Commercial Residential Aluminum & Fabricating, LLC

We completely replaced a 15 year old pool cage with an Open View cage. We are extremely happy with the result. CRA personnel were very professional throughout starting with the sales rep who took us on a tour of the factory. They were fairly realistic concerning the installation timeframe due to the Virus and the County permitting process. Once the permitting was approved the installation went quickly. The workmanship is excellent and the workers competent, friendly and seemed happy working for the companywhich is always a very good sign.

We hired Commercial Residential Aluminum (CRA) to install a screen door in our front entry to help control the insects from getting into our home. The door was installed in October 2019 and looked great. Within a few weeks, the handle for the screen door began to stick. This would cause the door to not securely close and would then allow insects to enter the area. This leads me to my first complaint about their phone service. The receptionist has always been friendly but the business rarely answers their phone during the afternoon hours. When you try to choose to be transferred to one of their departments, you will get an answering machine. The service manager NEVER called me back. I would call back in mid-afternoon hours and choose every single department and no one would pick up ¦not even sales. I was later told by an employee that the service manager responds better to email and does not return calls. Then why does he have voice mail? When you call the business, the receptionist should inform all of the customers that he will not return any calls. Eventually, CRA came to fix our sticking handle. He made some adjustments and lubricated the hardware but it was still sticking when he left. I gave it a couple more weeks and it was sticking more. I called and they sent a different guy to fix the problem. It soon began to stick again and I began dealing with the Warehouse Manager Larry. He sent his best tech out and the actual handle was replaced. But it was not too long before the new handle began to stick. Larry sent one more guy to make adjustments and lubricate and while it was better for a couple of weeks, it began to stick again. From this point forward, Larry will not return my calls. The company is obviously done dealing with me. I never asked for a refund. I never asked for any money back. I have only asked that the handle work properly. Larry said our problem is extremely rare but it does happen every now and then. Larry eventually asked, What else can we do. I wonder what Larry would say if he had work done on his home that did not function properly. I find it hard to believe Larry cannot think of a solution to fixing our door when fixing and installing new doors is his business. What would you say if it was your door Larry? Or your owners door? I bet you would have an answer then. I would caution anyone from using this company because your satisfaction is not guaranteed. If there is an issue with whatever they install, itâ s your problem and not their problem. When they are done with your bothersome complaints, they simply stop calling you back. I have tried to get CRA owners name and they refuse to provide me with his/her name. It should be noted that I have been extremely polite with each employee I have ever spoken to in person or on the phone. I have waited patiently for them to return my calls but itâ s obvious they are done with me. I would have aired my complaint with the owner instead of a business review but they would not allow me to talk to them. My next step is to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Professional from start to finish. Truly a great experience.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news and do not wish to scare anyone. Hopefully your experience will be/was better than ours. Ever heard the expression **Things may not be what they seem** Enter CRA- To check if you really got a quality CRA cage, you need to check your inner post to beam and post to footing connections. If your cage is finished, that means some disassembly. If you are currently under contract I suggest using a web cam or dedicated person onsite until it is finished. Check support brackets hidden inside critical connection points before they are covered. Our CRA workers would mount a bracket into place then move it over say 1/4, 8 holes drilled the first try, then 8 more holes on the second try. CRAs engineer re-certified two botched connections in a letter based on only one photo. No calculations were supplied. His opinion was that our mangled brackets made up for the lost strength of the weakened posts. Good for CRA, maybe not so good for us. 16 holes in the finished brackets, and the 21 total holes drilled into the posts. Total is 37 holes in one 4 x 7 spot. Is that post to beam connection structurally safe, who knows? I would feel a lot better if it had the 21 holes it should have. (5 in the beam, 8 in the post, and 8 in the bracket) Another post to footing anchor had 5 holes drilled for two Tapcon screws. Its post was installed wrong and removed so **surprise** we found another damaged bracket inside. The post and bracket were both replaced but problem is those Tapcons were re-used. Since the fasteners were now loose in the old holes, CRA opted to caulk them into place instead of the more accepted practice of using anchoring epoxy, inserts, or larger Tapcons. 2 CRA managers where onsite for that decision. They were here to **fix** what they called cosmetic issues. Calling them cosmetic I suppose justified the claim that a second county inspection was not needed. I agree crooked downspouts might be cosmetic but support posts / anchor brackets? Workers/Managers used tin snip as hammers, and locking pliers as wrenches. Very unprofessional. Miss-cut parts / miss-measured layout / broken promises / poor construction, etc. It was hard to watch. The original installation did pass inspection. The county inspector compared the number of attachment fasteners to the approved plans, period. They cannot see inside covered internal connections. Inspectors care little of scratches, crooked downspouts and other bad work. I was told my crew was the best CRA had. If my cage is any indication of CRAs best work, think about how many compromised cages could be out there. CRAs attitude seemed if it passed inspection, what is the problem. I bet the recent New Orleans hotel collapse had several inspections before it fell. From management, to customer service, to final measure, to manufacture, to construction, to repairs, to final resolution, mistakes were made at every level of CRA. If you show up at the end, you might think all is just fine. Touch up a few scratches and start the party. CRA makes a nice looking product. BUT, a **quality** structure assumes it is also assembled correctly. Will you get a better job, maybe? Worst, maybe. Is it worth the risk, only you can say what is right for you.

Phil was very nice to work with. He explained everything thoroughly and helped fill out needed paperwork. He was very prompt at getting back to us when we called. The men that installed the gutters were very professional and experienced. They reviewed the plans with us prior to installation to make sure all plans were correct. The installation was very quick also and the gutters, downspouts are very good quality and look very nice.

The new cage appears bigger with less beams. We love the transformation!

They answer all questions,

Our salesman Fernando was outstanding. His follow up and his responsiveness was more than we expected. The installers did a fabulous job. I would strongly recommend CRA!! It was a pleasure doing business with them.