Anchorstrong Construction

Steer clear of Joe Essy and Anchorstrong. Our experience was a disaster, both financially and emotionally. We made the mistake of hiring Joe for an interior remodeling project, including our kitchen, and it was nothing short of a nightmare. What should have been a straightforward project turned into a drawn-out ordeal that went far beyond the agreed-upon timeline. As of July 23, the work was still incomplete and atrocious, despite a promised completion date in mid to late June. We paid over $34K and Anchorstrong has not reimbursed us for their significant unmet contract obligations and losses they caused.

The quality of the work was appalling. Misaligned installations, incorrectly measured trims and blinds, and sloppy paintwork are just a few examples. The craftsmanship was far below what anyone should expect, especially given the exorbitant prices we were charged. See pics I posted on Google reviews and Yelp. It looked so bad that our friends laughed so hard when they saw it, thinking we tried to do it ourselves because they couldn’t believe it was supposed to be a professional remodel.

Communication was a constant struggle. Whenever we raised concerns about delays or shoddy work, Joe was very dismissive and defensive. It was nearly impossible to get him to acknowledge any of the issues, let alone take responsibility for them. We were left feeling ignored and frustrated at every turn. We also found Joe’s behavior to often be incredibly disrespectful and, in our view, extremely dishonest and belligerent. We have witnesses who observed this as well. We felt so bullied and intimidated by Joe to the point we felt unsafe and installed a security camera. We raised these safety concerns to Anchorstrong, who has blatantly ignored us. I posted pics of our emails describing Joe’s intimidating behavior on Yelp.

To make matters worse, our home was left in far worse shape than when the project started. Joe often didn't bother to cover or tape anything while he worked, resulting in big scratches, stains, and other damages to our brand new white cabinets and quartz countertops, our floors and other areas of our home. Some of this is irreparable. For example, our brand new cabinets and counters look used and damaged now. Joe has made no effort to address the significant damage he caused. On top of that, Joe told us he lost items from our home, including our front door key.

A particularly troubling incident occurred when Joe contacted Costco about a property damage claim we had filed. Without our consent, he attempted to have reimbursement checks issued directly to him instead of to us. We were notified by Costco, who emailed us and expressed concern over Joe's conduct. There is another email from Costco stating that they had to stop communication with Joe due to his inappropriate language and they informed Joe that they do not tolerate discrimination or harassment. I posted pics of these emails on Yelp. This disturbingly aligns with our experience with Joe. Anchorstrong has not acknowledged or addressed his very troubling behavior.

Ultimately, we had no choice but to look for a new contractor to clean up the mess Joe left behind. We got estimates from contractors and they were shocked at the state of the work and said they have to completely redo many aspects. Joe’s work demonstrated a severe lack of basic remodeling skills. We were left with a significant financial loss and a tremendous amount of emotional distress due to Joe's incompetence and his erratic and intimidating behavior.

If you're considering using Anchorstrong, think again. Read the other negative Yelp reviews--our experience lines up with many of them. Be prepared for delays, subpar work, abysmal customer service, and a complete disregard for your property. Get everything in writing, and don't trust a word that isn't backed up by a contract. Our experience with Joe Essy and Anchorstrong was a total disaster, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Despite these issues, Anchorstrong has been unresponsive and unhelpful. The owner said he does not want to talk to us. Anchorstrong also offered to pay us to remove our negative Yelp review. Combined with Joe’s interaction with our vendor who left a negative review, which Joe allegedly pressured to remove, this raises questions about the integrity of Anchorstrong’s reviews. We noticed unusually high ratings of Anchorstrong, leading us to wonder if others have been paid or pressured to remove negative feedback.

To Steve (the owner of Anchorstrong), is this how you handle customers who have paid over $34K, especially when there are serious concerns about unmet contract obligations, significant damage to their home, and what appears to be highly unethical behavior based on the emails we received from Costco?

