Rocky Mountain Windows & Exteriors

I purchased a 3000 sq ft home on 7/30/15 & planned to spend 80K on major renovations. I went into this with very little knowledge of construction. As the homeowner ultimately responsible, I made several mistakes throughout the process.

I hired Rocky Mountain Restoration & Construction because Lance, the general contractor/owner, had an eye for design. He was the only contractor I met with who could hear my ideas & build on them to fit them within the bigger picture.

8/8/15, I signed a contract & wrote RMRC the first check. The contract was not very specific & did not have a projected date of completion. I verbally discussed with Lance that I would like this done within a few months & he assured me that that was possible. 6 months later, the project is still not complete.

Lance attempted to do major work on my house without pulling permits. While discussing the scope of work, Lance asked if I wanted to pull permits for this remodel–I said yes. Oct 2015 I looked up our house on Pikes Peak Regional Building Department's website & realized that no permits had been pulled. At this point, drywall was being installed: covering up electrical, plumbing, & HVAC changes. I spoke with Regional & they explained to me the serious consequences for not pulling permits. I stopped all work & confronted Lance. Lance said he would pull permits right away & explained he was trying to save me money.

Permits were pulled 10/8/15. 2 of the 4 permits did not pass initial inspection. I.e. my HVAC system had several holes in the clear, flexible plastic liner that was installed as duct work. The inspector required that the plastic liner be replaced & either an insulation sleeve be installed over plastic or be replaced with metal duct-work.

The windows arrived 4 months after I was told they were ordered. Lance explained that the window supplier messed up the order 5 different times. When I tried to fact check this, Lance would not tell me the name of his supplier. I figured out the supplier on my own: Lowes. Lowe’s & Milguard's records showed the windows were ordered 6 weeks before they arrived - one week behind their normal turnaround rate. The delayed window ordered put the kitchen installation very behind schedule because the granite counter needed to be installed onto the bay window.

Once the windows arrived, they were all the wrong size: 4 windows were too big; 1 was framed-in smaller than the original opening; 1 window was broken in transit to our house.

Lance attempted to install a window with a voided warrant. He had a glass company make a pane of glass to replace the broken pane. I refused to accept the window - if anyone other than Milguard replaces the window glass, the warranty is voided.

A discrepancy between Lance's story & Lowe's records happened again when I was told there was a delay with the baseboard order. When I called Lowe's: they did not have a baseboard order under Lance's name & I was able to pick up all baseboards that day.

Honesty is biggest issue I have with RMRC. In hindsight, I should have started this process by contacting the Regional Building Department & educated myself.

1/26/16 Lance & I decided to end our contract early with several line items unfinished. In the end, I sacrificed quality and money in order to just be done.

Everyone working & sub-contracting for RMRC was respectful & nice. Two guys working for RMRC offered to assist me when I was struggling to move heavy items. Another RMRC employee went out of his way to pick up two truckloads of trash that had been sitting in our house for over a month.

I think Lance has a lot of experience & great ideas for layout design. Several times he took extra time to think up kitchen layout options to make my ideas work. Unfortunately the kitchen was left unfinished. Lance answered calls, texts, & e-mails in a timely manner. He communicated on the weekends when needed.