We worked with Steve on this project and I’ll start by saying he is not a great communicator and as newer home owners going through the process of replacing all our windows for the first time, there’s a lot of information we didn’t know to ask upfront that he could have provided us with in order to make this a better experience for us. For example, he didn’t inform us we would be expected to provide payment immediately upon completion of the job. Not that I have an issue with that, but I was expecting an invoice so I didn’t have cash on hand ready to pay him. He also neglected to mention we were expected to remove all curtains and blinds in advance. Again, I don’t have any issues doing that. I just didn’t know I was supposed to and didn’t think about it ahead of time.
As for the quality of work, the windows look like they’re installed very well however there was some sloppiness with the removal of old windows and everything felt very rushed at the end as if they were set on getting the job done in 2 days instead of coming back for a 3rd. Some examples of this include caulking on the walls extending well past where the window sits, paint torn from the walls beyond where the new trim covers the blemish, and a sliding screen door that is very difficult to slide open and closed.
Lastly they left our house in a mess and I was surprised that they didn’t use drop sheets to cover at least the furniture within close proximity to the windows they worked on. There was drywall dust, hunks of drywall, and caulking all over our furniture and floors. We also found pieces of wood with nails in them, screws, and cigarette butts left on our yard which I didn’t appreciate as a father with 2 very young children.
That all said, the trim and windows minus our nitpicking do look fantastic and the installation looks very secure. We bought into going with Fortress because of the warranties they offer and I suspect I won’t have to ever need those.
Update: Steve reached out and returned to fix the stiff door and discussed with us some cleaning protocols his plans to put in place moving forward. I appreciate his follow up and commitment to customer service and I'm while he can't undo some of the challenges we had, I can at least say I'm very satisfied with the way he provided follow up support which demonstrates he's not a fly by night company that will leave you hanging you once the job is done.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $20,000.00
- Company Response
Hello Mike and Jen, first let me apologize if there was anything that wasn't explained to you properly, as you outlined in your review above. Second, I would love to come to your home, review any deficiencies and make them right. I have sent a voice-mail and look forward to meeting with you both so we can rectify anything that is below our standard of excellence. we appreciate your business and want you to be satisfied that you chose our company to do your project. I only have one question for you, what do we need to do to make you happy? All the best, Steve