We invited Denis twice to two of our houses in different time. First project was to build new staircase to our sunroom. We were very pleased with his excellent knowledge and an excellent job. He did finish project on time as promised. Next year we invited him to our rental house built in 1993 out of code and about to collapse deck. He again did an amazing job. He is a very nice person to work with. Denis takes the time to explain everything what he does. Definitely recommend him for everybody. read more

DECKS! by Home Specialists - Decks & Railing Near Me

See all

Unfortunately, our experience working with Denis on our deck project was similar to others who have shared here, and on other review sites. We signed a contract with Denis in February of 2023 to tear down and rebuild our existing deck. By May of 2024, (445 days from when we originally signed, and 400+ days from the original estimated completion date), all Denis delivered was partially-completed framing for the new deck. We consistently dealt with inadequate communication, (and often total unresponsiveness), to our inquiries, concerns, or requests for updates regarding the project's progress over the course of our agreement with Denis. Workers would often show up unannounced (after weeks of leaving the site in disarray), and sit in their cars for hours with seemingly no directive. Our patience and understanding was extended for months as Denis continued to deliver excuses and false promises. We finally terminated Denis's services in May of 2024, with the agreement that he'd provide a refund for some of the undelivered materials we had already paid for (of which we only recouped a portion of). This was, without a doubt, the most stressful and frustrating experience we've had in our eight years as home owners. We love to support independent business owners, and are disappointed to have to leave a review like this. read more

DECKS! by Home Specialists - Decks & Railing Near Me

See all

Engaged Denis in September 2022 for a relatively simple deck (16 x 20 elevated over patio) to have installed for spring/summer of 2023. Per Denis: "definitely done by March 1st [2023]." Old deck demolished Jan 2023; materials received March 2023. Nonstop excuses (too wet, too hot, too cold, unavailable); always "next week" or the "week after next." Our new, paid for composite decking material sat in our driveway and then our yard from March 2023 to January 2024 when we fired Denis and had to hire another contractor to finish the job that he would not finish. Denis talks a good game and makes promises that he cannot keep. After you pay him, he will disappear for months. You can nag, but he'll just make excuses. We gave him 15+ months to build a deck. He demo'd our old deck, poured footings and framed our deck. Our entire backyard was an unsafe construction zone for 1 year, 3 months. After we fired him, another contractor finished the entire thing in less than 2 weeks. We would never hire Denis Richardson for anything again. Stay away. read more

Outstanding& Beautiful! Being a first time mother & homeowner I wanted to add my own special touch to my my new home fortunately a great friend previously had a custom-made deck designed by denis I reached out to Denis he was prompt coming to look out at my property extremely patient knowledgeable on every question & concern My new deck is a true upgrade to my home at a affordable price my biggest perk is my kids & dog love our new deck read more

Denis claims to have "decades" of experience, and maybe he does, but that doesn't translate into quality or timeliness. He'll show you lots of amazing pictures, but that doesn't mean that's what YOU will get. Denis claimed that replacing our 15' x 30' deck would take "6 weeks", but in actuality, it took over 13 MONTHS to complete it. I had to take time off of work to show him how to cut the stair railings so they would be plumb. (And I don't have "30 years" of deck-building experience!) His crew scratched many of the deck boards, requiring replacement materials and additional work to redo the new work. Throughout the process, Denis or his meager crew would randomly come by without warning, and maybe work for a few hours, then disappear for weeks. Little communication, and obviously no sense of urgency. We finally had to get lawyers involved to coerce Denis into finishing the job, and ultimately, just kicked his crew off the property and finished it myself. read more

I want to say how much I enjoyed working with this company! They did exactly what I wanted in the time I needed it done! It made my home look brand new with the deck addition! Everything looks spectacular! Special shout out to Denis Richardson who was incredible to work with totally professional I would definitely recommend him & his company to anyone! read more

Got a quote for a deck from this company and the price was competitive. However, did not use Denis as he asks for way too much upfront when materials arent even purchased yet and shown onsite, or work performed is even seen yet basically asking for a big upfront as he is a bigger gc company in atlanta when he isnt. I give him 2 stars because he was pleasant to talk to, past deck work pictures seem accurate however, unable to proceed with contract as he is quite small in atlanta compare to other GCs and payment terms dont align. read more

Denis was cool. But unfortunately, our deck needed to be repaired and Denis only works on new decks. :(

Denis built a very nice and sturdy deck , took alittle longer then I wanted, but I was also about 50 miles from his home base.

