It should be noted that I had never heard of Homestars before the owner of Kevco asked us not to review him here unless we were going to give him a 10 star review. He did this when he realized the job was not satisfactory.
In the summer of 2017, I chose Kevco to do a back patio, although they were the highest of 3 bids, I was thinking you get what you pay for. Not only was the work sub par but it is steadily deteriorating.
At the end of a horrible experience, I withheld approximately 10%, at his request, to see how to best fix the situation. After one unsuccessful attempt on his part to fix the sagging patio floor causing huge pooling, we decided we would hire someone else to fix that and all of the other issues. However, Kevin showed up at my door asking for the balance and when I explained we were looking for someone to fix all the issues and that if it cost less than I withheld he would get the difference, and if it cost more, I would not ask him to cover it. He left calling me a very bad name.
He then sent me an invoice for the outstanding amount and included fabricated charges. I did not pay it so he filed a claim.
As to the invoice, the judge found that he was not credible, under oath, for the additional $600 for a step that he had to add because he miscalculated in his quote (there was an addendum to the contract addressing the step that did not indicate a charge), and $100 for a band around the BBQ pad to adjust it to the size it was quoted at after he made it smaller than requested (we had a drawing and an email to provide as evidence). A $200 admin charge was unfounded as was various interest charges and fees that made no sense.
The judge found that his work with all of the chips in the stone, the patio floor with hills and sagging, that pool that happened within 6 months of completion, was suitable enough, you can judge from the photos yourself. He will get paid his full contract amount.
While I am paying out the contract and covering a small portion of his legal fees, it is still less than he was claiming and I am happier that Kevin is not getting his fabricated $600/$100/$200+ than I am disappointed he is getting his getting his contract paid out, I consider that a win.
Kevin claimed that he gave a neighbourly discount, he did not. He touted that he had done a lot of work for free fixing issues and replacing stones. The judge admonished him for this claim stating that he did have to do a lot of extra work because the work was not up to par, and the judge went further to say that Kevin had inexperienced crew left to do work they were not skilled enough to do and that Kevin likely popped in from time to time. This is true.
Kevin tried to cut corners, claim things were needed outside of his quote to upsell, claim sneaky cost cutting as creative licence and tried to convince us all his customers love it that way.
I would be happy to provide more photos and information if you can contact me through Homestars.
It should also be noted that when Kevin files a claim he tries to disparage your character and attack you personally, when in fact he is transferring his own behaviour onto the client. I can provide a copy of his claim.
Some, but certainly not all, of the issues we encountered with a few photos;
1. I had requested a step flush with the patio door sill to have a 17" pad to walk out on for safety. When he was building the steps, it appeared he was not providing this and when I asked he acknowledged he was not. We discussed his mistake, he got upset, tried to sell the idea, started talking about the cost to provide what he quoted then agreed to do the step. An addendum was prepared, and I signed it. After I withheld the 10% at his suggestion and prior to filing his claim he sent an his invoice where he tried to claim the step was an additional $600.00 for his mistake.
2. The ledgestone which is the bench like seat on the knee wall that is L shaped has large chips that you will see in the photos. When his Foreman was installing the ledgestone, it appeared he was installing it without a miter in the corner which you cannot do with this stone because there is not a flat edge. I asked him if he would be mitering the corner and he became irate. I called Kevin who told me that he always does it that way and his customers love it...that was a running theme for everything that was unsightly or done wrong. He eventually agreed to miter the corner. Once the ledgestone was installed mitered, we saw that it was not centered on the end pillars per his drawing, but they were pulled to the front, the photo will show you what I mean. He called that "creative licence" we called it unsightly. He said he would have to buy another piece to fix it, this made us realize he had put it in that way because he didnt have enough stone to do it properly as well as miter the corner. He eventually brought more stone and moved it back. There are still large chips in the stone he found acceptable. As for his foreman, Kevin said that this behaviour was a problem with this person and they are working on it.
3. In the quote was lighting under each of the 3 steps. After he had installed the lighting, we could see that they were not installed properly and were not under the steps but stuck out from the step. Not only was this worse than unsightly because you could tell they were manufactured not to be seen, but you could step on the light going down the steps or trip over the light going up the steps. In addition to that, my toddler grandson grabbed one to steady himself and it easily pulled free and he tumbled. When I told Kevin he said that that is how he always installs them and everyone loves it, he also told me that this is exactly how the manufacturer rep told him to install it. I contacted the manufacturer, first by telephone, then email with photos. They told me that the lights were meant only to be installed under the step and that installing them the way he had was wrong and would void the warranty. They contacted the local rep who denied telling Kevin that he could install them that way. The steps had to removed and everything reinstalled properly. Photos attached including an email from the lighting company.
4. I requested a BBQ pad off the side of the patio and a diagram was provided showing it extending 6 passed the house and knee wall post on either side. He built the BBQ pad 1 foot narrower making it shoot out from the patio without the 6 on either side. When I went to him, he said I was wrong, that it would cost more to make it larger. I showed him the diagram and he told me I needed to go back in my house so he could calm down. Emails attached. After I withheld the 10% at his suggestion he tried to claim there was an additional $100 charge for his mistake.
5. The stone for the patio floor had many holes the same size so I asked the young men doing the patio about that and they said they ran out of that size. When Kevin showed up, I told him they ran out and he got very animated and said that the landscape supply company had shorted us. I immediately wanted that addressed, however Kevin decided he would just cut other stones down. I did not want cut stones as it would diminish the tumble affect. He completely ignored all my protestations and requests to pick up the proper stones from the landscape supply company and went on to cut many stones. I was completely ignored as the paying customer. I emailed the landscape supply company and the general manager assured me that all of the stones had been delivered and I was not shorted.
6. There are several areas on the two knee wall posts that have cement glue oozing out of them from using too much too close to the edge. They attempted to clean it up but it is impossible to remove and they were unsuccessful. The posts will need to be dismantled and stones replaced.
Needless to say I did not want Kevco back on my property, not only because of their behaviour, but because they were not up to the task which is shown in the one attempt to fix the sagging base. It is more worth my while to pay someone else to fix the issues.
