Keystone Specialty Construction LLC

Ken st clair should not be able to acquire clients off any web site he is a lier he destroyed my condo he lied about his ability to install a floor.

It lasted from April to August. The was supposed to come back and give me railings on the stairs and he never did. He used an inside railing outside my home, and didn't finish the job. He sells you, I hired him and he sold my project off to another company without telling me. He did a terrible a job and I am very disappointed.

First off the contractor showed up wit an inexperienced crew who didnnt seem to know anything about concrete work, I expressed my concern to (Tom) who stated that I need not worry because he only uses those gys for demolition and labor and that profesional concrete finishers would come and complete the job. In hindsight I should have known how it would have turned out because I caught one of the workers urinating in my back yard. After the so called profesional finishers finished the job I was amazed at how horrible the job looked. The back patio was not level and crooked, the post that hold up my front porch roof were not set straight and crooked, the side walk and driveway apron was not straight, or level with deep indentations like foot prints in the concrete. When (Ken StClair ) saw the job he was visibly upset and told me that everything would be corrected that was the last time I saw him. He would not return my repeated phone calls or text messages. About 3 days later (Tom) came to my house to collect the balance of the money owed. I informed him of my concerns and that I was going to take legal action in court. He said he would fix the problems and that Ken was no longer in the picture. He assured me that he would bring a better crew in a completely redo the job because he said he didnt like how it came out. He asked me to trust him again and I did. The second job looked as bad as the first, they left the wooden frame around my front sidewalk  and storm drain, they left huge holes in the asphalt portion of my driveway, the cement sidewalk blocks are uneven and cracked in half, The driveway apron has deep indentations, and looks like its coming apart. It looks like they used some kind of cheap concrete. I have called several timesa leaving several messages but no one returns my calls. The last thing that Tom told me was that he ran into problems finishing the driveway and that he would return to fix or replace it. That was in May. I have not heard from him or the company since and of course they recieved payment for the job because I trusted him at his word. <br />

The contractor did a very nice job.  The crew arrived on time and worked practically non-stop until the job was done. They've accomplished in one day what other contractors estimated 2-3 days. The workmanship was of good quality and the job site was left neat and clean.  I would highly recommend KSC for any type of concrete projects. <br />

After checking on Angie?s List for an experienced contractor <br /> to install our Terrazzo floors we interviewed Mr. Ken St. Clair. <br /> We described in detail what we wanted and even took him into <br /> the Comcast Center and Suburban Station building to make sure he understood <br /> what we wanted and he was able to do the job. <br /> Mr. Ken St. Clair assured us he has done this type of floor <br /> before and he could meet all of our requirements. <br /> Mr. Ken St. Clair we discovered much too late was lying to us <br /> from the moment we met him;he had no experience and continued to lie to us <br /> throughout the job. <br /> Mr. Ken St. Clair has caused us tremendous harm and <br /> considerable additional expense. <br /> We had to rip out everything this lying deceitful creep <br /> ;I won?t even use the word contractor to describe him since his work product <br /> was just horrible. <br />   <br /> <br /> <br />

I just spent 20 minutes writing a review in this space.  I clicked Preview Review and it took me to the sign-in page.  How frustrating!!!  My review was lost and I don't have another 20 minutes to rewrite.  Suffice it to say the experience with not good but I was satisfied with the results. <br />

I loved them. They did a beautiful job on a project that was very difficult to navigate our permit person with. I love the job.  Every day I look at it and just love it. I liked the quality of the job. They really did a great job interpreting the directions I was giving them to give us exactly what we wanted. We had other people but I had more confidence in them. I would absolutely use them again.

