We were building a small deck off the dining room with 5 steps leading down to the patio. By the time I contacted Joe at RJ, my carpenter had finished all the framing and some of the finishing work, leaving all structural components exposed where glass and aluminum railing would be attached. I contacted 5 companies referred by HomeStars, 3 came to look at the job and provide an estimate. Joe was the most responsive and punctual, arriving exactly 1 PM the next day as he promised. He was very pleasant, we discussed the job, he took measurements and he got back to me with a quote the next day. His quote was not the cheapest, but I felt he was the most detail oriented, saying he would come back again to do another set of measurements, order then install the aluminum posts, measure again for the glass, then come back again once the glass was ready to finish the installation. After a $2,000 deposit, he said he would be able to start within a couple of days.
Two days later he was back to measure as he promised. A few days later Joe and his installer Steve came to install the posts. Once Joe explained the job to the installer, he left. That was when the problems started. Steve started ripping the finished parts of the deck apart, saying that he needed to see underneath, in spite of the fact that the deck is 42” high and he could climb under. As he was doing his demolition, he managed to take a 3” chip out of the cement ledge of the patio door. Since the chip was sitting right there, he could not claim it was there before, so he said it just popped off. He then drilled 2 holes in each of the 9 posts and affixed them to the structural parts of the deck. When he said he was finished, I went to look at it and found that several posts had 2”-3” inches of play and were not stable. He said he would fix them. He worked on them for another while then left.
When I inspected his finished work I found the posts were still equally loose and they did not line up in a straight line, so I called Joe. He said Steve is his best installer and he would come back the next day with him to make sure it is all fixed. When they came back Joe agreed that the posts are not stable, they would have to install them in a different way. Joe gave Steve new instructions and left. Steve worked away for several hours, then left without saying anything about finishing and leaving.
When I went to look at what he had done I was appalled. The posts were still not straight, still did not line up, were not even installed square on the base, were cut full of holes. The bracing pieces were all cracked, because he drove several half inch bolts into a 2x6 without drilling pilot holes. I also noticed that the wood he used for bracing were the precisely cut pieces of the deck he removed, in spite of the fact that there was lots of other lumber available that he could use. The patio was also covered with metal shards and filings from cutting and drilling the posts. This patio surrounds the in-ground pool where people walk barefoot all the time.
I called Joe and told him it still was not right. He came back the next day told me it cannot be done any better because the deck is a bad design. I told him it was designed by an architect who built the Air Canada Center. He said he does not want an unsatisfied customer, he does not want to do the job anymore and will give me my deposit back.
The next day he gave me back my $2,000 and we left it at that, but I still end up losing a lot by this experience. It delayed finishing the deck and railing by more than 3 weeks, it cost more lumber and another day of work for the carpenter, it took me over 3 hours of sweeping and picking up shards of metal on my hands and knees, and I still don’t know what I can do about the chipped door ledge.
Steve was the most incompetent, careless, poor attitude tradesman I have ever encountered. If this is the best that RJ Aluminum employs, I would hate to see the others!
