Jack is one of the most impressive professionals I have met. He takes the time to understand exactly what you want and makes sure that the final product reflects your specific requests. His team came on time and worked hard to get the deck and balcony done in the timeline quoted. Michael is also great to deal with - very responsive. Fantastic overall experience. I plan to use them again. read more

I had my front porch redone using Trex composite wood last September. Jack spent a lot of time with me and attended to my concerns and corrected all my issues. He worked within my budget. The other day I noticed something was a little off and contacted him. I sent him pictures and he was out the next day to fix it! I didn't even realize he had fixed it until much later! I would recommend him highly. read more

I am so happy with the finished work of my new Trex deck Jack and workers installed. I've had 6 contractors come to give me estimates on the replacement of my old deck, and the reason I chose J. Sitko Construction, not only because their estimate was very competitive, but more because I felt the great vibe with Jack. Jack and workers came every day at the same early start time in the morning and crew would work hard all day. Jack is trustworthy and will not go away until you are fully satisfied and happy with their work. In fact, I've recently called Jack to fix some minor problems on my new deck that was built this past Dec. 2024. I noticed minor problems now that weather is nice. Jack promptly came to fix it and assured me that if I see any foreseeable problems with the deck, not to ever hesitate to call him and that he will return with no problems. Jack is always kind and polite and has done everything I've asked him to do with my deck with "no problem" response every time. I highly recommend J. Sitko Construction because of the beautiful work they do and because anyone who meets Jack will feel the trust vibe like I did from the start when Jack enter through my door. read more

After debating if I would write a review, AC & Hannah's experiences inspired me to speak up on our Porch demo & rebuild... I would not recommend J. Sitko Construction. More-so, I would recommend prospective customers to work only with Jack Sitko (Owner) and avoid Michael Fredman (Office Manager) entirely. TL;DR: Extremely missed timelines, lapses in safety, source of property damage, difficult to work with, poor communication, indifferent to customer concerns, inattention to detail, & extremely pushy office salesman. Difficult to Trust. End product was fair, hence additional star. Jack is honest, but tread carefully with Mike. Background: Much like Hannah, our Condo Association found J. Sitko on Angie's List, trusting those reviews would offer a good contractor. We had estimates from 4 contractors: 3 with higher prices and better service, 1 with fair service and a lower price - we chose poorly based on online reviews. We have a 7-flat building with a 3-story porch that had not been built to code during the 2001 rehab. During contract negotiations, both Mike & Jack were present, engaged, and even pleasant to deal with - they were open to modifying the project scope for our needs and walked us through the process, including timelines and addressing questions we had on the build. The Office Manager, Mike Fredman, had a strong 'Sales' feel and was pushy, but it was more an annoyance than issue at the time. We agreed on a project scope, price, and signed the contract including a 3rd party Architect for plans & permitting in Chicago. Dealing with Szczepan Grzenda of JSG Design was straightforward and easy - once we reviewed the plans met the same footprint of our existing porch, he requested final payment and issued a permit. That's where the service dropped off... To offer perspective, we signed the contract 4/16 and received the building permit 5/18. The verbally agreed timeline to completion was 6 weeks from receipt of permit (est: June 29 - July 6). Recognizing contractors miss cost and deadline estimates routinely, we were expecting sometime by end of July. At first, we were really pleased to hear demo would be done in 2 days, footers in a week, and construction + inspection in 3-4 weeks. That of course, did not happen. Upon permit receipt (5/18), we were told we wouldn't begin until July 9th; that's 7 weeks from when the permit was received, so after the whole project should have been completed. Come July 5th, we wanted to confirm, only to find the project was unilaterally changed to August 6th - we were not going to be notified, much as we weren't on the July timeline until we inquired why they had not started. When asked why they didn't start? First it was rain. When pressed, it was because the owner had an urgent family matter in Europe; in the end, we were lied to by Mike and the owner wanted to take a vacation, delaying the project for which he had already received a sizable deposit and missed his committed timeline. Our start date was delayed to 8/6; that's 11 weeks from permit and 15 weeks from when we signed the contract + deposit. There was no apology from Jack for this delay and no compensation for missing their promises. I cannot stress enough: if you choose to work with this company, put timelines in your contract with agreed penalties for missing them. Else accept that it will happen at their convenience. At last we started! The demo went just as quick as they promised and we were all excited to see progress. Boarding doors was done pretty minimally with a single, small board (1"X if I recall), but wasn't a concern. Milestone made and on to construction. Enter the safety concern. While we knew the process would be messy, the crew was particularly careless. They were okay to interact with, referring me to Jack, but seemed to not care about the mess; in the end, we had to clean the work area to ensure stray screws did not pierce tires in our parking lot. The real issue: they left the worksite with full O2 & Acetylene canisters with regulators intact & uncovered, leaned against a fence. Yes, highly combustible materials with open access to anyone, leaned at an angle that could cause canister damage if knocked-over. A member of our Association exchanged words, with no apology; "Thanks for the heads up". Ugh. Running out of room, so shortened: On Labor Day weekend we encountered the more than $3,000 in flooding damage caused by exposed footings. After much negotiation, they accepted a cost reduction. Construction complete 9/28. Inspection delayed until 12/20 by Sitko; 31 weeks from permit, 35 weeks from contract, 19 weeks from start on a 6 week commitment. Boards were uneven, unfinished, poor steel sealing/painting; all repaired upon request, but it forced that conversation. Per usual, immediate request for payment after dragging feet continuously. Mike was found to lie at least twice in interactions; Jack was honest, but unapologetic. read more

