Innovative Outdoor Living

Awful. I learned a lot about what bad contractors do from Jon and company. Jon Parsons told us it would take 4 weeks to complete the work and it took 13 months. He had a great sales pitch, seemed very professional, and gave us a great mock up of the completed work. He takes 40% down, then 40% as the second payment and the last bit upon completion. After the second payment, they showed up once a month for the next 5 months. I called and emailed over and over to have someone come complete the work and no one would ever show up. Other things that went wrong... They brought the wrong brick in for the patio. Luckily I was working from home that day otherwise they would've laid the wrong brick down. The trex wasn't laid symmetrically (as in the boards don't line up the same on one side of the deck vs the other). They moved a radon pipe in my house for the deck and it wasn't up to code as they used their plumber, not a radon contractor. I had to pay out of pocket for that despite it being in the contract that they would do it. All of the drainage they installed from the deck and patios leaked and weren't installed correctly. I had to hire someone to fix all of them (because one again, they won't return any of my calls/emails despite being under warranty). My roof leaks, and has always leaked since construction. When I asked them to fix it, they cleaned up the mold from the leak and said it was done, but never actually fixed it then asked for the final payment. They still haven't returned any calls/emails for anything under warranty. Summary They lied about the timeline, lied about the quality of the work, and I've never heard back from them until they wanted their final payment. Jon and company showed up in a local news broadcast [*** Link removed ***] He just changed his company name so get away from the bad press from his old company but don't be fooled, it's still the same crew.

