Ken Do That

Ken was supposed to be at our house Friday at 10am. My wife and I made special arrangements for this as I work nights and she is a full time student. He hadn't shown up at 11:30 so I called him. He told me he was waiting on approval from the property management company. I called them and they told me that he had already gotten approval for everything but the cieling fan and asked me to have him call them. I called him back and told him that. An hour later, we had decided to move on with our day since he was supposed to be there at 10am and be out by around 2pm. When we told him that he seemed upset and actually told me that if he'd known we weren't going to be there (keep in mind he's needing 3 hours late on a 4 hour job now) that he would stayed in his office and not gone out to get materials! Shouldn't you already have the materials for a job that was supposed to commence hours ago?! We set it for Saturday (tomorrow) at 10am. At 10:15 he texts that he's on his way. I was getting dressed when Ken showed up. Before he'd even talked to me he was already on our roof with a hole saw to drill a 4 inch hole for the bathroom vent. This took me by surprise as he had not been in the attic to measure and mark for his hole. There are obviously trusses supporting our roof, as there are supporting any roof, as well as wiring. I was curious about his stab in the dark approach, so I went up into the attic to see what was going on. Sure enough, he had his hole centered right over a truss and had cut over a 1/4 inch into the truss with the hole saw! He then just cut a bigger 6 inch oblong hole to put a 4and quot; vent through! It is important to mention that I had all of the materials for this vent as I had planned to do it myself. He was very aware of this. When he viewed the materials I had the day before, he told me that the flexible duct I had was improper as it had to be insulated because it ran thru a non heated area. Ok. He also told me the tape I had was what was needed, but to hold onto it because it is expensive and he had his own. I also had the appropriate water resistant mastic to seal this vent. He used everything I had (including the flexible duct hose he deemed inappropriate), except for the rape and the mastic. He is team used regular Grey duct tape, which is water soluble, and silicone which takes at least 24 hours to cure and cannot get wet or it will not cure properly. Keep in mind this outside and it is a moisture vent! There was at least a half inch gap between the vent flashing and the roof which he attempted to glue down with silicone (not a glue). Of course it pulled up and left holes in the wet silicone that were discovered by me inspecting his work while he was still there. I offered the appropriate mastic, but he was not interested. He also put a hole in the ducting and covered it with a si glue piece of again regular old Grey duct tape. There was excess flex hose. He could have cut it past the hole. I did when I reinstalled the whole vent correctly myself today. He used absolutely no tape and did no prep work for the bathroom paint. It looks worse than it would have had I just sprayed the mold with Tylex like I have been for 4 years. There is also paint on every surface in our bathroom. My shower, tub, toilet, counters, sink, shower head, faucet, mirrors, door, towel racks, etc....Management will have to send someone else out to clean up the mess he made of my batroom. As for the cieling fan, it's a bit loosely mounted, but it looks ok and so far it works. I would never ever use this guy for anything again. In fact, I paid for an account just to write this review and save everyone else from the horrible work he does. If you can get past his arrogance and sarcasm and lack of caring whether you might mind that he's playing his 80 's hair glam rock and singing along to it while he works, he seems like a nice enough guy. But that just isn't enough to call yourself a contractor! Beware!

He did a good job, but he had an attitude. He quoted me $75, but then told me after he did the work that it would be $105. He got very upset when I told him that he had quoted me $75, and told me that he had to rent a machine that he wanted me to pay for also. I would not pay him the extra, so he left mad and told me never to call him again. There was some paint that he was supposed to come back to touch up, but he told me that I would have to do it myself.

I have looked for someone to help re-open a set of sealed carriage-style garage doors on my home for weeks and all but gave up due to the ridiculous prices I was being given; then, I found Ken Strayer.
Not only did he quickly schedule for me, he actually came out IN THE RAIN and insisted on staying until the job was complete (five hours!!).
A job others had quoted me up to $2,000 to even and quot;touchand quot;, Ken was able to do in five hours for $250 and cost of materials (total = $345).
In the process, I discovered that he can do just about anything I need in the house, from corrective work on insulation and ventilation ove r my stove hood to interior or exterior painting, drywall work, and flooring.
As a new home owner (moving in on the 17th) it was refreshing and very comforting to have a friendly and knowledgable general contractor who (a) explained things and offered options, (b) was demonstrably committed to getting the work done to MY satisfaction, (c) was happy to have me present and overseeing the work (d) was willing to come IN THE RAIN and do the work, (e) stayed until the job was done (it was a little after dark when he finished).
Ken was amiable and very professional, funny and quick to explain things or point out items to watch for, eager to offer alternatives so I could have a full range of choices, very pleasant to interact with and extremely professional when it came to being mindful of my home and the mess being made (he carefully cleaned up after himself and insisted on having me check behind him before he was willing to depart).
I've had some real horror stories with contractors in the past, but I have to admit, Ken Strayer has really turned the tide of my opinion. He will be my first call for any future home-improvement or repair projects I'm considering.