Kevin C Reed Construction

Kevin Reed is very friendly up front and talks a big game, but dealing with him and his way of doing business after that was pretty much a nightmare. I hired Kevin based on a recommendation by Palmetto Exterminators, but I definitely wished I would have gotten more quotes and done more research. I just needed to get the project started, and he had apparently done similar work before. It's a little disconcerting that there has only been one AngiesList review for this company to-date, so I felt it was important to add one more. I'll try to make this very brief, as I've already put enough time and headache into dealing with Kevin Reed. I also filed a complaint with the BBB, if you'd like to read more details there. I'll start with my biggest complaint of all, the one that I recently also submitted a BBB complaint about. For this type of project, a Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract was needed because the extent of work to be completed is unknown up front. The best he can do is give an estimate of total costs, based on previous experience with similar projects. I'm fine with all of that and am aware of the risk that a CPFF puts on the customer. The problem here, though, is that he estimates lump sum amounts of labor for each phase of work expected (e.g. - $2500 for demolition labor, $3300 labor for framing crew, etc.), along with estimates for materials; but never divulges how many hours of labor or what the cost per hour is (more to follow - this is important). At the very bottom of the estimate, he then puts his fixed fee of 30% for, explicitly stated: "OVERHEAD AND PROFIT" and applies that to the subtotal of everything above. He ensures me that all receipts for materials and hours charged will be provided with invoicing, and that I'll only be charged what it takes to get the job done. After about a month of work being performed (on and off), I received my first invoice, with the receipts as promised. Upon review of them, I knew immediately that I had made a big mistake in hiring this contractor. There were receipts of the daily hours logged by both his internal guys and his subcontractors. His internal guys were billed at set, flat labor rates that clearly had overhead and profit also built-in. So, did I really pay only 30% fee for overhead and profit? Of course not. I called Kevin out on this right away, and he talked his way right through it with "well, I've done business this way for several years and nobody has every questioned me" and then starts listing all of these costs - "I have to cover costs of insurance, workman's comp, office costs......." etc., on and on, "and that's what I need to cover my costs." He even gave the same response to the BBB complaint. So, he essentially admits to his improper billing practice, and never really addresses the actual complaint or attempts to fix it. He can list expenses as long as he wants to - That's what the 30% that we agreed to is supposed to cover! I was under the impression that I'd be charged his labor and material cost, plus 30% - not a dime more - but he sneaks extra overhead/profit into his labor. What stops him from billing any amount he wants to? - and that's why it's important that he display either the hours or the rate on his estimate when he shows his big lump sum labor estimates. At least you'd know up front that you're getting hosed, rather than finding out when the invoices come. So, before going into a CPFF contract with Kevin Reed, make sure you ask these questions: What labor rates will I be charged? Do those labor rates also include "overhead and profit?" So, what fee am I actually paying, since it's clearly not 30%? What are the labor rates of your subcontractors? Now, here are some other questions to ask, in regards to my other issues with Kevin Reed that I won't take more time going into detail about: How will we track accurate hours on this project? Do you have more important projects going on to handle my little one? Is texting going to be your main means of communication? Will you be coming by to check on status and quality, and give me periodic updates of how the work is progressing? If something isn't done right the first time, who is going to be responsible for covering the costs of the deficient work? Let me leave one more final detail of my experience. Do you recall the historical, record, multi-day rainfall event that hit Charleston in 2015 - called the "firehose" at the time? Well, at that point in time, I had essentially a space on the entire side of my three story home where a chimney once hung (demo was complete, framing was ongoing) with tarps hanging on the side of my house to help block "rain." As you can probably imagine, that didn't hold-up so well. On several occasions, I scurried myself up the scaffolding in downpours and high winds to re-fasten the tarps, add my own tarps, and duct tape what I could. On the first occasion, I quickly called and left a voicemail with Kevin telling him that rain was pouring into my fireplace and that I was heading outside to see what I could do. Do you think he ever called back or stopped by once to check on the house over several days of rain? Nope - and he lives only a couple miles from my house. That kinds of sums up my overall experience with Kevin Reed.

Kevin seemed very nice when we met with him to look over over remodeling project. He promised to have pricing back to us as soon as possible. We waited days and weeks to hear back form Kevin. We gave him repeated calls and emails and he never returned our calls or gave us pricing. Extremely unprofessional!