ACB Services Home Improvement

The vendor made the scheduled appointment but charged me $40 to walk a property to provide an estimate for renovations. I contacted the vendor several times to get the quote but never received one. The vendors' follow up is poor and unprofessional. If the vendor was too busy, then he should have stated so up front instead of charging me $40 for a job he knew he wouldn't accept or even quote.

The job went well. The job was much worse than was expected and took longer because of water damage underneath the home and damage to flooring underneath. Allen and his crew were very professional and worked very hard and the work well done. It was a mess but they were very good at cleaning up after every days work.

I contacted Alan to have a bunch of touch up/upgrade work done on a house we just purchased before we moved into it. Alan was very polite and warned me that he was swamped and it would be a few days before he could do anything, which is understandable and I think a good sign when hiring a contractor. Alan kept in touch and a couple days later called so we could get the ball rolling. He called me every step of the way and each time I came up with a new project for him he and his crew completed each project in 1 day (work that would have taken me a week for more). Once I was able to get to the house and check on the work that was completed I was very happy, everything looked excellent and I couldn't be happier. I also had a small issue with a water leak (water dripping from the ceiling in the kitchen from the upstairs). I called Alan at 4:00AM and he answered!! Him and his crew came out immediately that morning and fixed the issue (an old water supply valve under the master sink that had washed out). Alan and his crew replaced all the water supply valves in our house at my request. Alan is a very respectful and polite individual and I am very happy with all their work and his drive to make sure we are happy!! I will be using Alan for all my upcoming projects!! I highly recommend ACB services.

Alan was very punctual and did a tremendous amount of work at first. The job was to be completed in 10 days , but took about 15. There were problems getting windows delivered and Alan's co-workers were absent which delayed completion. Mistakes were made in framing the room addition and another 1/2 day was wasted. The daily clean up could have been better and tools and other equipment were not put away. My main complaints were Alan's unwillingness to work more on leveling an area in the kitchen which was included in the original estimate. Also sheet rock repair and texturing was not done to my satisfaction. Alan dismissed my request by saying it won't show. Well, it does show! We also now have a dip in the floor because the wrong thickness of plywood was used. I also had to call Alan because the gutters that he re-installed leak. He came out once to correct the problem, but they still leaked. I called him again, and he said that that was impossible. Well, they are still leaking Alan! If you take the time to call me, I will note it in a review update. You claim to be wanting "lifetime customers", but you need to improve your services.

Provider came out approximately 1 hour late to assess the job. I was informed no job was too small and he would send over an estimate that same evening. Never heard from him again.

