Kurtz Construction Co.

unnecessary & excessive over charging . I believe we were charged for someone else problem. Per the actual worker we did not have the same problem . Different "craftsman" did covering. Larger detail given to siding////// mine is / / /. show up without calling.

unknown

unknown

IT WENT HORRIBLY!! First let us say, that we have used Kurtz Construction for several jobs at our primary home as well as my mother's home. In mid November we contacted Kurtz to have them come out and look at an area on our front porch that we were concerned about. This was at least the 3rd time, in the last 4-5 years we had asked them to look at this area, and they downplayed the seriousness of a serious problem with the roof. however, our contractor, whom we trust tremendously, said that there was definitely an issue there, and he suggested that we have Kurtz come back out to look at it. Prior to this experience, let me say, we valued their service and Ralph, who was the main person we mostly dealt with, was always professional and responsive. However, we learned that Ralph wasn't sent this time and someone else came to assess the issue. For some odd reason, they cut a hole in the side of our roof's porch or the soffit, we're assuming to get a closer look at what might be going on. After the assessment, we received a telephone call from Steve Kurtz to tell us that it was a very serious problem that would cost approximately $12,000 (for roofing as well as to rebuild one of the columns) and that he would need to send out his carpenter/contractor to look at what needs to be done. We said wow, that's pretty expensive, given that we've had you look at it in recent years and we weren't told that it was a serious issuer but now it's $12K? However, I said, please send your carpenter as well as the proposal. Weeks passed and we had to call Kurtz to say we were still waiting on the proposal, but in the meantime, could someone come out to close up the hole that had been created by one of their workers. I emailed pictures of the hole to Elaine Kurtz on Friday, January 16th. Then on Monday, January 19th, while my family and I were volunteering for a MLK day of service, I received a call from Steve Kurtz. Initially he asked, "i never sent you a proposal", and I said no not yet, but we were still interested in receiving the proposal so that we could figure out what we were looking at, but in the meantime, could he send someone out to repair the hole that his guy created because we were concerned that it was only making the wood and porch worse by exposing it to the elements. This is when things became tense; Steve Kurtz said that closing it up would only cause more problems. I told him that our contractor, whom we trust deeply, and who has an extremely high quality standard, said that it was irresponsible of any contractor to cut a hole in a customers house, exposing it, and potentially causing further damage. Steve Kurtz said "that's ridiculous! He doesn't know what he's talking about!" I said, with all due respect, I don't know you, but I do know and trust him so please have someone come out and repair the hole. He then told me that the hole was already there, which was totally insulting and he went on to say that

It was the third estimate we received, with the conclusion being that no work was immediately necessary, contrary to other companies' opinions. We will use Kurtz when the time comes. Thank you Kurtz for the honesty.

A company representative inspected the chimneys and provided an estimate a few days later. The price seemed fair and reasonable.

Called and was able to get a prompt appointment for an estimate. I had a few soft spots on a porch roof and the shingles were looking old . Joe came out and did a thorough inspection and we agreed on getting a new roof and replacing a few rotted boards. We were able to schedule an appointment 2 weeks out. The guys came out, covered everything, were very clean and respectful of the area. They tore off the roof, replaced some rotted wood and installed a new roof. It looks great. I can't say enough good things about them. In addition, I just had a blocked downspout at the roof line and they came out in the rain and unclogged it. Highly recommend them.

I have use Kurtz for all roofing work for 40 years.

Kurtz did not do a good job. They took forever to respond to calls, then did poor work. I hired them a number of times to fix a leak in my roof. They never successfully fixed the leak. They used the wrong shingles to fix the roof and now the roof looks terrible and still leaks. I cannot recommend them.

We don't know about roofs so that is the reason we are posting "B" for quality and price. We can say that they were very professional and courteous, and when I requested that they come back to check up on a leak, they did so promptsly/without any fuss with the initial work order and went over all the completed work. Because there were so many issues with our roof, I wasn't sure if it was part of the work order. It wasn't so we asked them to repair this other leak (note: it wasn'tt major -- a small leak in the shed attachment to our back patio). We met two workers and two others (supervisors?) and we're very pleased that they were all very friendly and good-natured.

They were very good. They did everything we needed in a timely manner.

They are timely, and do a good job. They work with you! I thought the price was really fair because they had to go all the way down into the rafters.

After signing estimate and given a 6 to 8 week lead-time, Kurtz was out in about 4 weeks. The first crew of two did the entire roof job and gutter work. Another crew (on a different day) did some remaining stucco work. They covered all vegetation and cleaned up later. The day was windy so I did fine some debris that had blown farther away. Also some material was missed when the crew cleaned up - but it was very manner. Payment was 1/3 down. I received the final bill several days after the last crew had finished. The foreman answered my questions satisfactory.