Nightmare. We hired Jon and Erica Parsons (who were Deckorators at the time) in May of 2015. We had a signed contract with a start date for the end of June. We paid 60% up front, they would only take a check (no credit cards, though their site says otherwise), and they cashed the check that night. In hindsight, we were extremely stupid to hire them. I didn't hear from them, the start date came and went. Finally got Jon to respond to a text and he said they were a little behind schedule due to weather. A new estimated start date was given, and again passed without contact or any progress. Jon was very unresponsive. Every week or every few weeks, I would text him, he'd push out the start date, then he nothing would happen. Late August, started seeing all the terrible BBB reviews, saw the news report, saw complaints and bad reviews. Their emails bounced back and their website disappeared. I freaked out. I was pregnant at the time, and it was very stressful. Jon stopped responding to texts or calls. In September, finally got Erica Parsons to call me. I told her how concerned I was about all the bad reviews, all the excuses (weather, job took too long, lost cell phone), the name change with no communication to the client. Erica told me they had lost trademark lawsuit, lost 100k. They were struggling and gave me a sad story. Promised me she would personally direct my project and it would start in two weeks. Then they disappeared again for two weeks, never showed up, and stopped returning calls. Called my attorney and had them draft a letter demanding they begin work by a certain date or consider the contract void and return deposit. They ignored the attorney letter. The deadlines in the letter passed. This was October. Erica contacted me a week later and said she couldn't honor the terms of the attorney letter (start and finish dates, amended payment schedules). I told Erica Parsons that I wanted my money back. She responded that she "would if (she) could, but (she) didn't have (my) money." I asked her how this was possible, since no materials had been delivered, no work had been done, how had she spent my money? She again told me stories about sick children and stress and she cried and promised to start in the beginning of November and be finished by two weeks later. I am 7 months pregnant at this point and she promised to be done before my due date. My attorney was shocked that they admitted to not having my deposit, but said my best way forward was to try to get them to do the work (since Erica admitted she couldn't refund my deposit, it would probably require filing suit, which would be very expensive, per my attorney). I demanded to buy the materials directly, but Erica said her distributor wouldn't agree to this and I would have to pay the Parsons. They started in early November. Materials arrived in small amounts, workers showed up only a day or two a week. Erica blamed the subcontractors (which they promised me they used their own crews, no subs) for simply not showing up as promised. We also had the Parsons amend the contract so that we didn't have to give them any more large sums of money. All this did was make them work until a milestone was met, then call me repeatedly for the check. This was the only time they promptly returned a call. Once, they called demanding payment and I said I was out and would have to go home and verify the work first. They sent me a picture, but I insisted on inspecting the work first hand. The work HAD NOT BEEN DONE. Jon Parsons still showed up and stayed inside my house, waiting for me to give him a check and I had to refuse - tell him to get the rest of that milestone finished first. Sometime after the work had been started, a man showed up at our door with a list of names he'd gotten from looking up the permits the Parsons had pulled. He was another client who was in the exact same situation as us - deposit given, no work done for months. He had made a list of Parsons' clients and was going around to see what was really going on. I also questioned the Parsons on the name on the permit for my work - it is not a name I recognize from dealing with them. It is not the sub (Mario). I look up the name on the internet and can't find any evidence of this Andrew person (the name on the permit) working recently. They tell me that it is someone in their office who gets the permits. I later find out (after I make final payment), perusing the State of Virginia websites to make a complaint against their license, that they were fined for using this Andrew-person's license on a another job, too, and according to the VA DPOR website public record, THEY DID NOT HAVE THE CORRECT LICENSE TO DO THE PORCH! Finally, I approached the sub. Not only did they not work for Jon regularly (which again, Jon had promised me he had his own crews - it was one of the selling points for us), Mario (the sub) told me this was their first job with them. He said that Jon and Erica would not give him the materials he needed for work, that was why they were only showing up once or twice a week. He said they also had not paid him as promised. I have Jon and Erica blaming the sub, and the sub blaming Jon and Erica for the delays and telling me that Jon and Erica are lying about me. This continued through January. My contract stated "tongue and groove" ceiling and the pictures we looked at in the Parson's book showed a beautiful tongue and groove ceiling. I got bead board, with stains, still has price stickers on it and awful uneven screw holes all over. They did replace the worst of the boards, but it is still ugly and not at all what I wanted. Jon said, "That is tongue and groove cause the bead board is joined in tongue and groove." I have a newborn at this point and am so sick of them - I don't have it in me to fight. He promises to paint, but it is snowing now, so too cold. The work is sloppy. No right angles on the rectangle deck. Sloppy joins and corners. Sloppy nail holes. Exposed beams are dirty and ugly boards. Bead board ceiling is terrible, I have to make them redo the the trim because they didn't use mitre corners even. The ceiling fan in installed off center from the center beam and the inspector says that it should be redone (but it was not). The door they installed is ugly (I didn't get to pick it out) and hard to open (latch is so close to the door frame). It's also extremely dirty and they've left debris so long in my lawn they've killed large patches of grass. This is another point of contention. Mario/Jon keep promising to remove debris and it is not cleaned up till the very end, but even then, not fully cleaned up (and Jon in selling us, assured us that all cleaning would be done). I still have a pile of rocks to clear and had to clean up trash and debris after snow melted. Jon promised to come back and paint the ugly ceiling, reseed my lawn and clean the structure when it warms. I even have a signed amendment saying so. They redo a few of the pvc skin pieces, but it doesn't look much better. The sub (Mario) asks me to let him know when I make final payment so he can be onsite and follow Jon to the bank as Jon owes Mario $10,000. Jon has told the sub that I have not made payments and that is why he can't pay the sub. I tell Mario this is not true, and not only is that NOT true, but I don't owe Jon $10,000 anyway, so even when I make final payment, it won't be enough for Jon to pay Mario what is owed! Everyone tells me a different story and I don't know who to believe. I make final payment, per my contract, to Jon first week in February after what I think is the final inspection happens. Immediately, the pvc skins start to buckle and bow. Jon won't come out. I get a hold of the sub. He comes out and tells me that jon gave him the wrong materials, cheap materials and that's why it looks bad. The sub also tells me that Jon still owes him money. I don't hear from the sub or Jon again. In March I try to get a hold of Jon to have him come out and fix things, paint, seed, etc., but he is flippant to me and accuses Mario and other clients of his I've talked to of lying about him. He keeps making excuses, won't set a date, so I give

Awful! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! Used to be Deckorators, but probably changed name because they were on the news for being scammers! If you hire them, hire a lawyer too!

unknown

The Worst contractor that I have ever worked with. Originally signed contract Nov 2013. A few months back I officially gave up that owner Jon Parsons would ever finish the job. Last email from Jon a few months back is that he would stop by over the weekend to look at issue. Since then, multiple phone calls, texts, etc. go unanswered. So we have a screened porch with a roof that still leaks when it rains, a hole in the siding that was never fixed, a storage area that can't be used and inspection that is still not done. Current estimated to complete are approx. $5,000- $10,000. Interesting to see that the company changed names (when ??) since I contracted them. I read recent reviews and am sorry to see that many have experienced same as me or worse. Bottom line is that owner Jon Parsons is a liar and has zero integrity. Personally I think he is running a Ponzi  scheme taking new contract $'s to pay for prior jobs.  So I encourage you not to get sucked into his low price and salesmanship offer; he is one of the best snake oil salesmen there is; he got me. I originally wrote review on 8/22/2014 with specifics on issue and I encourage you to check it out. It mirrors many of issues others have had recently. And check out Better Business Bureau on this company; they are not accredited (surprise !) and have multiple unresolved complaints. Stay away from this company  or you will most likely end up wasting your time writing online reviews. <br />

