Southern Coast Improvements

I contacted SCI (along with 2 other contractors) about 4 projects in the home that I recently purchased. I left John a message and several days later he responded and we set up an estimate for Thursday evening. On Thursday I called to confirm our meeting and John asked that we reschedule for Friday. Friday he arrived, looked at the projects and told me that he would have a quote for me in a week to ten days (he was going out of town early next week to watch the eclipse). John was polite and professional and I was not in a hurry so I looked forward to his estimate. On the way out my house John opened our left steel entry door too quickly and the handle went through the drywall. He told me that he would repair this for me and I took him at his word. Ten days went by and no quote was received so I contacted John. He informed e that he would have a quote over the next couple of days. When the quote finally came in I compared it to the other contractors. His price for the book shelves was substantially higher than the other two quotes and was not nearly as detailed. I contacted him to let him know that I would award him the three smaller jobs, but I was going with another contractor for the book shelves because they A. responded more quickly B. had a detailed and thoughtful drawing with there proposal and C. were substantially more affordable. John seemed put off that I gave the most expensive part of the project to someone else. When I asked his time frame for the three other projects and the drywall repair he said with Hurricane Ima coming it would be a few weeks before he could get started. Before when he was trying to get all four jobs he insisted that they could start right away. The hurricane never came and three weeks later I till haven't heard from him. I would have awarded the three other projects to someone else (all 3 contractors were about the same price for the 3 smaller jobs), but I figured with him coming for the drywall repair it would make sense to have him do both. I understand that accidents happen and that people get busy, but the fact that he has not once called to see if he could fix the hole that he put in our brand new house is ridiculous. He is not fast to return calls, does not show up for scheduled estimates, seems to only care about the expensive jobs and obviously does not care about your property. I strongly suggest using someone else, I know that we will.

Work was done professionally. The difficult ceiling "popcorn" was patched and painted and the results were excellent. You could not see the patchwork except in a few locations and only then when you really looked. The worker was punctual and highly skilled in his trade. The owner gave us a good realistic price and was very knowledgeable about what it would take to get the job done.

It did not go well. From the start we informed Mr Henson that, contrary to many properties that they have worked on, we live in the condo, so we need the work to be done in the least intrusive way possible. Mr Henson told us that he would send Ray, who worked 4 hours a day, and talked a lot. He did not inform us that Ray had serious health issues. When Ray showed up, he told us he had a health condition (COPD) and had a tank in the truck. It was easy to see that his condition makes him run out of breath within an hour, so he had to stop frequently to gasp for air. Additionally, Ray, NEVER worked a full 4 hours. After 6 days he he had worked a total of 11.5 hours we had to clean after he left. Running out of patience, I contacted Mr Henson to please send someone else to complete the work. He told us that he would have someone else after the Holidays. When came time to send the second worker, I asked Mr Henson to guarantee that the new worker would be able to complete the work in a timely manner. His answer was " John has limited restrictions and will work full days until it is complete." At that point, we decided to find someone else to complete the work. We found a new painter through a friend; he came this week, and is in the process of completing the work. He was not impressed with what had been done so far and he to do some touch ups before starting the second coat. He accomplished more in one day than Ray did in 6. The only positive things I can say about Mr Henson: he returned his phone calls and emails, and he charged us a fair price, considering how the project fell apart.

All jobs were done perfectly. The crews worked quickly, and cleaned up after themselves. My wife has been extremely happy. I'd highly recommend him!!!

DID NOT HIRE

Very good, Ray did an excellent job.

unknown

John and his crew are awesome! I know I can count on him to fix whatever issue we have - big or small! He is our "go to guy" for any home repairs! We love him and trust him so much, he has a key to our home!

John Hensen (the owner) is a pleasure to work with. He answered every phone call, returned every text message, and replied to every email we sent him. His subcontractors were on time, pleasant, and we did not feel the least bit uncomfortable having them in our condo. The entire job was finished in two days and the end result was perfect. I can't think of a negative thing to say.

