Val's Carpentry

In 2015, my husband and I decided to do a relatively large addition on our house in Westchester County. My husband met with 5 different contractors to discuss the project. When my husband met Val, he was professional, knowledgeable, kind and unassuming. My husband immediately knew he would be the best fit for our project. Val is a hands on kind of guy. As a carpenter by trade, he framed the house with his men. He remained on site throughout the job and his work was spectacular!! When the framing inspector came, he said the framing job was solid and well done. The
plumbing inspector commented on how it was a difficult plumbing job as the lines had to be cut across the house and remarked on the exceptional quality of the work. When there was wood rot around our windows and doors, he didn’t charge us extra to replace the damaged wood. In addition to the outstanding craftsmanship
and quality of work, Val is really just a nice guy. He always responded to calls or texts, and gave good advice without being too opinionated. We were so grateful when he suggested a better way to do our children’s closets, he created closets that were better situated in the bedroom and larger than the architect's drawing. Not to mention, he constructed shelving, and installed bars in the closets as well. In the master closet, he installed store bought shelving and rods at no additional charge for either one. Lastly, he hung up a 100-pound mirror that my husband would never had been able to do. Even after the job was long done and complete, he dropped off Christmas presents for my 2-year- old and 4-year- old daughters. I can’t rave about Val enough!! I would do a hundred renovations with him over and over again. A year later, some of the tape peeled on the cathedral ceilings, Val had the painter come back and make the repairs at his expense. Since Val has completed our job, I have referred him for a few additions, a major renovation and a few decks with the consumers equally as happy. You will not be disappointed with the quality of his work. I even love his personality, big guy, big heart, kind, respectful and just simply wonderful!!!

I am not sure to even begin to express my disappointment. I would advise anyone to consider someone else to do work on their home. Val's Carpentry has disappointed us tremendously. The relationship began kindly, but within 3 months the contractors hired by Val's were arguing and cursing and as a result work stopped. We remained patient while other contractors were sourced. The foundation for the home is very important because the home rests on wet land. Knowing this Val's proceeded to dismiss advice for properly water proofing the basement. Furthermore, he ignored the need for additional gravel and preventing ground erosion. It's raining now and there is water in the basement because of poor drainage. Estimates up to $10,000.00 to do the work properly. In addition, the floor joists were not properly installed and the addition is 1 inch lower than the existing house. Val's is not a finished carpenter. Unless the kitchen cabinets are out of a box and he can just throw them up (literally what he does), he will ruin cabinets by unevenly measuring, cutting and rushing. We had to order new cabinets and hire contractors to fix what he ruined. The ceiling is not even in the new addition. This became very obvious once the painting was done. None of the new door frames match in measurement to the old. The work done by tilers was ruined in the bathrooms. We asked that the marble tiles be sealed to prevent scratching and still they did not follow advice. over $7,000 worth of floor tile is scratched and will need to be replaced. When we decided to voice our concerns the response was "I know", "I know", "wait till it is finished." The last straw was the flooring. We had new floors put in and the company Val's hired to finish them had to re-do them 3 times much to our inconvenience. They rushed the work each time and it was not well done (bleed marks, evident scratches throughout). This too will have to be re-done. Finishing touches such as fixtures, were haphazardly installed, rushed and poor quality work.

I know some contractors have a poor reputation, however, after all the monies paid we did not expect name calling. And so, we asked him to stop work shortly there after. We hired a contractor to inspect the home and found that more than last payment owed was needed to repair their mistakes. Instead of offering to fix the problems and pay for experts to finish the work the owner of Val's tried to do it himself and did so poorly. All the while he had another project that he was more concerned about. We had no choice but to hire an attorney assist us with this situation. Please beware. Val's will not only do poor quality work and give you the cheapest materials (windows ordered have no handles to open and pocket door frame improperly installed. His "fix" was to place felt pads so the door didn't bang against the dry wall. Vents in attic not installed, exposed wires in the attic and no railings for steps built on deck to name a few). He will also put a lien on your house!

We are in our 60's and this project took years to save for and much anticipated excitement knowing that the children and grandchildren will have room in the kitchen and dining room to enjoy when visiting. Some issues are expected to arise in construction, but not the unnecessary poor quality of work, headache, time and additional expense.