The first day Alan and his crew showed up for the job, they drove through my front gate damaging it so badly it would not close properly. When approached about it, Alan accused me of damaging it myself and blaming it on him which was certainly not the case. The next probelm was a tree that needed to be cut down before starting the job. Alan hd previously agreed to cut the tree down and we discussed where it needed to be felled in order not to damage a nearby oak. In fact we stood together, along with his crew, and at least three times discussed this, as I had concerns about making sure the oak was not damaged. They were shown where the tree needed to go down and everyone was in agreement. They mentioned if needed, they would send one of the crew down with ropes to make sure the tree would go in the right direction when it was cut. After running a quick errand, I came back to find they had felled the tree in the incorrect direction. At that time, I had not yet discovered the felled tree did in fact break off a large limb of the oak tree I was concerned about. This was the only limb that was to provide shade for the structure they were building. When this was discovered, I was extremely upset and called Alan to discuss it but had to leave a message on his voicemail. This was on Wednesday evening; however, he did not call back until Sunday. His response was that I had not paid him additional money to cut down the tree; but if I had, he would have made sure it was trimmed up before being cut so as not to do any damage. At this time, let me mention again, that Alan agreed to cut down the tree and there was never any mention of additional money owed to do this. Therefore, he totally disregarded my concern for the oak as well as my specific wishes it not be harmed. Before the holes were dug to begin the project, we concluded we would not need to move a large rock or to drill through it. This extra work had been included in the budget; however, when I mentioned the monies would not be needed and should receive a refund, Alan refused. The only work Alan and his crew completed (other than cutting down the tree) was to drill the holes and set four 8 by 8 cedar posts. Since he did not pick out his lumber, three of the four posts had splits in them already. But when Alan and his crew set the posts, the one with the worst split was placed in the most prominent position, leaving it to be seen by everyone walking by. There was also concrete left on the bottom of two of the posts. Once he walked off the job, it was discovered the posts he set were not squared or evenly set. This caused the new crew to take more than a day to get the structure squared enough to begin construction. Additionally, since Alan did not pick the lumber, these cedar posts as well as other large cedar posts previously delivered had black strap marks that had to be removed before being stained. This process took the new crew about a day to correct. After the gate, the tree, and the split posts with the worst placed in the most prominent position, Alan agreed it was best for him to leave the job and I would only be responsible for paying for the supplies, which I had done so already. He again mentioned he did not charge me any additional monies other than what he paid for the supplies. At that time, I requested the itemized receipts for all supplies purchased as proof the amount he was paid was the same, which he agreed to supply. A text was sent following up on this request as well as leaving a voicemail a few days after that; however, he did not respond to these requests. When the new crew began construction, it was discovered the "ridge beam" was missing from the job as well as all the hardware (screws, nails, etc.) I was able to obtain from the store the itemized Customer Order Report that Alan would not provide. The total cost of the supplies for the job was $5,134.74; however, according to Alan, the cost of the supplies was $8,785.00, which is what he had been paid. This basically means he over charged me $3,650.26 for supplies. Again, I must reiterate that according to Alan, he was strictly charging me the cost he actually paid for the supplies, which was definitely not the case. And, finally, his crew left their personal trash behind in the form of cigarette butts and empty beverage containers. In summary, there is no way I would ever recommend Alan, his crew, or his company for any job at any time. He will be reported to the Better Business Bureau as well as taken to Small Claims Court if he does not refund the overpayment ($3,650.26) immedicately. The small amount of work he and his crew completed was certainly inferior and you should not trust what he charges you for supplies without obtaining the receipts before he is paid.

ACB started the work, but I had to fire them after what I consider unprofessional business practices, totally destroying our budget and our confidence in them. When I hire a contractor, I expect an inspection and a bid for time and materials to complete the job. As ACB has ontheir van, ?One call does it all.? Unfortunately I allowed them to start working before seeing on paper or agreeing on all the work to be done in our master bath and getting a firm price. Once it was demolished (tile in shower and floor removed, as well as vanity top, garden tub, mirrors, etc.) THEN I get an invoice for demolition, not an estimate for the whole job. In a day and a half I had run up a bill of $4840 and only had a torn up bathroom and dusty bedroom to show for it. True, the drain in the floor had been moved several feet and the water supply to a new vanity had been moved as well. But that was it. I elected to continue, again asking for a written bid on the whole thing, but it became clear that ACB was interested only in piece-meal, taking each task and breaking it into as many small parts as they could think of and charging what I consider exorbitant labor-only prices, despite not being bonded or having electrical or plumbing licenses. Meanwhile I have a torn-up master bath, a master bedroom that I cannot use and no clear path to the end. We bought almost all of the materials and did the running to town to purchase things. (We live in a rural area about 20 miles from suppliers). I felt like I was and employee of ACB. One week later, Alan said he was working on other jobs for a few days and not on ours, ignoring the bathroom. I?d had enough and looked elsewhere. We cut our losses, lowered our stress level, and had another contractor repair and finish what ACB started. If you hire ACB, my advice is to make sure that you are very clear on what ACB will do and for how much? and what you are responsible for and will pay for before they do ANYTHING. We were taken in because they were able to start in a couple of days. If you have no firm agreement, after things are torn up, you have no leverage at all and you must either continue with them or stop with a messy dusty house. I trusted that Alan would treat us right, but got ?nickel and dimed? instead. The cost kept changing. My mistake. The work by ACB varied. Some was sloppy, some work has to be redone, some seems all right. Some of the tile were not laid correctly and had to be dug up and redone. They did a little here and there, but nothing was getting DONE. They started on work that we had only talked about, without permission. Some of the work seemed OK ? the demolition was fast and efficient. Digging up the foundation and moving a drain and water was good. There were flaws in just about everything else. Maybe they would have finished it without prodding or additional extra superfluous charges, but I had lost faith in them to do it in any kind of timely, efficient, and affordable way. I liked Alan Gayford, who is ACB; just didn?t like the way he handled our business. The Good: Reasonable good work when motivated. The first few days they were punctual and polite. The Bad: The project was straight forward, but paperwork was not as advertised. Even after I terminated their services, I was still not sure of how much it was going to cost. ACB works more than one job at a time and "rotates" through them. Then we were ignored for almost 5 days and a bathroom only partly tiled, no grouting, etc. Outside work on siding sloppy and unprofessionally. Received at least five different Invoice/estimates, from ACB and never could tie down the cost of work to be done. The Ugly: No firm estimate/contract before work began (partly my fault for allowing it). Stress of dealing with an aggressive contractor overcharging and refusing to quote a price before finishing.