The numerous issues we've faced raise substantial questions about Anchorstrong's qualifications to do basic renovations, as well as their integrity and ethical practices.

Our little 1920 Craftsman bungalow had needed foundation work for a while. Floor sinking in 2 or 3 places (the worst was 3-4 inches) and perimeter concrete had cracks/holes in a few spots; just to mention the main issues.

We were finally in a place financially where we could get some of the work done, so we did A TON of research, read countless reviews and contacted the top 5 companies in our area.

And after meeting with all of them and getting quotes, we decided to trust Anchorstrong. We hired them partly because their quote was very competitive, but mostly because the prompt, thorough and kind communication, as well as the extensive knowledge of our contact person (Eric) made us feel very taken care of. He took the time to reassure us and answer every single question patiently.

That changed the minute we signed the contract.

I could go on FOREVER describing in great detail the reasons and situations that left us feeling extremely disappointed and constantly frustrated...

Eric remained our contact person through the duration of the job, and he flat out lied to us. Repeatedly. So much so that at one point we refused to communicate via phone as we wanted everything he said in writing.

The whole time it was just the same 2 worker guys (for this big job). Very disorganized too.
The first day my husband had to lend them a shovel because the one they had was too long to work in our crawl space.

They also asked to use some pavers we had sitting on our side porch (meant for another project) to set down and lift the house against. They didn’t seem to have a plan. We refused as that was definitely not the right material to use, or way to do it.

Another day hubby had to run to Home Depot because they didn’t have the materials for what needed to happen. COMPLETELY UNPREPARED.

It felt like we had hired a couple of guys from the Home Depot parking lot, NOT having a professional and reputable company working on our home.

The person giving the workers orders/instructions was Eric, and he had never even seen our house.

We contacted Eric’s boss, Steve, to try and get things moving in the right direction. We were told he was the owner of the company (even though another name is listed on all public records), and he too was very nice. But didn’t seem to care at all that we were having issues because he (admittedly) never read any the emails we cc’d him on.

They did a decent job on the retrofit since that’s the part they got a permit for (and would be inspected), but even that was missing a few components that were listed in the contract.
My husband noticed it when he went under the house to check out their work and called them on it.

We also had them do 4 underpins, which we “think” were done fairly well. But no way to verify once the concrete had been poured…

They saved the floor leveling part for last (which was our MAIN concern and the reason we contacted them), and basically added a short girder beam and then tried to jack the house against mud. Got about ¼ inch of lift and it sunk right back down.
Then they came out and said they were done with the (whole) job.

We gave them each a hefty tip and I even baked them cookies to say thank you.

And then my husband crawled under the house again…

He is in the building/construction business and does a lot of his own work, so he knew exactly what needed to happen… The job was NOT DONE. At all. We could tell even from inside the house as our bedroom door frame was still super crooked and the door still didn’t close. Basically no change on that aspect. And several other things listed on the contract were either not done or half-done.

Finally, after making major waves and insisting the job be completed properly, a foreman showed up. On the very last day of the 2nd round. He did get things moving; and they were able to lift the house (only in the worst spot) about an inch - not the 2-3 they had mentioned.

My husband had to crawl under the house a total of 3 times.
That last day, he saw there were still 3 loose posts that they were supposed to replaced, some holes/cracks in the foundation wall (and a few other issues); all things they were contracted to do, but didn't.

But we did not want them back at our house. Especially after hearing them insult us (in Spanish) through the floor.

If you choose to hire them after reading this, I would suggest that you protect yourself by making sure EVERY DETAIL of the job is well described on the contract. Have EVERYTHING IN WRITING. Verbal assurances mean absolutely nothing.
Don’t be fooled by the smooth talking.

I think they don’t expect the homeowners (or even the city inspectors) to go under the house, so they CUT A LOT OF CORNERS. . It seemed completely habitual. Make sure you have a third party available to verify that they actually did the work they were contracted to do.

It was a long and incredibly frustrating experience, and we hope to save someone else the nightmare we just went through.