordered any fixtures, and arranged for his "cousin" to meet him in NYC to pick up the $7000. He didn't show up for that meeting, and neither I nor his "cousin" (who did the sizable remodeling/addition job for me) ever heard from him again. He slithered away with $7000 of my elderly mother's money (bathroom was for her use). I did everything from contacting an attorney to filing a report with the NYS Attorney General's Office. No one was interested in pursuing this theft legally. So he got away with it. I have joined Angie's List primarily so that I could warn others about this amoral weasel.

Nothing to report. The contractor never returned my calls.

I enjoyed meeting Kevin from the start. He spent a great deal of time with me discussing my needs, and he was very forthcoming with advice on how he thought things should proceed. He also seemed be a conscientious person, and my impression was that he is a hard working general contractor. I didn't hire Kevin as his price was out of my range. I was also concerned as, based on his current schedule, he could not commit to a project start date. I will contact him in the future for other projects in my apartment.

Move on to someone else who wants your business. I'm guessing with these guys business is great and I would rather work with someone who really wants my business and loyalty. **************************************************UPDATE********************************************************************* This contractor is a liar through and through. I did not say half the stuff he purported me to say below. I suggest you beware of his slick, smooth talking ways or look for someone more reputable for your building needs. ********************************************************************************************

The job was done very quickly and competently.

On all projects he kept exactly to his projected schedule and estimated price and was pleasant throughout. He was in close contact with us and always responded to us quickly. He remained patient and helpful with the difficult building management people and worked well with them. We were very satisfied with all the projects and he returned quickly for minor touch-ups and repairs after the jobs were completed. We look forward to working with Mr. Klepper again.

At the beginning of the project we had considerable difficulty in getting approval from the managing agent for the renovation we planned. We were misinformed and stonewalled for some time. Kevin showed great patience getting the the final approval which entailed numerous phone calls and emails and finally a confrontation with the building manager. The project was especially difficult because a family member has multiple chemical sensitivities. Kevin dealt with the complications with patience, including dealing with a slow and unresponsive kitchen cabinet designer. Aside from the difficulties presented by outside suppliers which were ofter signicant, the project went well.

I was so impressed by this company. They responded quickly, almost as if the installation of my sink were an actual emergency. The guys were all really nice and polite, and they worked quickly. Every interaction with this company has been positive. I will definitely use them again!

There were many delays due to the co-op boards requirements, which was frustrating, but not Kevin's fault. Once the work was started, he or his men came when they said they would & worked very hard to finish the job quickly. The finished combination looks much better than I had hoped.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!! This person/company (can't even tell) is incredibly disorganized and unprofessional! When I first called to schedule an appointment I spoke with some guy (Kevin?) who rudely told me he was driving and would call me back. Instead, some woman called me back on his behalf and said we set up an appointment for some guy named Lewis to come to my apartment. An hour after our appointment time, however, Lewis hadn't showed up so I called the number the 'secretary' had given me, and Lewis picked up and said he couldn't make it because of an emergency at some building where the pipes broke (thanks for calling to cancel!). So we rescheduled for the next day. And he didn't show up again! Instead, some other woman called me 10 minutes before the appointment to say that there was another emergency and Lewis can't make it again and it is "indefinite" as to when he will be able to.

Throughout the period of work, the A1 Home Improver manager repeatedly argued about actually conducting many of the items that were included in a written contract that was mutually agreed upon. Nearly each day A1 raised new objections to respecting the work as detailed in the contract, and often became belligerent, including raising his voice and using profanities. A1's supervision of the workers who were left to actually do the work was also very uneven, with the manager not even showing up on certain days. This resulted in the need to redo work at several points, which led to more emotional outbursts. Although the completed job was ultimately acceptable, the stress of trying to work with the A1 manager during the project was totally unacceptable. I would never consider A1 Home Improver again.

Mr. Klepper completed the job exactly on the projected completion date and for exactly the price he estimated. His workmen were extremely pleasant and capable. He gave us exactly what we asked for and the result is beautiful. The building's approval process required a lot of cooperation from Mr. Klepper who was quick and responsive in his efforts to help us.

Overall - high marks in all categories.

After initially seeing such rave reviews for A1 on Angie's List, I rushed and called them for some renovation work I was looking to have done on a new apartment. I was put in contact with Keith to provide the estimate. After canceling one appointment and not calling two other days when he promised me he would call me, I decided I did not want to contract anyone that couldn't even set up the appointment for the estimate, none the less for the actual job. It sounded like Keith had a lot going on in his personal life but if he was unable to assist, they should have assigned someone else.

I called after reading the reviews & told the owner that I was looking to get a quote for a new tub, toilet, wall tiles & floor. He immediately stated his prices are between $20,000-$25,000 because I have a co-op that requires insurance & licenses. I said that was out of my budget & he asked what my budget is. I said $10, 000. He said he doesn't do remodeling for anywhere near that price. I felt like he didn't want to be bothered with such a small amount of money & was rushed off the phone. I would never call that man again.

