Overall, I would not recommend using GHI and here's why (sorry this is so long).
We were able to get a Sales person, Dave, out to our house pretty quickly for an estimate. We told him that there were a few important factors to us, in addition to price, including how quickly the project could start/complete and communication. We needed the project to be completed quickly because the existing siding was leaking and causing water damage in our home, specifically in a nursery. In addition, we had a bad experience with lack of communication of another contractor we used so it was important to us to get quick responses and have frequent updates. Dave assured us that they were really good at communicating and that he guessed we would be complete before Thanksgiving, maybe even done by Halloween (we signed the contract in early October). The foreman, Mark, came out to meet us and discuss the project and then we pretty much never heard from them again for 5 weeks. We had to hound Mark for updates on whether materials had been ordered and when they would start (which wasn't until December, 7-weeks after we signed the contract). We sent numerous emails to Mark and Dave asking for updates and only got responses when we would follow-up with a phone call, usually this was days later.
Once we finally got a date on the calendar, they cancelled the first day because someone called out sick. Given that they know how many projects you will be working on at any given time, I expect them to be staffed accordingly with back-up crew available. In addition Dave and Mark originally told us 1-2 day completion only to be told the day the project started that it was more like 4 days (ended up being 7 days because of weather, which I know is uncontrollable). Also Mark asked us the day he started if we could ask our neighbors to use some of their parking spots. He previously saw the layout of our house and driveway when he came months ago and never asked (why it was brought up the day of, not sure). I will not inconvenience my neighbors because they didn't plan correctly. These things, while very small, add to the disorganization and frustration of this project.
On the second day (first actual work day), they showed up with no demo tools or scaffolding (!) and said they had to drive back to Philly from Northern NJ to get them. After that delay and an hour lunch break, they worked for a total of 4 hours before leaving for the day at 3:30pm. Mark told us the entire bottom of one wall would be complete yet the only thing that was done was one corner. When we asked the crew why the bottom wasn't complete, the response was, "it is what it is."
Once the project got underway, it was very hard to get Mark on the phone. He was onsite one day (the first actual work day) for less than 30 minutes, but other than that, he was not onsite. So all of our communication had to happen over the phone. The main reason we replaced the siding is that the existing stucco was causing leaking inside, and we told both Mark and Dave that when the stucco was off we wanted to confirm there was no water damage to the plywood or insulation. They both agreed and then forgot. The crew had already put up the new plywood and water barrier before we could actually look underneath. Given that we told them this was such a big issue, I would expect them to make a point to communicate to us what was happening. We had to take their word that nothing was damaged or wet without actually seeing it.
Throughout the project there were a few small problems. For example, the screws from the plywood installation came through to the interior drywall, damaging the walls in multiple spots. Mark would constantly make excuses for these problems, saying, in this example, "the wall must be old." We just renovating the entire interior and all the drywall was brand new (less than 1 year old). Instead of just owning the mistake and offering to fix, he was constantly trying to dodge responsibility. They also left our motion detector out in the rain which caused damage and needed to be replaced.
Overall, we are pleased with the finished product but not the process itself. read more