In late August, 2020, I noticed rot in the soffit at the front of our house (an historical home from 1850). A neighbor was having work done by Landstar Construction so I asked for an assessment, having in the meantime found outstanding HomeAdvisor reviews on the firm s website. Arber Dobrushi of Landstar said that the problem was the roof, although he was not so eager to tackle the damage to the soffit. My wife and I accepted his proposal for the new roof and seeing that the firm also did chimney work, asked for, received, and agreed to a proposal to repair the brickwork on two of our three chimneys. The work began almost immediately and was completed in a few days at what seemed a breakneck tempo by a hard-working (but in the end poorly trained) Guatemalan crew in extremely hot temperatures. We began to have doubts about the care and thoroughness of the job, but were assured everything was perfect. When the job was finished, we met with Arber Dobrushi to settle the outstanding balance of the bill. At that point he asked for additional $934, which he claimed was a 7% tax on that balance, though he added that if we paid in cash, he would drop the tax. This check/cash discrepancy seemed highly irregular so we decided to pay by check and include the tax . After he left, we contacted the NJ Tax Commission and discovered that there is no tax on capital improvements. It took several weeks and letters to the Better Business Bureau, the New Jersey Consumer Affairs Commission, and HomeAdvisor to convince Landstar to refund this tax (which in the meantime they claimed was actually for removing the debris, something that was explicitly included in the original proposal). In recent weeks we have had three separate roofing firms come to consider the original problem (the rotting soffit), which it turns out had nothing to do with a new roof (which probably wasn t necessary), but was a question of a leak in the built-in gutter, which is still unresolved. In the course of these inspections, all three roofers were appalled by what they found. Each provided pictures showing that the Landstar roofing job was haphazard and shoddy, the step flashing was poorly done and exposed, the counter flashing was just fastened and caulked, which has a limited lifespan of less than 10 years, exposed nail heads were tarred (again with a shorter life span) and the built-in gutter was simply tarred over and still in need of repair. We confronted Landstar with these issues and expressed our disappointment with the job they had done (including unfinished clean-up). Their reaction was indignant and defensive, claiming that their work was excellent and that we had gotten a deal, indeed that they had lost money on the job. After all the hassle with this firm we do not intend to pursue this matter further and are resigned to chalk up to experience the money lost on these projects. Unfortunately, we have also learned that our elderly neighbor, likewise a retired university professor, from whom we first learned of Landstar, had even worse experiences involving thousands of dollars of bogus charges that had no basis in the original proposals and for which he received no receipts. They simply took advantage of his trusting nature and to this day have refused to provide an accounting for the massive overcharging and have left much of the proposed work incomplete. Here, too, subsequent inspections (with photos) have identified serious flaws that will require remedial repairs to the chimney cap and flashing. It goes without saying that we cannot recommend this firm. Their work is slapdash, their proposals are unprofessional (undated and unsigned), they provide no written guarantee for their work, and refuse to respond to any discussion of their work in writing. Avoid this firm at all costs, stick to reputable local roofers, get multiple proposals, and don t trust online recommend...