THOMPSON BUILDING ASSOCIATES

After drains overflowed and flooded several areas in my house, Thompson Building took care of drying everything out and repairing /replacing everything that was needed once the plumbers work was done. They were excellent to work with, kept me well informed and notified of the plan of action and then carried it out. Both the office and on-site people were knowledgeable, helpful and also answered all of my questions. I am extremely pleased with the quality of the work and I highly recommend them.

Regarding the bathroom, a pipe was punctured and a flood resulted in our kitchen. They did an excellent job in cleaning everything up and they did the repairs that another company had caused. We had just remodeled our kitchen and they had the experience and confidence that allowed me to sleep. We would highly recommend them and we would definitely hire them again.

They were all great. They were very responsive and very communicative.

It was good. They seemed to be reputable, on time, and they took care of the issue.

We had a sump pump failure during a heavy rain storm. We called our insurance company who said this company would be out to help us. We were told someone would be out that day (on a Tuesday morning). Today became tomorrow and we had to call to find out when someone was coming each day. Someone finally showed up on Friday. This was heading into Memorial Day Weekend. Meanwhile, my finished basement has become a smelly mess with more damage than necessary. I understand there were likely many calls, but communication was not great and misleading. They spent two hours here and put some fans and dehumidifiers up and said they would be back in three days. During the time they did work, my husband and I were in the house and working from home. They played the radio loudly in my basement while I was on conference calls and had food delivered to my house which I had to drop a call to answer the door to get. No one asked or told me they would be doing this. Professionalism was lacking to say the least. It took seven days and several calls from us to get someone back. The first crew said the walls were fine and probably the carpet although we had our doubts about the carpet. When a crew came to get fans seven days later they said someone would be back the next day to tear out the carpet and drywall. We had received no bill for services rendered at this point and had to ask repeatedly to get it. We had received no quote for work going forward so we told them not to return until we had a legitimate quote. The crew that day left a soda can in my living space and a piece of my sofa removed and thrown onto it. We asked for several more days for a quote. My husband informed them early and often that I was having major surgery a few weeks later. We were told this would be wrapped up by then. It took us until the week of my surgery to get the quote. It is now the weekend of July 4. We eventually got an invoice for water removal which I have now paid, but have cut ties. If this is what working with this company is like it would be next July before the work is completed. We got a survey and made our issues known. We also made issues known through email and received on curt responses to our legitimate complaints. Communication and customer service were stunningly poor.

Had time getting calls returned. Did not clean after job. what was said maybe 4 days took 4 1/2 weeks. Subcontractors were giving access to my home when I was told the project person would come let them in and out. They had my house key. Futurely I was able to lock my upstairs portion of my house off.

At first, I was excited to work with this company. They made us feel like family, they actually said we were family...sad. I feel I was taken advantage of at my most weakest time. I was told that windows, roof and furnace would be tax deductible but I had to email the entire company and almost all employees to get the pricing for each one and I never received. I guess they didn't want me to know the actual price compared to what they charged my insurance company. I was promised to be back in my home within 3 months and it took almost a year. One time I was told they had a contactor for the basement but when my husband and I went to check on the progress there was a man there, who was quite high on something, and said he was there to look at the basement floor, which we were told already had an approved bid. Appointment was made and they never showed. They made changes to my home that was not on the plans and specs, tried to put a corner wall in my bedroom that was larger then they said for ventilation. Paint was wrong in bathroom. I was charged for 4 hopper windows and got three. I had to tell them to remove one from the bill. My sump pump leaked several times upon moving in. It was clogged with a pop can. My dryer vent went from almost mid basement to the other side of the home, causing me to call a dryer repairman twice to fix my dryer. The ventilation is to long. There was no way to clean it because they enclosed it in and duct taped the vent that went outside the home. We found that out after the vent was falling out of the ceiling that was puddied and did not hold. The duct tape got lint around it and that is why it came loose! My air conditioner unit was never grounded so we ran it that first Spring and it wasn't circulating cold air. I had to open the windows and the night air that made me sick. The windows mold and wind blows my curtains when closed. Almost all of the electric outlets are loose and won't hold cords. Some of my outlets don't work at the same time. I had to take down my pool because the outlets wouldn't run it. It kept kicking the breakers. Bedroom closet light has a short. Walls had grooves where the nails are and some of the wall has come off and you can see rusty nails. My steps on the outside of home are basically not attached to my home. So much more.....Endless nightmare that still gives me anxiety to even think about. I lost numerous nights of sleep from the stress. I can't believe they are still in business. I shutter to think that someone else would put their biggest investment into the hands of these so called professionals. They subcontract most of their work out and whomever they subcontracted our work out to filed BK and they could have cared less about the workmanship. Well that's what one of their workers told us...by the way..he no longer works for them...hummm? Good luck if you choose this company. They are a real winner of The Biggest Loser. I would not let them build my dogs shed.