Our house is about 100 years old, with a complex roof and drainage system. Kurtz gave us an estimate last fall and began work on February 7 of this year. The whole job took about four days, although there were two interruptions because of inclement weather. The crew had to remove the old roof (shingles over slate), replace it with new shingles which we had chosen from samples that Kurtz provided, and re-do the guttering. The original estimate was $26,500 for the job, and that was the final cost. The crew cleaned up after each day's work, and at the end left both our yard and our next-door neighbor's driveway (where they parked their truck, with permission) very tidy. The new roof looks good and so far has had no problems. The guttering is a great improvement. We are very happy with their work.

We have a 90 year old house with a slate roof. We used Kurtz last year to inspect the roof, replace some broken/loose/missing tiles and clean our gutters. They had repaired our roof before we bought this house and they were recommended by the prior owners. We were pleased with their work last year, although it took several calls to get someone to come to the house to perform the work. This year we had a leak and we called them to determine the cause and give us an estimate on the needed repairs. Joe came to our house at the appointed date and time. He was very thorough and professional, explaining in detail what the problem was, telling us that we had to repoint the chimney and repair some missing and loose tiles. He said that we would receive their proposal by the end of the week. When a week went by and nothing came in the mail, I called Kurtz. I explained what happened and I was told that they would find out what was going on and get back to us. Another week went by with no responde, so I called again. Same story. Repeat same for the next 2 weeks. I finally received their proposal on October 31st. By then I had already hired another company to repoint the chimney and that part of the work had already been done. Kurtz quote was significantly more expensive than other quotes I had received, but they were not 100% comparable, since the other quotes only included the masonry work (not the slate tile work). Still I think Kurtz quote was overpriced in comparison, the bulk of the cost was the repointing (it's a complicated job due to the location and height of the chimney, and the roof pitch surrounding it). I have called Kurtz to let them know this and to tell them that I still wanted them to do the tile and gutter work. I was told that they would come after Thanksgiving to take care of this. Given my past experience with them I expect that I will have to call them several times to "remind" them (I hope I'm wrong!). They do good work, but they need to improve their proposal turn around time and develop a better job-scheduling system. I'll post again after they come in later November. So far, B-.

I am under the impression that this is a fairly large company. It's a well-established Philadelphia company that does a really nice job. We have had many roofers here that have not fixed the problem. It's really refreshing to have a company that does. They seem to be pretty good at figuring the problem out, fixing it, and following up to make sure the problem doesn't reoccur.

