Sandcastle Construction and Remodeling Inc Reviews
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By a user in BradentonSeptember 1, 2017remodel existing guest-bathroom$14,000
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By Timothy H.April 6, 2017
John and his team were a pleasure to work with. He transformed our very ugly 60's ranch house in Anna Maria Fl. to a beautiful coastal cottage. His team's workmanship and materials surpassed our expectations and we could not be happier with the project.
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By Bradenton C.August 12, 2015Remove old and install new tile Flooring in all but kitchen; replace woodwork, new doors, paint pool28 daysRuined my home! Our floor is horrible.Read more
This guy is a horrible contractor! He doesn't even project manage. He has ruined our floors. He has contaminated our brand new air duct system that we had installed by using the company he referred us to. They worked in our newly purchased home together and this contractor ran our air with the new duct system WITHOUT FILTERS ON OR VENTS in the ceilings, just open holes, while working, removing our popcorn ceilings, cutting tile in the home, cutting woodwork, etc all with our air running and unprotected venting. As well as, never notifying us that the floor needed to be leveled before laying 20x20 tile, and trying to fill the unevenness by adding some product From Home Depot (perlite?) He installed new mirror closet doors which I noticed had a small chip on the mirror handle on the door and when I pointed it out to him he said, "what do you expect me to do?" Very sarcastically. We now have over 35% of floor with hollow spots under the tile which in one place you can hear the hollow sound even in bare feet. He left a substance which I couldn't wash off. On the floor In places When I called this was after we had 200 boxes left to unpack. He came by with a paper cup of razors and gave it to me for me to try to scrap the substance off with!
This man has no ethics, no morals, and no respect for the people whose homes he works in and considerably OVERCHARGES for his work.
The work was done when we were out of state mostly. When I arrived towards the last two weeks of work, I saw all their tools laying all over our counter in the kitchen, heavy dirty tools with no protection to our counter. Also, the wood floor in the kitchen had the homes old oil fans all over it again with no protection on the floor.
His workers were walking with their filthy boots to and from our mater bath where there was a hall of existing carpet that was not getting replaced and again, no plastic or covering, when I said something to him he said, "it's old!" The nerve of this man! It's our new home and we were not planning to replace that at the time, have some consideration and treat my home respectfully.
He had men trying to tile while men where removing and replacing woodwork and walking back and forth, and other people doing other jobs all before the tiling was being laid. We asked him to replace tiles that were not acceptably laid edges were raised uneven and out of the 25 tiles we marked (this was during the process) they replaced maybe 6-8. I saw.
We have had a professionally certified flooring inspector come, which we paid for, to objectively review the work and There is definite issues with our floor, including over the allowable percent of hollow places near edges which will cause popping up tiles or cracking, chipping...etc. AND the contractor is now trying to say our floor tiles was warped...which has not been cited by our professional BUT IF IT WAS he is wrong for laying the tile and not bringing it to our attention.
This is a dangerous person if you are not on site, he is dishonest, sarcastic, inconsiderate of a homeowners belongings and doesn't care. He just wanted to get the job done as fast as possible and get his money.
He hounded my husband daily at work asking for his money. Never asking for our punch list or even if we had one. He literally harassed by telephone my husband immediately asking for his money.
Upon finishing our home, besides the fact I had to tell him I wanted the house cleaned before my expected moving date, he boasted about the big job he had on Anna Maria Island gutting a house and quoted some large amount of money.
As an example of his expertise, we have of course gone to a lawyer and when he had his opportunity to "inspect" our floor he had his worker pull an empty contractor bucket over the floor pulled by a string tied to the handle and he was videoing it with his phone. Very expert. This was in reference to me saying when I pushed furniture over the smooth tile it would get caught on tiles where I could no longer push it
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By Mr. B.August 14, 2014Full home remodel60 daysAmazing Company
I have nothing but a wonderful experience with John Johnson and Sandcastle Construction. He has been the most honest contractor that I have ever worked with. Me and my husband have built 3 homes and remodeled dozens. Fair and honest pricing, very professional and completed work in a timely manner. I would recommend this company to all of my friends and neighbors.
Mr. & Mrs. B
Anna Maria Island -
By AnonymousAugust 14, 2014100% remodel w/ addition$135,00093 days
I have read the review above, and have just the opposite opinion of Sandcastle Construction and it's owner. There company has remodeled four separate homes for our investment group. Quality work, affordable pricing, all sub-contractors were top notch and professional. Work was completed on time and got our projects back in the rental program in a timely fashion.