We hired Lowe's to remodel our main bathroom, they choose Thompson Building Associates as the subcontractor to remodel our bathroom. What a nightmare - not only in the quality of work done, but also in the excessive time it took to complete the job. I have a small child care business in our home, and our 93-year-old mother (with stage 3 dementia) resides with us. For these reasons, the remodeling time was a critical factor in our choice of a contractor. During the initial assessment and estimate, both Lowe’s and Thompson Building Associates assured us that the remodeling job could be, and would be, completed in two weeks. Before signing our contract, we strongly communicated and confirmed our time limit, which they agreed was fine. We chose Lowe’s and Thompson over a more preferred contractor only because the preferred contractor needed longer than two weeks to complete the job. We were very clear that we were paying an additional $4,000.00 in labor costs, only because Lowe’s and Thompson would be able to complete the job within the required two-week time frame. As I said we hired Lowe's and they subcontracted our bathroom remodeling job to Thompson Building Associates. We were assured by Lowe's that Thompson was a solid quality company. "Solid and Quality" could not have been further from the truth. Not only was the time frame not met, but the workmanship of Thompson Building Associates looked like that of a very poorly done DIY project. After four and a half weeks, it was necessary to stop the project and request an on-site meeting with a Lowe's representative and the Project Manager from Thompson. We needed them to see the damages made by the contractor to the new products and the subpar work that had been done. During the inspection it was clear that the outlets and light boxes were each installed differently. Some were recessed, some were outset, and not one was aligned with the center of the vanity sinks. Their plumbers had to come out several times to correct the plumbing they installed. The plumbers drilled through an adjoining wall and into the next room when installing the plumbing. The light boxes were not centered and placed too low to provide adequate space to hang the new vanity mirrors. A portion of the new sub floor was shimmed - instead of using plywood of the same depth throughout - causing the floor to be spongy in one area. The new drywall was noticeably uneven and bumpy, not to mention that the contractor did not install water resistant drywall in the bathroom, nor did he remember to insulate the outside wall before putting up the drywall. In several places the new drywall was cut out to rework the plumbing that was installed incorrectly. After the drywall was installed around the new tub, it was obvious that the new tub sat at an angle. When the drywall was removed to correctly reposition the tub, it was discovered that it had been seated on top of an electrical line. The plumbing for the sink did not line up with the cabinet, so the contractor took it upon himself to chop out a portion of cabinet's back brace, ruining a custom-ordered cabinet. The Onyx tub surround was so poorly cut that it was installed at an angle, which resulted in gaps and uneven sides. Due to the uneven walls, the tub surround could not adhere to the dry wall. Instead of correcting the walls so that the surround could adhere to the wall, the contractor decided to fill the space behind the surround with wet drywall compound. All the while, he kept assuring me that he was a “certified Onyx installer”. We paid over $16,500 for this bathroom to be remodeled, and what we had 4-1/2 weeks later, was literally a mess. After the job site meeting, it was decided that the only way to correct the poor workmanship would be to take the entire bathroom back down to the studs again. This also meant we would need to wait for Lowe’s to reorder the custom bath cabinet and the tub surround that the contractor had damaged. Six weeks after our start date, Thompson Building Associates sent out a different employee, as we did not want the other one to return. The new employee worked one day and could not return due to a back problem. At this point, Thompson Building Associates subcontracted another company, Absolute Construction. Absolute Construction completed the entire remodeling job - from the studs to a completely functional bathroom in just eight (8) DAYS - and did so beautifully. If Lowe's had chosen a capable subcontractor for our bathroom project, two weeks was adequate time to properly complete the project from beginning to end. We paid an additional $4.000.00 in premium labor costs for Lowe's' commitment to complete the entire bathroom remodeling in two weeks. Eight weeks later we had our bathroom, completed by a company not employed by Lowe's and contractors not employed by Thompson Building Associates. Since Lowe's and their choice of contractors did not provide what they agreed to - quality workmanship and the commitment of the established project timeline, we requested a refund of the $4,000. This is the additional cost that we paid to have the job done in 2 weeks. Lowe's offered us 10% back and eventually told us that they were willing to give us no more than $2,000.00, as a refund. A word to all! I would avoid Lowe's and Thompson Building Associates. Every contracting company is fully responsible for their sub-contractors. This includes their quality of work and their progress related to the time commitment. Lowe's and Thompson Building Associates are unable to provide quality contractors, unwilling to hold them responsible to install products properly and within the agreed time commitment, and unwilling to right a wrong for their customer. Bad work and bad customer service from Lowe's and from Thompson Building Associates.

