Robinson Construction

I was hoping to write a complete review of this contractor after they completed our project, a <600 sq ft addition. However, although we signed our contract and received our building permit in mid-December (AND the contractor stated it should not take longer than 5-6 months to complete - in their own contract states they will make BEST effort to complete within 140 business days), it is still not done, nor have they filed for a final inspection. Additionally, despite me asking for updates, I have not received any in a couple of weeks. Communication has been difficult for several stretches during this project. For example, a week ago I sent a message asking for an update since we had not seen any progress for a week or so by then. We have not yet heard back from them. At times, the project manager has made his best effort to let us know who would be at our house and when. We really appreciated it, even when the subcontractors did not always follow through. However, often we have not received any notice. This is an inconvenience and really just not polite. As the homeowners and the ones paying for the project, it seems fair that we should be notified when to expect someone to be in our home. We also have dogs and we prefer to not lock them up when it is unnecessary.

I have additional frustrations with this builder, but I do appreciate his willingness to work with me on some design ideas which were a bit less customary in this area. Randy also has a lot of experience and can troubleshoot issues, if he wants to. Both he and his project manager are personable, but I have not been impressed with their communication, follow through or explanations of expenses. When they presented us with an extra bill, they were not willing to provide a copy of receipts to justify the added expense. Additionally, they did not follow through on contacting a local AC company which we preferred. They were quite set on working with "their" guys. I understand this to some extent, but we preferred to use the company who would later also be maintaining the system. Our option would have also saved us over ~$4000 over what their company wanted to charge us originally, They did come down on our price, but also did not do several things we had requested and had discussed with Randy on more than one occasion. They also installed the system in a completely different location than originally discussed. Although it may be true they could not install that unit in the crawl space as originally discussed (like the original system), they should have discussed options with us before installing it in the attic space they suggested we add. Now, we can never merge the duct work with the original house to optimize the heating and cooling of our house. Our desire to do that had been discussed with them multiple times before the install. That is a BIG departure to not get any notice on. They installed the air handler and duct work in the attic space and THEN explained why. They also never offered to refund us any of the cost, although it was not installed as agreed. They would, however, still be happy to sell us an extended warranty of the AC unit. They even mentioned it at our most recent meeting.

Buildzoom recommended this builder to us. The end product is attractive and we will enjoy the addition, but there are frustrations beyond the AC issues.
The original team they sent to build the deck did not build it according to the specifications of the Trex brand, nor did they know how to build the railing, Robinson Construction ordered the wrong size balusters which delayed the project further. When they did get the right size in, they had ordered too few post wraps - by about 8 - although the posts had been put in about 2 months prior.
The PM was not sure what siding had been delivered and they had anticipated (or at least told me) they would be ordering a different brand. I had researched it and felt okay about it, only to be surprised by a different brand. After they installed it, the PM came back later and said I was right that a different brand had indeed been delivered.
These are some examples of some frustrations.
Generally, interacting with them went ok. They did fix most of what came up during the project and I have been VERY aware and involved for most of the project - far more than they probably prefer.
Most of the subcontractors have been fine. The paint and tile subcontractors were our favorites. The biggest problems were usually due to a lack of communication from the PM. They did also send one guy who took over a week to install ~300sq ft of click and lock LVT. That even seemed to surprise Rick and Randy, in N unwelcome way. That did not keep them from sending him back to do other jobs though.
I due understand COVID has affected a lot of building projects. We tried very hard to get materials on site before they would be needed so that it would not cause delays. Paint shortages did affect our project for about 1-2 weeks. Other than that, the availability of materials really was not a hindrance for our project.

As of October 3rd, They have still not completed the project.