Never called after initial email contact.

Alan (& team) provided drywall & texturing services with some electrical splattered in. He also provided advise where a possible safety issue may have occurred and advised regarding known future work. The job was completed as described on the estimate. Make sure you ask him for detail within the estimate so you are clear on what you are getting - that is not a blurb against him, as a matter of fact he was more than willing to answer all questions to satisfy my overly inquisitive engineering brain. I am pretty finite when it comes to the way my house looks so when Alan and I had the opportunity to walked the job - I was able to point out places where it would need some touch up. Alan made plans to return to satisfy my need. This is where he would have gotten an 'A' for professionalism - the only reason he got a 'B' is because I threw a lot of work at him at our first meeting - I simply feel he should have broken down the estimate based on each project. Also as a side note - I could not be present as the work was being completed so I had given him a key to access my lake property - I felt (& still feel) completely safe in doing so. One of my favorite aspects about Alan is when a challenge was presented he got excited about the possibilities of the project. He clearly loves what he does.

good job of fixing door and installing dishwasher. Poor job on fixing drywall. Not smooth.

He was very organized, as were his workers. They had everything set up to do a job and do it quickly.

Very satisfied with work- will hire again.

We did not receive "8 man hours of skilled tradesman/general contracting services. During the roughly four hours that they were at our house, you left to purchase a wet saw from Lowes. You didn't arrive with all the necessary tools for the job. We then were having trouble with the slow drain in our shower immediately after our wait time for the tiles to "dry," I called them to find out what had been rinsed down the drain. They assured me that nothing had been and I asked you if Zach (your helper) may have rinsed product down the drain, to which you said that Zach was just handing you things and getting things for you, that he didn't do any work. This statement was very troubling to me!! It showed me that you had the intention to be dishonest about the services for which I paid. I did NOT ask for a special price. They advertised 8 hours of skilled tradesman/general contracting services for $299. The job was disappointing. Although the tiles I purchased looked like they matched the installed tiles, you failed to let us know that the tiles were not a match until the job was completed. You are the skilled professional, you should have told us. We had purchased building materials to do a total of three projects that we had discussed prior to you arriving. You could have moved to the installation of the laundry room shelf while we purchased new tiles that would have matched. On the phone, you assured me that you would also re-caulk the shower saying that "I'll make it look good." After you arrived you were critical of the shower installation where they used clear silicon on two corners (at the door), and white caulk on two corners (at the back of the shower). You did not take out the old caulk, and only put a thin coat of new caulk down, not even covering the problem areas. You did nothing with the horizontal seams at the shower pan, and you left me with one silicon corner and three white caulk corners, the exact thing for which you criticized the shower installer. The clean up was thoughtless There was a large splash of grout rinse water left on the bathroom floor, covered by a bath rug. The floor of the shower was left full of dirty boot prints and the hand held shower head dangling. The grout rinse bucket was dumped out in front of my neighbors sidewalk. I failed to notice it until the next day. My husband and my 18 year old son, with tools in hand, chipped and chiseled away at the dump for about 30 minutes.

