Statewide Restoration

I had a house fire a year ago and my house is still in the early stages of repair. I was promised that they would inventory and pack out the salvageable items for cleaning and to store. I could sit back and relax they would take care of everything. It seemed to be okay at first but then it went from bad to worse. The contents people turned furniture upside down and dumped out all kinds of things making it so you couldn’t even walk. They packed up soft goods that my insurance company said just total loss it. They were advised of that from day one yet I found bags with clothing and linens ready to take out. I keep telling the contents supervisor the bags were not to be taken. They took them anyway. Items I tagged for cleaning were left behind even after pointing them out several times to the supervisor. I watched them put things that were total loss in their van never to be seen again. When they said they were done I went into make sure there wasn’t anything else I wanted them to salvage. In that process I discovered numerous items still in cabinets and drawers. They took new large packages of batteries. Party lite candles after they dumped out the new package of 30, a new padlock but they left the wrapper behind. Much more I could tell was taken. It ended up that a couple friends and I had to go back in to redo the inventory. I’m in my mid 60’s and didn’t need to be in the smoke damaged house. They said they would secure my house and did board a few windows and I kept asking about a security fence that my adjuster approved right after the fire. After the house was broken into they did some more boarding. The fence in the beginning did completely secure the house and there was more break ins including my detached garage that had a security door on. Even after the fence was put up there was a gap where two women went in and kicked in the front door. At that time there wasn’t anything left in the house. They started the demolition process and I stopped by to check on progress. No one spoke English that could be understood. They broke the bullnoses off almost half my stairs going to the second story. Since my house was taken down to the studs they were supposed to seal everything due to the smoke damage. I was very concerned about the house smelling like smoke but they guaranteed me that wouldn’t happen. The first time they sealed it with a water base paint which was not the correct sealer it was supposed to be a shellac so they had to redo it. A year later my house still smells like smoke and I can see boards that are charred to the point they should have been removed. They put new boards up next to charred ones to add support but the charred should have been taken out. There is bleed through from charred boards where the sealer isn’t heavy enough. So now they are trying to seal it again. It’s a good thing I caught it before they hung the Sheetrock. I now have a breaker box in a bedroom because no one communicated with me about where I wanted it. I had hoses from the furnace hanging out the front of my house and a sloppy caulking job around wire for my new air conditioner. They have a downspout directly over the ground wire from the new power meter. They took down bushes to do the siding and they are still in my yard along with face masks and other garbage they have left behind both outside and inside. They are double billing me for the same thing and billing me for wood window when it’s really vinyl. The list goes on. I have no confidence in them and do not trust them. I’m withholding payment because they want me to pay them for work that is not done. They have a stop order on the work which is fine with me. Of course they are trying to fix problems I pointed out to them. One thing I have tried to push from the start is that I want to be informed of who will be at my house and what work will they be doing. That doesn’t happen. At this point I want to fire them and have someone else finish the work. I’m waiting to talk to an attorney regarding them. I’ve already reported the problems to my mortgage company since they hold some of the repair funds. Please don’t get suckered in with all there lies. Oh yes they sent a bill over $40,000 for the contents portion at which time I rented. Storage unit to move my belongings to because they were charging like $500 per month. I told them to bring my property and they brought some of it. They never did bring the washer and dryer. I had to spend a lot of my time fighting with them on there bill. I wouldn’t let my insurance company pay that outrageous amount. I did get the bill cut in half They have a high turnover rate and the two people I trusted left the company because in good consciousness they couldn’t continue to work for them and try to screw the customers. Please don’t sign until you can check them out and read through the contract and better yet get advice from an attorney. Thank you for reading this.

I had never heard of this company until I received a call from my neighbor saying that someone was sitting on my front porch the morning after half of our home burned down. I left the Hotel and met Arthur who was waiting on my porch to offer his companies (Statewide) assistance through our life changing ordeal. William Welsome and Scott Ames also showed up within a couple hours of us agreeing to use there company and helped us with everything we needed to do with the insurance company and how to start piecing our life back together. They boarded up our house that day and by day 2 was already creating blue prints and lists to work with our insurance company. After a couple more days we started working with Lilly Gorash and her crew to start going through the home and make lists for us of destroyed items and tried salvaging what they could. After that we start working with our project coordinator Serge Stasyuk. I couldn't have asked for a better person for this position, he was very attentive to our needs and wants. He answered every question quickly and with great knowledge. They got our house demoed and rebuilt quicker than they had even told us it would take and it is beautiful work! We have found a few small issues since moving back in a few ago and Serge has sent his crews over within hours to the next day to fix them.

