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"Although we contracted and made an initial payment (1/3) on February 27, by mutual agreement the work began on 13 April 2015 to allow the work-site to dry out from the winter weather.  The contractor made incredible progress in the first two weeks demolishing the old deck & garage porch, pouring footers, raising the frame & putting on the roof.  The first crew was very hard working, here early in the morning, & leaving late in the afternoon (after cleaning up the area each day).  When rain was in the forecast, the crew would ask if they could make up the day on Saturday, which they did.  Everything we saw in the first 2 weeks was consistent with our previous great experience with Fox Creek 2 years earlier when they replaced all our siding, windows & doors. The only problem at that point was that a plain black roof (25 yr) was put on instead of the architectural roof (lifetime warranty) we asked for.  The contractor acknowledged the error and offered to replace the roof at no additional cost.  We had originally only contracted for 2 skylights so we asked if he'd install 2 more at no cost versus replacing the roof and he agreed.  We were told that everything was on schedule to complete the rest of the job in 2 weeks.  We made the second (of 3) payment on April 29 which was when the excavation work below the porch/deck was supposed to begin.  No one showed up to start this work for several days and when they did (it was a different crew from the first), they typically showed up around mid-morning and were gone by mid-afternoon.  We had beautiful weather during this period in which very little work got done.  The contractor claimed they were having trouble getting the supplier to deliver sand and crushed rock.  Since we're located in St. Mary's County which is a bit of a distance from the contractor's home base in Crownsville near Annapolis, they decided to use "local" suppliers & subcontractors (electricians) rather than those they normally use.  We found out later that the sand & gravel supplier was located in Brandywine about 40 miles from here (there are plenty of suppliers right here in the county).  When the sand & gravel finally showed up at 10:00 am one morning about the same time the crew arrived, the crew directed them to the spot they wanted it dumped and then everyone left shortly after that without doing anything.  We knew by then that the job wasn't going to be completed anywhere near the 3 & 1/2 week total time advertised.  The predictable springtime heavy rains started and we were delayed even more.  The week of May 11 was the first week we could see some progress each day.  The end product was beautiful.  A paver retaining wall was put in all around the perimeter below the deck/porch and in between the concrete slab under the porch and the pavered patio area below the deck.  

We couldn't understand why the remaining work on the porch above couldn't go on while the below work was going on.  Wiring had to be put in, and also all the finish work (soffets, gutters, trim work, ceiling made of soffet rolls - looks very nice).  Most of the holdup turned out to be waiting for the "local" electrician to show up.  The electrician (Goudie) wasn't really all that local but was from Waldorf 35 miles up the road.  Our contractor had to threaten, cajole and/or beg Goudie to show up and install wiring so that the finishing work could be done on the porch.  We begged our contractor to get another licensed electrician (there are plenty of good ones right here in the county that we've done business with).  Anyway, once the electrician showed up we had to get them back several more times because they'd forget to do something we'd asked for or they didn't have a part and we'd end up in the same waiting game.  They did end up getting shamed into sending an electrician on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend to put in 2 ceiling outlets they''d forgotten to put in, but we still didn't have any fans or lights to enjoy that weekend, by which time our contractor assured we'd be enjoying the porch.  You don't EVER want to do business with Goudie Electrical.  

To make a long story short, after a lot of nagging to get a lot of loose ends tied up, the work was finally finished and inspected the Thursday (the day) before this past 4th of July weekend.  The porch & deck are absolutely beautiful (we'll attach pictures if we can figure out how to do it - they will speak for themselves).  We got some extras that we asked for like 7" wide Azek boards along the tops of the vinyl railings inside the porch to serve as a counter top for setting drinks or small plates of food or snacks, which we've had a lot of nice compliments about.  They're the perfect height for pulling a barstool up to.  One of the things we didn't get that we expected was a decent landing area at the bottom of our deck stairs.  The crew threw grass seed and straw there.  When we asked about getting some sort of solid landing, they shoveled out the area and threw some leftover crushed rock on it and tamped it down.  When we asked if they were going to finish it (we told them they could use some of the many wall pavers that were left over) they said the wall pavers would require digging too deep. We offered to pick up (and did) some square flat stepping stones from Lowe's which we left for them.  One of the younger fellas who was there one day to meet with the inspector and had no tools just laid the stones down, stomped them down with his feet and let it go at that.  The area was not level and a downpour that evening directed a steady flow of water from the stones across our concrete slab.  We didn't bother asking again, just tore it up last weekend, leveled and tamped it down properly and reinstalled the stepping stones ourselves.

