Howard's Haven Inc

Everything seems to go well until after they left. Then the pavers started getting loose and the walkway was no longer level. Emailed Howard to come and take a look and fix. He responded right away, but after 2 months, he still has not shown up to fix the poor workmanship his people did. I have followed up with several emails and he responded to each one that he was going to fix it asap but after 2 months, I have not seen any progress. We had several incidents where someone almost fell and twisted their ankle due to loose pavers.

It went poorly. Howard made promises to get the work that he didn't follow thru on. The patio had to be completely redone because the work product was so poor. A project that should have taken 2 weeks took 6 weeks and even at that would have gone longer had I not given an ultimatum. Day after day his guys would arrive and do nothing awaiting Howard's arrival. Routinely that didn't happen until 2 - 3pm. Once a majority of the payment was made I was no longer a priority. He left my yard in such poor shape that my wife at one point was in tears. We are left with a patio that has below average craftsmanship, A yard that is going to cost a lot of money and time to repair, and are still finding all the residual damage. Like the dryer vent that was broken when the outer part was pulled off by Howard. Let me be even more detailed, he never called miss utility, didn't properly measure so none of the dimensions from the initial drawing were met. He and his team dropped and broke my $1700 gazebo requiring a replacement. Which he covered and tried to tout as a big favor he did me by paying for what he broke. Speaking of the gazebo, the area of the patio designed to have the gazebo wasn't built large enough. I had to manage the work myself, they forgot to run the drain line, forgot to run the electric, left uneven spots in the patio. Everyday I had to come home from work and work my second job managing this project. I hope by now you realize you shouldn't hire this company. He told me how much experience he had and that his business is 90% referrals. I don't see how that's possible. This was a terrible experience and we spent A LOT of money. We wanted to be excited about our new backyard and instead we ended up with a nightmare.

1st thing was that he did not start on time... he was completing another project(s) but I did not make it an issue to start out; then the project was to be completed before I had an event at my home November 12th but he had just dug up my backyard when I was hoping to be finished by then. He stated the job would take a week or maybe a few extra days. Not the case... he was still working in the middle of December... thank goodness for warm weather. Then he hires individuals from outside the 7-11 (or somewhere comparable) and these guys were not reliable and he kept bringing new people. He was to roto-til the area that was all bedding and add new soil .... I had to make him come back to til the soil because I kept hitting clay in the bedding area. I paid $475 to have my deck painted (hired a contractor) before I had the November cook out when his work was to be completed, he was cutting the pavers either on my deck or close by but the entire deck was covered with cement fragments and dust. I requested him to carefully power wash the deck. He claimed he did it and until I stated I would review my camera footage from the cameras on my house, he agreed to come back and power wash the area he impacted. He broke to fence posts that I had to purchase for him to replace. He also broke 1 or 2 split rail fence pieces. In mid November, he began to ask for his final payment because he needed the money for Christmas. I was adamant that as long as there was a punchlist, he would not see a penny. On the edges of the pavers in the backyard and sidewalk, stepping on the edges causes them to sink and pull away from the other pavers. He did not plant any grass after digging up the yard. He threw down sand which I had to replace with fresh dirt. Oh, I forgot... he hit both the Comcast line with his tractor and then a week later hit the Verizon fios line. I did not have Comcast but then I was out of TV for 2-3 days until he could get a temporary fix. I explained this was still not fixed when he wanted his last payment and I had to explain that he would not get the final payment until he coordinated with the Verizon fios people to put the line underground. I believe the final payment was made Decmber 8th. Since the job was finished close to Christmas, I could not use the paver backyard until Spring... On April 2nd I walked the yard and sidewalk with my Landscaper and she asked me who did my walk and pavers in the backyard. I told her and she said he could not have used polymeric sand because grass is growing between the cracks and the job was completed in December. Howard told me I had a 5 year warranty for labor and the pavers have a lifetime warranty. I have reached out to him April 3rd and April 29th via email and pictures and my concerns... has he responded to me? NO! This is very concerning and I explained that I would ask another contractor to fix his work if he did not respond. Now, I wait. While I was VERY patient with him during all of his mistakes, screw ups, etc., I am at the point that I cannot sit back any longer without warning people who might consider using Howard's services. I think I had to put up with too much for paying $16,200. The pictures I attached show many unfilled cracks or he put regular sand that blew out. IF you see grass, that is an issue. If he would have used polymeric sand and when you add water, it forms like cement between the pavers. You can see what I am going through...

