1st Choice Glass Block LLC

The install went great. Team was prompt on their arrival and worked hard to keep from disturbing the property during the install. They protected the lawn as they drove and dug the hole and backfilled it once the job was done.

Excellent service. The estimator Matt arrived at the time he said would and provided us a quote. We selected 1st Choice and scheduled our install. The installer Rich, arrived at the scheduled time, provided us with the details of the work to be performed, and went about doing the work. Rich did the work as described and finished in the time he said he would. 1st Choice Glass Block did a great job for us. Fast, friendly and efficient.

Everything went great! I called them on a Monday frantic to have the windows done before I hung up drywall on Wednesday. They squeezed me in the next day. The windows look amazing.

Very fast, yet quality job!

First, I renewed my subscription to Angie's List solely to rate this contractor. My basement was very dark. I had plans to remodel in ways to make it brighter and updated, which included the installation of better windows. I was pleasantly surprised that Matt was willing to come to Dayton from Columbus for this job, but found out this was part of his "service" area and routinely did projects here. The price was in line with what I had expected. The install occurred the fall of 2013. What went right: The windows did indeed really boost the look and the brightness of the basement. I don't regret making the decision to do the windows from that standpoint. The crew was friendly and respectful. What went wrong: Gosh, where to start...... In cutting the concrete, an electrical line connecting three outlets on the front basement wall was cut, disabling the outlets. He offered to "fix" this, but I am sure glad I declined. I hired an electrician after the windows were installed. I was not prepared for water to be passed into the basement. They were using heavy duty saws and running water over the blade to keep it cool, a lot of which went into the already finished space of the basement, soaking the carpet. Luckily for me, the carpet was on the demo list as part of the remodel. I ran a dehumidifier to try and pull out the rest of the moisture from the walls. They shoved the air conditioner off its pad. I noticed this before they left and asked them to put it back where it belonged, which they neglected to do. I had to hire an HVAC company to do this and luckily I did, because it was discovered that the line to the air conditioner had been severed when it was pushed off the pad. I had asked that the three windows be trimmed out on the inside with a clear pine, nothing fancy. That was done, but nothing on the interior was caulked, a lot was not square. Since one of the windows was the key to fixing the severed electrical line for the outlets, the trim had to be pulled off to access the wall behind. When the trim was pulled off, there were huge air gaps all the way around the window between the framing, the trim and the paneling on the wall. Also discovered that the trim was not tied to anything of any substance, and very few nails had been used. Hired someone to retrim the interior. On the outside, there was no trim, the frame of the window was exposed to the outside without any attempt at winter proofing or caulking. Hired a guy to trim and finish the outside of the windows, make them look finished. Fast forward to the epic rains of the spring of 2014. For the first time in 15 years, I had water in my basement. In attempting to diagnose how the water came in, one of the things I noticed was in the area where the water was coming in, that egress window had water standing in the bottom of it; draining very slowly. A friend and I dug down to see if drains had actually been installed and discovered that the "drain" was black plastic pipe, completely filled and covered with gravel. Not my idea of an effective draining system. So, I called Matt to come and take a look at the drains. This was roughly the middle of June 2014. He seemed amenable about returning and putting in a better drain with a cap that would keep the gravel out of the drain. He was supposed to call me in a few days to set up a time for his visit. He didn't call back, so within a week (roughly) I called him again. The last call I made to him, was the week before July 4. He couldn't give me a schedule because by golly, there were going to be fireworks all over Columbus the next week and it was a holiday. So he would have to call me after the festivities were over. Haven't heard from him since.

Salesman called the morning if the appointment and wanted to know if we were really serious about having our glass block project done and was going to buy from them before he drove all that way to see up. We are in a new house and get 2-3 estimates before having anything done. Finding a big difference in price and professionalism between company's when we do. Thought it was very rude and unprofessional to be asked those questions. Stated to become a argument so hung up and now looking at other companies. Don't call them unless you are really going to buy from them sight unseen!