It turned out great. They took care of me and didn’t get impatient with me. They were very punctual and they did a great job.

Alan advertises that he can build form the ground up so one would assume that he should know his trade very well, boy was I wrong. I started to see many flaws and yes he advertises satisfaction guaranteed but how can you please a customer when your before and after work are the same result. I paid alot of money and now I have to get his work fixed. In the state of Texas you need a license to repair and install major plumbing in a home, Alan does not have that. As a matter of fact licensed plumbers see his kind of work all the time where the wrong plumbing material is used and it is usually from a handy man. Had he been a licensed plumber he would have known that my water heater and sewer line were not up to code. I knew I had a major problem when I heard same draining problems and bugs were coming in though the drain. Alan told me what was wrong and he could fix these problems so I hired him. $945.00 for the plumbing job. The bugs returned 5wks later as well as an odor. Now the water heater closet, he charged me $425.00 to fix my water heater closet. He installed a $29.00 door with no vents, a $22.00 insulation blanket, plus $$ for end pipes, fittings, a valve plus an extra 125 for a pipe to drain water from the water heater to the ground. I became very hot outside and for some reason it just did not sit well,....hot water heater with a blanket all over it and a thick door closed shut with no vents. I went to check the closet for piece of mind and the thing was very hot to the touch. I left the door open and called Alan. He said the water heater is doing what it is suppose to and I need it like that so I will always have hot water and not have to wait for it. As for the vents I didnt need them because the vent on top of the closet was good enough but if I want them he could do it. When he said that I felt like another fee coming my way. I thought I hired a professional to install tile especially when you pay them $1300 and you buy material. His work is from an amateur, his measurements are off and his lines are not clean. When I addressed these flaws he told me I had a lot of damage on my walls and that was the best he could do. I paid him $1200.00 to fix the wall. Now the back door...I thought the back door was a DIY project gone bad. I explained this to Alan and he looked at the door and said that he could install the door for a $400.00 labor fee. I cannot open the door. I called Alan and told him and he said my house is going to shift and the wood going to expand. So, I asked what about all that work in the bathroom, he said he adjusted the walls to give way with the shifting and the tile will not get damaged. I still cannot open my door. Now the paint job. HORRIBLE..He used the cheapest ceiling paint, I bought the paint for the walls and it seems like an amateur did it. Once again for piece of mind I hired a professional plumber because of the bugs, the noise of the drain and the smell. Thats when I received a bill for 5068.98 to bring my water heater closet and sewer line up to code. My home was given to me by my father . My home is paid in full and is a fixer upper but it is still my home, and Alan and his crew did not see it that way and left a whole bunch of trim on the floor and I have to sand or I dont know how I am going to remove the grout / thin set left on my floor. Well that is my some experience with ACB Services and I know there is a long time delay but I do not want to be wrong or be negative about a person until I have research all the problems.He did ask if I liked the end result but like I said earlier how can you satisfy a customer when your before and after are the same result. I just looked and said ok and thought to myself I made a mistake and it is gonna cost me and I threw money down the drain. I have enclosed pics.

I didn't accept their estimate. The price was a little high. They quoted about 400 dollars. I think they are confident. I really haven't contracted workers in the past and these prices are a little better.

Alan did a great job replacing a leaking sink faucet in a very timely manner exactly when we expected it to be done. We even had him look at another project while he was here and will come back next week to take care of a door repair.

