a1ac4 on Houzz 7 years ago
01/12/2016, 06:38 AM
All of the people I talked with before, during and after construction was completed appeared to be knowledgeable, professional and encouraging. It was interesting to watch the actual craftsman at work, for he seemed to pay very close attention to everything he did, with much examination, very careful measuring before cutting anything, and masterful at positioning everything before placing an item and nailing or securing it into place. I anticipated a top-notch piece of work.
And perhaps it was, but there were a few things that fell short, leaving me with a little more concern than what I expected.
1) In spite of the very careful construction of the enclosure, some of the finishing details did not meet the same standards, and unfortunately these are the thing that are visible. Some of the exterior trim pieces were not smooth and flat, leaving a less skilled appearance. The screened door was attached with no latch to keep it fastened when closed, other than an eye-hook - which obviously can't be used except when the porch is abandoned and you wish no entry available from the outside. The door had only fixed handles to grip when opening it, but otherwise was free to swing randomly in the wind. I had to purchase a proper latch and install it myself.
2) After the major construction had been completed - including the roof - I noticed a fairly large amount of water leaking from the area over the part of the roof that was attached to the existing home. I pointed this out to the craftsman, the project manager and other officials with the company, and yet nothing was done to change anything. I was promised that should I continue to have the leaking after the project had been completed they would certainly take care of the situation. As it happened, we did have another heavy rain that caused leaking and the project manager was notified. He sent two men to examine the roof carefully and spots were found where apparently pressure from walking on the existing roof of the house while engaged in attaching the porch roof had caused some nails to work loose and puncture some of the tiles. They were repaired, but it will take another hard driving rain before I will know for sure that everything is O.K.
3).The existing rails by the steps leading to the deck were removed prior to construction, and new ones were installed after completion. The construction looks very good, but they were left in an unfinished state. This is not a major concern, and it will be no problem for me to paint them, but I did think this should have been part of the project. I also had outdoor wiring that led from an exterior outlet to an exterior power box to a gazebo several yards away, that had been attached to the underside of the deck to a point where it could then be buried in the ground. The cable had to be removed in order that it not interfere with the porch construction, and was left just lying on the ground and patio. I would have thought it might be reattached to the new construction, as part of the overall construction.
4). I do accept responsibility for some of the final state, for I did not go into all of these things in detail when making the purchase. I did not think of them beforehand, and assumed too much, perhaps. But I do wonder if the average consumer would think of such details in advance, and instead expect the builder to know about them and automatically include them as part of the finished product.
Over all, I am happy enough with the porch. It does have a fairly good look, and blends well with the house and patio. Up front, I thought the price was a little high for me, but I admit to having no basis by which I could make a proper assessment, and I accepted it. But I did believe that it was high enough that the few little details I mentioned could have been taken care of.