These guys were amazing, the job started right before Christmas and they were in touch with us and checking the dry job every day (with the exception of Christmas) but they were even out there Christmas Eve to make sure we were ok. Ken was our dry guy and I wish everyone had the excellent customer service skills he did, so personable! then they scheduled the work for the remodel after the new year, they came outknocked it out to make sure they didn't inconvenience us, and did a wonderful job. they are now my go to water damage people, no question. As it was an insurance claim I had to be the middle man for the money and even with a delay in one of the payments ($2700) they were so courteous in trying to resolve it.

On August 9, 2011, we had a lightening strike come down the chimney, pick up the gas line, follow it to the basement and blow out the gas line, causing a fire in the basement. Our insurance company contacted Thompson Building Associates (although they did offer to let us use any company we were comfortable with). We checked on Angie's List and at the time Thompson had an A rating; so we made the decision to go with them for the repairs to the house. The morning of August 8th, Thompson met with my husband (I was in the hospital at the time). They went through the entire house looking at the damage and they explained what they expected to find and what they initially intended to do to start the process. We were placed in a hotel suite for the time we would be out of the house. It took one month for the insurance company to release the house from the inspectors and lawyers for work to begin. During that month Thompson placed large air scrubbers in the house to eliminate any smoke or airborne soot. In that time, we received a contract from Thompson that we went through very thoroughly. Everything seemed to be in order so we signed the contract and returned the appropriate portion to Thompson. We had a pre-construction conference in early September, 2011. At that time we discussed the type of paint we wanted to use and we discussed every aspect of what they expected to have to do to the house. At some point before work began they acquired the appropriate permits to do all of the work. They began by moving all of our property from the basement and the first floor to their warehouses for cleaning and storage. We were given a list of everything they considered a complete loss (which was really helpful). They began to work in the basement by removing the furnace and replacing the ductwork. This work was done by a qualified subcontractor. Thompson emptied out the top cupboards in the kitchen because they assumed they would have to remove the kitchen cupboards in order to take out the ceilings. They did not, however, empty the bottom cupboards or the pantry out. These were left full of food and dishes which we were unaware of, that all had to be either thrown out or cleaned due to the soot and the drywall dust after we moved back into the house in December. (It took over 5 and frac12; hours to do this ourselves) The food they took out of the top cupboards was thrown out without an inventory (so I lost all my spices and am finding out what is still missing a little at a time, generally, as I need them). It is inconvenient at best. We also realized after we moved back home that there was very little food in the house and not even any salt to cook with- again inconvenient. While that was being done, Thompson employees were removing the ceilings on the first floor in preparation for replacing the ductwork on that floor. (The ductwork had to be replaced because it was the flexible ductwork so many contractors are using these days to build homes. What we found out is that flexible ductwork cannot be blown clean or cleaned in any way and after a number of years it begins to collapse. We opted to pay the extra money ourselves to upgrade to traditional metal ductwork, also put in by a qualified subcontractor.) Before replacing the ductwork, Thompson staff soda cleaned the basement and applied a sealant to the floor joists to eliminate any odor. After the ductwork was all replaced and the furnace was put in, Thompson staff put the ceilings back up. They began sealing the various walls and ceilings on both the first and second floors. They then started with the process of painting the walls and ceilings. While this was being done, the certified electricians (also subcontractors) were checking the wiring and box to make sure there were no electrical problems. During the process of painting walls and ceilings our house was cleaned (by another department at Thompson) and our property returned. The only problem with this was that we found huge problems with the painting and drywall work that required significant sanding and repainting. This created terrible dust and also resulted somehow in a puddle of dried black paint (from my front door) left in the house after they were done. Due to this complete lack of communication between departments, we spent better than 15 hours re-cleaning the entire house. As we were doing so, we realized that Thompson staff was still unable to correctly paint a wall anywhere in our house. We kept finding areas that were either not painted or had huge runs in them. We still find these runs to this day. They came back no fewer than six times to repair various paint problems and we finally gave up and scheduled a meeting with the owner regarding various issues in the house. Some of those issues included the paint problems, the unclean state of the house when it was returned to us, the ceiling lights that kept falling down in the kitchen due to poor reinstallation and various other similar problems including not moving things in the basement to paint the basement floor. The discussions about these problems and the damage to our property (from moving it back and forth) took several months to resolve. We moved back in on December 4, 2011 and sent them a final check at the end of May, 2012. We simply gave up fighting with them. Our site supervisor who should have been overseeing all of these issues could not be bothered to return a phone call. We got to the point where we called his boss when we wanted him to call us. While the owner listened politely and even came out to look at the paint problems (he did give us a $300 discount for all the paint problems- it wasn't enough) we felt that he did not take our concerns very seriously and he gave the impression that he felt we were being too picky about our property. The only person at Thompson who I can actually recommend working with is named Joel Brossart. If you are fortunate enough to get the opportunity to work with him on a problem, you can be assured that it will be solved to the very best of his ability. Two examples of his doing what is right are when Thompson staff damaged our washing machine beyond repair and he simply told us to replace it and cut a us a check. And the electricians unplugged our refrigerator for two weeks and again, Mr. Brossart simply told us to replace it and cut us a check. We had some damage to our furniture and he moved heaven and earth to fix or replace anything broken. By the end of this whole process, the owner had dumped our entire list of problems in his lap, even though they had nothing to do with his department. It was clear that Mr. Brossart was supposed to make us go away. He is the only employee that treated our home as if it were his own. He took into consideration that we felt strongly about the quality of the work and the frustration we felt when our property was disrespected by poor workmanship. Without him, I feel very sure we would have ultimately ended up in court with Thompson Builders. As it was, by the end, we felt bad enough for him that we simply just walked away, paid the bill and tried to put this entire terrible experience behind us. Take what you will from this lengthy dissertation about our experience with Thompson but I would tell you to hire them at your own risk.

They came in and talked to us. I like how they explained everything that would happen step by step, and let us know that just because they were here it did not mean we had to commit to them. They were very up front are always on call. We are very happy about the job and they were always available to answer our questions.

After submitting a firm bid the contractor attempted to increase price by over 50% when we asked that work be done under permit (we refused to pay for this increase). Also wanted extra payment once lead-based paint was discovered (we did pay for that). Could not replace all three joists due to structural issues, so used and quot;sister boardsand quot; for two - we agreed to that change. The person who came for lead paint remediation tracked paint on basement floor even though other workmen had been careful to lay down tarp. Overall I was turned off by the attempt to bump up the price and the objection to requiring a permit - not very professional in my view.

They did a terrific job, were very responsive and responsible. I'd use them again without question.

Poor communication. It was a big hassle and work to be completed was not a big job.

