Breakaway Services

This is my first review ever. I am compelled to write this because I do not want to see this happen to other folks.

We had Breakaway Services (also operates as Upper Level Homes) quote on installing drain tiles, replacing front stairs and overhauling our laundry room (plumbing, new tiles and drywall, drain and hook up of existing washer and dryer). Phil quoted $26,000 plus tax (labor and materials) for all three items which we thought was a fair price as we weren’t looking for anything fancy, mostly functional.

The project started out alright because Phil’s crew was pleasant and professional but now, I wished we had listened to our intuition and stopped the project when we received our first invoice for the excavation for the drain tiles. The first invoice was for $5,528.25 (after only 7 days of work) and the quote for the entire installation of the drain tiles was $8,538.00!!!

Needless to say, all three items ended up substantially over the quoted price. The total cost of these 3 items in the end was $54,431.25! We did have some unforeseen cost which was an additional $31,000 so the total bill from Phil was $86,206.00

We wouldn’t have minded paying more if the end product was of good quality but to our dismay it wasn’t. Near the end of the project, Phil just vanished and we were unable to get a hold of him or his crew to fix the deficiencies.

Not only did Phil leave us with a substandard renovation, he also left us with a lien on our house for over $8,000 as he neglected to pay one of the suppliers. We contacted Phil immediately but were unable to get a hold of him but eventually got in contact with his office manager, Shirley. We were assured the bill would be paid in full and the lien would be removed immediately, this was in November 2013. Despite repeated reassurances from Shirley only $1,000 of the $8,684.73 was paid.

It is now June 2014, 7 months later; the lien is still on our house and we are now paying the remainder of the amount to the supplier in order to remove the lien as our mortgage is coming up.

This seems to be the way Phil operates as another reviewer has had the same issue. This is unethical and I don’t know how Phil has managed to stay in business. Please save yourself a lot of heartache and your money by not using them. Phil is bad news.

Used this company last year for the renovation of our home, Phil and his crew did a fantastic job, the quality, second to none, we recommended them to all of are friends and families.

Thanks Phil

phil from breakaway installed our pre purchased and pre stained siding in november of 2008. i was very happy with the crew and the job that they did. the following spring, where the siding that had been caulked in a board- and - batten style, the wood had shrunk and the caulking was up to and inch away from where it was supposed to be. phil assured us that this would be corrected. at the same time, the summer of 2009, we engaged phil to excavate our front yard. we were very clear that we had a very limited budget for this project and needed as close to an exact price as possible. he gave us a price of $2500 which we then clarified on numerous occasions to be the complete cost. he assured that it would be. during the job, one of his excavators cut our external conduit off of the wall. he assured us he would fix this. we paid his bill of 2500 on completion but then recieved a bill from his trucker for $1300 for trucking services. our understanding was that the 2500 included all fees that were necessary to complete the job. we refused to pay the bill, resulting in the trucker putting a lean on our house. we negotiated with phil and offered to pay half of the bill if he would fix the siding issue and repair the broken conduit. he verbally agreed to do this. he was supposed to come over to the house but we have never heard from or seen him since. it has been at least eight months since we last spoke. i really like phil and feel that he is a good man but wish that our job was handled differently and had a diffenent outcome.