Burns Contracting Services

Ken Burns "Burned Me"!! 7 weeks ago Ken Burns took a 50% deposit for a storm door replacement and 2 railing job. He told me to order the door and he would pick it up. It appeared it would be just a few days before the job could be done. He cashed the check that day! My homeowners association told me his proof of insurance was no longer valid so I informed him immediately that he needed to take proof to the office. He assured me he would take care of it. He continued for 6 weeks to assure me it would be done. 6 days ago, when he told me he would be need to get permits from the township, I told him he needed to return my door and return the deposit but he has done neither and it would appear he prefers to have a bad review than make good on a bad promise.

We hired Burns Contracting Services (BCS) when we learned we needed a new roof on our home after storm damage. We then made the decision to redo the entire exterior of the house as well as add a new deck and deck roof. BCS was professional, courteous of our time and helped us every step of the way in choosing materials and design. All costs of materials and labor as well as timelines were met as quoted. BCS exceeded our expectations in service and final outcome. We love our new home, and we wouldn't change a thing!

Take our solid advice…RUN FOR THE HILLS AND DON’T LOOK BACK! Burns Contracting Services (Ken & Paul Burns) we would never recommend to anyone. We entered into a contract July 2017 to have our home rebuilt/remodeled after a fire made our home uninhabitable. In addition to the rebuild, we added a second story, keeping the original footprint. The project started October 2017 and we were given a completion date of May 2018. In the beginning everything was moving at a nice pace. After four months, they stopped working consistently. When they did show up which was occasionally, there was no significant progress to show for it and never two different tradesmen on site at one time. Milestones for completion of our home were missed again and again. After our fire insurance ran out in May 2018, our home was not still completed. We were basically homeless. We had met our payment schedule 100% and a significant amount extra for our ‘extras’. The contractor did pay our rent for an additional two months (buying him additional time), only to miss that completion deadline. In August 2018 we had to move in with family members. Us, being honest and trustworthy people, had faith that with each new timeline that was issued, it would be honored. It never happened. September 2018 they completely stopped work on our home. We still had not had a front door or a set of steps. This inside was only rough electrical and plumbing and only drywall up. They had the gall to take a job three blocks over from us and we had to watch the progress on someone else’s renovation. Then these guys submitted to us a TON of change orders for all types of hidden costs and price gauging, like an additional $55K worth. Are they serious? We will spare you the gory details, but in summary, we hired legal representation to order Burns Contracting Services to return to work and complete the job that they were paid for. It then became a three-ring circus. Over the next several months of them again, only occasionally showing up, we had finally had enough and fired them July 2019. And to add salt to the wound, they were also referred by a family member who we trusted. Now we are finishing our home ourselves. I invite you to call them up and let them try and talk their way out of this bad review. Like we recommend, RUN FOR THE HILLS AND DON’T LOOK BACK!

Before I begin I will say that the end result is great. We love our kitchen and the work is beautiful. The problem we had was the time it took to complete and the attitude of Mr. Burns. We went with the recommendations that Mr. Burns had for both granite and cabinets. The granite was great but we had a ton of issues with the cabinets. Things like this are to be expected but after the bulk of the money and work was completed, it was difficult to get the attention we needed to finish the job. In all fairness, we did have more issue than I think most people do because of the cabinet problems we had. This was mostly the fault of Home Depot who is the last company you should contact for cabinets. My wife and I got very frustrated when the job was not completed after 6 months. As soon as we had paid the bulk of the payment, the contract became difficult to work with. We had his full attention in the beginning but it was obvious that he took on too much work to be able to finish with the same enthusiasm as when we began. He actually got angry at us for complaining that the workers he was sending were not doing a good job. In the end, when he came for his final payment, he had the nerve to come into our house with a serious chip on his shoulder and actually almost yelled at us for being frustrated with the 6 month kitchen job. I was close to throwing him out of my home but it was the final payment and the kitchen was finally done. In the end, I would say, use Mr. Burns if you are ready to fight for the attention and respect you deserve as a paying customer. My wife and I are easy going and were pretty hands off because of the fact that Burns came recommended by a family member. I think it would have been a much better experience if we had expected to have to deal with an obviously inflated ego. After some frustrating re-dos, the work is 1st rate but a headache should be expected.

It went very well. We had a small issue with the floor and he came right back out and fixed it perfectly. I was very satisfied with him. I am using him again soon.