I called Kurtz Construction in early March to get an estimate for the repair of a roof leak and also some gutters that had been damaged by ice during the winter. The company had been recommended by friends, and I was pleased that the estimate for both the scope and cost of the gutter repairs seemed quite reasonable. Two other roofing companies had recommended replacing all of the house’s gutters (at 2-4 times the cost), whereas Kurtz’s representative, Mark, recommended repairing (not replacing) only the damaged segments. Shortly after receiving the estimate, I discovered a new leak around our chimney and asked Mark to come out, take a look, and add it to the proposal. It took a couple of more weeks for him to do so, but finally the proposal was written and approved (five weeks after Mark’s initial visit). Although Mark had indicated he would try to expedite the scheduling of the job, it took another six weeks (during which I tried to reach him several times in vain to check on the schedule) for some workers to arrive. One fixed the leak in the roof. Another pair worked on the chimney, chipping out and re-pointing the mortar joints and applying a new cement top wash. They worked carefully, did a good job, and cleaned up well afterwards. (Several weeks later, after the mortar had dried, they applied several coats of masonry sealer to the chimney.) A few days later, Mark called to ask if we still wanted the gutters repaired! He said that part of the job hadn’t been written on the work order, and he would get someone out here right away. Two weeks and several un-returned calls to Mark later, I finally phoned the office and asked to speak with Mr. Kurtz. Shortly thereafter, Mark called and the next day workers arrived to begin what turned out to be a three-week ordeal: Day 1: The crew arrived in mid-afternoon and chose to begin work on the largest of the six gutters (upper level, front of house). The work (taking down the gutter, installing supports, and rehanging the gutter) took much longer than expected and was not finished by evening. Much to our discomfort, and contrary to standard practice, they left the ladders up against the front of the house overnight. Day 2: They returned the following morning and completed the first gutter repair in a couple of hours. Although plenty of time remained in the day, they said they couldn’t continue on the other gutters because they had been given the wrong size nuts/bolts for that work. So they cleaned up the worksite and left. Day 5: While we were away for the day, a different crew came and repaired two more gutters as prescribed in the work order. However, the remaining three gutters were not repaired as specified. Two were merely propped up with a couple of tiny brackets and the third was left untouched. Day 7: Although the start of the work had been much delayed, an invoice for the “completed” job arrived promptly in the mail. I called Mark and explained that the job was in fact not performed as described in the estimate or invoice. He seemed surprised and volunteered to come out and take a look. Day 12: Mark came to the house and saw what had (and had not) been done. Fed up with the situation, I told Mark NOT to have the workers take down and rehang the remaining three gutters, but rather to just prop up the last gutter with the brackets and to send me an adjusted invoice that reflected the work actually done. He said he would. Day 14: The crew arrived and began to work. About an hour later, I went outside and discovered to my astonishment that they had taken down one of the three remaining gutters (on the side of the house). When I called Mark, he said he decided the gutters really should be repaired as initially outlined. I angrily pointed out that we had an understanding and that it was totally out of line for him to disregard it. He apologized. Given the situation, and against my better judgment, I agreed to allow the work to proceed. Shortly thereafter, the crew informed me that they didn’t have the right materials to continue the work and would have to come back the next day! They left with the gutter off and several roof slates missing (covering the vacant spaces with roofing felt). There was heavy rain that night. Day 15: The workers did not return, and heavy rain continued to fall off and on over the next several days. Day 18: I called Mark in the morning and requested that a different work crew be assigned to complete the job. He said he could send only the same workers to fix the gutter that was down that day, but would send another crew to complete the job the next day. No one at all showed up. Day 19: I again called Mark in the morning and told him that at this point I simply wanted the side gutter to be put back up and NOTHING ELSE DONE. I reminded him that he had disregarded my instructions once before and cautioned him against doing so again. He said he wouldn’t. Day 20: I returned to the house at the end of the day to find that the same work crew had finally repaired the gutter that had been off for almost a week. Against my explicit instructions, they had also repaired one of the two remaining gutters and, with evening approaching and another storm threatening, were about to dismantle the last one. I told them to stop, clean up, and leave. Day 21: In the morning, I received a call from a different worker, who told me he was coming to repair the side gutter! The final invoice was adjusted to reflect the work that was not authorized and the work that was not done. The length of time from initial estimate to final repair was four months. In summary, I believe the work that was actually completed was OK and the price seems reasonable. The repair of the roof leak and the chimney went well. However, the manner in which the gutter repair was conducted was entirely unsatisfactory. Mark’s failure to return many of my phone calls was rude and flat-out poor customer relations. Communication within the company is apparently weak (e.g., Days 7, 21). The workers showing up (twice) without all the material needed for that day’s job was careless at best, not to mention a waste of their time. Their leaving a gutter segment down and several roof areas exposed to heavy rain for almost a week was irresponsible. Leaving ladders up against the front of the house overnight was lazy, unprofessional, and potentially dangerous. And the disregard (TWICE) of explicit instructions to cease and desist was outrageous. I will never again use or recommend this company.

When they replaced my roof, it started leaking!! They came three times to repair the leak with no resolution! They even left materials on my roof. I had to hire a different a company to repair their work. Even with the gutters they had to return to repair them properly.

They cleaned up well and did a good job. They are coming back to address some issues.

We have new gutters on our home and informed the estimator that he would need to use stand-offs on his ladder so that it doesn't rest on our gutters. This is a common enough request and we've never had any trouble with other contractors respecting it. He said "okay, stand-offs, sure" to our face but then when alone outside, he put his ladder up against our gutters without any respect to what we said. There was no misunderstanding, no language barrier, he blatantly ignored the way he was told to approach our house. When I went outside to check and saw his ladder against our gutters I told him immediately to take it off the gutters, he gave me an attitude saying "I've been doing this for 40 years and it won't do anything!". I had to repeat myself several times firmly, then he said "well then I can't do this estimate" which didn't matter to us anymore because there was no way this guy was getting the job. I couldn't believe the arrogance and disrespectful attitude. You would think if he has been in the business for 40 years that he would have some customer service skills. We saw NONE. Someone who can't respect a simple and common request, and deceives the customer "okay sure" but does what he wants anyway when he doesn't think anyone is looking, is not getting our business.

Everything has turned out well so far. They were punctual, professional, and cleaned up well. We are pleased with their work. They also said they would come and check the roof each year for us.

Kurtz Construction did an excellent job. It was two guys and they were done by four that afternoon. They completed the roof on my church and did an excellent job as well, that is how I found them. They checked my flat roof and pointed out a few other things to me. The sealed the roof from any leaks. They didn't even mind that I had decorations in my yard, they removed them and replaced them when they were done exactly how they were. They cleaned up so good, I didn't even find one nail in the yard.

Slate roofs need annual maintenance. The Kurtz guy is judicious and only replaces the slates that need to be replaced rather than just going by how they look. It's tough to tell if you are getting your money's worth, but I tend to trust them.

They showed up on time. They did exactly what they said they were going to. I had a small problem at first but they came out and fixed it right away. They do a very good job.

They were very good. They might have been a little expensive but they were worth it. They were very accommodating and they were very responsive to any problems or questions we had. I would recommend them.