Basically, they were willing to discuss what I needed and came out promptly, gave me a quote, and the work was done as scheduled.

Service from 1st Choice was unbelievably good. Came out for estimate two days ago with a very reasonable quote. Install 48 hrs later! The installer (Bill) was courteous and very professional. A master of his craft! Showed up early, finished in less time than anticipated, took all mess and debris with him. No complaints here. I'll definitely be looking to 1st Choice for my next project. If you're looking for glass block, look here first. I've used two area competitors in the past but won't use anyone except 1st Choice going forward.

The Good: The team arrived as scheduled and the Egress was installed in one day. Foundation cutting was well done, straight lines with very little dust in the basement. Excavation was done carefully with good care to lawn and landscaping. The Bad: The well and window installation were clearly a rushed job. The fiberglass well insert was cut off crooked along the bottom to avoid having to dig 3 more inches to accommodate the well insert without modification. The crooked line along the bottom of the well can now be seen through the window. The well was not installed deep enough, it is over 1 foot above the grade of the surrounding gardens and walkway. During installation a vent cover for a stove downdraft was removed from the wall above the well to avoid damage. When the work was completed the well lid blocked the downdraft stove vent so that it could not be reinstalled. The team apparently did not make allowances for the well lid when installing the well. First Choice refused to excavate the gravel around the well and move the well liner deeper. Their solution was to cut the metal vent hood which now fits, but prevents the well hood from opening as far as desirable. The Anderson window was installed off center, placed against one side of the opening without shims. The other side of the window has a gap over 3/4 of an inch along the length of the window. Overall I would not recommend First Choice to other members.

They were great. I met with several business which installed egress windows. Most if not all the people I met with were great people. 1st choice was able to do the job at a far less cost with far better products. They were great to meet with to assess the work. I was able to get on their schedule with a quick turn around. They arrived on time and completed the job in two days. They were of no bother to me while they were there. I have 9ft deep basement which meant digging deeper. A pour foundation which meant harder to cut. In an area surrounded by trees and many holly bushes that they were able to be delicate with. Installed a wood clad Anderson window. Used real decorative stone as the well. Received exactly what I was looking for with little to no effort on my end. They were fantastic and would certainly use them again. I can not think of any issues with them and that is something to appreciate.

I was referred to Matt and 1st Choice by our contractor because of his past work. I was not disappointed in many ways. 1) Initial appointment was quick and easy. 2) Quote was done on the spot. 3) It was not a high pressure sale call 3) Install could be done within a week. We decided to go with 1st Choice after a couple of other quotes were higher, one had one less window and was still $100. higher. The install was done quickly and professional with out any mess. I recommend them a friend right after our job...they had the same results.

Matt is on top of it - he returned my call for service (came as a recommendation from another service provider) the same day and set an appointment for an estimate on the spot. He was on time for the estimate and it was very competitive. We got busy with other things, but eventually scheduled the work on a Friday - the guys showed up when we requested and knocked the work out in no time. The windows look great and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. Justin and Molly

The work was performed about a month ago. We are very happy with the windows. Our old windows leaked, the new ones are performing great. Work was performed in a timely manner, and the employees were punctual. The price was exactly as quoted and we feel it was a fair price.

We met the owner at the Columbus Home & Garden Show. He came out to estimate the job and the installation took place about two weeks later. My only suggestion is that he pay a little more attention to communicating with the customer especially where there's any change in plan. I don't mean to overstate this. They did an excellent job; the workers were very friendly, and I would recommend them without reservation.

The work was good qaulity and I have no issues with them.

Rude and poor customer service.

They did a very nice job on the project. Matt was very upfront and was very easy to work with. I would recommend working with again.