Great job. On time, no issues at all.

Howard and his crew were punctual, professional, and worked very hard adding a fence. They also were flexible when I changed the plans a few times and asked them to pull apart a small structure and use the boards to build some raised beds on a whim. The resulting fence and garden beds are excellent, for a great price.

He was knowledgeable. He was professional. He was a good guy over all.

Very well. He had a few free days so he scheduled it in this period. He drafted a plan that was better than we expected, and in less than a week we had a patio that we love.

Howard was extremely professional. We hired Howard's Haven after an unfortunate encounter with an initial landscaper. The previous landscaper used our money and did not complete the job. We called Howard and he came out within 48 hours and completed the job within a week. We gave our entire backyard an overhaul by adding in a patio and landscaping. We had neglected our yard over the past several years and Howard did an excellent job bringing it up to date. Since than Howard has been by twice while he was in the area working for other clients just to make sure we were still satisfied and to ask if we needed anything additional. We have referred Howard to several friends and family members.

It went really well. Before we even hired him, when we were just looking for quotes, Howard spent many hours just researching our project to find out what we would have to do in order to get the walls built to code. He gave us quotes for different configurations and materials. He found a company that made the blocks for the retaining wall (Eagle Bay) and was able to get their engineer to do the engineering drawings that the county wanted at no extra cost. Even though we had some quotes from contractors who were claiming they could do the job for less, we could tell that Howard really knew his stuff and that he was really putting the time into understanding the project so that it could be done correctly and would pass the county inspection. That was why we ended up picking him to do the job. He and his workers showed up on time every day and usually worked until dark. They got the job done quickly and did a few little extras to make the job look great. The walls are beautiful (and passed the county inspection easily). Furthermore, now that the downspouts are buried, we won't have water/erosion problems in those spots any more, and the way he mulched behind the walls, under the trees, and around the house make our property look better than any of the others on our block! I'm sure all our neighbors are impressed. I know we are. Howard and his crew really went above and beyond. We would definitely hire him again.

Howard completely remodeled two bathrooms from bare floors up in two weeks. When we were having some water drainage issues he came over promptly and had workers start on a remedy to our problem.

Howard was extremely professional throughout the process and provided an excellent price for his services (we purchased the materials). He replied promptly to our initial inquiry, and spent a great deal of time with us designing and planning the project. We have recommended Howard for several other projects for friends, and would recommend him highly for any comparable project. He is a pleasure to work with.

It took a lot longer than he expected, but I understood why. DC is a nightmare for contractors, especially those coming from Centerville. His work was good and his price was right, so I was OK with the later work nights and occasional no-shows. At the end of the day he made sure I was happy and that the work was done right. I was very pleased and have recommended him to friends. I always tell them that if they are in a rush, Howard might not be the right choice. If you have some time and want to save some money, he does great work and stands behind it.

The project took much longer to complete than the estimated 6-9 days. In fact, it took nearly a month. On many days the contractor would not show up at all, and when he did show up it would often be after nightfall when he would have to work in the dark until 9:00 PM or later. We received numerous complaints from neighbors regarding the noise of sawing and hammering at night. The contractor stubbornly refused to follow owners' requests to build the patio in the manner that the owners understood that it would be built, instead using wood fencing material to contain and buttress the compacted earth and gravel base over a sand topcoat. The owners had requested that a retaining wall composed of Grey Blend Chapel Stone blocks be used to contain and support the patio on the west and north sides. The contractor also employed substandard materials in constructing the privacy fence, specifically low quality, green, (uncured, i.e. non-kiln dried) boards and fence posts, with the result that many of these boards and posts began to split and warp almost immediately). The result is a north facing fence (the broadest expanse of fencing) that will have to be completely dismantled at owners' expense and replaced with the appropriate type of kiln-dried wood boards and posts. During this replacement process a proper patio retaining wall will also be installed to retain the compacted soil, gravel and sand that underlie the patio pavers. All of this will be at considerable additional cost to the owners. Finally, the owners were not at all impressed with the professional skills and workmanship of the contractor. Much of his work seemed shoddy and questionable shortcuts were often taken when a more professional and conscientious approach was called for in the construction process