Last August, we were given a referral for this company to rebuild our deck as part of a bigger landscaping job. While the cost of the deck work seemed high, we had trouble finding someone else to give us a bid. The original referral came from the landscaping company who referred them. This landscaping designer has an excellent reputation so we ended up hiring Matt M..... . He demolished our deck last October and said we should have a deck before Thanksgiving. We did have some issues with our township in getting approval for the replacement deck and also made some design changes due to issues with the township. During this process we found out that he was not truthful about handing in the required paperwork, according to a trusted friend that works for the township. This probably caused a 1-2 month delay. We were finally issued the permit. He said the deck would be finished in 2 weeks from the permit. It has now been 8 months since the original demo and the deck is not finished. He has been given multiple chances to finish the work. We found out, from a relative who both works in construction and is a a carpenter, that he put no blocking under the end boards of the decking. This is very important with trex decking as it is partly plastic and more bendy when it gets warm. They had to pull up all of the deck and put in the blocking. They also installed the decking so that it was not flush to the elevated portion of our deck and tried multiple hacks to make it work but it still looked bad. This was not a particularly complicated deck plan. He charged us, roughly, $86,000 for shoddy work which still has not been completed. One of the last things he had to complete was a doorway, for access to our propane tanks under the deck. He did not order enough lattice to cover the door. He came out this week and put up the wrong type of lattice. When he put in the deck railings, he left a hole in the wall of our house and a gap you could put your leg through with an 8 food drop to our driveway. I could go on but this yelp is already quite long!
Bottom line, stay away from this contractor. He talks a good game but does not deliver on any of his promises. He would come out to house for one day every 1-2 weeks to actually work. He lied to us over and over again. This has been the worst experience I have ever had with a contractor. We have ended up having to purchase supplies to finish the final work ourselves. It has been almost 8 months of hell. read more