It became obvious that Matt was a bit of a one man gang when it came to operating the business. Because of that the communication suffered a bit at times. But when the time came and they did the work I had no complaints about the service, price, professionalism or anything else in the job. When the inspector from Dublin came afterwards he said it was an excellent job and he passed it immediately. The only thing I would caution anyone who thinks about using them to do an egress window is that the cutting of the hole in the wall will leave dust on everything in the area inside the house. They had told me it would not, but I went with it anyway expecting to have to clean up some mess afterwards.

They are thorough, professional, prompt and did a very good job.

I met Matt, the owner at the Home Show in Columbus and we set up a meeting to provide a quote right there on the spot. The quote meeting went well and was very professional. The windows were installed on the day they said and the work was performed very quickly. I gave a C for the quality due to the dryer vent being installed sideways and all the stickers being left on all the glass blocks. After I called them, they agreed to come back and fix both issues which they did. Additionally, the grout work appeared slightly messy and was likely rushed. Hopefully these issues won't happen to future customers.

We want to give an update from the previous report - a few weeks ago, we found out Matt's company is not licensed in Columbus. His trade licensed was expired last year March. When we asked him if he had license last May or June, he said yes. But in reality, he did not have one. In the angieslist, it said his trade license will expire 3/31/2015 is not correct. We are still waiting for the permit to go through. The zoning office is questioning his work and requesting the engineering drawing for the work he did. Matt used special bricks to build the retaining walls. However we found some bricks were defective so we asked him to replace them with the good ones. He said those bricks were landscape materials, therefore when installing the bricks, naturally we would see some defects. He cannot do anything for the walls to improve the look. However we were offered by H.G.I and Matt to add a landing at the top of the steps he said was worth $1,700 at no charge. We were not satisfied with the answer or offer and we are NOT really happy about the look of the walls since we spent lots of money on it. So we decided to go to the Oberfields’ company where Matt bought the bricks from to ask if we could fix the defect bricks ourselves and explained what Matt told us about the materials. We also showed the pictures to the associates at the store. Their comment to us was that the bricks we picked are very good quality so it won’t fall apart during installation, unless Matt or his people hit it with the crane while digging or something like that. The associate said there are 2 types of versa-lock bricks – one is non-weathered and the other one is weathered. The material we picked is ‘Non-weathered versa-lok’ brick. He also showed us the materials in the store between those 2 types. The associate said Matt or his people should have exchanged the defected bricks before installing them. We requested Matt to refund us some money but he refused. We wish Matt could be honest from the beginning instead of saying that it’s normal. When Matt saw our email to Home Gates Company, he came out to our house and tried to fix the bricks by filling the holes with small rocks. The way he did was so unprofessional. The glue over filled the rocks. It did not look good at all. He left the rest of the rocks on the steps in our yard. He did not clean before he left. We also took pictures of what he did too. We were surprised he came to try to fix it since he told us nothing could be done. After talking to several people, we decided to take his offer to let him add a landing on the top of the steps as compensation. Home Gates and we asked him several times to come to do it anytime since September, 2011. He never came to do it. We were very disappointed in his behavior. (Unfortunately Home Gates company paid him without making sure he would finish the job so he took the money and never came to finish the top landing.) Also when they left, they did not clean the big pile of dirt they made on the top of the step. Matt said he would have his people to remove the dirt but no one came to do it. We know that the contract said rough grade, so we understand it won’t be perfect. But to leave a big pile of the dirt on top of the walk-up stair is just not so professional at all. The pile of dirt made it more difficult for people to walk to the basement. At the end we had to move away some dirt ourselves. In addition, they moved our stone table and birth bath on the grass when they started to work on the stairs. We asked them to move to the concrete area when they were done. Matt said he would have his people to do that when they finished the job. When they left, they did NOT move our stuff on the concrete area so there were 3 big circles of dead grass in the yard since August, 2011. Later on we heard from the Home Gates that Matt said they did not have enough people to move them back. We wish he could tell us or ask for help from Home Gates instead of dropping the ball. On the last 2 days, they did not use the boards on the grass so there were 2 paths of dirt where the tires tore up the grass on the side of the house. The path crossed into our neighbor’s yard as well. The neighbor mentioned it to us and we had to apologize to them and told them we would fix it during fall at our cost. Matt assured us several times that wouldn’t happen and he wouldn’t leave until everything was the way he found it. We also took pictures of those paths too. The sides of the steps are still not consistently filled with mortar/sand even he tried to come back to do it. Some have big gaps. At one point, the drain cover was not stable so we had to caution each person who came to visit. We had to ask him to come back to fix it, which he did. When they installed the basement door, he sealed the holes in the door with foam. Our door had foam on it and they did not clean it when we asked him too. Also the holes for the knob and lockset are filled with foam so we cannot put in the door knob and lock. Again they did not clean it. There are more but we will stop here. We felt Matt was trying to rush to finish the work and did not finish very professionally. We later on read through the comments in Angie’s list and found they had a history of not cleaning up after finishing their work. We took all the pictures of his work. We wish we could upload them to Angie’s list so you could see with your eyes. We tried to give Matt the opportunity to fix the problems by calling him so many times but he avoided us. Since he did not want to respond to us, we decided to share with everyone what happened so you would know if you want to hire them to work for you. We will write another review to let you know if Matt’s job meets the code and if we need to hire lawyer to get some money back.