<strong>Not well at all. </strong> They got the initial design wrong and had to go back to Prince William County for a second permit, then they had to stop work because they did not meet the building code.  Once they got started it went well, the worker were good, they knew what they were doing, there was only one area where I would give them a bad mark and that where they cut out some of existing Hardiplank siding and tried to replace it with wood.   <br /> <strong>The issues we have are not with the work but rather with the owner Jon Parsons.  He is a traveling excuse, he has an excuse for everything.</strong> We had to constantly remind him that there were punch list things that needed to be done.  One of those was replacing some Hardiplank siding that the workers had messed up.  We went back and forth, finally I told Mr. Parsons I was going to get it repaired at my own expense and he could reimburse me.  I have reminded him several times I have never seen a check.  If you go with this outfit you do so at your own peril. <br /> <strong>Do not trust Jon Parson's as his words are hollow.</strong> <br /> <br />

Contract was signed in June 2015 with work to begin in August 2015 on a two level deck with dry living space and patio and screened area ($118k). After speaking with Jon Parson, he stated that if we paid in full he would offer an incentive for a "grill station," which we negotiated for an outdoor kitchen, but we would provide the appliances and counter tops. After many excuses the framing for the lower deck was finally completed in November 2015. Numerous contacts were made and electrical was finally started in January, but could not be completed until weatherproofing was completed by Innovative Outdoor living. We continue to receive excuses from children being sick, Jon being sick, resource availability, delivery issues, and other things for failure to complete our project. We have maintained contact with Jon and Erica Parsons (owner), but continue to receive excuses for the completion of our project and believe the money that we paid has been used to complete other projects. We'd like to get in line with the other consumers that have been taken advantage of by Jon and Erica Parsons and to receive a refund as they are unable to perform the work as agreed upon in our contract. <br />

unknown

To summarize, our ?three week? project is now in its eighth month.  Communication throughout the whole project has been horrendous.  For the last two months, Deckorators is unresponsive to inquiries regarding the schedule and our project has been abandoned.  We are currently out several thousand dollars. <br /> After meeting Jon Parsons at the Home and Remodeling show at the Dulles Expo Center, Jon came out to our residence and provided us a quote.  He told us that our project would start in February and take roughly three weeks.  He assured us that it would be finished no later than April.  He also told us that once a crew was assigned, it would never be moved to another job.  We thought the price was reasonable, and we believed Jon?s representations about his work, so we signed a contract.  Jon collected a 60% down payment, stating that he needed this to order materials. The amount and urgency of the down payment should have been a red flag.   <br /> Deckorators completed the necessary HOA documentation and acquired county building permits in February.  However, nothing happened after that until the beginning of May, when the Deckorators crew finally arrived to dig footers and most of the building materials were delivered.  During this time -- February to May -- Deckorators did not give us any updates on a start date unless we called them first.   <br /> Even when the Deckorators crew finally began work in May, their schedule was sporadic at best.  Workers would show for a few days at a time and then several weeks would pass without seeing anyone.  Neither Jon Parsons nor anyone else at Deckorators ever contacted us to explain that there would be a delay, or why.  Jon Parsons immediately requested the second payment of 30% once work commenced.   <br /> By August, Jon was completely unresponsive -- and we had building materials rotting in front of our house.   We sent a certified letter to Deckorators threatening a lawsuit.  We also texted him explaining that our HOA was unhappy with the moldy and rotten wood sitting in the street.  Jon Parsons came to our house that day to remove the rotting material and explained that they were so behind on the project because he was occupied with some costly litigation against Deckorators.  Jon also gave us his ?word? that our project would be completed with priority.  Shortly after he came to remove the rotten building materials, a masonry crew came and we were able to get the chimney mostly complete. <br /> For the last two months Deckorators has performed no work at our house, and the only communication from Deckorators has been vacant promises from Erica Parsons to have workers at our house the next week or provide a schedule. Neither has happened. Also, we have seen crew members arrive to collect tools and other equipment left at our house.  We are now convinced that they do not intend to complete the work.   <br /> Throughout the course of our relationship with them, there has NEVER been any proactive communication on their part regarding status, schedule, or delays.   <br /> Had I properly done my research before hiring Deckorators, I would have identified numerous red flags, including: <br /> -- a news story by WUSA 9 identifying dishonest conduct by Deckorators and Jon Parsons (weblinks removed) <br /> -- enough complaints here on Angie's List to have dissuaded my selection of Deckorators to perform the work <br /> -- Dozens of complaints with the Better Business Bureau (weblinks removed) <br /> -- a federal trademark lawsuit against Deckorators (weblinks removed) <br /> -- several civil lawsuits against Deckorators in Prince William County General District Court