I cannot say how happy my wife and I are and have been with our decision to hire this company from start to finish. The work they completed with the Insurance company taking all the stress off our shoulders as my wife was 5 months pregnant at the time of the fire and I was in my first year running my own company.

Statewide is a pro. They will do all the work right.

On April 23rd 2016 our house tottaly burned down. This happened on a Sunday. My family only had the clothes on our backs. My wife wrote her friend and told her we would not make it to church. There were 8 fire trucks. After talking to the fire department and finding out there was nothing we could do. I was told the fire would burn at least 3 more hours. I told my wife we need to go to church. At church we cried and prayed. What are we going to do? The holy sprit came to me and said don't worry everything will be okay.

After church Red Cross talked to us and gave us a bag with a tooth brush, soap, shampoo, tooth paste, comb, and more stuff that we use every day. I tell you that was like receiving a million dollars. (We had just payed our taxes and had no money until the first of May.)

I received a call From George who worked for Statewide. George said how about we meet I can help. We met at a local restaurant George said eat what ever you want it's on my tab. We ordered our food and prayed. My wife and I are a mess. We were a mess for 6 months. George told us about Statewide Restoration. I did not know anybody and this is a huge job. We signed the papers that day. I felt that George was trust worthy.

Statewide did everything! The job was done right. The boss Val is an awesome manger. His workers are some of the best people you will meet. Job site is kept clean as much as one can. I never saw alcohol on the job site. A group of workers lived on site for a week.

Check out yelp.com

IF YOU WANT THE BEST STATEWIDE IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO.

THANKYOU STATEWIDE YOU GAVE US OUR HOUSE BACK.

THANK YOU GOD FOR PUTTING STATEWIDE IN OUR HOUSE.
Our house is sitting on the words of the lord. My wife and I put a bible in the concrete. Thankyou lord for our home. We love you Jesus.

These guys are absolute, total pros. I recommend them without hesitation or caveat to anyone who wants their home rebuild project done right. Period.

Some Background:
In the Summer of 2018, I had a house fire originating in the bathroom (ceiling fan that spread to the attic) that was quickly contained. The initial insurance adjuster rated the damage at approx. $21,000. This seemed low to me, and I arranged to have a second insurance adjuster do an assessment, this time with Statewide president Val Kutsar on-site during the assessment. This second walk-through, with Val on hand to tactfully point out details and issues to the adjuster that were missed the first time around, resulted in a new adjuster estimate of $57,000. Yes, almost triple the initial estimate. As you might imagine, I was ecstatic at this, as this allowed me to do a much more thorough rebuild than would otherwise have been possible.

At this point, the rebuild began in earnest. Statewide tasks included: New roof, replacing burnt roof joists, new insulation, total rebuild of bathroom, to include exterior floor and walls that had dry-rot, removing and resetting large windows, new exterior doors, new trim and painting.

My primary day-to-day contact during the rebuild was Boris P., who was unfailingly courteous and who replied to countless emails and texts at all hours. Second to Boris on a day-to-day basis was Serge, who I dealt with a little less frequently but who was very helpful in selecting materials for the bathroom rebuild, fixtures, tiles, colors, everything.

As the work progressed, it quickly became obvious to me that these guys were very, very competent. Seeing this, I asked Statewide to do some additional work not covered by the insurance but paid for myself out-of-pocket. That work included a new front porch, some plumbing work, new interior doors (folding and sliding), new interior trim, repair of various drywall issues, etc. Lastly, following all the work they did, Statewide had the place professionally cleaned by a team over a day and a half, which included things that I would not have even expected such as pressure washing the exterior of the house, including parts they didn’t even work on. Details, details, details…amazing.

Ultimately, the work Statewide did on my house, to include the up-front walkthrough assistance by Val, unquestionably raised the value of my home by tens of thousands of dollars. I will also say that I’ve had several realtors by to assess the value of my house, and without fail they have all commented on the quality of the work done, the attention to detail, and how sharp and clean everything is.

At the end of the day, a house fire is a really difficult experience to go through, at least it was for me. But I also know that it would have been much, much worse if I had chosen the wrong contractor to do the rebuild. I am genuinely grateful that Statewide had the capacity to take on my project. My hope is that you read this and sense the sincerity of my assessment of Statewide Restoration, their work and their staff from top to bottom, and make your own decision as to who you will call for your own project.

Regards,
David B.