Did a pretty good job of removal and installation and it was a day after a very hard rain and did a reasonable job of not tracking in mud even though some of their work had to be done outside.

It was a disaster. Rich, the installer, was unprepared and did not bring the right supplies. He was supposed to bring plastic and duct tape but he brought nothing. He even requested to use my duct tape. Rich claimed he has been installing windows for years but I could not tell from the work that was performed. When I requested he paint my window he responded, "We are not painters". The manager, Matt, said the same thing. He called me and stated if we wanted the window painted we would have to hire a painter. They came once with the wrong window and had to return the next day. Matt has no intentions of correcting the work for me. Matt said "Just pay them and we will get out of your hair. " I have never complained but this made me very upset. I expected the new window to look just like my existing window but the sides of the windows do not match . It looks terrible! UPDATE: I would like an apology from the company. I did not appreciate the insult of saying that I did not pay them. I did pay them in cash and I have receipts to prove it. I didn't appreciate being insulted so bad and them trying to lower my name.

I'm glad it's done. Once again, a contractor that does a solid job, but missed the extra effort for an A+. 11/28/11 - I'm amending my original report because I'm annoyed and slightly p***** off. I had just had two walls of my basement repaired and painted along with 2 - 3 feet of the basement floor. These were the same two walls where the 3 new windows were installed. This past weekend I got a chance to clean up after the window installation and I'm not happy. In addition to the bar code stickers I had to scrape off, I also had to scour off cement from the glass block. I then saw that there was cement splatter on my freshly painted white walls and the "mud" I thought was on the floor was also cement. In trying to rub that off, I scratched my fresh paint job! Geez, had the installer taken a few extra minutes (The job was quoted as 3 hours, 1 hour per window and he finished in 1 1/2 hours) perhaps he could have wiped up all that loose cement! ARGH!!!

As always happens we had had perfect weather up until the day of the install on the day it rained solidly all day but the guys worked hard and protect the lawn and area around the basement where they where working. They took full care not to spread mud around the property or inside the house while working on the interior items. They completed the work in a day and have come back since to back fill where the dirt settled (this is to be expected and they warned me ahead of time and said just call when it happened and they would bring more dirt out.) The finished window is excellent and works well they did a great job of finishing around the window as I have a very deep basement they had to fill in to block above the window that required a lintel and additional blocks this was all done perfectly and looks like originally work. The window they relocated and replaced was also done perfectly and again looks like original work. I am very happy with the price and the service provided and would use Matt and his team again in the future.