I contracted Deckorators back in April. We paid in full up front to get a small discount on price. After paying, we added in a change order to put in the lights on the stone piers.  We told them we would pay for them at the end of the project since we'd already paid so much up front.  They said that was fine.  Work was supposed to start mid June.  In June I started calling to find out when we were on the schedule. Debbie in the office was very friendly. She said she'd forward all of my messages to John but I NEVER received responses. I always had to call back in just to get an "estimate" of when they would be starting. Every time I called and actually got an answer from Debbie (John never ever called me during that time) she would tell me about all of the delays.  It started with 4 week delays, then went to 8 week delays.  It ended up being more like 11-12 weeks.  I had finally had enough at the beginning of September and told Debbie I wanted to hear back from John.  He called me and told me that he still had jobs ahead of mine but that he could switch me around to get me in earlier.   Finally, in mid September, his crew came out.  There was an old concrete patio that needed to be broken up so they could build the new patio in it's place.  John told me when he met with me that this was the best course of action.  However, there are a LOT of rocks in the yard, so his crew decided they would leave it and just build the patio covering the old one.  I suspect it's because they were having a hard time digging down, but no one talked to me about it.  When I called John he said they decided to build around it and that it would be seamless (strike #1) and guaranteed that we would never have problems with it.   After a couple of days, he called and wanted payment for the change order (strike #2).  I told him he would not get another penny from me until the project was completed to my satisfaction.  <br /> Then, the crew started laying the foundation of the patio including the pipes to house the electrical wires for the piers.  I requested multiple times that John have the electrician out to make sure everything was where it should be before they laid the pavers.  He COMPLETELY ignored my requests and had his crew lay everything down.  When the electrician did come, he said the pipes were in the wrong place so he had to run wires outside the house to get the piers connected to a switch in the house.  The pipes were also in the wrong place on the piers, so they had to cut grooves in the top to run the wires to the center so the lights could be affixed in the proper place (strike #3). <br /> In their defense, the patio is very pretty.  I have a lifetime warranty on pavers and a 5 year warranty on everything else.  Time will tell if it will last, but we're still hopeful.  One of the reasons we chose this contractor is that we were told their crews were all very experienced and we paid almost double what we could have paid using another contractor.  I know crew have new people on them and that they have to learn, and truly I'm ok with that.  However, if you have a new crew, they need supervision.  Someone experience should have been there on a regular basis to make sure everything was done right.  Then we never would have had the electrical issues. <br /> As previously mentioned, the patio is very nice.  I just wish we would have had to go through the aggravation of dealing with a company with such poor communication with no willingness to listen to the homeowners.  I will not ever recommend them nor will I ever use them again outside of enforcing my warranty if needed. <br />

In April, I consulted Angie's List for a Deck business.  I subsequently called for an appt. with Deckorators Design & Build (Manassas, VA).   Mr. Jon Parsons came to my home, and after discussing my project, we wrote a contract that his subcontractors would repair my Deck by installing Trex materials,  install a rain escape under the deck, lay tile on the ground under the deck, install a vinyl back yard fence, create a narrow concrete wall inside the new fence, install French drainage pipes, regrade the soil inside this wall so that the yard would be level, and lastly create a stone surround for my front and side yard gardens.   This many itemed contract was priced at $64000.00.  Mr. Parsons asked for a third of the overall projected cost.  I gave him more.  I gave him a check for $24000.00, which he promptly deposited, and it cleared from my USAA bank account.  <br /> Mid June, I had not heard a word from anyone at this business, nor had I received any preliminary drawings.  I called my HOA.  My community HOA has an Architectural Review Board and nothing had been submitted for review/approval.  I called this business during business hours. No one answered the phone.  I called Mr. Parsons. A recording told me he was not available, and that his mailbox was full.  I texted him and he responded that I owed him a plat (which he had said he would get a copy of from the county),  that it had been a crazy month because of the rain which is not good for construction.  I told him I would get a copy of the plat.  The next day,  June 16th,  I had secured a copy of the plat,  and asked for his email address.  No response.     <br /> On June 23rd, now ready to throw in the towel, I texted Mr. Parsons that I was going to cancel our contract and wanted a refund.   <br /> He called me!   <br />  He informed me that I could not cancel the contract, that I had only 3 days to do that, and that time had past.  He said that he could charge me 30% for the cost of the materials.  He did NOT answer me when I challenged him to show me dated purchase order receipts.  Regardless, I felt stuck.  Although it was now clear to me that the deck portion of my contract would not be accomplished before I went on vacation, I agreed to meet with him on June 29th, 2015 to see how we would work through things.   I had my daughter at that meeting so i would have a witness. He blamed his Designer Debbie and her husband's health as to why I had not received any drawings.  He blamed the rainy weather and his many contracts for his lack of responses to me. We subsequently agreed on a new start date of 7 Sept.  A couple of days later, I did get the drawings, and the HOA board approved the plans.  There has been several phone tag type occurrences, but his overall pattern is not responding.   <br /> Sept. 4th, 2015  (2:45pm), I texted and asked him to provide a certificate of his insurance.  (I don't want to get in trouble if anyone gets hurt on my property.)  No response.  My daughter told me to call him and verify that he was coming to start the project on 7 Sept. as he had said at our meeting.  I did not because in his defense, I believe neither Mr. Parsons nor I realized that the 7th was Labor Day.   <br /> However, Sept 8, 2015  I did call Mr. Parsons and his officel and left messages asking him to call me.  No response.    <br /> Now I concretely want to cancel this contract, and try to get a full refund of my $24K.  <br /> Can you offer any advice on how to go about this?

