While we believe the quality of most of the work was good and the price was competitive, we do not recommend Peterson Renovation and will certainly not be using them again. The owner/GC Sean was consistently ineffective with planning, scheduling, and communication. He often had the right thing to say, but didn't follow through and completely lost our trust.
They renovated most of our downstairs, taking out walls, adding one new wall, replacing flooring, and completely redoing the kitchen. It was about a $50k project.
We felt very disrespected with the project delays and each time a call, email, or text was ignored. Each of many delays were avoidable and we even provided timely questions that could have prevented the project from starting 2 weeks late and then taking twice as long as estimated. Sean ignored most requests to explain project schedules, and, when he did provide some feedback, it always (seriously always!) proved to be wrong or quickly changed.
- Didn't have workers comp insurance which caused 2 week delay. We had asked literally 5 times before the project began (over 3 months) for proof of insurance. Night before project started we told him to bring it with him and he responded "would have been nice to know you needed this sooner." !!!! Then day of project start he said he wouldn't come first thing since he'd have to work with agent to get proof of insurance. End of day he said he discovered he didn't have workers comp insurance. Instead of simply apologizing he kept saying no one had ever asked for it, like we were being very unreasonable. Several other contractors had provided it with their bid without our even asking. And it's breaking the law to not have it. It then took 2 weeks for him to secure the insurance. Make sure you see proof of insurance whoever you use!
- Didn't find a solution when project start delay meant architect would be on vacation. This caused about a week and half additional delay.
- Didn't look into city permit requirements and timing and then was surprised to learn there was a 2 or 3 week delay, not the 1 day turnaround he expected.
- Was super laid back about things like contract, selections, schedule, with an attitude like "yeah yeah, of course we'll do that right, don't insult me by worrying about those details"... except when it came to payments and then suddenly he was by-the-book and threatening that we'd be causing significant delays if we didn't pay in full and immediately. Also very quick to send change orders for increases but slow with the one change order for a reduction.
- Wasn't onsite regularly and didn't provide much staff most of the time. Never offered time-saving approaches like letting more than one trade work onsite at once. The silver lining was Jai Beasley who did the bulk of the work and clearly strives for excellent work and happy customers. Mike and Fidel were also hard-working and kind. But we expected the guy ordering stuff, paying the bills and scheduling the subcontractors to both be in touch with us and come to the site at least weekly. He didn't even come to the first of 2 inspections.
- Only remembered half of our selections correctly, required corrections, installed the wrong door.
- Didn't order things on time causing major delays in the last weeks of the project. If ordering things like lights, doors, and counter (that we selected months earlier) had been researched and planned ahead, the project could have been at least 2 weeks quicker, maybe up to 4.
- Covered everything in the basement with super-fine cement dust and then only swept the floors to clean up. It's understandable things get dirty during construction, but I wish they had a least suggested we move and cover every single item in our basement. We will be cleaning through everything for weeks and already decided to throw away some unrecoverable things.
He suddenly tightened up in the last couple weeks of the project, which felt like he was finally paying attention to leave a better taste in our mouth despite the long-term issues. And to collect payment. He explained he had some distractions in his personal life that impacted our project, which I'm sorry to hear, but it was a very late acknowledgement of many months of issues.
In the end everything is done and looks good, other than the wall and ceiling finishes. Lots of texture and paint issues for which Sean gave a small discount.
The friends who enthusiastically recommended him from his work on their home a couple years ago have since had problems reaching him (both for a new bid and to fix an issue with a project he completed) and are not using him for future projects. read more