I hired Keystone to repair the work of another contractor.  Initially they were supposed to grind down and skim coat 2 interior concrete areas, 600 sq ft, on the first floor of my home.  We discovered that the concrete would not hold up under grinding, so we agreed to remove and replace the entire floor.   <br /> <br /> I was in a tight spot because the floors that needed repair were holding up major renovations in the house and I had other contractors waiting.  I did a lot of research to make sure that the company was capable, visiting sites where they had done work before, and legitimate, reading reviews, checking with the BBB and consumer protection agency.  I found a couple bad reviews of Keystone, which I confronted them about.  They insisted that the reviews were from a previous employee and a women with whom they had gone to court.   Given the urgency of the work that needed to be done, their responsiveness and availability, I accepted this explanation and hired Keystone despite the price being high and some lingering skepticism about their reputation. <br /> <br /> I left the house for a few days while the grinding was being done (lots of dust).  While I was gone Ken, my contact at Keystone, called and said the existing concrete was disintegrating under the grinders and could not be repaired.  Ken sent pictures and I had a neighbor confirm the report.  So over the phone and through email we agreed to remove what was there and pour an entirely new floor.  <br /> <br /> When I returned to the house, most of the floor had been demolished and was nearly ready for the new pour.  We discussed all the options, ad-nausium, and we agreed on a burnt, polished finish.  The price was high, but I was up against a wall and I was given the <br /> impression I would be getting a premier product.  What I wanted and needed was very specific, so I was very specific about every detail.  I already had one bad concrete flooring contractor; I wasn't about to have another.  From our communications and the price quoted, it was clear the product that Keystone would produce was a hand-polished floor with powdered color.  I made sure to confirm these details with a few of Keystone's crew.  <br /> <br /> On the day of the pour the crew left before polishing the floor.  It had broad, deep trowel marks in it and looked like sidewalk.  I had to call them to get someone to return and polish it before it hardened.  While my floor was still wet, and over the phone, I was told for the first time that the color would be ruined by a hard troweling/polish.  None-the-less, this was an interior floor in central spaces of the house, and anything short of smooth wasn't going to work.  So I insisted that someone come back and hard trowel it.  This was not the finish we discussed, or the finish I paid for, but this floor had exhausted my patience.  It was acceptable and I was not about to put any more work or money into it. I let the issues with the finish go and had Keystone seal the floor. <br /> <br /> It was a couple days before the floor was cured that I was able to walk through the house.  What was supposed to be a polished floor with color came out white and only hard troweled smooth.  On further inspection of the house I discovered that things were missing.   About 30 feet of copper pipe and a set of Dewalt tools with their charger were gone.   <br /> <br /> Issues with clarity about work that was going to be done continued when I asked that Keystone repair my front steps that needed to be resurfaced and patched.  They offered to do the work for $1200 with a $200 discount for the steps as a package with the floor.  However, when the crew came to do the work they were told to only do part of what we discussed.  They called Ken and it was clear the details we discussed were not what was understood.  Ken came to the house with his partner Tom to clarify the work on the steps and review the new floor.  Shortly into our meeting Tom began to berate me about his profits and not being paid enough to have meetings to discuss the work that had yet to be done, and walked out. <br />   <br /> This was absurd.  I was paying Keystone $8900 for 600 sq feet of floor and some stone repair.   Meetings are a necessary part of every job and for that amount of money accuracy is warranted.  Ken then told me it would cost $3000 to repair the steps the way we had initially discussed, so I asked that he return the $200 'discount', which I had paid with the cost of the floor, and I would have the work done by someone else.  I was able to have the steps repaired properly for $700. <br /> <br /> Later I would learn that Keystone historically added costs to other projects, habitually overcharged and had 'miscommunications' with prior customers that they leveraged into charging more.   <br /> <br /> At the same meeting where Tom walked out, I raised the issue with Ken of the missing Dewalt tools and copper pipe.  Tom and I had previously discussed the missing copper pipe and he offered to reimburse me.  Ken told me that he never had issues with stealing, it was impossible that anyone from his crew could have taken anything, and Tom was wrong to offer a reimbursement.  None the less, things were missing and the only other person who had access to the house was my neighbor, who told me that Keystone's crew had approached him looking for the house key they had been given and needed to be let in. <br /> <br /> Since the Keystone crew were not the only people who had a key, and in an attempt to be civil and fair, I asked that Keystone pay for half the cost of replacing the tools, about $180.  In response, Ken told me that he had interrogated all the employees, telling them that cameras were in the house, and after extracting no confessions he had fired most of them.  I listened to the story, asked that he take some responsibility despite theft being a moot point, to which he insisted that no one had taken anything.  I have spent over $400 replacing what went missing. <br /> <br /> Keystone came to the house once more to apply xylene to the sealed floor and do some grinding where the concrete wasn't properly troweled.  They thought that air was trapped in the sealant and was the reason the floor appearing white.  The xylene was supposed to release the air and reveal the color.  The xylene did not change the color and now the seal is uneven.  <br /> <br /> That same night I got an email from Ken saying that he had accidentally taken my broom and would return in the next couple days.  That was weeks ago and I have not gotten my broom back.  Keystone has also not returned the key they had been given to my house, I have not been refunded the $200 for the work they did not do, and no reimbursement has been made for the hundreds of dollars of missing copper and tools.  I have emailed and called Keystone numerous times in the weeks prior to this review just asking for the key, broom and a receipt.  I have yet to get a response.   <br /> <br /> While Keystone poured an acceptable floor, it is definitely not up to the standard of its cost.  My experience with them started off positive, but became insulting and very disappointing.   <br />