John Moore from Decorators showed up to provide us an estimate in March and seemed very likeable and trustworthy.  He took pictures and measurements of the space and gave me a quote right there with the promise to start work in 5 weeks and a completion time of around 7-10 days once work began.  I gave him a deposition of $9,500 (40%), which he said was required to get us on the schedule.  The HOA package was well done and professional and that was the last positive interaction with this company.  It is now Sept. and my phone calls, emails, and text message go unanswered.  Jon Parsons is the owner and at this point I feel they have stolen my money and have no intension of fulfilling their commitment.  Update: Jon Parsons did finally come out to meet us in person and provide us the county permits to put on our house with a promise to start work that week, that was 4 weeks ago.  My voicemails and text message continue to go unanswered.  By all accounts he is a con man and I want nothing more to do with him beyond the return of our deposit.  I am using Angie's List complaint resolution process to try and get our money back, DO NOT USE DECORATORS!!

I signed a contract in March 2015 for a deck and patio <br /> to be completed by May 30th. I am writing this review on August 12, 2015. All I <br /> have for my $30,100 payment of a total contract job of $38,000 is a framed deck <br /> and Trex. No railing, pergola, ground prep under deck, and no patio. Repeated <br /> calls and text messages have had no effect. I was informed by one of his <br /> installers that that Jon Parsons the owner of Deckorators did not pay him. I <br /> haven't see that installer again. Jon Parsons has not made one promised date <br /> for any work he was to complete. I am now sitting here with railings and <br /> pergola materials on my driveway with no indication of if or when it will get <br /> installed and that is only a small part of the work and materials already paid <br /> but not in my possession or installed. I am wondering if I will ever get this <br /> done or my money back. I have sent a registered letter to him that was ignored. <br /> He also informed me that he is having money problems and is in the middle of a <br /> trademark infringement lawsuit that is giving him trouble. But he has $30,100 <br /> of my money and I don't have a completed deck or patio. <br /> Do yourself a favor, do not hire this contractor. 9/10/15 - The issue has now been resolved. They completed the job as requested.

<p>First off - we LOVE our deck. It's a great product and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I would definitely recommend Deckorators to people if they want to have a deck installed. </p> <p>I have done program/project management for many years. When it comes to developing a product, we always concentrated on three things - Cost, Schedule, Performance (i.e. product). We would always say "you can have it good, fast and cheap; but you can only have two". I took this view into our project. So, let me comment on those three areas.</p> <p>Cost: Deckorators was one of three bid we received.  Deckorators was the only company that fit our budget and gave us what we wanted.  They were 20% less than anything else we asked about. We were a bit reserved about that - you sometimes get what you pay for. But, that never was an issue. We signed a contract for a deck, for a set price, and we assumed we would receive what we asked for. And, we did</p> <p>Product - We LOVE our deck. We met with Jon Parsons in late February 2015. We described what we wanted, and he drafted plans for what we outlined. They were exactly what we wanted, and we signed a contract soon after. We had to have a concrete patio removed (they did) and had a VERY large Trex deck installed. We wanted river rock under the deck; that was done. The deck we wanted was all Trex, with all posts wrapped. That was done.  They put more posts in than was required, since we wanted to add an outdoor enclosure later on.  All the lights and electrical outlets were installed.  As I said up front - the deck we envisioned and was presented - we got it.  </p> <p>The patio removal - it was a big project. What looked like a standard patio took 5 days to remove. And, they worked EVERY day. With jack hammers.  They needed 2 dumpsters to haul it away. They removed it all by wheel barrow.  It was NOT an easy task. But, they did it. There were 3 WM bags that had to be hauled. They did that too. And, they were able to preserve our brick and sump pump irrigation without fault. The left the area looking great. Was some grass in disrepair? Sure! That is to be expected with the amount of work they did. I don't care about that.</p> <p>Also, we had a couple of issues that we noticed, things that we had discussed upfront. They were rectified immediately and without complaint. That was appreciated.</p> <p>Schedule - this was the one issue of contention, and it didn't need to be.  When I asked Jon how long it would take to install the deck, he told me "5 days". I didn't believe it, not will I ever.  I told him "tell me it'll take 3 weeks, that's fine".  He stuck to his 5 days.  In the end, it took 23 days. Am I upset? Not in the least! I knew it would take longer. It took 5 days to tear up the existing patio (it was like a pillbox on a hill in WW2).  We lost days to weather. We lost days to inspection.  We lost days to waiting on material. We lost days to the workers having other things to do. That's par for the course.  Ultimately, we got our deck done. Done right. Done as we expected it. And, done in 3 weeks like we assumed it would be done.</p> <p>Lastly, let me say this, something that I told Jon.  We lost all of March to weather and needing to get HOA approval, which we knew we would. We're not unsympathetic to that. Finally, we had approval in mid April, along with a property survey. Then - nothing. No conversation. We reached out via text and email, and got little in response. It made us very frustrated. I told Jon about this on several occasions. I understand that he's busy. The one thing I would recommend to them - be honest and up front with your customers. If you're going to lose days to weather, material delivery, holidays, other projects - say so. If you're busy and can't get back immediately, that's ok too.  Just be up front. I think a lot of reviewers are giving them poor reviews because of lack of communication and unrealistic expectations. </p> <p>Deckorators did a wonderful job of giving us exactly what we envisioned. It took awhile, but with anyone contractor that's to be expected. We had to keep in contact, but that wasn't as frustrating in retrospection as it was at the time. They met our budget. The final product is outstanding and passed inspection immediately. Their workers were polite and professional.  I would do work with them in the future, without hesitation.  </p> <br />

