DEHAVENS CONSTRUCTION LLC

Poorly from start to finish, deadlines, poor quality subs, incompetent.

Very friendly, came to our house to talk details. Gave initial quote by phone without surveying property. Contract signed & deposit made on 8-6-07. Received email confirming foundation work to start end of Sept/beginning of Oct. We were out of town, upon return on Oct 10, we found that nothing had been done. After a few days, called to find out what was going on, apparently there was equipment problems. Actual work began the week after Thanksgiving. Jay assured us that construction would be completed by Christmas 2007. Jay was very unreliable. If he said he would be here a certain day to do work, he usually did not make it and rarely would he call to say he wasn't coming. We usually had to call and ask what was going on. It was common for them to show up to work, then not see anyone working again for 1-3 weeks. Work usually resumed after calling him. Jay would ask for payments earlier than described in contract even though work had not been up to date. Upon filling the foundation in preparation for concrete, they put too much pressure on the far wall and it cracked. That had to be repaired before continuing. The sewer clean out located in region of garage was to be re-routed outside the area, instead he left it in the garage, made it higher and concreted around it. Now we have a sewer cleanout sticking out of the floor in our second car bay. Asphalt was laid prior to completion of construction so when it came time to complete the electric, we ran into code problems due to wire height. I came home one day to find Jay with a 3-4" steel pole that he was going to mount to the roof of my house to attach the wires to, to raise to the appropriate height. The height needed would have required mounting retention cables. The scary part is I am fairly certain he would have done that without our consent, even though we gave no permission to do any work what so ever on our house. In order to raise the electrical wire high enough to meet code we ended up mounting that cable to the front of our garage and it runs down the along the roof line. It's totally ridiculous looking. But was a better option than a steel pipe and retention cables sticking out of my house roof. If Jay had been up on code and not laid asphalt, we could have buried all electric wire and cables (according to the electrician). As a result, some electric work had to be done inside our house where the original panel box was located. Dry wall had to be cut off our family room wall for this to be done. The garage dry wall was not to be finished, just taped, so I was rather surprised to see they hung dry wall that they had walked on, leaving foot prints, as well as pencil writing on another. They also didn't rake the dirt out that was excavated as stated. It's very rough and we now have a drainage problem. No extra cost was charged to us for the extra electrical work that needed to be done. Work concluded on May 10, 2008.