Before you hire this company, be sure to check this television news broadcast first! "WUSA9 refuses $6K deal to not expose company Deckorators" http://legacy.wusa9.com/videos/news/2015/03/16/24752135/ By the way, they are now operating under a new name, but it's the same people. "Innovative Outdoor Living" and "Innovative Deck." www.innovativedeck.com and www.vainnovative.com. ************** I contracted Deckorator for a screen porch, patio and fire pit. Before you hire this company, be certain to check their Better Business Bureau listing where they are rated F with 18 complaints and are not supported by the BBB. Our project was due to start Sep 2014 and finish early Oct 2014; ample time according to Mr. Jon Pizzo. It wasn't until late April that the job was finally finished and even then we are still dealing with finishing touches. At one point the following email excerpt was sent to Mr. Pizzo: "Unfortunately, your unwillingness or inability to meet to resolve the pending items, in addition to the lack of responsiveness, is forcing my hand. I think we have been exceptionally patient to this point, but this project is now in its seventh month, and while there have been some legitimate reasons for delays (terrible weather in February), there have also been myriad lost opportunities to progress, and ultimately complete, the project between September and now. That includes many instances where we were told work would start, only for no one to show up followed by one excuse or another as to why." Poor communication, no attention to detail, did not follow construction requirements as indicated in the contract, multiple no shows, poor planning. Working with this organization has been the worst customer experience I've ever had. read more

An estimated 2.5 day job took 30 days with materials ordered incorrectly two times. Colors were wrong and sizes were wrong, they even asked me if I wanted to change my mind and just let them use the incorrect materials. The final product was okay, but I do not recommend. The behaviors of some (mostly two) of the reps selling the product and discussing the deck/patio's were lacking in information, didn't answer questions, didn't know the answers and were unprofessional. In the end, it seemed like they just wanted to get paid. I am glad the job is done, but the amount of stress during the 30 days was not worth it and for such a high cost, I expect better. I am working on the front of my house and I will not contact deckorators, I will reach out and find a more cost effective and professional organization. Hope this helps. read more

I contracted Jon to build a deck, patio, (2011) and later add a large fireplace to the patio wall as well as extend our patio wall. We noticed the wall caps for seating were different on the extension. The originals were slate and the extensions were cement. We contacted Deckorator's in April of 2014 to resolve this issue. We never heard back and after many repeated attempts we finally reached them. We were told this would be addressed immediately and it never was. I then had occasion to see Jon and his family in a local store and after the catching up was done I mentioned this to him. He supposedly texted his foreman and told me it would be handled right away. This was around Feb/March of this year. We have yet to hear back. I called the office and spoke with an admin assistant on June 1, 2015 who placed a work order in for me as a result of me sending her pictures of the wall caps as well as all of my face boards in the deck pulling away again. Crickets. I called a week or so back and was told that Jon determined what work orders to address first. No one has contacted me and no one has provided any answers as to when this will get done. The rub in all of this is we opened the door for Deckorator's to get into our community and as a result they received over 40 jobs more. I have advocated for Jon on Angie's List, phone calls for references and references to our neighbors. I am disgusted with the service we have received and they appear to be all about getting the work to fill the coffers but their customer service is nothing short of a tragedy. The shame is they guarantee their work for 5 years from all defects and yet you are unable to get any resolution on craftsman issues. They were initially responsive but we noticed that once they finished all their jobs in our community we were shuffled to the bottom of the deck. All I can say is shame on Deckorator's for being "that" contractor. Buyer beware! read more