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By AnonymousMay 27, 2014Remove existing flooring, retile, remove popcorn ceilings replace with knock down. Other work durin$More than it should have cost29 daysHORRIBLE! DISHONESTRead more
John Johnson the owner/contractor of this company has ruined our floors of the older home we purchased. To keep it short, our floors are REALLY uneven, hollow underneath in 30% of the floor area which means our tiles will be cracking and breaking. Additionally the grout job is awful and looks unprofessional and amateur. Some areas the grout line is deep and some it is over the tile, I literally had to scrape grout off the tile myself. He installed our tile while we were out of state, never bothered to inform us of the condition of the floor underneath the carpet and tile he removed and complained when I arrived how uneven the floors were and how much perlite was required. I saw with my own eyes the flooring was still being installed with his workmen working around the house walking and hammering during the installation still ongoing. Which to this day he lies to my face about. His workers had tools all over our kitchen counters with no covering and the wood floor (although it is older it is ours and we would be living with it. ) he never covered the existing carpet in a small hall that went from the master bedroom to the bathroom and his workmen walked back and forth with filthy shoes to use the restroom and perform work in there. He replaced and installed mirrored closet doors to our bedroom closet. I noticed there was a small chip in the mirror handle pull and pointed it out to him and he said, "what do you want me to do about it?" I said well we are paying for a new item that you installed, it's damaged....and he walked away. He ignored me!
We decided to also have him remove our popcorn ceilings. We had just replaced all our duct work in the house by a company he recommended. He cut tile in our Master Bedroom! He denied it but we have pictures he sent us that show the tile cutter in the room, the reason I mention this is when I arrived while work was still going on, although the ceilings had already been done, the air conditioner was running and there was a filter hanging down because we were still waiting for a new grill in the living room. We found all the dust from the ceiling work and tile work is now in our brand new duct work and in the air handler!
Other things too, I can't go through them all but I'll leave you with when I called 2 days after he was done and (we had over 150 boxes delivered from our storage unit sitting in our house) said there was something on the floor that was not washed off nor could I remove it. He showed up with a paper cup with razor blades in it and handed it to me to try to scrape it off and told ME to go buy denatured alcohol to try to remove it. He installed our tile and the tile actually was warped and contained issues with the finish.
Not once did he call to see if we were happy nor if we had a punch list. He called my husband and harassed him daily for final payment and unfortunately we did pay him everything but a very minimal portion. We have decided to pursue a legal route.
This has left a very bad taste in our mouth regarding trust and workmanship. Be leary of this person.
If it helps any, a neighbor two canals over told me he gave them a quote for an addition (and even pulled out the quote he still had) and this man was charging $1300 to pull a permit and the man getting the work done was a semi retired contractor here in FL and said that it only costs $300 to get a permit. Mind you SandCastle/John Johnson charges 20% on top of the dishonest charges he charges you to do the work and pay for the products.
Our home is ruined. We are stuck with a sub tile installed, with not only an unprofessional looking grout and tile job - we have lots of iippage - but one that will crack and break over time due to the empty spaces underneath the tile.
I thought I did my homework. He showed me numerous houses he did perform work on. He was redoing another house up the street. PS - the neighbor told me the price to redo that house was about $75K more than he had told me it was when I was still deciding on a contractor. Dishonesty that I did not know from day 1.
How people can live with themselves is really unbelievable. He's ruined our lives and wasted our money. Between the floor and air system we are looking at a lot of money and huge inconvenience and turmoil to try to get these items fixed now.
There is one important and positive thing to say about SANDCASTLE CONSTRUCTION: the result at the end of a loooooong journey is good. This part would deserve a 4-Star rating. This is due to his two main craftsmen at my house - Tommy & Jim - which I would hire directly at anytime for any future remodeling. But the way to reach the end of this journey was an extreme painful story. There was no pro-activity, only reaction after asking for continuation. For the remodeling of a mini-guest-bathroom (toilet, vanity & shower + a new laundry room), we had a permit outside for 7(!) month... The price at the end was not cheap, but fair - but if SANDCASTLE CONSTRUCTION would have been as fast in building as they are in asking for money (here they are very pro-active) it would be a good partner!