Legacy home improvments

Ugh. Where do I start? The first quote was $7500 with the owner, Dustin, standing on the ground, looking at one side of the house. I asked him back a few months later to do a comprehensive quote. I pointed out parts of the roof that were leaking and would need plywood replaced. At that point, he added more money for plywood and a second dumpster due to the layers of shingles. I received a quote for $8000. I told him clearly, several times to make absolutely sure it would not exceed that amount, as I was saving for the job and would be able to pay only what he quoted.

I have a very large and complicated roof with several levels. I was surprised when I was told the work would be done in one day. A large crew arrived early in the morning to get started. They put tarps over my landscaping. At first I was impressed by this, until I found out later in the day they had dumped hundreds of pounds of roofing material in all my flower beds, crushing and killing all of the flowers and shrubs. Had I been told they were going to do this, I would have placed buckets over my plants to protect them. Also during tear off, they dumped shingles from the highest roof onto my back door awning, tearing the anchor bolts out of the brick. There is roof tar all over my light gray siding. I have cleaned what I can reach over the past few months. They didn't clean out the roof debris from the gutters, so every time it rains (even now), I have to pick up pieces of shingles, wood and roofing nails from every side of my house. It has rained a lot this year.

Included in the quote was labor injecting mortar into my chimney, which was done very poorly and looks terrible. I purchased the mortar myself so it's not included in the price above. Also included was installation of white drip edge. This was nailed in crooked in several places.

I have a large walk-up attic in my house. A couple of weeks after the job, I was horrified to find that everything up there (a substantial amount) was covered in roof debris. Had I been told this was going to happen I would have tarped it. Instead, I have spent hours every weekend since cleaning black sticky roof dust, nails and wood chips out of photo albums, boxes of Christmas decorations, old files, furniture and the motor of my attic fan. I had to completely disassemble and re-assemble the fan, which took an entire day. I'm still not done cleaning it up, and there are places in my attic I can't reach so I may never be.

During installation, I was told that I would owe more money because they didn't build in enough money for plywood replacement. I called Dustin and reminded him that he gave me a not to exceed quote. After much whining, he agreed to reduce the price for the extra work.

The second dumpster they used stayed in my driveway an entire day after they left. I called the number on the dumpster and they said no one had called them to say it was ready for pick up.

Several of the shingles are curling up, and there is some sort of plastic wrapping that wasn't removed properly and is hanging from the edge of my roof. I have nothing high enough to get it down with.

Dustin told me at the time of the quote that he would install a gutter extension down my front porch roof so that the water wouldn't run down it. It wasn't on the estimate, and it never happened.

The only thing I can say good about this experience is that my roof hasn't leaked. Yet. I would not at all be surprised if it does in the future. When I sent my last payment for the overage, I wrote a letter to Dustin, explaining that I have been in customer service most of my life, and that customers are typically happiest when you tell them how to prepare and what to expect. I outlined most of the issues above. Not surprisingly, I never received a response.

This job was under-bid and should have been a two day job. The quality of work shows that the crew was exhausted by the end of the day, and got sloppy. For this I blame the owner alone. The crew was very hard-working and pleasant. I would never recommend this company to anyone for anything.