Risa Construction

My wife and I contracted Sal to do $1750 worth of work on our porch. To cut to the chase, we just disputed and won back $1100 through the credit card. Sal is dishonest and he and his contractors do awful work – do not use Risa Home Improvements for ANYTHING. Some reasons are as follows:

*Sal was contracted to fix our porch fascia and wood surrounding it. The wood around the fascia is still rotten and water from the roof pours right in behind the fascia. It is all being fixed now by another contractor. AWFUL construction.

*The gutters were not attached to the fascia properly, and water drained down the side of our porch (we asked about this and was told it was “fixed” two or three times). Big gaps, not flush against the house, no incline, wrong nails – the list could go on.

*Instead of cutting around boards, they bent the fascia around them – it now bows out. Sal and his contractors kept telling us the porch was done, yet there were big gaps in the wood, which later they fixed (badly) with caulk (three-four inch wide caulk jobs). Over multiple days they kept saying they were done, but not painting the wood. We had to ask them back again and again.

*The old paint on all the supports was peeling. We contracted Sal to sand and repaint it. Instead, Sal or his workers just repainted it – on top of the old paint. The new paint is already coming off.

*We were given two options for the front porch cement painting. “$100 and it will look OK, or for $300 we’ll get it perfect,” is what Sal said. We did the $300 option, which meant they power washed SOME of the old paint off, then painted on top of it. We picked out a color, and they did the wrong one. Then they came back and re-painted the porch in the rain. There is water trapped EVERYWHERE under the paint, making bubbles that get kicked off when people walk on it.

*They sealed the front porch cement against the house with water-based caulk IN THE RAIN. I removed it two weeks later, and it came out like Elmer’s glue (i.e. never dried). This was after their second attempt of sealing it.

*Sal kept telling us the splash guard we purchased was installed. I kept asking where it was. “Oh, I mean it will BE installed.” He is a liar.

*Drain extenders were installed, but uphill in some places.

*The porch light that was installed burned out within an hour. Sal came back to fix it at 8:30 at night, left at 10:30 at night. On a Friday. Since he wouldn’t reply to most texts, we were happy he actually came then. Also, Sal told us initially that we bought a bad light. As it turns out, Sal’s subcontractor simply had the wiring shorting out against the housing.

*SAL STARTED ASKING ME TO SCHEDULE HIS SUBCONTRACTORS FOR HIM. This is when we expressed extreme disappointment for the work that was being done. Sal offered a refund. We said we wanted it. Then it was all talk, and no refund came and Sal and his team wouldn’t reply to us.

*Sal insulted my wife, twice. The second time he sent me a long message, “directed” at my wife, chewing her out. Then he wrote something to me like “Oh sorry, that message was not for you, accident.” Anyway, ALL COMMUNICATION WITH HIM WAS VERY CHILDISH. When some things were broken he’d just text back “Ha” or the smiley face with a tongue sticking out.

There isn’t a huge point in going on. A second contractor is fixing everything, and the only reason we didn’t think it was fair with the credit card company to ask for a full refund was because of the price of supplies used. Only work with Risa Home Improvements if YOU want to schedule all the subcontractors, if you want to be lied to, if you want everything to be painted wrong and done in the worst possible way, etc. Wish I could give 0 stars.