JOHN HARVEY

Unusual, in my case, is that I had to deal long distance with all companies involved due a family illness and was only able to get to the work location for a few hours during the process. This, of course, made everything a bit more difficult for all concerned. There was some delay in initial contact due to computer problems on his end. He was honest about when he thought he could review and give an estimate and followed up accordingly. The step units had been overgrown with ivy and I had a different company work on removing ivy and spraying them and the immediate surrounds for poison ivy, oak, etc. He reported to me he had to do some additional clearing and had a very bad allergic reaction to whatever brush or such was still there. This did require treatment for him and slowed the process slightly. I apologized and had the other company return and recheck and spray again and then as weather allowed the work went forward with some of his workers as the doctor suggested he not proceed with the work personally due to the reaction. I was able to visit briefly midway and also when he reported the work completed. I did have a few concerns and let Mr. Harvey know. He had his workers return to address these and then gave me a call to let me know. My final check did find most of my concerns were addressed, but some mortar cement and brick pieces were left around the work areas that I thought might have been removed (although I did not feel this worth another call). Overall, it was a positive experience and Mr. Harvey was positive in dealing with situations that may not have been optimum.

Came to do the work within 5 days of my call (nonemergency project) when others said it would be a month before they could get to me. Also, the project was more time-consuming than I thought when I described it to them but they did not charge me more than the phone quote. They had to go to a home improvement store and get a toilet as the one I had purchased myself was damaged when we opened the box (not the plumbers fault at all). Then they had to chip away brick and block in the house foundation and crawl through a long crawlspace to install the faucet. They did it all with courtesy and cleaned up after themselves.

The work went very well and they were able to take care of most of it during wait times that came up while painting the basement floor and walls. I'm very pleased with the results and glad that they made an effort to re-use parts that were in good condition when appropriate. The visible work (like the dryer vent) looks very nice and they made sure to consider building codes as well as my desire for placement of the appliances before they made the connections. They have many years of experience between them and I felt very confident that everything was done properly and well. As with the painting work, they were very considerate of my home and didn't leave any mess behind.

Although they had not worked with acid stains before they were willing to try it and researched the process with the vendors and discussed the process with me to, again, develop a strategy for each step of the project. The communication was superb; they let me know when they were coming, when they were leaving, what the plan for the day was and how things had gone before they left. John's initial quote was reasonably adjusted for the requests I added during the project. They treated me and my home with consideration, making sure to drape areas that might get dusty, informing me about the potential dangers of lead during paint removal, and acommodating my chemical sensitivities as much as possible given the materials I chose. They were both very patient and kind with me during the whole process, and if I annoyed them I never saw it :) This work and some other work they did at the same time took about a week and a half combined. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

The project was extremely successful. We contacted John via email, described the job and asked that he let us know if the job was something he could carry out. He responded swiftly, provided a good initial response, and followed up with a phone call. We set up a date for his team to check out the job. They arrived on time and indicated they could install the microhood with ease. They gave suggestions and solutions, were not pushy and mentioned several references for their work. We set up a date a few days later. At that time, they arrived (again, on-time), got the work done, and stayed true to the original quote. We plan to get future estimates from them for cabinet work, siding and/ or painting. We would definitely use them again.

John was very prompt with providing me with an estimate and completing all the work. He was professional, careful as he worked, and cleaned up at the end of the job. He didn't even get upset when I kept adding things to do.

While they were not the cheapest, they also were not the most expensive. They were a little bit hard to get a hold of sometimes. But they did come when they said they would and did a professional job.