Rowland Contracting

Contractor came with his son who was likely around 17. Contractor left his son at my house to do the work. I had to remind the kid to disconnect the gas line and shut off the gas valve before removing the built in oven. He removed the oven and cook top (both of which are still sitting on my porch) He then cut out the cabinets beneath my cook top and framed that in. Then he left for the day around 3:30pm. He returned the next day to turn the spot where the oven used to be into cabinets. Door pulls he bought were no where close to the pulls that are on the other 55 cabinet doors in my kitchen. Hinges were no where close either. Also---he cut all the wood and stained everything INSIDE OF MY KITCHEN instead of doing that outside. So my entire home is covered in saw dust and smells like wood stain (I have 2 animals that shouldn't have to breathe that all day) He then installed something to cover the hole left in the TILE COUNTER TOP when he removed the cook top. Instead of grouting in some tile, he decided to cut a couple of pieces of white/black speckled granite and put it there AND CAULK IT IN. NOTHING in my kitchen is white. He didn't level the granite so on one side it's lower than the tile counter top and the outside edge is routered and finished. On the other side it's higher than the tile counter top and is rough cut on the outside edge. It flat looks HORRIBLE. He then stained the pieces that he put in---THE ABSOLUTE WRONG COLOR. He stained it a pine color and my cabinets are more of a very light oak color. I've attached pics for reference on HOW HORRIBLE this contractor is. OH I forgot to mention that the cook top was working. It was just the oven that broke. But they removed the cook top as well KNOWING that the new unit wouldn't be in for over a week. Leaving me with ZERO ability to prepare a meal for OVER A WEEK.

Lawrence Rowland was referred to us by our neighbor, who had done some electrical work for them. They were pleased with his work, and told us that he had completed much more extensive projects for their friend. So, we gave him a try. He came out and gave us quotes in mid-to-late March and was supposed to start on the project mid-April. I contacted him the Thursday before the Monday start date to confirm and at that time he told me that he lost his carpenter assistant and wouldn't be able to start until June 4th. I was quite upset since he made no attempt to contact me earlier and let me know. He said we could find someone else, but by this point I knew that calling other contractors to come out and give quotes and then wait until they became available, we would be at the June date anyway. He did come out and do some interior work for us (electrical, install water softener) at this time. June 1 (the Friday before the new Monday start date) I contacted him to confirm his start date and he told me that he was behind on his current project and couldn't start until June 11, the following Monday. The morning of June 11th, I got a text saying they wouldn?t be out that morning. Tuesday the 12th he said they would start the next morning. They arrived on Wednesday, June 13th to begin our project, 43 business days after the original start date. We were told it would take 10-14 business days to complete our project. On June 25th, he said he was half-way done. Rowland Contracting completed our project on August 8th , 40 business days after the start date. While they worked hard when they were here, they were not here for long each day. Usually from 8-9ish to about 12-1. There were also several days they did not show up. Sometimes Lawrence would text me that morning and let me know the reason (jury duty, illness, materials hadn?t arrived yet), and sometimes he just wouldn?t show up. There were other minor issues along the way such as failing inspection for not having the correct paperwork, poor workmanship (lots of nails and screws my 2 year old found after the project was ?complete?, insulation on the floor from climbing in the attic, tracking mud into my house, changing the design slightly and not letting me know in advance) and an all-around lack of communication. The quality of the covered porch is good and over all, I like the way that it looks. The materials seem to be of decent quality and the inspector mentioned that he thought it came out very nicely. The flagstone patio on the other hand, does not seem to be very stable. After just 10 days, the pieces are moving a lot and the dirt/sand in between the pieces is so loose we are tracking it into our house. I am sure that he would come and work on it again, but we are just so tired of the entire project dragging on and on with him that we are just going to hire a landscaper to fix it. Mr. Rowland is a kind man who corrected all the things I asked of him. Yet, I felt it wasn?t my job to ask every day if he was showing up tomorrow, request that he do the finish work (fill holes, remove staples) and clean up his trash. And the lack of communication on his part was incredibly frustrating. He never updated us on the completion date (until 2 days before he was done), and we didn?t push him because we wanted it done right. He never seemed concerned that he took the entire summer to build our porch even though he said it was a 10-14 day project. We were please with the electrical work he did for us back in April and think that he might be a better contractor for smaller projects or if you are in no hurry to get your project completed.