Switala Construction; maybe we got a good roof but so much damage, nails and garbage left at my…read morehouse.
We had a new roof installed by Switala and it looks good. And I will give credit where it is due. The problem was with poor customer service and horrible cleanup and much property damage.
Jeff A., from Switala, visited our home to review our roofing needs. We discussed all aspects of the roofing project in detail, and we had a lot of questions which he answered very well. He mentioned that they pride themselves with customer satisfaction and I saw on their website "Customer satisfaction as their top priority", and we discussed that in detail and also their cleanup procedure at the end of the job. Jeff wrote us a new roof & gutter proposal which we signed and returned on 4/6/2022.
We understood that the installation was a few weeks out, which was OK, since we did not currently have any major leaks. After waiting a few weeks, we called and were told installation was about 2 weeks out. Over the next 5 months we called a number of times & was always told the installation was about 2 weeks out. They finally showed up September 28 to install the roof. I can understand that it is difficult to give an exact date, but we put off many projects and family activities for the spring, summer and fall just waiting. I don't blame the office personal for giving us the standard answer of "2 weeks", but I would have hoped that management would step in and give an honest estimate. That two weeks turned into 25 weeks waiting.
Waiting was only the start of the problems. Our property was left in horrible condition with damage. After they left, I collected 4 white buckets of debris ranging from food, wrappers, razor blades, butts & construction material. Flowers were trampled, landscape lights broken off, siding with many tar streaks. But by far the worst problem was NAILS. There were nails left everywhere, bushes, driveway, and across the entire lawn. I weighed what I picked up & it was 7.4 pounds which was literally over a thousand nails. They used a leaf blower to blow off the roof debris and sidewalks which looked OK at that time. Later I found that the debris was blown into my pool & hot tub and clogged my brand-new pool filter system, which I had to drain. The hot tub was covered the 1st day but not the 2nd and a worker also fell in.
The gutter crew showed up on October 10th & I showed them the big pile of garbage & nails I collected. They took all garbage back to the office and said that the owner, Bill Switala, will be very upset with how my property was left. At that point it sounded like I would get some action.
I waited a few weeks but never heard a word from anyone at Switala. I called & asked the staff if Mr. Switala had any comments on the damage, garbage & nails left on my property. Within the hour, Mr. Switala called and apologized for the mess. I told him I made a list of 15 cleanup & property damage issues, and I started to read them off just to give him some feedback. After I read off 3 problems Bill offered me $100 then I read off a few more he upped it to $200 and that was the end of the conversation. I was not trying to squeeze money out of him but was only hoping to give him constructive feedback and maybe get some cleanup help.
I forwarded many pictures of the property damage, garbage, and nails, and included a long letter to Mr. Switala on October 19th detailing the original 15 issues that we started to talk about over the phone. Way too many issues to post here.
It is over 3 months now and I never got a response from my letter or any offer of repair or cleanup help.
I continued to pick up construction debris before the snow hit and I gave up counting after I found 400 more nails and filled another bucket with garbage.
Maybe a good roof, but the thought of my grandkids impaling themselves with nails if they are ever allowed to play on the lawn again, really scares me. Definitely no attempt at the touted "Customer Satisfaction" from Switala. But at least no roof leaks.
