BHD Construction LLC

It went just fine. They were able to build the first level flush with the door. There are a few steps that lead to the 2nd level of the deck and this has been very helpful with my mobility. They designed the stairs where I can add railings on at a later point if I need them. They did good word. They estimate was exactly the price I paid.

Jerry provided a quote which I thought was very high, but he had a good reputation. He said the project would take 2-3 weeks. Instead it took almost 3 months during which Jerry was rarely seen, his workers left nails, plans, garbage, cigarette butts, etc. everywhere. He got no permits. While he was months later than promised, he was sure to demand his full payment immediately upon completion by several demanding phone calls. Overall, a terrible experience. Now, 4 years later, I'm having to essentially do the job over. The deck is not level due to settling of the supporting post foundations which were not done to code. The railings/fencing are visibly slanting and not sturdy. Gaps in the fencing exceed code. Just an absurd job done.

We have used him for years. I like him a lot. He is a nice guy, is very honest, and does great work.

It was a slow start because of the city permit process and the fact that Jerry literally had to go back to the drawing board, but once the new plan was accepted, his crew had the old deck off in two days, the new deck framed in three, and the decking done in about three days also. There were some delays waiting for electrical and inspection; at Jerry's suggestion we added lights in the railing posts and steps- so over all the job took about three weeks. In addition, his crew took out the old cement landing pad from the old deck and moved the access to our crawl space to a much more convenient location.

We had a somewhat unique project to increase the size of an elevated deck (about 8 feet high) by about 60 square feet, add low voltage lighting and construct an enclosure of approx. 2 feet by 7 feet with an overhead door. We wanted a Murphy bed to be able to sleep outdoors on our deck in the summer but have it hidden at other times. We read about BHD Construction in a recent Seattle PI article ("The deck is stacked in favor of composites" April 20, 2007). We contacted Jerry Bannister who came out to look at the project. We then visited his home to see his actual work on his own deck project. He quoted us around $12,000 which we thought was very high but understood that the bed enclosure with an overhead door was unique as was powder coated metal grating between the deck posts. Jerry said it would take about 2 weeks to complete. Construction began in July. During the dismantling of the existing deck, Jerry's workers threw boards down to the ground damaging several copper post caps of the vegetable garden beds below. Then, with the deck closed off, we waited. Eventually, the trex boards came and they set them in our back yard. Weeks passed with no update from Jerry. Jerry then went on his summer vacation. He eventually said that the powder coated grating was taking longer than expected as was the metal overhead door. He said it wasn't his fault and took no responsibility for the sub-contractors he hired. Weeks turned to months. The grass under the boards in the back yard died. Then, when the reconstruction started again, we found cigarette butts scattered around including in our vegetable garden. We found directions to assembling the Murphy bed on the other side of the yard, screws all over the yard, deck boards going the wrong direction, railing not aligned. The Murphy bed enclosure was built wider than we wanted and the bed hinged on the side instead of the head like we had discussed in detail. Then the enclosure was re-constructed & the bed rotated. After over 4 months and no deck for the rest of the summer, he "finished" the job. The enclosure was left unpainted as was the overhead door, it was not caulked to prevent access from bugs, deck posts were left with gaps slightly wider than code, etc. We cleaned up all the screws and billed him for the damage to the copper post caps. He reduced his price accordingly and then demanded immediate payment in full on the same day he gave us the final bill. In the end, we have a pretty good deck now but we couldn't have been more dissatisfied with the entire process.

The first meeting was good; he was on-time, professional, and had samples with him of the different materials. The bid process took too long. It was mid-summer, so I'm sure he was overly busy and couldn't get to it. I finally received the bid, but by that time, I was satisfied by the bid of another contractor. Jerry did take the time to return my plans, which was nice since they cost 4.50 a page to copy.