I am writing this as a cautionary warning to attempt to help people not to buy into the pack of lies that Statewide Restoration sold me in order to get my business. I can't think of anything positive to say about these disreputable, unethical unscrupulous, inexperienced  contractors. Don't be fooled by their professional façade and untruthful sales pitch like I did. It's all a front. I have so come to regret my decision to hire these contractors to rebuild my house after it burned to the ground. I have plenty of photographs and documentation of the slipshod work showing the uneven floors, unfinished drywall along the ceiling, 3 outlets in the kitchen that have never worked, the front door with a two inch gap at the bottom with no weather stripping, a strip of cheap linoleum as the kitchen back splash, the old plumbing pipes they removed and hid in some tall grass at the back of my property instead of disposing of it properly???on and on etc. They told my insurance company that it was going to cost all that I was insured for to rebuild my house which was plenty to build a beautiful quality home. They then proceeded to build and install the cheapest of everything possible and took an entire 6 months and 1 week to complete it. My insurance had to pay out of their pocket for one extra week of housing that I wasn't covered for because Statewide wasn't finished yet. They painted my house the wrong color!!! And then wouldn't admit it!  They tried to convince me that that was the color I had chosen which was a beigey flesh color that they probably had gotten for $1 a gallon somewhere wherever they got all the rest of the cheap stuff they put in my house. I'm guessing they get stuff at some kind of salvage yard like the bathtub unit they put in had a hole the size of a dime and the depth of pencil eraser. They were just going to leave like that!!! They didn't want to replace the tub unit for me with a brand new unit which is what I was supposed to get, what my insurance paid for.
Val Kutsar, the president of the company who told me he was the owner of Statewide Restoration in Portland,which he's not, tried to convince me that he had something that was going to fill the hole and that I would not notice. You can imagine how that went over with me. I finally got them to put in a new unit and they didn't even recaulk they just left it raw. Suffice it to say that every day, (I'm not exaggerating) there was some problem, some mistake, some horror, like they cut down a fully mature 23 year old gorgeous Santa Rosa plum tree fully laden dripping with delicious plums that my mother and I had planted when I first moved to Oregon. They did this without asking me and for no apparent reason?? The neighbors across the street from me said the workers sat out there for 6 hours chopping that tree down and passing around cigarettes. They left a 4-foot stump that was all hacked up this way and that, and I've never seen this in my life, grown men, especially Larry the production manager (foreman), would lie and say that it was my fault when they would make a mistake. Like I said I have 6 months worth of Horrors that I could tell you about but hopefully this will give you some idea of what kind of people these contractors are. Unfortunately I'm reminded of this nightmare of my life every single day when I live in and use this home things falling apart things no longer working things that never worked in the first place and my face still burns when I think of how they pretended like they were doing everything right and really they were shafting me.

We were awakened by our dogs barking to discover a fire in our garage. We immediately decided to evacuate the house and call 911. The fire was put out, but not before causing plenty of damage. The garage was destroyed and heat and smoke either destroyed or damaged the entire contents of the house.
The morning after the fire we were visited by representatives from three different restoration companies. I also spoke with one on the phone with the sales pitch all sounding alike. "We are here to help you. We can restore your house to its original condition." That sounded great! That was just what we needed! Later we met with the representatives from Statewide who's sales pitch was a little bit different. They promised to make our house better than what it was. We weren't sure how they planned on doing that, but we assured them that any promises they made, we would hold them to it.
We didn't sign any contract with them until 6 weeks after the fire. During this 6 weeks they had already begun estimating and planning without any assurance that we would be hiring them to do the job. When we felt confident that we could trust them, we signed our contract with them. They began demolition the next day and had workers on the job every working day til the job was complete to our satisfaction.
We met with the project manager and designer to go over changes to the house and materials such as cabinets, trim and tile. We believe in "trust and verify." So, my wife and I visited the house every day to check on progress. The workers were respectful, accommodating and friendly when we were there.
When I did identify a problem, they made it right. The original time frame for the job was six months. They finished two weeks early. We are very happy with the new design for the interior including the amazing custom kitchen and near flawless work on the trim and paint.
We're very happy with the job Statewide did restoring our house. Not to just original condition, but to an updated design to better suit our current needs.
Whoever you hire for remodel or restoration, be proactive. Visit the work- IT'S YOUR HOME! Don't be afraid to ask questions and speak up if something doesn't look right. Statewide did allow us to add some upgrades at our expense as it was the perfect opportunity to make some of our own improvements.
Statewide did keep their promise to give us a beautiful house and that they did!
We would like to say a special THANK YOU to Chris, Christina, Larry, David, Todd, Yuriy, and Lily as well as ALL of the skilled craftsman.