The quality of the built is decent enough but the process and playing email tag with the company was horrible. It took almost 6 months to from start to finish. Then once complete they left construction debris, dirt, and rocks all over the patio/yard. They said they would be by to power wash it and clean but no one showed.  Unsurprisingly they did not answer/return any of my calls to follow up.... <br />

unknown

I dealt with John Moore for the estimates and CAD drawings. He was prompt, courteous and easy to deal with. <br /> <br /> <br />Once we agreed on a price, I met with Jon Parsons, the owner. He too, was easy to deal with. A start date was agreed upon and a contract was signed and deposit was left. <br /> <br /> <br />The crew showed up as scheduled and earlier than expected. I met with their foreman to go over last minute measurements. The owner, showed up too. <br /> <br /> <br />All work was completed in the time frame we agreed on. I must admit, i was pleasantly surprised, since I even had a few more steps added, at the last minute. <br /> <br /> <br />The patio looks awesome. I will definitely be using them for more work later in the summer.

Overall, our experience with Deckorators Design and Build was excellent and we highly recommend this company to others. <br /> The initial estimation process was timely and thorough. The company developed a quality proposal that was accepted by our highly restrictive HOA after only one review. We did have some communication issues between the time when our proposal was approved and the time that the work began on site. We later determined that these communication issues were a result of the uncertain nature of outdoor work that cannot be completed during rainy weather and the company's ability to communicate with a high volume of customer demand during the spring and summer months. We discussed this issue with the company's owner and suggested ways to improve his customer communication processes and avoid customer misconceptions in the future. <br /> After work began on site, the company's performance was absolutely superior. The team arrived on time every day and worked steadily throughout the day. They minimized wear and tear on our lawn and engaged us throughout the process whenever we had any concerns or if questions arose from the team such as how to modify or protect the existing irrigation system. When it became clear mid-way through the building process that the grading of the lawn would not transition well into the planned patio, the company owner and the on-site team worked with us to quickly develop an option to build a small additional wall to ensure that we would be satisfied with the end result. After only five days of work, the company delivered a high quality patio with which we are completely satisfied. <br /> In summary, after the completion of this project with Deckorators Design and Build, we believe that we received a high quality product for a very competitive price in comparison with the work that we have seen completed by other companies at other homes. Therefore, we highly recommend this company to other consumers. <br />

It took a very long time for my project to be completed.  The completed pergola was very well done, and I am satisfied with the end product.

unknown

They were awful. I don't recommend them.

We have had many issues with this company working on the project. Things are going extremely slow and behind schedule. They cancel and postpone the work all the time. They started the work last year, and we gave them a deadline of May 8th. We are very disappointed the work is still not finished. The project has stretched out for a full year now.

