Year Established | 2005 |
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Business Categories | Architects in Lynchburg, VA |
In March, 2016 my family hired Kevin Hubbard (Hubbard Construction) to renovate our home. The contract started in March and was supposed to be completed by June 15th. We agreed to prepay for our project in 20% increments. After the first 20% was paid work started. 2 installments later, it was June and work had been completed to 40% in our estimation. Kevin Hubbard did not know the status of our project when called, and his team worked on our property on average less than 2 days per week. Now almost October (more than double the time on a 3 month project, we were forced to end the relationship with Kevin Hubbard. He has not completed much of we work we prepaid for. Many areas of our home are damaged beyond repair. The house features 120 year old original moulding that was severely damaged. The weights were cut out of our windows and thrown in the yard. Kevin climbed on our roof and cut a piece of roofing off with his knife in order to "show us the damage". So many things about the way this work was performed are bizarre and inappropriate. Kevin would laugh at our concern when brought to his attention. We have also received a letter of intent to file a lien on our property due to unpaid bills Kevin Hubbard failed to pay to his trash removal service. We decided to cut our losses and end the project. A few days after ending the work, Kevin put a lien on our property in the amount of almost $4,000. He claims we owe him for work he completed but was never paid for. We were shocked. We prepaid for everything that was done on our home, and most of that work is not even finished. We are going to have to pay an attorney to sort this out for us. We would have been happy to pay Kevin Hubbard all the money in the contract and more if he held up his end of the deal. The problem his that he simply did not. I am a business owner, and never would I dream of our business operating in this manor.
Some companies may require a 10% deposit, some may not require any. For larger projects, you'll almost always need to give a deposit, and it's good to ask how much the deposit will be before going forward with a project. The Lynchburg contractor will know how much they need for a deposit when they've given you the estimate, so ask early.
You'll always want to ask how long the company has been in business in Lynchburg. While this isn't a guarantee that the company will do good work, companies with longevity on their side must be doing something right. That being said, there are newer companies that do great work. If the company is under three years old, ask where the owner was employed before and for how long. If he/she has a long history of employment, it's reasonable to infer that he or she decided to go into business for themselves after so many years of experience.
This is important mostly for larger jobs. Clearly a two man operation is going to build a home much slower than a 15 man crew. This is also a good indication of the overall size of the Architects company, if that's an area of concern for you. The reason you may want to ask about the fleet is that fleet size is a good indicator of the mobility of the company. Mobility may not sound important, but it's hard for the Lynchburg contractors to get to job sites if they lack appropriate vehicles.
Always ask for references, and always check them. Keep in mind though that the only references you'll get are people who the contractor is certain will give him a good review. You'd also be well advised to check online review sources in Lynchburg as well, which will give you a broader view of customer satisfaction for a given company.