I have dealt with this company a while back to reconstruct our back porch. The quality of work is poor and dealing with the office manager Michael Freedman is the worst. The guy is pushy, annoying and doesn't have any concept of customer service. read more

We would never recommend J. Sitko for any job. J. Sitko replaced a two-story wooden stairway with a porch and a landing at our coop building in the fall of 2013. They assured us that there would be good supervision and good communication throughout. Instead, they never told us that their architect's design would leave a dangerous gap between the concrete basement stairs and the wall, or that one of the supporting posts for the upper landing would be set on, not beside, our walkway. They simply carried out the design with no mention of these very obvious and serious flaws. We had to call in another contractor to rebuild the basement stairs, to prevent accidents from people stepping into the gap by mistake. Since it was now late in the season, we had no time to shop around for the best bid. Also, we will have to pay extra to have our walkway re-routed around the supporting post. When we told J. Sitko that they had cost us extra money which should be deducted from the bill, their immediate answer was to threaten us with a lien. These are the foremost reasons why we do not recommend J. Sitko, but we also had to call them back to fix details which they should have taken care of in the first place. Communication? Concern for the final outcome? No. This company simply puts its head down and builds. If the project doesn't mesh with its surroundings, well, too bad. Avoid J. Sitko! read more

We would never recommend J. Sitko. We found J. Sitko on Angie's List and decided to go with them to build a new deck and install a glass sliding door. Initially we thought we had made the right decision. They were pretty responsive at first and got right to work. Our first issue happened when we told the contractor not to use the hose as it wasn't working and would flood our basement if they used it. We were told by Michael that it shouldn't be an issue because the crew was there to do demolition and didn't need water that day. We came home to a flooded basement. I called Michael because he was the one who set up the times for the contractor to come--and his title includes customer service (which is laughable). He told me it's not his problem and that this isn't his project. I asked if a negative review of the project would affect his company and he said yes. He later called and offered $100 off, which is what I had asked for. I didn't like the way he spoke to me but I thought that everything would be fine moving on. A month later, when the glass door finally arrived, Greg (the contractor, very difficult to work with) came to cut an opening and install the door. Everything looked fine and the crew left for the day and promised to come back the next day to clean up. The crew came back and used our (now fixed hose) and left it on. It wound up bursting and flooding the neighbors' basement. My partner called Greg and he of course denied that the crew used the hose. No one was home and we definitely did not leave the hose on. I then decided to call Michael. He called me back and told me that he was just absolutely sick that Greg and his crew would disrespect our house like that and that it's an honor and a privilege to be invited into our home especially since we paid a lot. I thought...okay. When he mentioned that he was losing sleep over it I thought that was over kill but I assumed that Michael and I were on the same page. He told me that he had known and worked with Greg for 7 or 8 years and that he'd been in screaming matches with him. He told me that he would talk to Greg about replacing our now busted hose. When I didn't hear from Michael I called and left a message, and then sent an email because I was feeling ignored. Greg still had a key to our gate and that made me nervous. Michael called me back and told me that this is not his problem. To which I replied, what changed? So it's my word over Greg's? He said: "Why should I trust you?" I replied that he should trust me because I'm a paying