SCI was extremely professional, courteous, and punctual. They did and excellent job, they showed up when promised did quality work and cleaned up after themselves. I could not be happier with the outcome. Originally we were going to just drywall, finish and prime before having shelves installed. We decided turning the priming stage that we want the garage painted as well. John simply adjusted and gave us a quality product without hesitation.

Our home is one that we converted from a single story ranch into a two-story Cape Cod/Craftsman home. We added a sun room, guest house, and golf cart shed. I say this because over the past 14 years since we bought the house, we have dealt with nearly a dozen contractors for the work. We were usually dissatisfied with those contractors for either failing to show up on time for work, inferior work, unfinished work, poor quality of some of the work, and generally an unreliable arrangement for getting the work done. Our experience this time, with John Henson and Southern Coast Improvements could not have been any different from the others. The difference started immediately after contacting John through Angie's List. He arrived exactly at the time he said he would to do the estimate. He was personable, informative, and easy to talk to. He provided the estimate within a few days and we accepted his proposal. The work began on the exact date and time we set up with him. Members of his team arrived on time and we met Norman and "Little" Kevin who both turned out to be not only friendly and personable, but extremely talented in workmanship. Norman takes incredible pride in his work and worked well with us as we discussed various adjustments to the work as we went along. Norman is such a nice man and so talented in his job. The laundry enclosure that he built is of the finest quality you could hope for and even though it is an addition to our home, it looks like it belonged there all along. Little Kevin worked well with Norman and the two of them almost felt like family members at the end of the project. The shower remodel was also done extremely well and a third member of John's team, David, appeared on time to tile the shower exactly at the time set up. After Norman completed installing the backer board and laid the shower floor and sealed the walls, David did the tile work. We never saw David take a break over two full days, the first day working til 8:30 pm. So efficient and he did beautiful tile work. The shower looks amazing! I could go on and on talking about what an enjoyable experience working with John and his team was, but suffice to say that I wholeheartedly recommend Southern Coast Improvements for your next project. After so many disappointing experiences with past contractors, we could not be any happier with John's work with us. We have already talked with John about our next projects and hope to have that scheduled before long. Don't delay - call John today - you will not be disappointed with any aspect of the experience.

I contacted John 6/10/2015 to give me a quote for a few different projects - outdoor electricity for a ceiling fan, hanging drywall on 1 wall, and replacing the screen on my screened porch. He came 6/12/2015 and gave me very reasonable quotes for all 3. He came the very next day to wire the electricity for the outdoor ceiling fan and will give us a call next week to schedule the other projects. He was prompt, professional and very friendly. So far, I'm really impressed!

One year after the $1000 trim painting job (small amount of wood trim on brick house) - the paint has peeled and cracked. The paint job had to be completely redone after ONE year! Interior work - left the painter painting a walki-in closet. Returned a year later and he'd only painted the left side! Awful workmanship, VERY high prices, long wait for them to even show up. They took advantage of someone who lived out of town.

I actually contacted Jon to do work in my condo for two separate jobs. The first time I scheduled an appt for him to come out and assess the job. I wanted my textured ceiling smoothed out, some other drywall repair, and soffits removed in the kitchen before I had new cabinets installed. He agreed to do the work. Quoted me a fair price. He said it would be about a month before he could start the work and asked me to contact him then to schedule a time to complete the job. A month later I contacted him and he said it would be another month before he could start the job. I was under the impression we would be starting the work and not just scheduling the work one month after the meeting. I was not in a position to wait any longer to start the project, chalked it up to a miscommunication and had someone else do the job. The second time I contacted Jon it was to hang a couple interior doors and do some ceiling repair. He said it was something he could do. Quoted me a fair price on the doors and said he would have to actually see the ceiling to give me a quote for it but gave me a ball park range. He never showed up to do the work. This time I am sure there never was a miscommunication. We were in touch with each other through email. Aug 19 (wed)- said he could probably have his guy out to do the work at the beginning of the week. Aug 22 (fri)- said he would be out of town for the weekend and he would get with me next week about the work Sept 4 (thurs, a week and a half later)- Jon emailed "we obviously didn't get to you this week. We are currently finishing large projects. I hope that I can get you scheduled sometime toward the end of the next week. I will call you a couple days ahead to schedule." I never heard from him again. This is totally unprofessional and unacceptable. Keep this in mind when hiring someone for your next project!!!