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An email we sent on Apr 3, 2015, at 11:32 AM provides a summary of our issues.  <br /> <blockquote> <em>"Jon:<br /> </em> <em><br /> </em> <em>Unfortunately, your unwillingness or inability to meet to resolve the pending items, in addition to the lack of responsiveness, is forcing my hand. I think we have been exceptionally patient to this point, but this project is now in its seventh month, and while there have been some legitimate reasons for delays (terrible weather in February), there have also been myriad lost opportunities to progress, and ultimately complete, the project between September and now. That includes many instances where we were told work would start, only for no one to show up followed by one excuse or another as to why.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>Given I have been asking since March 16th to meet to address the final points, yet here we are on April 3rd with no meeting date, here is how we intend on moving forward:<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>-You meet with me at the house on Saturday April 4 at 8 AM (or later that day if 8 AM doesn?t work, but not later than 5 PM ? but most certainly on Saturday April 4) to review the issues and agree to the plan forward.<br /> </em> <em>-You schedule and complete the work to clear the agreed punch list on or before the end of the day Tuesday April 7th.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>If either you don?t respond today to confirm when we are meeting April 4, or if you do, but the work does not get completed by the end of the day Tuesday April 7th, then we will deem that it is your intent not to complete the job and that you intend to forgo the remaining 10% final payment for completion. We will then seek another contractor to complete the work and provide the missing items.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>For clarity, the list of open items is below per our most recent exchanges on the subject.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>Open items/last discussion points:<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 1.The screen is the same as the sample that Reynaldo brought out and he confirmed it with your wife, weve never used anything like it before so we only got it because it was requested and much more expensive than our standard method. What seems to be different?<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: The screen we specified in an email to you on December 9 from xxxx was SuperScreen #1714. What was installed appears to be a much lighter version of screen than this, based on looking at the different samples we have. We specifically wanted the heavier screen which comes with a 10 year warranty.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon:  2.I don't remember discussing crown molding on the interior,again something we don't usually do. If its in the work order and I missed it I will be glad to install it<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: This was specified in the scope of work attached to the agreement, section 1.P:  ?One (1) inch tongue and groove pine ceiling with PVC crown molding.?<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 3. The downspout was buried with a solid PVC pipe and a pop up drain as discussed,I don't recall being asked to do anything different ?<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: We didn?t discuss this, but would like to have. It seems hap-hazardly done, and there is no pop-up drain, just a ragged hole in the ground where the pipe comes up. I?d like to look at this (and walk through a few of the other things) with you in person so we can come up with a reasonable solution.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 4. With all the work we did back there and with it being so wet,we did a good job at not destroying the entire back yard.  I expected alot worse.<br /> </em> <em>I will issue a credit for some sod or seed and straw. Do you guys have a lawn/landscape guy?<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: We don?t yet, but appreciate the gesture. Let?s discuss live in person.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 5. The Trex stairs should get 1 LED per 3-4' step. Yours are 4',2 lights would be really bright,however if I missed it I can do it but we will have to replace all the risers. Was it in the work order ?<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: It was in the scope of work doc ? section 1.M: ?Trex Recessed Stair LED Lighting; two per stair.? Let?s discuss ? maybe we can come up with a simpler solution?<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 6. We have never installed lights on a firepit and my foreman Hector explained to your wife that it would be way to hot and burn/melt the wires. That's something I definitely don't recommend.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: >>> Makes sense, although I don?t think she understand that from the conversation. It was also specified in the scope of work , section 4.C. We can drop this either way, but I do need to understand where the photocell transformer is and how to operate the lights under the wall cap.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 7. The EP Henry firepit does not come with those additional items,the bowl is only a few inches deep and doesn't allow for much of a fire.<br /> </em> <em>Again nothing we ever do or discussed,that kit costs half of what the firepit costs! Hector said he also went over this onsite.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: EP Henry has only one Fire Pit kit, and per the installation instructions, it does include all of these components. We didn?t discuss this, but given that is what the kit consists of, that is what we were expecting to receive. I?ve attached the excerpt from the installation guide showing this. You can also look at their website and see the one kit they have includes these items. Let?s discuss to see what we can work out.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 8. We can add some dirt to the footings,they ares dropping because of the loose soil and all the rain/snow weve had. Not an issue as there is a lot of concrete under all of them.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: I understand the footings are solid, but I think you?ll agree if there is compacted soil around these footings it would be much better aesthetically, plus we don?t want places for water to pool.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 7. We can vacuum and powerwash to clean up better,no problem<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 8.Recaulking ,no big deal I will have it done after the cleaning.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: Thanks ? I?d like to point it out specifically when we walk through this.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: 9. I will check out the vent and try to come up with something,do you have an idea of what you want?<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: Nothing terribly complicated ? just something to clean up the framing, such as matching quarter-round.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>From Jon: The Trex warranty is already registered which is 25yrs and that is for all the Trex material used. We offer you a 5 yr on all the labor,which is in the contract.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>We Responded: Makes sense ? I?d like to agree exactly when the five year warranty starts ? if we can simply agree to a date in writing, that will work.<br /> </em> <em> <br /> </em> <em>Let me know what you think and  Iwill start on the items that need attention and wrap this up.<br /> </em> <em>  <br /> </em> <em>Other issues we need to address:<br /> </em> <em>-              How to operate lights under wall & where is photocell transformer?<br /> </em> <em>-              Tighten (or show me how) cable.<br /> </em> <em>-          &nbs

