Now that my payment has been processed and this project has been closed out, I am ready to review the siding project performed by American Accents.
4/10/17: Mike Davey comes out to give a quote on siding and (most importantly) installing a gable vent in the front gable. This will be important later in the review, as this is the main reason I initiated this project. The home was purchased with a new roof and required proper ventilation to keep it in good shape.
4/16/17: I hire American Accents and sign the contract for the project. It was not until after I signed the paperwork that Mike informs me that he "cannot tell me when he'll be able to get his crew out, but he will let me know."
I recieved no word from Mike for 2 weeks. I reached out for an update. Was told no date was planned yet, "please be patient."
6/11/17 (nearly 2 months after signing the contract): Mike informs me that tomorrow (6/12) they would be by to perform work. Extremely short notice, but work is flexible and I made it work.
6/12/17: Work is performed. I was able to be home the entire duration of the project. It was a very warm, sunny early summer day. Not the workers nor Mike, who was on site, ask to place the caulk inside the air conditioned house. After the work was completed I find the windows to be very messily sealed with runny caulk, resulting in stringy caulk running onto the fresh siding and clumps of caulk around the perimeter.
There was wood rot found in my garage under flashing above the garage door. The crew removed the wood and replaced and sprayed for ants (there was a bit of an infestation in the rotting wood).
6/13/17: Mike returns to my house, with no commmunication that he would be by, and explains that his crew did not properly install the gable vent. Instead of using the existing hole to install the vent, they completely boarded over the hole, installed the siding, and hung the vent on top of those two layers.
He promised to get the crew back out as soon as possible understanding that this is of highest importance.
I showed Mike the messy caulk, he offered nothing more than a "It was hot out, this happens." I can show pictures that the caulk, to this day, is still messy.
6/12/17 - 8/12/17 : My home sat through the majority of the summer heat with no ventilation and no communication from Mike Davey on when he would return.
7/17/17: Mike emails me saying: "I would like to exchange the cost of the additional wood replacement and labor in the garage header for the missed gable vent cut. So it would be greatly appreciated if you could mail me a check for a balance of $2000.
As you may have guessed, I have parted ways with the crew that worked your job, but if I can find a replacement I will still try to get out cut a hole behind the gable vent.[...}at that point it would be no charge to you."
I told him absolutely not. If he can't do it, another contractor will be hired and their fee will come out of my final bill.
He agreed that it was not appropriate for me to close out the project and promised to get someone out to fix it.
8/12/17: While away from home, I get a message from Mike on the roof of my aluminum awning showing a hole cut into my gable. Again, absolutely no indcation that he was planning to come by prior to this date.
8/13/17: I return home where I find propped against the side fence the wood cut out from the gable vent. I must note that the cut out was made by several large drill holes, drilled right beside one another. A proper tool (a saw of some sort?) was not used to make the hole.
At the end of the day, the job is done and I am glad to be rid of this nightmare. I would highly urge anyone to read negative reviews along with positive ones when hiring a contractor. While there may not be many negative reviews that does not guarantee that you won't have a negative experience.
I will also add my last two cents here and I am writing it at the bottom so as not to allow this opinion to influence the facts I have detailed above. I would highly recommend not to use this company if you are a single female homeowner. The very fact that this contractor thought it was appropriate to show up at my house on 6/13 and 8/13 unannounced, tell me to "be patient" when simply asking for a status update, and request payment when the project had very clearly not been completed properly is so far beyond improper. It is unprofessional and borderline unethical. Would the same behavior be demonstrated if I were a man? I will not speculate on that, but rather I will let all of these facts and final paragraph speak for itself. read more