Reetz Builders LLC

Very well.

Excellent work.

Contractor was chosen, not based on lowest price, but that the deck they'd completed for us in October of 2014 was (at the time) done well, recommended a LOW MAINTENANCE product rather than wood; and they'd also taken care of a couple of small items like flashing and some siding, along with the deck. The deck was in pretty good shape after the winter of 2014/15, except for approximately 40 screws I had to replace. If we’d seen in the spring/summer of 2015 what we had this spring, 2016, we’d never have chosen this contractor (nor any products they recommend) for inside our house. The update for the deck that we gave a glowing review for in October 2014 - is that not even 2 years into the installation, the no/low maintenance composite decking is warping, causing dramatic ridges and boards pulling up at the seams. I had an inspector I know do a quick OSHA style inspection on the deck, and for safety reasons it would not pass if I made the deck a “public place” due to ridges, trip hazards and sharp jutting edges. Comment to me was “don’t let anyone elderly use this deck, they’ll get hurt.” Now back to my current review: Up front in the FALL of 2015, we specified the job must be completed in a timely manner and we were assured it would be. Likely 3 weeks, 4 at most. Job was agreed to in December 2015, we paid the standard deposit, no surprises, and the job was set to begin the week of 1/18/16. Job started as expected the 3rd week of January, we'd previously packed everything out of our kitchen and started cooking with a microwave moved to our living room and as demolition began, we were assured we'd have "use" of our kitchen appliances within a couple of days. We understood that it would take a while for the cabinets and countertops, but appliances would be accessible quickly. Immediately, issues arose with the kitchen ceiling in our house. They'd cut holes in it (large rectangular sections) to move pot lights or add a light, etc. and were going to re-plaster and paint before moving onto anything else...2+ weeks later, 2 different plaster subcontractors, the ceiling having been done 3 separate times - we finally said "enough, we can't take it anymore." We accepted that we weren't happy with the ceiling. Didn't and doesn't mean we were going to pay full price, but we had to get them moving. They were almost out of time for our window of opportunity to get things done and only the ceiling (sort of) was done and kitchen unusable except that the fridge remained plugged in. Three weeks later, they began putting in our cabinets and demoing our master bath/walk-in closet. Some of the cabinet doors were incorrectly prepared/drilled/etc. Handles/hardware were the wrong ones, errors were made hanging the cabinets and what was to be an appliance garage was placed at a height for a toddler, with an inappropriately inoperable powerlift hinged door. To make matters more fitting, when putting a tall section of cabinets in place, they couldn’t rotate it up without putting a hole in the new, poorly done, ceiling. They’d not measured or planned correctly. Trying to get away with it, the contractor simply stated that with the crown-molding up to the ceiling, the hole wouldn’t be visible. True, but if a mouse gained access to the house, or rather the walls, it could work its way easily into our cabinets via the awesome hole in the ceiling. Contractor said he’ patch it. Silly me, I expected a seamless drywall type modification. No, the contractor affixed a piece of drywall larger than the hole, as a band-aid, and glued it to the ceiling… I bit my tongue, literally, and walked out into the garage to contemplate the adjectives necessary to convey a simple thought. None came. Most of the cabinets were now in place, but still the doors weren’t all installed. A couple doors weren’t in place, two were damaged during placement, several drawers were damaged, soft-close drawers weren’t necessarily installed where they should have been, drawer handles installed in an odd misaligned way, etc. etc. It would take close to 2 months to get the doors/drawers and appliance garage 80% correct. As I type this, I’ve personally ordered the correct appliance door lift mechanism that the contractor and his well-known cabinet maker can’t seem to find. They don’t care (or understand) that the lift mechanisms are ordered and designed for size of door and the adjustable arms must be longer when you increase the size of the garage door in order to lift if out of the way (who wants an appliance garage door that moves, but is never fully out of the way so you can’t take advantage of the full opening space?). When the contractor went to install the vanity for our new master bathroom, it had to be redone. “Someone” hadn’t taken into account the width of the drywall and now the space necessary for our toilet no longer existing such that it would pass inspection. Another delay as the entire vanity was reduced in length by an inch or two; but they kept the width of the drawers, so it saved some time. Our master bath and master closet were to have “pocket doors” to free up room in both the bathroom and closet. That was the plan, the design, the drawings. But… The contractor hadn’t taken into account that the wiring for switches would have to be relocated, and apparently to do so would require new wiring (you can’t simply splice and extend, I get that) soooooo, a decision was made on-the-fly that we’d go with the barn-style doors that effortlessly and quietly glide back and forth. To save space on this review, let’s just say that their attempt was a big FAIL. I came home on a Friday afternoon…only thing in the house was dust, so I eagerly went to our master bath. Oh, there were barn doors alright. My first question was: to what country do we belong? A country where some level of modesty and privacy is appropriate in certain areas of one’s home, or to some backwoods area only recently being introduced to the term - privacy? The barn doors had 2 inch gaps all the way around – anyone outside the bathroom could quickly determine PRECISELY what it was the bathroom’s occupant was doing. NOTHING left to the imagination. The QUIET, TOP OF THE LINE fan I’d asked them to install, and we were being billed for (to replace the old 727 engine we’d had), would start quietly and ramp up as the bathroom got ready for take-off…and it ran and ran and ran and ran. We couldn’t shut the beast off. We were told they’d fix the fan (it was a setting, after all). No it’s the fan. I may take our bathroom to the EAA this year. What of the barn doors, you ask? Oh, I had to draw pictures, demonstrate what needed to be done, the dad of the contractor lead had to get involved, and FINALLY we only have a 5/8” gap. Passable, but only just. In the end, it was now June 20th. The contractor reinstalled a stainless steel piece in our shower on June 10th that he’d damaged 2 weeks prior and he said “thanks for the business” as he sent me the final bill, which had grown from $53,000 to $57,000 (FYI we paid additional money several times thru this project to keep them happy). I had to disassemble his professional work on the shower as he’d reassembled the heat control mechanism incorrectly in that last visit – yielding a shower the following morning akin to showering with water dispensed from a rain-barrel. Cool as the other side of the pillow – which might be nice, if it wasn’t the shower…first thing in the morning. I’ll let you decide if 1/18/2016 – 6/10/2016 is close enough to a max 4-week remodel or not. Remember, I still have to get my kitchen ceiling completely torn out and redone so that lines, ridges and shadows disappear that the contractor will do nothing about – the contractor says “ I can’t do anything about it.” First I have to save some money up, as it’ll cost me $3,000 to $5,000 to completely replace and the contractor is demanding every cent (except for a minor $500 deduction for the carpet on our stairs that was ruined by their subcontractor). $57,000. $57,000 of our hard-earned, long saved money. 22-weeks, most of which was dust filled, living in our basement. But what of professionalism??? Oh, our deck??? It’s now July 7th and all I’ve heard is “the manufacturer’s rep says this composite material will swell and warp” and “we know it should get fixed but it’s been almost 2 years, we only warranty for 1 year and we need to know who’s paying for the work.” Who’s paying??? I PAID thousands of dollars for a LOW MAINTENANCE deck. I REQUIRED a low maintenance deck as I didn’t want to spend spring time nor summer, staining/repairing a wooden deck. Now, it’s all I can do to use the deck without getting injured AND I dare not let elderly people use it as hazards abound. Oh, I’m sure they’ll respond to this review – but the truth stands tall. There are more details, but I'm worn out. We ask ourselves “what went right during this project?” The answer: Not one thing.