Working with Deckorators was the worst experience we have ever had with a contractor. At first we thought that maybe it was us or a fluke, but when we saw the overwhelmingly negative feedback pouring in on the contractor sites, 22 formal complaints to the Better Business Bureau in the last 12 months, and an investigative report on the Channel 9 News about their shady business practices, we realized this was a bad business to be working with. It amazes me that businesses like this are permitted to continue to operate despite continual negative public feedback, which compelled me to write this review in order to further warn customers looking for a good deck builder. I could write a novel on the issues we had, but I will try to summarize the highlights in order to give a glimpse of what to expect. First they are on the expensive side because they claim they are superior value. They begin by telling you all the things you want to hear: they take pride in their work, they hire master contractors rather than day laborers, you can call them directly and always get an answer, etc. Once you sign the contract and put down a 40% deposit, they will deposit the check within a few hours, then you will likely not hear from them for a week or two after calling them a few times. They have a rolodex of reasons, such as they were out of town last week, their phone broke, a family member was sick. The project was contracted to take 2 months and week, was finally completed 5 and a half months later. They broke ground a month after they said they would. The small print in their contract gives them a 2 day buffer period every time "weather is a factor", which a 5-minute rain shower precluded them from nailing boards into the frame for 2 days. The "master" contractors have to be watched closely as we had to correct them on multiple design flaws, including forgetting to install the stairs. None of them spoke English which made it even more complicated. The team completed half the project and disappeared for a month. We placed 12 phone calls without response before finally Jon, the owner, turned our project over to his wife to deal with our project. She was more helpful but the project moved at a snail's pace. The end product had multiple imperfections and design flaws that we ended up having to live with. Their design capability is very limited and their build is pretty basic, not what you would expect from a company that puts "Design and Build" in their name. Despite Jon (the owner) not being responsive for a month and having not heard from him, personally, for 2 months, within 2 hours of completion of the project, he called 3 times trying to collect his final payment. He then showed up on our doorstep a half hour after that demanding payment. Despite as much as I have already written, there is a lot more, but I see a lot of the same issues experienced by other commenters on this company. So I will just conclude with, BUYER BEWARE, many contractor sites have pulled their profile already, the Better Business Bureau has filed an injunction against them, the local news has highlighted them as a corrupt contractor, a search of the court documents shows multiple legal cases involving the company or the owner...proceed at your own risk. read more

The absolute worst contractor ever. Jon Parsons is a crook. He lied about pretty much everything. They took over 1 year to complete our deck that they said would take 30 days. They messed up the brick for the patio, luckily I was there to stop them from doing the work. The work they did finish, is falling apart less than a year later. Jon consistently gave excuses about why they weren't there, or he was on vacation half the year and I never heard from him. Avoid these people at all costs. There's even a new report about them: http://ux.wusa9.com/story/news/local/manassas%20/2015/03/14/deckorators-refund-angieslist-manassas/70308164/ I think they changed the company name, but if you run into Jon Parsons, don't do any work with him read more

Stay away! We were intentional about choosing a local company because we wanted to support local businesses, and we regretted working with this company from the time we signed the contract. Originally, our patio and fence were supposed to be completed in late May or early June in the case of rain delays. As soon as the deposit was paid (and they required a much larger deposit than the Virginia contractor guidelines recommend), we did not hear from them for months. Phone calls, text messages, and emails were not answered at all. Finally, in August, we asked that the contract be cancelled and the deposit be refunded in full for breach of contract. Suddenly, they were ready to do the project and refused to return the deposit. Of course, it took much longer than promised in the contract. The subcontractors who did the work did a fantastic job, but Jon (the contractor) didn't order materials as early as he should have and did not have them delivered on time, so the crew ended up having to spend several extra days making trips back and forth with materials that they were not supposed to make. You know that it's a bad situation when the subcontractors start asking you to call and pressure the contractor to get materials to them (but not tell him they're the ones are asking) because they want to do a quality on-time job but are being held up by the contractor, and are confiding that there are other projects that were promised even sooner than are still waiting. Our project was finally finished in late August, over 3 months late, and with a lot of excuses... but I'm pretty sure it would have been a lot longer if I hadn't demanding a deposit, pulled out the legal code and highlighted a dozen or so contract violations that had already been committed, and required an amended signed contract with penalty clauses for late work. If you can work directly with the subcontractors and keep Deckorators (now Innovative Outdoor Living or Innovative Outdoor Deck), do it-- they were fantastic and I wouldn't hesitate to hire them again. But if not, find another company-- as you can see from the other reviews here (which didn't start showing up until after we signed our contract, unfortunately), it's not at all worthwhile to work with this company. read more

Contracted in Aug 2015 with completion date 2 months out. One excuse after another, nothing has been done except some footing holes done in early Feb 2016. Absolutely not recommend for any kind of work. See below for BBB rating: http://www.bbb.org/washington-dc-eastern-pa/business-reviews/outdoor-kitchens/innovative-outdoor-living-llc-in-haymarket-va-184219819/ read more

