The Salesman stated that they don't advertise, that all their work is referral based and boasted a superior rating with the BBB. It was reiterated over and over that their builders were experienced and skilled in working with the material we chose, Tiger Wood. The deck was originally a 14 x 17 and was expanded to a 16 x 17 Tiger Wood Deck, which included a different layout for the stairway. Nothing drastic in the build, basically a raised rectangular deck. We were told the job would take 5-6 business days. We entered into a contract with STL Design and Build and the project began May 17th, 2019 and finally "finished" September 4, 2019. The job was plagued by inexperienced workers, significantly poor communication between the crews and the main office, poor craftsmanship, and less than quality materials.
The original work crew that showed up, demo'd and dumped the old deck in the driveway. They continually complained that they were not familiar with the material, wasted material, burned out several pieces of equipment and did not clean up after themselves. As result of their not cleaning up, we became targets for disgruntled neighbors and the HOA; the old and new deck debris was piled in the driveway for a week before a dumpster showed up. The job foreman was rarely on the job site, and when discrepancies or issues were asked about, they were all discounted or some other excuse was given. Their workmanship was not good and lack of experience was evident. The material is a hard wood and requires predrilling, which they did not do. As a result, many boards cracked. On several occasions when more material was brought in, it appeared to be scrap material from other jobs. This was obvious by the number of holes, scrapes and staples, etc. When this was relayed to the main office, the response was, "there is at least one good side". Many times, the crew that did show up did not know what still needed to be done. Many fixes had to be made as the weeks continued.
The company and their work were questionable from Day 1. Their attempt to fix items usually resulted in things becoming worse, if they attempted to fix at all. Only after one of the senior company personnel got onsite, did actual things seem to improve somewhat. Some fixes were made, but this was well beyond the mid-point of the build and our frustrations. We would walk through regularly, create lists of what needed to be addressed and send texts and pictures to STL Design & Build. That info was never passed along to the person/crew that would be onsite.
Before they oiled the deck (the first time), we had asked several times if the oil was the correct substance; it was not. The deck grayed within a week and black pigment stains could be seen on the boards. They did eventually realize that they used the wrong substance and planned to return and completely sand the deck and re-oil. Unfortunately, the belt sander was cancelled, and the worker that showed up had to run to the local hardware store to get one. When they finally reoiled, they did not reoil the hand railing, which has now dried out and rough. You can clearly see the start and stops of the oil on the deck boards. Overall, not the appearance that we were expecting from the initial consultation.
On our final walk-thru went as anticipated. Two people showed up (1 being the senior company rep) both explained away the issues that remained. We still had items that we wanted fixed and we were told "if it gets worse, give us a call". We received no compensation for our time and inconveniences, as we were told that they "took a loss on this one". We did complete their companies job feedback document but were told that that document is for internal use only. The result is, that they did rebuild our deck and gave us the stairway change we requested. However, the material and craftsmanship were not what we were told we would receive, or close. We documented every day. As of today, the deck looks shoddy, not worth the high dollar we paid. We would never contract or recommend this company to do any other project. read more