Kevin was punctual and always available. He showed up on time and got the work done on time. He also stayed within our budget. We are pleased with the quality of the results.

Overall I'm happy with the renovations and plan to bring in A1 for additional work next year. They came in under time and on budget. The crew was professional and addressed any questions or concerns as they came up. They were accommodating to my schedule and co-op's requirements.

It did not go at all and that is the point. The individual is non-responsive.

He is a very nice guy, but he handed me a very unprofessional business card that was a homemade Vista card. He says he quotes the highest bid because he is number 1 on Angie's List. His name is Kevin Klepper. I think he might have paid someone to put a review on Angie's List. His English was very poor, and none of the reviews I read had very good English. The reviews were poorly written and spelled and almost identical.

He said he would call the next week with the estimate. I gave him 10 days and followed up with a phone message, and I have yet to hear from him regarding this.

Kevin really does answer emails and phone calls, as all the reports say, and he took the time to give me lots of information even before I had contracted him to do the work. I have never lived through construction before, so I found parts of it very stressful, but Kevin inspires confidence and brings the stress level down. He is reassuring when problems come up, and he is very cost-conscious and offers different possible solutions. And he is generous; he did some work not included in his estimate and wouldn't charge me for it.

We are generally satisfied with the end product. However, email communications between us and the contractor were often confusing and much too complicated. It was typical for us to write an email with several questions and only get a single question answered. Kevin was trying to help us save money, which we appreciated. The downside was that we were continually concerned about the quality of the materials, but when all was said and done, we were satisfied with the quality. Kevin tried to accommodate our daughter and son-in-law's schedule, completing the kitchen while they were away. We appreciated this.

We had a great experience working with Kevin. We would highly recommend him to anyone looking to get a bathroom redone. First, he showed up for the estimate on-time and provided a detailed quote. We had gotten other quotes over the past year that were higher and just dismissed them. When someone says "yeah I'll do it for $30 K" without even thinking about it or measuring anything, you just feel like you're about to get ripped off. His communication was great; He didn't try to sell us upgrades and features we didn't need. The shower body is a great example - if we had replaced it, it would have been $6000 more because we would have had to replace the branch lines that hook our plumbing to the building's main line. Kevin assured us we didn't need to do that - he could have easily convinced us to shell out another $6 K since to this day I'm not sure what the shower body is. He provided before and after pictures of work he had done which made it easy to say "yes, we'll take the Park Slope one". Choosing someone else's bathroom design made things very easy for us of course - I didn't have to pick out anything. We trusted Kevin's judgment on what would look good and went with it. Again, this definitely worked for us - I don't have much interest in choosing a specific type of tile, a specific toilet seat. All the items were likely bought at the Home Depot, which was fine with us. Kevin helped us assemble all the paperwork for our co-op board and building management company. Lots of pages of licenses & insurance requirements and descriptions of the scope of work. Kevin's written quote was sufficient for the scope of work; I took 360 degree pictures of the bathroom and said "we're replacing everything in the same spot". He even contacted the management company to make sure they got all the needed information and that he was providing the insurance info in the correct format. Kevin started May 8th and finished about 12 work days later. The apartment was a little bit dusty when they were done but that's to be expected when you're ripping down tile and tearing up a floor. The bathroom looks great! The work itself is consistent with our expectations - it's a very nice bathroom that was finished quickly and neatly. I think most of all, it was clear Kevin wanted us to be happy with the work - his customer service was excellent. I think we knew whoever we chose would ultimately do a good job - but choosing a contractor who you actually like and would recommend to your friends is huge - especially in NYC.

Mr. Klepper returned my calls directly and promptly. He was kind, but he explained that "since he is Angie's List top dog, my jobs start at $20,000." I did not appreciate the attitude he approached the job with. He was not derogatory, but I was disturbed by the fact that he was totally unwilling to even look at my job unless I was willing to pay that. I explained that the job would not be big enough to warrant that much. He explained that his caliber of work would be. I expect to pay for the work, and want good work, but I would not use him. He was nice, but it seemed condescending to not give me the time of day without wanting to spend that much.

I asked Kevin (who did the cabinets in my kitchen) to come over and take a look at the bathrooms for some cosmetic remodeling. My biggest concern was getting the walls repainted to correct some work my building super had done to the ceiling due to some pipes leaking upstairs. When Kevin came he recommended sanding/skim coating/ repainting the walls, regrouting the tiles, reglazing the tub, replacing the sink and cabinet, replacing the vanity, replacing the light fixtures and retiling the floor. Based on my current needs and finances, I opted to do only some of the things he suggested. The timing worked out very well as he had a break in his schedule within a week of me deciding what to do. In an effort to inconvenience me as little as possible, he had a crew of 4 people plus himself to try to finish the work as quickly as possible. All in all, it took just over 4 days to complete both bathrooms. As usual, all the equipment and supplies were left neatly stacked to the side at the end of each day. I'm very pleased with how the two bathrooms turned out. Kevin considered my preferences when choosing the new sinks, cabinets, vanities and light fixtures, even picking a cabinet that was similar to my kitchen cabinets (that I had also chosen).