customer. He then said: "I don't know you, I've known Greg for 8 years." I was shocked. I've never been spoken to that way before, especially after dropping so much money. He then hung up on me. He later wrote us an email saying that Greg would pay for the hose and return the key. All of these interactions had me very confused. In the end Greg, to my dismay, paid for the hose. I would never recommend Michael Fredman or J. Sitko for any projects because of how they treat people. We were never late with payments and we paid in full--no customer should ever be treated the way we were. Save yourself the hassle and go with someone better. read more

Junk - came to look at our project and never even provided a quote. Find another contractor

We had a two story back porch that had a lot of wear & tear over the years. We had no choice but to find someone to take care of it all, but being our first big project like this, our entire family was terrified about going through w/ it. We knew it'd be thousands of dollars & there was always the fear of something going wrong. This company however was excellent. They came out, gave us a decent estimate, took care of the permits, inspections, kept us updated, etc. They were also really friendly, professional, & trustworthy. It took them about 2 weeks to finish our back porch & they worked the entire day & always left everything clean & organized. Our neighbors were actually impressed at how well it turned out & plan to use them for their future project. I highly recommend, everyone associated w/ this company clearly knows their stuff. I honestly don't have one negative thing to say. read more

I cannot speak for all the concerns provided below, but these guys were great! Mike was consistent with the communication and Jack was very professional and on site daily to see the project through. I received 5 quotes from 5 different companies (including J. Sitko). After reviewing all the estimates, I initially decided to go with another company because they were a little cheaper than J. Sitko. However, after numerous attempts to gain clarity on the final price for the porch I wanted, the winning bid stalled me out. Unknown to J. Sitko, I initially wanted to do the job with them anyway based on how Jack explained the process and how diligent Mike was in providing reassurance as to how the project would go. Needless to say, what is suppose to happen... happened and I am glad I decided to go with them. Being home during the process allowed me to see the craftsmanship and care they put into building my porch. If there are any doubts or concerns with this company/crew, remove it and you will find out for yourself. There was no hassling to do the job or regarding payment. This crew is reliable, more than I have seen in many years doing remodels. Some companies talk. This company went to action. Thank you J. Sitko and crew! read more

I don't want to leave a long review and I seldom write reviews, but we are really happy with the deck built by J Sitko Construction. The whole process was easy with them from drawings to submitting for permit to actually building the deck. It is unusual nowadays for a company to go beyond the contract, but they did. We have asked them for special adjustments and they did it perfectly. We truly highly recommend this company!!! read more

Fantastic company, so many construction companies may have good skills but are poorly run, or they get back to you right away but the end product is crap. These guys have both aspects covered to a high level of skill, Mike the customer service money guy and Jack the master builder, both were excellent. Everything went smoothly, the deck was completed on time and with everything we wanted. The deck itself was built wonderfully by Jack and his crew, we could not be happier with how it turned out. Even at the end we decided not to have built some small part previously agreed on, and Mike was fair and prompt with adjusting the payment schedule and plan, let alone not fighting us on the change to begin with. These guys know what they are doing when it comes to building a deck and running a business, I would not hesitate recommending them to anybody. read more