I called John on Monday, he just so happen to be in the area, him and Norm stopped by about 10 min. later and took a look at our ceiling (there had been a water leak from the upstairs condo). John gave me a very reasonable estimate then told me his drywall guy "Ray" would be calling me. Ray called the next morning told me he could fix it Thursday and he did just that! Ray did a amazing job our ceiling it looks like it did before the water damage! I will use Southern Coast Improvements for all of our future repairs or if we remodel. Thank you!!

Great quality cabinets with easy close drawers and wood face, plywood box construction and dovetailed drawers. These cabinets were a LOT cheaper than what I was quoted with Lowes and Home Depot. I bought these to help remodel my grandmother's house and John was quick with the quote. That aside, we had issues with the timing of having them installed (by someone else, not by Southern Coast Improvements). When I called Southern Coast and told them about my predicament, they dropped everything and had the work done within 24 hours. It wasn't their mess to clean up but they stopped to do it anyway. I was impressed and would use them again anytime!

John returned my call immediately. He sent Ray (the drywall guy) out the next day to do an estimate. They began the work the day after that. I never expected the work to be done so quickly. Both John and Ray are very professional. Ray showed up each day exactly when he said he would. The finished work is so good you can't even tell where the leaks were. I was so impressed with Southern Coast's work that I've booked them to do more work for me. Sharon S.

We had a leak from the upstairs bathroom that had recently been repaired but still the ceiling still needed to be patched and painted. I called John with only a few days notice and he was able to accommodate us within short notice and on the weekend! Ray, his drywall guy, came in and did a beautiful job and you cannot even tell where it was patched. I cannot say enough wonderful things about these two men! Honest, reliable company and I will definitely be using them again!

I then asked John to put in the vent work for my range hood, it was done within days. The week before Christmas and my kitchen still not completed, I called John again to see if he would do the backsplash for me. He said he couldn't promise me it would be completed fully before Christmas but I asked him to do it anyway. Himself and another worker Berry arrived on Monday Dec 22 and had the job completed, grouted and all by Christmas eve morning. I can't say enough good things about John and his workers. I will say this and I told him so, he is the ONLY person that started work and finished it when he said he would. I moved to MB in September and have had a lot of work done to my house, John is by far the most professional. I will be using him again, I have a long list!

I had the paint here and the original quote was $300. It ended up being $1600 because the paint was not a good match. I specifically requested that they paint the wall in the kitchen and the bathrooms, but that did not get done. The original painter got sick partway through and the job was delayed. In my opinion it was not completed satisfactorily.

Very well. was difficult repair due to finding replacement parts. Two men and owner worked for approximately 10 hours to complete job. Very satisfied.

It is going wonderfully. He keeps sending me pictures since I am out of the area. He is not only going to repair the area after a roof leak, he is going to repaint the whole ceiling.

John (the contractor) and Ray (the drywaller) were great. John was personable, professional and flexible. He explained his business, set us up with his dywall guy, and then checked in periodically as the work progressed. I had actually been planning to get several quotes, but got such a good vibe off of John, and such a good quote, that I skipped it and am glad I did. Ray has mad drywall skills. We'd actually hung the drywall ourselves as enthusiastic but clueless DIYers. He did such a beautiful job with mudding and taping that you can't tell we did part one. He made our amateur handiwork actually look good! Not only that, but even though the job we contracted for is done, he left us his number and asked us to call once the wall was primed (I guess some issues pop up to visibility once the wall is painted). It's been a very good experience and I recommend their services.

John and his company was referred to us by a neighbor and his team of workers exceeded our expectations. They performed the work in a timely manner and within the budget range we had agreed upon.

John was very responsive and was quick to take care of the issue. He was efficient and I was happy with the final result.