They were prompt, very thorough, and very professional. They kept their schedule and finished the job well. They also cleaned up after themselves. We would use them again.

Overall experience ("D") is an average. Most of the ratings categories are not applicable because no service was performed. The people I reached in my two phone calls were pleasant enough (Professionalism = "C") but the people who were supposed to call me back regarding the work did not call me as promised (Responsiveness = "F"). Perhaps they were so busy because they're really good and in demand, and/or perhaps their lack of responsiveness to my two inquiry calls indicates that their actual work would be over budget and slow. Based on other people's ratings here, I might actually consider using them again if they were to offer me a discount following this bad experience.

Adam Thompson came out, perfectly on time. He checked the roofs and the interior of our home. He suggested things to us, let us know the type of work they would do. We considered them based upon their reputation and the feelings we got from meeting Adam. Unfortunately we decided to work with another company whose prices were more than 30% less. Great guy, great company - We will consider them in the future for other projects.

They were punctual and did a good job. I have not seen any evidence otherwise.

Overall it was a good experience but it took a few weeks longer and $500 more than original estimate. I called to obtain an estimate, but the representative would not provide a written estimate until an agreement was signed to use Thompson (a three day cancellation period) was provided. After speaking with other contractors, I was unable to find anyone I trusted that could start within one week. Once the agreement was signed, a written estimate was prepared and provided to my insurance agent. Additionally, Thompson provided immediate services to remove water damaged carpet and provide blowers to dry flooring. A pre-construction walk-through detailing services agreed upon in the estimate, agreed upon with the insurance company and myself occurred within one week of signing agreement. During this meeting, carpet and paint colors were selected or samples were provided for further consideration and we faxed Thompson our choices within two days. A few days later, our insurance company provided a check to commence materials' purchase. Work to tear out drywall and insulation commenced about one week after receiving insurance check, even though it was my understanding that work would start one week after signing agreement. Work progressed quickly, Thompson has a large staff of professionals experienced in fire and storm restoration. During the course of demolition, a bedroom door was damaged and some wall paper was torn, but Thompson agreed to replace these items promptly. After the demolition stage, drywall, insulation and the initial coat of paint was applied to all rooms affected promptly. Then there was a period of time (one week) when it appeared that little work was being accomplished and they were waiting on the carpet before a second coat of paint was applied. The original estimate for work duration was two weeks but it ended up taking about 4 weeks. We were out of our home a total of 39 days, but I do not believe that any other contractor could have done the job quicker or would have been as professional. Upon completion, we were happy with the work and the employees were professional and were responsive to our comments and concerns. Thompson has an ozone chamber and other equipment to restore furniture with smoke damage. This can be very beneficial if you have furniture that is antique or carries sentimental value.

I had pretty extensive damage in my cabinets and floors. They came out with big machines a sucked up all the moisture and water. They are an emergency response company so they came out right way and took care of the problem.

We had water damage in our basement right before the 4th of July holiday. The carpet, carpet pad and floor were ruined and had started to smell. I called the company and explained that we had people coming to the house in 2 days and didn't want it to smell. They went out of their way to get a crew of 2 guys to come to the house, rip out the carpet and carpet pad, move and re-arrange all the furniture and other items in the basement without damaging them. The men worked quickly and were able to clean the mess up so that the smell went away.

Thomspon is true to their word that they will remove the smoke smell. We've had several issues, and they have come back to resolve them. They have had some issues with communication.

I called for an estimate, they scheduled it and then canceled because he was sick (had his secretary call to cancel). He didn't call back until this morning (4 days later) to try to reschedule, but I'd already found someone else.

THEY BOXED EVERYTHING UP, MARKED ALL THE BOXES, MOVED THE BOXES AND CLEANED FURNITURE TO A TEMPORARY APARTMENT. THEY UNPACKED THE KITCHEN AND SET UP FURNITURE WHEN MOVED. IT WAS A VERY EASY OPERATION.

VERY PROMPT ABOUT GETTING THE ESTIMATE AND SCHEDULING THE JOB.