UPDATE 06/11/15 - After submitted this review, the owner contacted me within 24-hours asking if we could resolve this issue. I submitted photos of the outstanding items to the provider and have not heard back from him. I have provided the detail including suggestions on when we could meet, if he had issues with what I sent, he should have at least responded to let me know how he wants to move forward. No response what so ever. I am changing his grade from D to F.  <br /> <br /> I went on Angie's List and found them and they had a lot of great reviews. I thought they are local so it's great. The initial experience was really positive. They came out and the sales guy was nice and very informative. He was an ex-military so we thought we were really in good hands. It was in March or April when we called them and we were thinking we can get the deck done in May or June, sometime in the summer so we would be able to enjoy it during the summer. They kept losing our schedule. For some reason, we never got booked. They didn't even come out to do work until early September and that was after me screaming and yelling at them. We have emailed them and said they said they would call back but they didn't call back. We just kept hearing excuses. It was like the opposite of all these reviews. I thought there was really wrong there. I thought they were just small or maybe they just lost their paperwork. We are talking about an almost $30,000 job with redoing our front deck and front porch. Eventually they came out to do the work and they didn't speak English, and they left a mess everywhere. They told us during the sale cycle that what they would do is they would tear everything apart and brought those trash bags and they would take it away so we wouldn't have to sit and watch the trash. In our whole driveway we had these big ginormous bags. Everyday it would just get another bagful, and we had 4 bags. We couldn't even use our driveway. We were afraid to drive on our driveway because there were nails, and there was broken this and broken that. When they were cutting that plastic stuff, they just did it on our grass which was horrible for the environment, and we couldn't even get it off of the grass. We had to clean up our own  stuff. The other part was the design of the deck. We asked them to put some additional poles and they couldn't comprehend it. The lack of communication between the owner, the sales guy, and the guys who didn't speak English, we just kept going round and round. We finally gave up. We paid them except the last $500. We just refused to pay the last bid and they have not come after it. There were still some issues with the deck that we probably have to hire someone else to come out and to just cosmetically correct it. The structure is fine. I think if they do out of the box, nothing complicated, in and out, smaller decks, they are probably very good. They had a little story board book with all the pretty pictures of all the decks they have done, we thought we were in good hands. I'm in service and I understand I've been an IT person and I understand projects. A lot of times when they go south early, they usually don't correct and these guys did nothing to help correct it. It was like he took the money and never looked back. I struggled because I had all these emails and pictures of problems they did but they didn't come back. I looked around and found all these problems and I have to send it to them and he had to go and communicate and need to come back out. It was horrible. The sad part was we never got to use our deck. It was winter before it was all done. The initial part was kind of positive. They actually built the deck. For the most part, it's structurally safe and it doesn't look horrible. It's not exactly what we wanted but it's okay. I would not recommend them to anybody unless they have very simple needs and have no scheduling requirements. It was a generic project but I will not do it with them ever again. He lied to me. He would say he would call but I never heard from him. I don't know if he was just busy or disorganized. I think the pricing was fair. If they had done exactly what we wanted, it would have been fine. I had to constantly poke out and find out little problems that they had to come fix. With other vendors, we didn't have to do anything because it's done. He didn't respond to phone calls. He didn't take care of it. The fact that we were supposed to have it done in May or June and it was done in October, that was not receptive. We kept telling him we had a big party planned in August. As long as it's done by August, it's good. We had to cancel the party because we didn't want to have all the people on our old deck. He never gave me a discount or a break. That was just too bad. To think he had all those great ratings. The other thing he did which was very unprofessional. We normally pay a certain amount upfront, and once the work starts we pay another amount, and then we pay the final at the end. He had started the work on Labor Day and billed us without notifying us so he didn't even have the permission to use the original credit card because we were going to pay cash. We changed our mind and we were going to use credit card, but he just did it and he didn't tell us. We were notified by our credit card company that the bill went thorough. That was not good especially after being so delayed, we thought we would at least get a 10% or some type of a discount because we had to cancel our party. I had no repercussion, I had no leverage. He had a bad run for whatever reason. Sometimes when projects start on the wrong foot, they don't get on the right foot. We should have just canceled. He didn't do the business back in the summer, we would just have canceled it and had just gone with another.