Provider claimed that all work could be completed within 2 weeks.  He had some good ideas and seemed knowledgeable and professional.  Demolition of our old patio went fairly quickly.  After the demolition, the provider determined that the outer retaining wall of the patio was not structurally sound due to a crack in the foundation of the wall.  The provider estimated that the repair would add a week to the project timeline and add approximately $7,000 in additional cost.  We agreed to the repair of the wall as the patio was unusable in the demolished state.  Once we agreed to the wall repair, there were several issues with the wall preparation work quality.  The trench for the foundation of the wall was an inadequate depth which we brought to the contractor's attention.  The forms for setting the concrete had to be reset twice.  My neighbor's trees and grass area are adjacent to the wall - the grass and trees were damaged as a result of the work.  The resulting retaining wall, while it appears functional, is not straight and still needs to be stuccoed (it looks terrible, which my neighbor is not happy about). <br /> The stamped concrete patio is finished and looks beautiful.  However, the contractor had three separate work crews here at three separate times to complete the patio.  We did find out from one member of the crew which actually completed the patio that the crew that those workers were professional union contractors used by the provider when the job was more than his regular crew can handle.  After the completion of the patio, we received email from the provider stating that he would not be able to return to complete the work until the spring due to the fact that one of his workers stole our deposit money from him.  At that point, we had a no fence around our patio (there is a 5 ft drop from our patio to our neighbor's yard), the steps in the yard were not complete, there were parts of our lawn that were destroyed and supplies and tools left lying around the yard.  We have a blind dog, so the fence is very important to us. <br /> At this point, we were seven weeks into the project and it was not complete.  We had an unsafe patio, unfinished wall and no fence.  We emailed the provider stating that to leave us with an unsafe yard and patio area for the entire winter was unacceptable to us.  We mentioned each item that was either left undone or left in disrepair.  We laid out exactly what we wanted done ASAP (all items which should have been completed already).  The provider did not respond to us. <br /> Given the situation, we would not recommend this provider to anyone.  The only reason he got a D and not an F is that the patio was completed.  This was a very painful home remodeling experience. <br /> <br /> <strong>In response to the provider's response:  Do not insult us here by lying about the situation.  No one came out here to finish the work.  I had to hire another fence company (which I also reviewed - great work!), a landscaper to finish the hardscaping and repair the damage left behind from your work crew.  We also had to clean up the street in front of our house and the neighbor's house after the dumpster was removed (that dumpster was in the street for several weeks even when there was no need for it).  The retaining wall is still unfinished and you have never, ever contacted us to follow up.  I cannot find a contractor who will finish it - no one wants to be responsible for someone else's crap work.  As for refunding us any money, that is a total lie.  You never refunded us any money whatsoever.  With all of the problems, this job wound up costing us about double in money and more than that in wasted time.</strong>

The workmen were hard workers. The field manager handled things well. Although we still have a little water in one area they will be out to remedy it. Definitely considering this company for additional work.

The team at KSC performed excellent work and were helpful in identifying the best solutions for various projects.  They do what they say they are going to do and are honest, hardworking individuals who demonstrate a high degree of professionalism and willingness to help solve problems. They continue to be my first call for any projects that require a contractor with a well rounded skill set and an ability to quickly complete projects.  Ken is one of the most honest and reliable individuals you will ever meet and I would encourage other members of Angie's list to contact him when looking for a top quality contractor. <br />

I really liked the very thorough estimate process, he provided samples, and he reworked his schedule to fit our deadline needs. The crew he had working for him was very good and knowledgeable. I especially liked his attention to modifying any issues right after the job. He came back to do a survey of the job and there were a few things I wasn't happy with. He went beyond what I think most normal people would do to make me happy and meet my expectations. I was pleased with him.

We had problem with permit from borough that forced work to take much longer than planned but contractor helped with obtaining permit and performing the work. They did great job.