I give this company the lowest review. I recently got my house resided by them with what I thought was going to be a "Certified Hardie Board" installation. I was sorely mistaken.
Initially I spoke to a salesman, Brendan, who explained that all of their employees were "Certified Hardie Board installers," and that I "could just go with any contractor but we're certified!" So I signed the contract.
Here's a day-by day recap of what happened next:
Day #1 (Thursday): They took down all of my old siding.
Day #2 (Friday): They put up a few panels of the new siding, 1 window, and 1 corner in the front of my house (which was put up already damaged!).
On Saturday, my neighbor came over to see the start of the project and noticed MANY mistakes. He consulted his brother, an expert, who confirmed that the Keller team was doing it all wrong and NOT the "Certified Hardie Board" way.
Day #3 (Monday): My neighbor came over to speak with the project manager, Ray, about the discrepancies, and Ray responded that, "this is how we do it." They were clearly doing it wrong, which we found out by speaking to employees of the Hardie Board Company and watching videos on company's website. At this point, my neighbor showed Ray and Manuel, the head worker, the videos and Ray responded that he "had never seen that video ." At this point in the day, they had put up 5 windows. They agreed to take these windows down but only if they could redo them with the SAME materials -- materials that had been compromised by incorrect installation.
Because of the multitude of issues and the company's poor response, my neighbor then came to my house every day. (I am a 70-year-old widow and know little about house siding. That said, by now even I was now able to identify the egregious mistakes that this company was making.)
We next realized that they were not setting the nailgun correctly (per the videos): the trim was being crushed because they were pushing too hard, leaving visible indentations around every nail. My neighbor confronted Manuel about this and again showed him the Hardie Board videos, and his response was, "I don't know what videos you're talking about." Ultimately, they conceded that this was a mistake but that they would just fix it with caulk and paint. This is clearly not adequate. First, it looks terrible. Second, I paid for the Hardie Board and the most expensive trim because I didn't want to have to worry about painting my house. It was absurd!
They told me they had fixed all of the nail holes with caulk and paint - however when I went to the second floor to see if they had fixed there - they didn't! Not only did they lie, but they failed to correct the problem they created. They did ultimately paint and caulk all the nail holes - but again with PAINT which I NEVER wanted.
A few days later my son, Patrick, came over and asked, "Mom, why do you have all of these holes in the bottom of your windows?" My neighbor returned to look at these holes (also called "flutes"). He then looked up on the Hardie Board website, which clearly specifies that there should be no visible flutes. When we asked Brendan about this, they said it was for "water drainage." This makes absolutely no sense: why would there be water draining behind my windows?! Keller and Sons REFUSED to talk about or fix the flutes. All they kept saying was, "your house looks nice." Once, Ray hung up on me when I asked if the workers were truly Hardie Board Certified installers and after that he refused to speak to me.
I can tell you this post doesn't even include ALL of the issues I experienced with Keller and Sons. (I confirmed all of these issues by speaking with the official Hardie Board Company.)
My concerns were mainly dismissed and Brendan and Ray would yell at my neighbor, who was only acting as an advocate. Clearly, I needed one.
When the company "finished," they left nails, wood, and other materials all over my lawn. Also, during the construction process, none of the employees wore safety equipment (e.g., goggles, helmets, masks) while working. It is widely known that Hardie Board is made with silica and that the dust created during the construction process is harmful to breathe in.
I am truly sickened by how I was treated and by this company's lack of integrity. I am considering a lawsuit to have my entire house re-done the correct way. Of course, I will be contracting with another company. -Ellie and Barbara Tansey read more