Resurrection Remodeling

So I decided to wait a couple weeks before posting this to make sure what I said is what I needed to say. Unfortunately I don’t have much good to say about this company.

Where do I start? So we have a hard time getting contractors for residential work here in Carlsbad. So when he came and walked down what I wanted (a deck) I got excited. I originally gave him two different options, and asked for a bid for both. I also asked for a third bid with trex deck. By the end of the weekend he had sent me all 3 bids. I decided to go with option a, as it was the cheapest. We talk the next day after I had told him my plan to go with option a and he tells me, how about this: I do the option b design for the same price, and since I’m getting back into this I can use it for promotional material. Both my wife and I was ecstatic. And then later that day he tells me, actually, I have a couple designs I wouldn’t mind doing if y’all are interested. He said he would send them later that night. Next morning, after I had given him the deposit I texted him and asked if he had those designs. A couple hours later he sent them to me, and my wife and I decided on one of the designs he had drawn out.

Here is where it gets interesting. The deck that got built was neither a: my original design that I wanted, nor b: the design we agreed upon after he came to us with this proposition. What we ended up with was this hybrid mix of what we originally wanted and his new drawing, which was weird. He told me that he wasn’t able to do it because he messed up on the original framing. (Pictures attached). The original design was just straight boards all the way across. The new design was supposed to be a Zia symbol, and the boards on each square going in a diagonal.

Also the draws. He asked for half up front, then another 300 because he was short on lumber, then another 400 to pay his helper.

Finally, and most importantly, I would not have written a review if it wasn’t for this: his construction expertise leaves something to be desired. As of yesterday I had had enough and just sent him on his way, even though one edge was definitely curved, which you can see in the pictures. Not all the screws are covered by putty, the front stairs I had to explain to him more than once that it didn’t match, as one side hugged the beam going into the ground and the other side went past the beam making it very odd to look at. After he redid the stairs, he put these little caps on, which I like, except for one was very crooked, and he was willing to leave it like that. I straightened out the edge today using shims, and am going to Lowe’s later today to get more putty to finish covering the screws, at which point I am also going to have to seal those as well.

All in all he is a likeable guy, and was able to come pretty much right away to start work on the deck. But I’m left wondering what I didn’t see and what I’m gonna have to work on in the future.

I don’t know. I would not recommend him, and will not be calling them in the future, but you probably guessed that by the one star review and the novel I wrote. Just disappointed in the end. Been waiting for this deck for years and when I finally get it built there are a ton of flaws. Also glad I didn’t go with the trex deck. Can’t even imagine how that would have went.