Robert D. Irwin & Associates

Based on positive experience with this service provider in the past with extensive electrical work, as well as replacement of a well pump, we hired them to replace many windows in our home and three sets of exterior shutters. This time, our experience was so bad, we will not hire them to do any of the upcoming projects. When payment of nearly $5,000 was made as first installment, we were told the job would start "in a couple of weeks". After many phone calls from us to them, never them to us, the job started two months later. Also, we were told it would be a two day job. On the first day, I came home to find a child in my home, being watched by my 83 year old mother in law (whose health was so bad she passed away three days after the job was completed). I also came home to see that a pick up truck was parked on my front lawn (which I pay highly for feeding and lawn care). It has been my past experience that professional contractors ask permission for driving on ones lawn, plus I have witnessed other neighbors getting window replacements without the need for trucks on their lawns. It looked like a circus. Although I gave them a dozen doughnuts as a refreshment, they then helped themselves to sodas from the refrigerator we keep in the garage. If they had asked we would have shared, but it was the help-yourself attitude and telling one family member the other had given permission that galled us. Also, at one point the fourth grade child that was on the job was found sitting on our John Deere mower which was not appropriate. At the end of the first day, not one window had been completed. Instead, six were installed from the outside, without inside or outside sealing. Rain was expected, so I phoned them to please return the next day to at least seal up the area where siding had been cut away and no window installed. No one told us that a bedroom window shade had been broken, it was simply left on the floor. Instead of a promise to return the next day, we were told that they had other jobs to finish and would be back by the end of the next week,. I admit that later that first evening, my son, the home owner, made a phone call and expressed himself in a voice mail message that was to say the least very angry,. I later apologized for his tone, explained our complaints and asked that the retaliation or confrontation threatened by the service provider not occur and that they just get the job done. Oh, and the fourth grade child returned to the job site again even though I had complained. About one week later, they returned and just about the same thing occurred as the first day, At the end of this job, we had broken glass to remove from our patio that had been partially swept aside onto our mulched garden. When I questioned one of the workers as to where the missing hurricane lamp (which had been my mothers) was from the mantle, I was told that it had been broken the day before and they would replace it. Four days after the job was done, one of the workers did appear at our front door with two cheap replacements, Another problem was with the door to our Maytag dryer which had likely been bent when moving it away from the window. We had to do minor adjustment ourselves to allow the door to shut, and we are hoping the seal is still good and doesnt require real repair later. More frustration was as a result of the exterior shutters being too long or too short. I was abundantly clear when I spoke with them about the job when the estimate was done where I wanted the shutters to meet the window, only to be told after the windows were installed that they could not finish the job as they had promised. However, when I suggested that they add trim to the top and bottom of the window to meet the length of the shutters their worker did as I suggested without hesitation. The two day job that was to happen in a couple of weeks from hire turned out to be a four day job two months later with the shutters "presentable" after we came up with a solution to the unsightly result. One week after the last day they were here, the provider did leave a voice mail message asking if I wanted the house power washed as promised or if I had a punch list of things to be done to make us happy, but instead I sent the final payment without further contact just wanting and end to this anxiety producing job. The day after I mailed payment, I received their invoice with what appears to be an attempt at humor with the notation "no charge for inconveniences" Stay clear of this company if you want a smooth and professional transaction.