EXTERIOR CONCEPTS INC

The purpose of this review is to create awareness between your expectations and the reality of what you will receive. My father and I hired this contractor (Brian Loessberg) because he was highly recommended by someone who had used him previously. However, it was not a satisfactory experience at all. It all began when we signed the contract on 1/22/2019 and gave the initial payment installment to buy materials and begin demolition. The contract was to remodel two bathrooms and switch a toilet on a half bathroom. He quoted us a $$ amount and gave us an expected timeframe of three weeks to complete the project. He stated he and another person would have access to my home and all other personnel would only gain access if they were there to open the door. The project began 1/24/2019 and after some very strong and definite emails and text messages was almost completed on 4/5/2019 (11 weeks total). I say almost completed because I had to finish the rekeying of my locks by purchasing a qwikset tool kit at Home Depot and a door striker for the deadbolt lock. Halfway through the project we did add the installation of a door that was old and needed replacement, hence the door striker purchase. Additionally, in one instance when buying materials with my dad, he took advantage of him by adding the purchase of an additional door when we only needed one. He claimed that in the end the amount would even out to the quote he gave us. Shame on you, Brian! In bathroom #1 - we asked for removal of popcorn ceiling, old tiles and bathtub, old toilet, and counter tops. Also painting of cabinets, walls, ceiling and door. Later on we added knobs for the cabinets to protect the paint job. In bathroom #2 - we asked for the same except for instead of bathtub it was the shower base for the master bathroom and we added a barn door for privacy. In bathroom #3 - replace toilet Once bathroom #1 was completed, we looked at the work and overall to the naked eye it was done. However as you spend time and look at the details there are many flaws including uneven tiles and the paint job was done poorly. Cabinets were not sanded and the hardware was not removed prior to painting. Paint job was done with a brush and you can see the dripping paint as it dried. Once bathroom #2 was completed, also noticed the same flaws in addition to a few cracked tiles that were not mentioned or replaced and paint on the floor tiles. This bathroom has a window with blinds, which remain on throughout the entire demolition and remodeling process. The tub in the bathroom was used to rinse tools during this timeframe. In both bathrooms, none of the hardware was removed for painting. The doorknobs, toilet paper handle, and light fixture all have paint on them that I’ve had to scrub off. My master bathroom was so dirty, it took me an entire day to clean inch by inch and the blinds I had to remove and soak in water. The window had residue of the popcorn removal stuck on the window that I also had to scrub down to get off. Some areas of the granite countertop have paint because the tape was not properly installed to cover and protect the granite. The last night the contractors employee came over,April 4th, I asked him to let the contractor know to contact me or my dad before coming to rekey the locks so I could give him a new key. On Friday April 5th at 2 pm, still no one had showed up or called so I decided to get the key out of the “coded protected lock box”…..only to find out the code was on the whole time so anyone could access my key and gain access to my home. I took my key, locked the house and drove to Home Depot to purchase my items. It’s a 10 minute drive and about 15 mins spent buying my items, when I returned home the lock box had been removed. Needless to say, not only did he not complete the job satisfactorily, he also failed to contact me to notify me he was coming over. To date, I have not heard or seen this person and am sure I never will. Brian barely showed up to work, so the work was mainly completed by his nephew who was incredibly awesome and had enough decency to apologize and face me. I was never rude to him because I don’t believe it was his fault. Brian is unprofessional, dishonest and unreliable. I don’t understand how someone can live and provide for his family on these business standards and practices. Lesson learned…..you get what you pay for….be wise when you select a contractor. One important lesson taught by my father is never depend or rely on anyone….thank you You Tube for teaching me how to rekey locks. #fearless Updated 9/24/2019; On 4/11 I posted an unsatisfactory review on this contractor. June came around and while another contractor was fixing the gutters on the house, he noticed a large amount of water leaking down the wall from the master bathroom side of the house. He indicated he could investigate where the water or leak was coming from. Once given authorization, he began to remove the siding or wood panel to discover the insulation was soaking wet and further it had been capturing all the water that was leaking from every bath taken in the shower. He indicated that the hardware used when remodeling my shower base was not the correct size and was "shoved" in or forced to fit causing the part to go in side ways and leak. Again, payment was made to this other contractor to repair and replace the damage insulation, hardware, and siding of the home.