Stay away from him! Denis will sweet talk you into thinking he will build the best deck on earth but he just wants your money. We signed a contract in March 2018, as of Nov 2018 all he has done is take out our old deck leaving an unsafe yard for my dogs. There have been no permits pulled to even start building anything. So he took our money with no plans to return to do any work at all. He has done this to several people this year just google him. He is nothing but a thief and liar. STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY read more

DO NOT USE. This guy is a complete fraud. We signed a contract with Dennis in May 2017 with a start date of August 2017. He did not start until November 2017 and we did not have a completed deck and still do not have one. It was in August 2018 where were finally hired a new contractor to complete the deck. He is full of lies, false promises and will take your money. I can't tell you how many dates he promises to complete various milestones and always had excuses. He did not get the deck inspected by the county (after he said he had). We called the county to get them out and the entire deck was out of compliance. This new contractor doesn't even specialize in decking but has been doing a wonderful job. read more

terrible service, project still not complete a year on. missing siding that he has damaged, no gate at the top of the stairs (I have a 1 year old) unfinished screen porch. I hope no one else has to deal with what we have :( interestingly a google review of Denis is very similar to our experience, posted after he started our deck last August read more

Dennis has done excellent work on every project I have sent him , he is extremely talented and a great craftsman. I recommend him to anyone that needs good quality work at a fair price . read more

so pleased! Denis really listened to not only what I wanted by why I wanted it and made some suggestions that were better - not more expensive always, just better. Great attention to detail and a pleasure to work with. VERY good quality. Thank you!!! read more

This business is not one I would recommend to anyone. Frankly, I would warn you to never use them. They left my project uncompleted after dragging it on for over 5 months with them complaining how they job was more than he expect. The owner stated in email, that he didn't have the capability to do the work properly. I had to hire a different contractor, at substantial cost, to fix what was done wrong and complete the job. I contacted Denis, the owner, with regard to giving us out money back and have not nor do I expect a reply. If I take legal action I do not expect to be able to recover loses. read more

Working with Denis has been the most frustrating experience we have had as home owners. What was sold to us as a 3 week job, replacing an existing deck and porch, is still not completed over a year and a half since demo day and almost 2 years since we cut him our first check. We paid 1/3 up front on 4-07-2017 with an estimated start date of 5-30-2017, the project ended up not starting until 8-19-2017. We were left for months at a time with unfinished stages of work, at one point in the process we only had wooden framing with no flooring for 6 MONTHS which resulted in us either having to walk between boards or go around our house to get to our backyard. In January of 2018 Denis offered a financial penalty he would take for each day he went over an agreed upon finish date, 3 months later our job still wasn't done and we no longer owed him our final 1/3 of money owed. Because the job took so long and we no longer owed him money, he could no longer afford to complete our job. We voluntarily paid for the remaining materials, minus the labor costs, but then had to wait for him to make money from other jobs so he could pay his crew, thus causing us to wait an additional 5 months for him to work on our job, and now 7 months after that it's still not done. He keeps telling us he just needs one more day to come out and finish our project, but that day never seems to arrive. The worst part of all of this was this project was being done to help protect our two young children from our swimming pool (we were closing off multiple rail openings, adding a lockable porch door and deck gate with a lock), and for over a year and a half, other than the lock on our house door, there has been full open access to the water. Additionally, our kids have spent over a year and a half playing in a backyard with unfinished construction, often finding loose materials that had been left on the ground and having to climb down unfinished decking to go outside. Communication with Denis is abysmal, we often don't hear from him for weeks at a time and only speak with him after we continuously call and text, often multiple times in a day. We never know when he, or one of his guys, is coming to our house. His time management and scheduling of work are terrible; working on multiple projects at a time is normal but it feels like our project has either been forgotten about or is the last priority for him. Although he is always apologetic when we speak, and often beats himself up for the way things are going, after over a year and a half of hearing excuses it is clear our kindness and understanding throughout this ridiculous process have been severely taken advantage of. We have never written a bad review before, we understand there are extenuating circumstances and that projects can fall behind, and we would never want to negatively impact anyone's livelihood, but this last year and a half has pushed us over the edge. This whole experience has been absurd and frustrating, but the absolute worst part is the complete lack of communication. If the common courtesy of phone calls or texts would have regularly taken place we might not have been so furious about all of this, but to receive no updates, no real time frames, and to be in total limbo for over a year and a half is absolutely inexcusable. If we could have foreseen how long this process would take we would have cut ties early on, but once we were in the middle, and he kept promising he or his guys would come out, we had no idea how long this would go on for. Clearly he has been completing jobs somewhere as he's started getting good reviews again on other sites, but notice the earlier reviews stating they are in the same situation as us, those are the ones to listen to. We have been unable to find anyone who will finish the project and are now indefinitely left with an unfinished project for the foreseeable future. Save your sanity and hire elsewhere. read more

Wow really an amazing job I recommend this company really and its affordable thank you again so much Dennis!!

Several years ago Denis ( owner ) built a fantastic deck on the back of my home. I mean he used the best heavy duty lumber on the market. This deck will last for decades! Last week Denis came out again, and just replaced front porch with no maintenance fiberglass. This second job he finished is just as nice as the deck. I do my home work before paying a contractor. I had quotes that far exceeded Denis. His quotes are more than fair. Deck Specialists is an excellent company, and I highly recommend. read more