Great Improvements

We thought we had picked a good contractor but found out that was not the case. After four jobs all just about the same time, (basement stairs, master bathroom, master closet and deck) we found out he was the wrong contractor to use. He ordered extra supplies for all his jobs and kept them for himself which inflated the cost of the projects and we did not know this, and he took way longer to complete the jobs. He was suppose to start the deck in May however it was August before he started it, but we paid him in May. It was after he finished the deck we discovered he was ordering extra supplies because at clean up we found them and he took them and admitted he always orders extra. Said his staff called off sick with an "oh well to bad" for us attitude and that is why there was a delay. He took an extra month to complete the bathroom and we felt sometimes things happen and said nothing what a mistake that was. What really upset us was he had promised us he would put a railing on our front porch which is very small and then reneged on the project, (with each contract written we asked him to add this to the contract and he said no, he was going to throw it in because it was so small) the leftover supplies from the deck would have worked on the front porch but he refused now saying it was a separate project. When I said after we just paid you almost $40,000 this is how you treat us, and he showed no type of thank you for our business. He was very nice when he wanted our business had no idea he would turn out to be so nasty.

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It all went very well we did not have any issues. He gave us what we wanted offered suggestions, he understood we did not want to spend a lot of money and was very understanding of that.

Salesman Joe P. said his company would work with the other company I had hired to side the house but, that didn't happen. This company was contracted to demolish and remove the old patio but, I had to do it myself. They didn't show up until a week after the house was done. Work was slow, three weeks. Two guys doing all the work.and I helped them with some jobs. Lee, the owner, wanted it all his way and never shared his plans with me unless I asked, The deck and porch I ended up with, look good, but, the railings seem to be "weak" at best and there are flaws here and there. If your not in a hurry and you don't mind "looks good", then hire them.

unknown

Everything done as said. Owner came checked work anything not up too his standard were corrected without me saying anything.Will use again first time I had work done and was 100% satisfried.

Completely frustrating, poorly scheduled, and lacking quality. I expressed at the planning meeting that I wanted high quality work done in a timely manner. Given estimate of 2 months to complete. Promised 1 weeks notice before needed to move out of bedroom. Given 16hrs. Promised being "displaced" for no more than 3 weeks. I slept on the floor in the living room 2 1/2 months. Contract signed 6/15/12 with payment made. Basement not dug until 8/8/12. At that point he estimated late Sept, early October. The room was not livable until the week of Thanksgiving. They left out a cement block from the basement wall in order to poor concrete. It was not filled until Thanksgiving, leaving my house open to weather and critters. On 12/14/12, I made the decision to stop the work and pay him off to leave my house. He was willing to keep coming back, but I was done. We had a meeting set for 12/16/12 to make a "hit list" of things to fix, but we had done that the week prior and only 25% of it got completed. When I asked if he'd inspected the work, he said, "No." He told me, "It's like a new car. You have to take it back 6 or 7 times to get it right." Sorry, not me. I canceled the meeting. I finally received window hardware, a vanity door and drawer from him the final week of January 2013. I also called the county inspector and was told that I did not have an occupancy permit. I needed to build a set of steps with a rail out the glass doors in order to get approval. Great Improvements should have completed this, too. Poor Quality. Bathroom. I was worried when I heard the 1st set of plumbers trying to install my tub. "How is this supposed to go?" "I can't get it to go." "Is that right." "It's going to have to be ok, I don't know what else to do." The plumbers were eventually replaced. He smoked in my addition also. The bath medicine cabinet door has a 1" rim of hot glue around the back of the mirror. I insisted on a replacement. It was replaced with one filled with putty, poorly placed and looking like child's clay. This replacement did not have the holes drilled accurately and didn't work anyway. The workers drilled an extra hole in my vanity drawer and filled it with putty. I wasn't told until I noticed it. He did get me a replacement drawer front. The NEW tub was chipped, but repaired well. The new tub was left covered in paint splatter and not cleaned. The old baseboards were higher than the new. No one patched or sanded the walls, so it's very rough now. Wide gaps were left behind the baseboard in several spots. They attempted to patch them but now it looks even worse. The "quality" vanity and cabinet has pieces that don't look like real wood, isn't aligned well with gaps, and has cheap drawer slides. Windows. The contractor didn't have the window in so went ahead and installed the drywall first. Surprise, there were a lot of gaps when the windows went in. They patched, but I still have cracks around the trim because the patch either cracked, or it didn't fill enough. Also, when drywall went in, I realized that the window configuration was different than his original drawings. I never received a set of final blue prints. Trim. As mentioned above about the bathroom. Also, I was told I would be shown the trim color before installation. Wood doors and all trim was installed before I saw any of it. Siding. The siding fell off within a couple days of installation. They came right out to rehang it, but hung it with nails instead of crimping the top row. Some siding is cracked 2" where it's nailed. Also, my house has stripes because the old siding was not matched up well with faded and unfaded pieces. Had they taken time to look at this, it would have been fine. I let a lot go because I couldn't take it anymore. We had the ability to either do the work ourselves or contract it ourselves, but Mellott was supposed to save us the headaches and stress, and get it done timely. It was a nightmare. Yes, I love the layout. But, the quality isn't great. The attention to detail wasn't there. And, it was a ton of stress and took way too long.