Had them replace decking, railing, and stairs on existing deck. Used Trex for decking. They did a great job and the result looks fabulous. Only minor issue was that the planned start was end of november, but with weather delays/backlog, they did get started until the last week of Jan. Wasn't a big issue for me, since we don't use deck in the winter, but if it had been spring/summer I would have been upset. Once they started, they worked hard and got the job done quickly. Removed all the waste at end of job read more

We contracted with Jon back in 2010 to build a 2 level trex deck. The deck was built timely and looked great. What we were not aware of was an open permit that was left open on the deck for venting issues for the exhaust for the furnace. We thought every thing had been finalized and closed out. In 2013 we found out the permit was never closed out and the vent issue was not resolved. We contacted Jon and he had someone come over and look into and he said he would get it taken care of. We again thought this would be the end of it. Well today 4/19/2016 we just found out that the permit is still open 6 years later and the vent issue still has not been fixed. So our deck permit is still hanging open and not finalized! This should have been resolved back in 2010 and is a huge headache. This is not good customer service. I've filed a complaint with Prince William County. read more

Contract was signed in June with work to begin in August on a two level deck with dry living space and patio and screened area (118k). After speaking with Jon he stated that if we paid in full he would offer an incentive for a "grill station," which we negotiated for an outdoor kitchen, but we would provide the appliances and counter tops. After many excuses the framing for the lower deck was finally completed in November. Numerous contacts were made and electrical was finally started in January, but could not be completed until weatherproofing was completed by Innovative Outdoor living. We continue to receive excuses from children being sick, Jon being sick, resource availability, delivery issues, and other things for failure to complete our project. We have maintained contact with Jon and Erica, but continue to receive excuses for the completion of our project and believe the money that we paid has been used to complete other projects. read more

Well, they finally came and finished the work and everything looks great. The guys who came did the work well and worked hard. We are very pleased with the finished project. However, that does not negate how frustrating it was to work with management. From going for weeks with no response to an email or phone call, to leaving materials in our parking spot for a week when they said 1-2 days, to not measuring and building the correct dimensions of the patio when they finally came out the first time, these are some of the frustrations experienced with this company. The weather was not very cooperative as it did rain a lot and I understand that delays projects like this, but it was the lack of communication and not managing client expectations that was the worst part, especially when they have a lot of your money. So the summary of this long saga: they do very nice work, just don't expect any communication or to know when you're project will be completed. read more

Had them create a patio after we removed a deck on the back of our home. The working crew was great-polite and appropriate-and did a nice job (hope they got fair wages for good work in the heat). The issue is that our contract was signed February 23, at which time we made a $4000 deposit. The contract promised a start date of 4/15 with completion by 4/30 (weather notwithstanding) and it was told to us that it was a 2 day job. After the deposit was made, we had ZERO communication from the company's owner/salesman John. We repeatedly texted, called, left messages and sent emails-nothing. We just wanted to get a firm start date since the weather was wonderful. Finally, on April 17, John called to say that his cell had been stolen and that was why he hadn't responded to us. He promised to get back with a start date. Another week went by with nothing. We continued to text and call the newly provided cell number. On April 24 we were able to get an answer on the phone and another apology but this time "my daughter dropped my phone and shattered the screen so I can't see texts". (not sure if this was the same phone that was "stolen" or a new one . .hmmmm). We were told that we were "next on the list and we just need to finish up a job we are on now and we're working the weekend to catch up-only have a couple of days' work left on the current job". We tried to check back on the following Monday (4/27)and again got "oh don't know about the weather this week but you are next". The weather was sunny and hot. The entire week went by and NOTHING. The next Monday we heard "well we're trying to finish up a job and you are next-we should be there by Wednesday or Thursday or Friday. . ." After much argument, the crew did show on Wednesday, May 6-worked the morning and left at lunchtime. That afternoon, we got repeated calls and texts from John asking for the next $4000 payment "so I can pay my crew". No crew was at our home. We had a thunderstorm that evening. On Thursday, the crew came out in the morning and stated that the materials were wet and needed to dry and they'd be back at 1 p.m. Again, we started getting calls and texts from John-I need to swing by and pick up your check". No crew came back that day. We got a text from John stating that it was wet in our backyard so they'd come back on Friday. They did come back on Friday and worked all day so we gave John a $3000 payment. They finished the job on Saturday morning. Again, John started clamoring for his final payment. We ignored his repeated communication just to perhaps let him know that others can play his game. We did make final payment on 5/12. read more