Please learn from us and never reach out to Mike and AA Defined Exteriors for any of your decking…read moreneeds.
To start things off, my wife and I looked at roughly 5-8 different decking contractors for a rather large project. We wanted to add about 500sqft of Azek Timbertech materials, as well as add a tied in covered porch to our roof line, that covered a decent amount of the deck. We knew already this was going to cost a lot and had planned that out ahead of time. After reading all the 5-star reviews for AA Defined Exteriors, and even on the Timbertech website being a 'platinum' account, we thought it was a great opportunity.
Mike really 'charmed' us in by describing all the projects he'd done around the area, and even how he was going to cut us a deal to make the project work within our budget. He kept telling us that 'everything is turnkey done', that should have been a red flag. He also told us in person, not on the contract, several times that we'd get the entire project done by the holidays, mind you, we started the project signing in July of 2022. Things we didn't know but have unfortunately learned. He wanted the money right then and there, but we told him we were going to wait for another week or two to decide. Since one part of the project was going to be non-permitted and the other was going to need a permit, we had the contracts split into two segments, one being the deck, the other being the gable. In order to make it 'cheaper', he made the first contract significantly more ($58K), while the second contract (gable) was made significantly less ($20K). This should have been a red flag, but again, we didn't know any better. As we discussed our vision of the deck, he was incredibly quick to responding to our calls and texts and that set him a part from other contractors as communication is extremely important to us. After we told him we were ready, he practically came to our door in seconds drooling for his paycheck. We gave him the amount that was outlined on the first contract, and we were off. Once Mike said the deck portion was done (with a steep drop off with no steps), he collected his final payment for the first contract, and then another 10K for the second contract to 'start'. All the while we thought it was already started. At this point, we were in the hole 68K, for a deck without a gable or steps.
Then came around October, I asked him how things were looking, no updates. Then November, no updates. Then December, no updates. I tried calling him, he wouldn't pick up. Texting only returned nasty remarks back to us saying we were 'handling' this the wrong way. He really went out of his way to make us feel like we were the problem, not him. Meanwhile, he has tens of thousands of our dollars, ignoring us, and we don't even have steps on our deck. We knew the actual deck cost thousands less, as our original contract estimate had that number on it. So I started to search around and see what was going on. I ended up having to talk to his ex main foreman on the phone to get an update. He even said "it's hard to get ahold of Mike sometimes". If your own employees can't get ahold of you, then how can anyone, even a paying customer? That's not customer service at all.
Holidays flew by, then January came around, and then we realized we were going to need to move as we excitingly found out my wife was pregnant. However, we couldn't move with only 85% of a deck finished, so I literally BEGGED Mike. He FINALLY answered and agreed, which took another month and a half to get someone out to finish 1.5 days worth of work to do. I even had other decking companies come out to see what the cost would be, in the event that he ghosted us again. Thankfully his ex main foreman came to the rescue and helped us out a ton. After all that, on March 22, 2023, we finally had our steps done, $68K for a deck with no gable, which is about $30K more than the deck portion originally quoted, and no return of the $10K payment for the second contract, considering that was never started. No permit was ever filed to Kirkland.