Our trusted plumber gave us Nate's number for our broken water pipe. The positive things: Nate responded immediately and a crew came out to start the demo and drying out process. Matteo's crew and Leo's crew were great. They arrived on time, put out drop cloths and swept behind them. I was happy to provide donuts and coffee and know they were taking care of it.
The HORRIBLY negative: as we started the rebuild, it was hard to get a straight answer or any semblance of a plan. We just had a tenant sign a lease and she had a move in date. Plus, I work, so I needed some general plan so I could take off. On my initial call, I asked if we could be fully done in a week before the tenant moved in, they said yes. Then we learned the rebuild would take longer b/c of all the other emergency jobs they were working on. They finally said they could start the week AFTER the tenant moved in. She would have to move into a house with a basement in shambles, but she was trying to be a good sport.
The day before her move in day, they called and said they had a cancellation and could come, so I quickly left work and met them. End of the day, the crew said, "see you tomorrow at 8AM". I said I had already mentioned several times I could not do that day b/c the tenant was moving in! Nate called me, angry about that. I asked what the schedule for repairs would be, which is a reasonable question - especially if HE is going to be mad at ME!!! Nate doesn't like to let you EVER finish a sentence. He is pretty aggressive and when I said I really need 1) an estimate, and 2) a set schedule so we could take off work, he got aggravated and said, "Well, maybe we should just forget it"! I was like, no no, we don't need to "forget it", but I just need to know when you'll be there. That call ended by him hanging up on me! It wasn't a we're-done-so-skip-the-formalities-of-a-goodbye. It was a I'm-mad-for-whatever-personal-reason-and-this-is-how-I-function-in-the-world hang up!
Over the next few days, I tried to figure out if he was just having a bad day and would finish the job. I hated that I felt powerless or like I was begging for him to help. He refused to send me an estimate or bill. I had no idea if the job he did was $2000 or $10,000. Not even a ballpark. He told me he'd only let my insurance company know. I asked my insurance adjuster about this who told me it is absolutely OK to ask for an estimate. I told Nate this and he said, "Well, I guess you know more than I do" and with that, was done with our job! In the end, HE dumped us, which would be humorous if not for my house being in shambles, half done! Fortunately, I was able to find a contractor with availability to finish the job. It did not take away the solid 2+ weeks of stress that this company - Nate specifically, caused me. During this time, I did learn by talking to other people that this company has a shady reputation.
At the end stage of this, I did learn there is a billing person. I don't think knowing this would have helped earlier on as it seems she just takes the payment, but Shelly was super responsive, super organized, easy to work with, and I'm SOOOO happy to have paid my final bill yesterday so I could post this review. I've been waiting to do this for weeks!
To sum up: if you want fast, reliable service, with good work crews, and you are able to be home on any day/time they say, and you really don't care about knowing what's going on with regards to time frame or cost (I mean, to be honest, some people wouldn't care, I know this...), and you find it tolerable to be treated rudely by the head of the company, then I think you're OK with this company. I guess you might risk having Nate become aggravated for whatever reason and dump you mid-process - but if you're not risk aversive...go ahead.
If this is NOT ok with you, I'd read some of the other negative reviews here (and on Yelp!) b/c as I read them now, they do reflect my experience as well.