It took about a week for the new pump to arrive after they diagnosed the problem and ordered the pump. They showed up on time each time they came. It took extra time to reroute pipes from new pump to pool filter, due to the new pump's difference in its plumbing compared with the old pump. In the process of all of this, they broke one of our outdoor water faucets and did not tell us they did so nor did they fix it initially. A few hours after they left, we noticed the broken faucet. We called them and they said they knew they had broken it. They said they would come back to install a new faucet, which they did late that afternoon, at their expense. On all of the visits to our home their attire was not professional--stains, dirt, holes in clothes. The initial estimate of all charges was $180 to fix everything when they as yet did not know the old pump was broken. When the new breakers were installed and the old pump still did not turn on, they told us the old pump was defective and a new pump would cost about another $300. Then, apparently due to the extra time and materials required to reroute the existing above-ground plumbing to connect the new pump to the existing filter, further charges accrued, bringing the total we paid to $711.

I bought a coupon for a 8 hrs of contractor work. Instead I got 2 hours with 4 people working. They started the clock the second they arrived at my house, not when they actually started doing the work. It took one of the workers the entire 2 hours to hang a ceiling fan. It would have taken my husband less time than that! Even though they didnt finish the work that they said that they would do, they stopped working before the 2 hours were up so that they had time to clean up. I would not use these guys again.

He took up carpet in the house and just cut around the furniture. I asked him to move the dressers, which they did. There was also dirt and yarn everywhere when they were done, which I asked them to clean up during the last hour. They also said that they could not take the carpet out of the house. I also had to pay for the razors in his knives and the filter in his shop vac. The extra things I had to pay for were not disclosed to me until the work was done.

It wasn’t a good match for what the task was. I original hoped that they could come out for 3 hours on one day to put in the sheetrock and 3 more hours another day to roll it. He also didn’t show up on the day he said he would.

They do electrical, plumbing and everything. I thought I got them from Angie's List. They were excellent. They do everything except foundations. It was just one guy that came out to do the work and he was excellent. He was Johnny-on-the-spot. I got several quotes and his price was average. It might have been a little less than some and more than others but I'll probably have them do some other things for me to. They were right in the ballpark with price.

They left before the four hours were up because they had another job.

I had spoken to Alan prior to him coming out giving him a list of things that I wanted to have done. On the day he came out, he did not bring any of the his tools with him. He stated that he had left them in his other trailer. I had told him what needed to be done in the house and he asked me to go and purchase a prehung door in order to replace the one in the master bedroom. He came with another guy who spent the entire time they were here working on the door. Alan was not able to fix the sliding glass door. He told me in order to do that, I would have to purchase a fix it kit from Lowes. I had told him that I had drywall repairs that had to be done. Instead of getting that done first, so that they mud would dry, he worked on that last. They were in the house a little over 3 hours instead of the four hours that was listed. After they left, I noticed that they had taken the prehung door out of its frame and put it on the damaged jamb. The deadbolt hole that was made in the door frame looks amateurish and like a diy project gone bad, instead of having been done by a professional. The damaged door frame is still intact. I am not sure why he asked for a prehung door when the door was removed and sanded down to fit the old door frame. Before he left, I was shown how to use the new deadbolt but I did not pay attention that they did not use the new frame. I had just assumed that they had, since it was specifically requested. Apparently, I am too trusting. He is a nice and personable man, but the work was amateurish, to say the least. I have contacted him and sent pictures of the shoddy work and have not heard back from him.

Alan and Patrick installed a water softener in a house without a loop, so the plumbing had to be modified to accommodate it. They bypassed the outer hose bibs on the PEX and attached to the softener. Hose drains were also attached and led out of the garage by drilling a hole in the brick siding. In addition, my 12 x 16 deck was resealed using Rustoleum Restore 10x. Everything went very well. This is my fourth time using ACB Services, and couldn't be happier. Can't beat the price and quality. Alan is very conscientious and honest.