Someone called Frank came to our property within a day of me contacting (so that was good). I told him the general idea of what we wanted (soil compacting and concrete work for a sports court with hardscape) along with hardscape, all totaling around 3000 sft. I greeted him when he came to our property and then proceeded to show him the area. Immediately he says that it is going to be a huge amount of work due to grading and compacting needs and I told him okay and then tried to show him the area. But he stopped again and asked me what my budget is and then says often he goes to big homes on a hill, puts a quote, and then ppl don't proceed, and it is a waste of his time. He told me it would be at least 175K. I told him okay. I understand. Can we now see the property area? Then, he immediately says that he doesn't think it would be a good use of his time. I was shocked. I felt terribly insulted. Despite seeing a house that is clearly in an upscale neighborhood (~2.5 million) and we spent a lot of money in other parts of our property, he jumped to the conclusion that my husband and I can't afford the project. I was so shocked that I asked him then what makes him think we can't afford it (this all happens in the first 3 minutes of his convo by the way). Then, obviously I told him I find it strange that he doesn't even want to see what we want to get done and then he rudely says to me he is not interested. I told him that I wasn't either. I am not sure if it was a racial bias or what. I have never seen a contractor or estimator so full of himself that they insult the intelligence of the homeowner. As a homeowner, once I heard his rough estimate, I knew it was in the ballpark and didn't go OMG, that's too much. I was professional and said okay, let's see the area so I can get a detailed quote. But he dug his heels and left. In the 20+ years I have lived jn America, I have never felt so insulted. . If a job is big, the estimator obviously should say it is a big job, at a minimum it would be this much, and if you are interested, I can still go through some rough idea of what it will take. Spend at least 10 mins. This guy Frank wouldn't even spend 1 min after he saw the grading and compacting needs. As he was leaving, since he had such a condescending attitude, I told him we got a bid for 270K but I wasn't about to disclose that to him in the 2 mins he was with me without even looking at the job, and --yes, despite what he thought looking at me, we could have afforded AMS. He just lost a huge contract opportunity. I'm not sure who is the owner of AMS construction. May be it is this guy Frank or someone else. Good luck to you... I would rather take my business to a company that treats a potential customer with respect.
** Edited to reply to Frank's untruthful comment: I was very interested and never said I was not interested in the explanation. Why does he think a homeowner would reach out to AMS if they didn't have a significant/complicated project?? Of course, I knew it needed compacting and grading! I absolutely heard him patiently as he said every 12 inch layer needs to watered and compacted etc. until the entire height is done. I am an engineer myself. Frank explained. I listened and said I understand. I then tried to show him the property area. Immediately he asked what's my budget and refused to go down the steps to see the area. As you can see from his comment, there is no iota of apologizing to a potential customer of a possible misunderstanding either due to cultural differences. I am so glad I never need to deal with someone so pretentious. As for the base rock comment he alludes to, I said that in the context of the concrete pad that would be built for our sports court. The man had absolutely zero interest in knowing our needs of what we want to get built; somehow he thinks he will only give estimates if the homeowner will disclose their budget before his bid. Yeah, right! Reading all the great reviews here and large projects on their website, I had reached out to them. Reading his untruthful reply comment only cements what I thought of his attitude.
**Update: I just finalized another construction company whose owner had the decency and maturity to listen to our ideas for the space, spent 30 mins taking measurements, looked at our sketches, and gave a detailed estimate after two hours. Now, that's what a professional first-meet should be like, not this AMS Frank's attitude if "I'll judge the homeowner whether they are worth my time!" read more