Mike Allen & Sons Enterprises

Description of Work: .

Description of Work: I use them all the time for many different things. Kitchen, two bathrooms, gutters, put up a fence.

Description of Work: Mike Allen, doing business as Allen & Sons Enterprises, installed Polaris vinyl replacement windows in our home. Mike was almost constantly bragging on himself and his employees as they worked, touting as to their quality of workmanship, their level of integrity, and the quality of the window being installed. Mike frequently made comments about his "other" job, the Pastor of a church in the Maineville area, and how he was a very honest man who would "do whatever it takes to make customers happy". Mike and his employees stressed over and over about how satisfied we were going to be with our new windows, how we made the "right choice" going with them and their product, and basically bashed a few other companies in the business along the way as they were doing the install. Mike and his crew stated time and again that the new windows would be "so much warmer", and our "energy bill would be lower" due to the efficiency of the new windows. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mike also bragged many, many times, that he has "never had a complaint", and about how he and his crew go "above and beyond" what other companies do... which made me very skeptical at the time, and in the end, my skepticism proved correct. As the crew was working, I noticed that they were not using a level.... at all. I questioned that, stating the all the videos I had seen about replacement window installation insist on using a level and having it "exact". Mike and his crew laughed and told me they use a different method.... the "eye it up" method... which according to their expertise, was just as good as or better than the level. I also noticed during installation that some of the new windows were much smaller than the rough opening of the window. (some being 2 inches smaller around the perimeter, than the window opening itself). When I brought that to the attention of Mike and his crew I was told that is was not an issue at all and they would fill the gaps with insulation. I stressed that I was not happy that the windows didn't "fit" the opening, but again, Mike and his crew laughed and joked it off, telling me that they knew what they were doing, and had performed several thousands of window installs without a problem. One more issue I had with installation was that there were absolutely ZERO shims used on the windows. When I questioned that, I was told that shims would cause the windows to buckle and warp, thus causing air leaks. I again, mentioned that every video I had seen on proper window installation highly suggested or required the use of shims to keep the windows in place. The only thing holding my new windows in place are the installation screws (about 4 each window on the standard/small sized windows). Even though I took issue with the procedures, Mike and his crew assured me time and again of their expertise, knowledge, and the thousands of installs they had done with ZERO complaints! In the immediate days following completion of our window install, we started noticing that the furnace was running more than it had previously. We also noticed that the house felt "drafty" and "cold". When the temperature dropped during the evening, the cold air coming from the windows was very obvious, even standing 2-3 feet away from them. We had a "thermal heat loss check" performed, and learned that our brand new replacement windows (which we paid over $6,000 for) were leaking a tremendous amount of air, and were not keeping out the cold, even though they are supposed to be double pane with argon. The temperature of the air on and around the window was 10-12 degrees BELOW room temperature on a high 40's degree day! We also noticed that there was a lot of condensation on the inside of the windows, along the meeting rails and at the bottom closure, even though the outside temperature was in the high 40's to low 50's range. We never had condensation on our old windows until the outside temperatures were in the high 20's, so seeing it on our new windows with the high temperatures was very disturbing. We have had to put plastic over all of our "brand new" windows to hold the heat inside and keep the cold air out. This has caused much frustration and anger, as could be imagined, since we purchased new windows in order to enjoy warmth, comfort, and the ability to look outside without having plastic obscure the view. Also, we are now unable to use our window treatments, since the plastic cannot be removed and replaced daily, which makes for even more dissatisfaction and frustration. We called Mike and told him of our concerns within a few days of the completion of the job, and he came back to our home with a representative from the window manufacturer, Polaris. The Polaris manufacturing rep agreed that air was leaking, and suggested that Mike caulk the installation screw holes. The procedure proved to make no difference whatsoever in the air infiltration of the windows. We have since contacted Mike via written correspondence, but it has been almost two weeks now and he has not contacted us. It seems that all his claims of being an honest "preacher" man of high integrity have fallen flat, and we find it highly insulting and inappropriate that he has ignored our concerns and appears to be entirely complacent with our dissatisfaction. I would absolutely not recommend anyone to consider MIKE ALLEN for replacement window installs.