Our sense through this whole experience was that there was nobody in charge.  Besides the first crew that started the project and came later on one day to install all the soffets and gutters, it appeared to be young fellas without any on-site direction or supervision.  They did a lot of good work but there was a lot of unfinished work that we had to call our contractor up to get fixed.  If we lived closer to Annapolis or the DC metro area, this would probably have been a much better experience.  They do good work at a fair price and the owners are very honest people and have the best of intentions.  But they appear to be ill-equipped to do business in St. Mary's, southern Charles or Calvert counties or other more distant locations.  I did mention to the owner that if he wanted to do more business here he needed to do more to establish relationships with truly local suppliers and subcontractors.  Communications also need to be improved all around - with the crews, between the partners, with suppliers, subs and us, the customers.  We had the sense that the crews didn't really enjoy coming here and that we were kind of at the bottom of Fox Creek's list of priorities due to our distance from their home base.  As much as we love the final product and will enjoy it and show it off for a lifetime, we couldn't go through the aggravation again.  We would encourage folks from the Annapolis and metro DC areas who are considering a project like this (or folks who aren't in any kind of a hurry to get a project like this completed in a reasonable amount of time) to give Fox Creek serious consideration.  

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"Amazing experience! Tim was great walking my mom and I through through process of siding and gutter replacement. Very quick process and now my home has a wonderful new face-lift! 😀 Heather and Elvin were also very helpful in the project."

"Our review is based on the purchase (part 1) for replacing siding for both side of our home. Jacob L. was very professional, on time, and honest. He knows what he is selling. We learned a lot about our home during his presentation. Before we bought our home we paid for a professional home inspection. We thought our house inspector was very good but he did miss something---the siding on the sides of our home was installed extremely bad. Jacob pointed out so much that we just didn't know and should have be caught during our home inpection. Thanks Jacob!!"

"Shortly after purchasing our home (circa 1940), we discovered it had a significant amount of asbestos in the building materials.  After interviewing multiple remediation contractors, we felt that Peter and his crew offered a professional, and careful approach.  He was no-nonsense, and was willing to negotiate a fair price.
The work was performed quickly, and within the time frame as promised.  Peter was responsive throughout, and answered all our questions."

"This is a family owned business and they offer a fair price for good quality products and very professional installation crews. I had all my doors and windows replaced. It was a big job. I highly recommend Star Home Improvements and I can't say enough good things about them."

"Over-all workmanship was great. The 5-man crew work well together, quite an efficient operation. The only negative is some debris, ie a utility knife blade in the grass, and many trampled plants on the south side of the house."

"We have done Windows Siding and Doors. The whole process was easy and most of the projects are done in a day."

"I couldn't be more pleased with the deck repair that Jose and Melvin of JW Home Improvement performed for us. The attention to detail, beautiful joints, use of screws instead of nails, and the particular attention appearance and completeness. The site was left spotless. A special thanks for your dedication to working in such cold weather. Thanks."

"Project went very well. Five aspects of REO-ServicePro were noteworthy: 1. Their willingness to involve me throughout the process, from planning through execution. 2. Their work ethic. They stuck to the project through some brutally hot days. 3. Their attention to detail. The crew spent time and effort to work on details that no one would notice, but which better enable the siding and trim to withstand years of weathering. 4. Their creativity and flexibility in resolving issues that emerged during the project. 5. Their integrity. Our house was open to the REO-ServiePro crew for a month. Not once during that time did my wife or I worry about the contents of our house or the welfare of our pets."

"I had quite a few issues with my roof, crumbling sidings and interior leaks. Since my roof is above certain height with a steep slope, it is considered a higher risk. I was uncertain and wanted to check out a few quotes. ExteriorMAX was my second quote. They started off with a detail intro to their company and their sourcing company. Adam was able to provide me with every bit of information to help me make the decision. I even skipped my third quote after he proposed a few irresistible discounts. He was helpfully and guide me every step of the way. He took over the communication with the HOA and arranged the approval and scheduled the work day. That made the process much less painful than expected. My new roof was completed in one day and includes all the bells and whistlers. I will highly recommend them to anyone I know. Thank you again."