Alright, we have a number of reasons why our experience with Altitude was less than satisfactory. Eric at Altitude has left us hanging now for over a month after our deck was built. Every week it's something new. He tells us to call the next day, and we call and his voice mail says he'll be out of town all week. It's pretty clear at this point that Altitude is not going to resolve our frustrations. After weeks of pestering, we keep getting told vague time periods that we'll have to continue waiting.
The last we heard, Eric would get back to us "in a few weeks." No, Eric. We're not just going to forget about this, and we've been waiting long enough. So unfortunately we have to post this review and tarnish the reputation you speak so highly of.
Here is my list of complaints and reasons I will NEVER recommend Altitude to anyone.
1. After Eric came out for the initial quote, the entire job was subcontracted out to a third party. Apparently the person Eric hired to do the job had only ever worked on two other jobs for Altitude, yet Eric spoke very highly of his work. The subcontractor said he showed Eric a few pictures and was hired. Eric has still not come to take a look at the deck that is supposed to represent his company. The deck was completed at the end of September, and it is now almost November.
2. Eric also recommended his subcontractor to build a concrete patio for us. After paying for the concrete to be laid and stained, the subcontractor skipped town back to Arizona due to "legal troubles" and never finished the job. He still owes us about $500 worth of work that he was supposed to show up the next day to finish. In my opinion, this reflects very poorly on who Altitude hires for their own jobs, and recommends for the jobs they don't do.
3. At the inspection, we were told that the deck was not up to code because 4x4" posts were used instead of 6x6" posts, and the span between the posts was too long. Altitude told us not to listen to the inspector that THEY HIRED to check their work. Great, now our brand new $15,000 deck is not up to code.
4. Our contract very clearly included the installation of a baby gate on our deck. The subcontractor installed it so that it swings out into the stairs. If you are at the top of the stairs, you have to lean over the stairs and reach over to unlatch the gate. If you are coming up the stairs, you have to unlatch the gate and walk down a couple steps to open it towards you. Very poorly thought out design that makes it very hard for us to let our dog up and down the stairs. Altitude has made several empty promises to fix this for us, but Eric refuses to set up any specific date or time. We keep being told to "wait a few weeks", but they sure as hell didn't dilly dally when it came to cashing our checks.
5. Immediately after the job started, Eric went out of town and was unreachable for questions that we and the subcontractor had about concrete footings that we were charged for. These materials, as well as other materials we paid for, were never used, and we were not allowed to keep any of the extra materials we paid for.
6. Eric has NEVER answered ANY of our phone calls. Not a single one. He'll communicate through text, then call you and tell you to call him back the next day, when he is out of town or on vacation.
7. There are just all kinds of sloppy mistakes with our deck. Mitered edges that don't align, railings attached with ugly metal brackets bent into position so the railing doesn't wobble, side aprons that aren't parallel with the bottom of the deck, one post next to the stairs that is inexplicably lower than every other post and looks half-assed and ridiculous. I could go on and on...just keep in mind this is all stuff that my untrained eye is picking up. A professional decking company should set a much higher bar than this.
8. No building permit was acquired for the work. We asked several times if we needed to obtain a permit, but Eric told us he would take care of that. When his subcontractor started building, there was no permit to be found. The subcontractor knew nothing of a permit, and of course Eric was out of town for the entire week the deck was scheduled to be built. Sub told us we could obtain the permit half-way through the project as long as certain things weren't finalized. The permit was never obtained even after the deck was finished.
I'm sure I'm forgetting many more details of this VERY negative experience with Altitude, but these are the highlights. It's very disappointing that I now have to hire a second company to come in and fix the sub-par work that Altitude refuses to fix or even acknowledge. Sadly, I suspect I'll have to take this company to small claims court if I ever want to have a deck that is to my satisfaction, let alone up to code. read more