unknown

From first contact, through completion, the folks at Reetz did a great job with our deck project. When we first contacted Reetz, and several other contractors, Reetz came out fairly quickly; at a time convenient for us, not just them. They asked good questions about what we needed, took measurements, gave us an approximate range based on the types of materials to be used (either wood or composite). Once we decided on the material (in this case composite to match more closely with our house and the style we were looking for), they provided us a written/email with the estimate. Once work began, and as I'd mentioned to them, the ground was very difficult to dig footing holes because of all the rock/limestone in the area. What would typically take an hour or two took an entire day with auger and tools. No additional cost was added on for the extra time/hassle. As they started to take off some of our siding on the house to connect the deck to the house and around the patio door, they noticed some wood rot because the installers of the windows (years ago) didn't do a good job. Reetz asked if we'd like them to remove all the siding around the patio door and windows in the area and we said it should be done while they're here. They found some rot, took care of replacing the wood, properly sealed and flashed the windows, door, etc. and put siding back up. Only increased cost a few dollars (and done timely without be needing to find another contractor). With the deck nearing completion, we discussed with Reetz the possibility of adding a step all the way around the deck because our yard slightly sloped away from the deck and the deck's main level was a little high for my wife and perhaps older visitors to comfortably step up or down without a stumble. The height wasn't an issue for me, but for some of the folks who would use the deck when they visit, we thought a step around the circumference was a best choice. Reetz quickly designed the step to be a part of the deck, brought in a little fill to level the ground and made a seamless step/transition to help smaller or older folks easily step up or down onto the deck. Additional cost was in line with what we'd expect and the work was exquisite. Each day, throughout the work, Reetz cleaned up after themselves, asked if we needed assistance moving anything or getting rid of the big rock or two they had to take out of the footing holes, etc. They communicated well, and were easy to work with. When we begin our next project, Otto and Jeremy will be getting a call from us.

We worked with Otto primarily but his son, Jeremy was at the job site daily and Otto would also involved on a daily basis to oversee the project. They are very creative and came up with ideas that set our deck apart from the "ordinary". They knew what our budget was and kept within it. Attention to detail was excellent and they were very receptive to feedback and changes that were made along the way. Very easy to talk to and we felt comfortable from the beginning.

Jeremy was professional, courteous, and prompt in delivering his quote. We ended up not choosing him due to a quote being significantly less than Reetz and another contractor. I do beleive they perform good work, and have no doubts or concerns about the quality of their projects, but it came down to dollar amounts. We do not plan on being in our home for a long period of time, so we figured that we could save a bit of money on the project. Hopefully that does not come back to bite us in the end.

That was great and it was wonderful. They were very good at what they did and they were prompt. I thought it was a little bit pricey but we used wonderful wood. It was a really good wood and it was worth it.

Really well. We replaced an old Chevrolet with a new Rolls Royce. Otto, Jeremy and Dan showed up earlier than promised and continued working all day every day, sometimes for 9 hours. They also had great design suggestions and we modified accordingly. We appreciated that they used screws rather than nails as our previous builder had done. They were very pleasant at all times, did a great job of cleaning everything up, and took precautions to not disturb our lawn and landscaping. We would hire them again. Michael McCanna

This builder's expertise is in building log homes. However, they had a sign mentioning "decks" on their booth at the local home and garden show. I spent some time talking with them and decided to have them bid on rebuilding my deck, whose planking and railing were in sad shape. They took my name and number and promised to call for an appointment in several weeks after the snow melted. And they kept their word and did exactly that. Very good first impression. And the good first impression translated into good experience, as "kept their word" might be the operative phrase for these people. They did what they promised to do, and they did it well, with an attention to craftsmanship and detail not often seen these days in this business. Furthermore, their relations with me were exactly as one would expect from any other business: courteous, professional, dependable; in other words: businesslike. I don't think their bid will ever be the low bid, but it will be a fair bid, and they will do what they have promised to do for that bid without any surprises, and if a problem arises, they will do what they need to do to make it right. Recommended without reservation.