I saw that GDE had excellent reviews on Homestars so I decided to give them a call. We got a new panel, new outlets, an inspection, and some grounding work done. To be honest I was quite unhappy with their service.
1. Cleanup: I had to spend a fair deal of time cleaning up after them. There was sawdust, and dirt pretty much everywhere they were working (had to wash the walls as well). It took me several attempts to convince them to remove the pile of drywall they left in the alley, and I still have the old outdoor electrical tubing and wiring in my backyard.
2. Damage: I had to sign a disclaimer saying that GDE was not responsible for any damage they cause. I figured they wouldn't be causing any damage so I signed the paper. They ended up cracking my bathroom roof, and pulling on two walls (while sawing) so hard that screws are now visible through the paint. I understand that we have an older home and were going through some renovations at the time, but at least you could have some respect for my property.
3. Finishing: The inspector told them to make sure our hotwater tank and furnace were grounded. They did this with bare copper wire. Now I know that there is no risk but for the extra several hundred they charged me for this work they could have at least loomed it up.
4. Professionalism: The way that Martin handles invoices is astonishing. There are two separate documents. One for the work, and one for the price. If you need additional work done, you will get another two. Quite frustrating when trying to sort out the total cost of the project. By the time our full invoice was done, we had something like eight excel documents to go through.
I decided to work from home while there were doing the work. I figured it would be the normal contractor type situation, but I was wrong. They spent most of the day angry and screaming at each other (one person in the attic, one on the main floor). Martin was in a good mood, but his assistant seemed like he didn't want anything to do with the project. I'm guessing you do this kind of work all the time, so why not have some kind of electronic communication device instead of yelling all day long? It was quite uncomfortable to say the least.
On the positive side the installation looks fantastic. I have no doubt in my mind that these folks know what they are doing. Martin also dropped the price a little when I looked into some competition. In regards to customer service however? I am not impressed at all and will not be recommending them.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $4,500.00