Where do I start? If you are looking for a builder, please...do not use Brian Loessberg, owner of Exterior Concepts! If we knew at the beginning what we know now, we would have never used him...EVER! He has admitted to us that he gave us a low bid because he wanted the work. This is just one of the many lies this man has told. He ended up being higher than 2 previous builders we had gone to, and they were both exceptional builders, but a little more than we wanted to spend. But in the end, they would have been less. We asked him why he wasn't honest with us up front, and his response was that he wanted/needed the job. That is the integrity of this man! At the beginning, he would get a contract from the subs he uses(as per our contract with him), and then we could see if they were within our budget. Because of the finance company we went through (one he uses and asked if we would use them), they didn't have to give us the invoices for framing. When we would meet, Brian Loessberg, the owner of Exterior Concepts, would tell us we were on budget. About 4 months ago, we found out we were $12,000.00 over on the framing. The framing had been completed around 5 months prior to that, but he always said we were on budget. I am not sure if he knew this or just never bothered to add up the amounts to see if the framing came out on budget. We had to pay for all the granite ourselves because he spent the monies budgeted for that on cabinets, which, were on the original plan that we gave him to bid the job. When we questioned him, his response was that we had a lot of cabinets. That may be, but they have never changed from the original floor plan we gave him to bid the job. All he would say is -- I don't know what to say. When we got to the tile, we checked with him numerous times on what price tile to look at, and he gave us a price to stay under and he guaranteed if we did, we would be within budget. We found tile under the amount he gave us, and then we find out we went $4000.00 over budget. He could give us no explanation! He also did not get a contract from the tile person (which we found out after the fact). I still tell him to this day, he owes us the $4000.00. His contract with us says he will get a written or verbal agreement/contract with each sub, and he did not get one from this sub. He says we had a lot of floor and that is why it was higher. Again, our floors have not grown since he bid on the original floor plan. He just used our money like water, and by him not getting a bid, I still believe he owes us that money. The painter he uses -- he used him on 2 previous homes and they were pleased. I have no idea what happened to the painter between then and now, but another house where this painter was working - they told Brian not to send them back to his house. Brian's foreman (I believe that is the name he gave this guy who is helping), he even told Brian these painters are not the same, and that the work they were doing was horrible. But still he sent them to my house. Why? No clue!! I am thinking no other painter would work for him, but that is my opinion. We have had the painter here 5 times, and he still doesn't have it right, so my husband and I will have to correct the issues. And.....to boot...Brian pays the sub contractor KNOWING the job was not done correctly. The foreman says it looked like they would sand, then paint...but never clean the wood after sanding it. It is totally ridiculus. And the foreman says he told Brian he needed to get rid of that crew....he didn't. Brian has no integrity! And the meaning of integrity -- honest...he is not, good character...he is not, ethics....he has none, morals....appears to have none, decency, fairness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthy...none of these!!! He has lied to us numerous times and he makes mistakes and tries to cover them, and I could go on and on with things he has done. There are still some items he 'said' he would do, he makes promises to be here and get it done.......but he doesn't come through. When I told him he would have to finish my bookcases, the desk area, the bench area...he says he has no money. I told him, then go borrow it. He says he doesn't have good enough credit to borrow. If he would have gotten a contract from the tile guy, the money he went over would have paid for these items and still had money left over. I also found out he had ordered stain, so I asked him for it. He brought it over and it was the wrong color. Did he return it? No! I guess he just had it at his home to use for another project. It wasn't bought with his money so he didn't really care is what appears to be the case. We bought really good windows and my husband wanted the company that we bought them from to install them. Brian tells us he installs them all the time and he could do it (his subs could do it). Sure enough, they installed them incorrectly. Now we have to have someone come out and fix them. The company couldn't believe the way they got installed. His plumber installed the dishwasher incorrectly, and we had to have that corrected as well. I have no idea where he gets his sub contractors from? Brian thinks if a wall is painted, that is all you need. If a dishwasher is installed, who cares if it works. If windows are in, who cares if the wind blows in through the side of them. We just do not trust him at all! We have been extremely disappointed in him. As you can see, this month is a year since he started on the house and it is not finished, and he said he would take 6 months. At this moment, we have a punch list of items he has agreed to finish. This conversation took place around May 28th, and he said the majority of items would be completed the following week. There were 21 items....small items....should take maybe 2 days. 6 items were completed. All week -- 6 items. Last Thursday, we checked with the foreman and he said he would be out Friday. No one showed. We called him Friday..he said he would be out Monday. Today I checked with Brian, and he gave the same excuse, and said he would be out tomorrow, Tuesday. All of these days, no one called us. We had to call them. We sit here everyday waiting to see if they will show up. We don't want to leave the house because they 'might' show up. We are fed up! We have given Brian opportunity to make it right again and again and again. He makes promises to us.........just doesn't follow through. Which brings me to this review. I just don't want anyone to go through what we went through and are still going through. I don't know how Brian can sleep at night knowing how he treats the people who hired him to do a job. Like I said at the beginning of all this...if we knew at the beginning all of what he would not do...I would have spent the extra money (which actually would have been a savings) and hired a reliable builder and not this guy. Words of advice --- Do Not Hire Brian Loessberg/Exterior Concepts!!

I called and talked to him on the phone about my problems, and he seemed very knowledgeable/experienced. Made an appt to have him come over and take a look, but he never showed OR called. Haven't heard from him since.

Responded promptly to the initial call but did not provide the quote in the time frame as promised until I contacted them; Stated that they could not start the job for another week and I hired a different contractor who started the job the next day; I was in a hurry.

The team arrived when they said they would and worked consistantly. They picked up after and there was nothing left to be cleaned up.

Brian had done a rather large job for us 5 years ago (replaced siding and a roof). When we needed a new fence built, we took 3 bids. All were within about two hundred dollars of each other with Brian's in the middle. We had such a good experience with his work in the past, we gave the job to him. He did not disappoint us. He and his people did an excellent job. They show up when they say they will (or at least within about an hour), are very precise, and always very careful to clean up after themselves. Brian is very trustworthy, friendly, and professional. He'll offer suggestions when needed and will try to keep your costs low.

Exterior Designers did an exceptional job. The custom built benches that double as storage bins are beautiful and functional. They showed up on time and had the project done quickly. The only problem is that the screws are rusting and should have been a little longer.