“I’ve found that the best projects for us and our clients come from first building a relationship. That relationship allows us to build the best project for our new friends.” Jim St.John

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Reviews

CT
Cindy T.

09/19/2015

Provided by YP.com

I had learned of Jim through a recommendation from an interior design consultant. I have since contacted her and told her this story. Jim told us that they were going to be out at the property at 8am. After waking my two young kids up early and driving 45 minutes to get to the property the builder was an hour late and his crew was 2 hours late. They apparently put the wrong address into their GPS. I received no phone calls that they were going to be late. There wasn't really an apology just a "I guess it happens" attitude.

My father in law was at the property helping me get repairs done that were required by the inspector for us to close on the sale of the house. He was removing siding and rehanging it by one of the windows they were working on. My father in law was going to get there after they finished, but since they were 2 hours late he had to come while they were working because the inspector needed to be called before the end of the day in order for closing to go through as scheduled. My father in law told them (and I was standing right there), "if you need me to move let me know". They finished hanging all the windows (including the one he was working by), and sealed ONE of them. I had to run to home depot and get food for my kids since they had been there for 4 hours in an empty house. My father in law was still at the property when I was gone and saw the guys pack up and leave. He mentioned that he heard the son say something like, "wait are we not going to finish?" then the dad said "just get in the car". Three of the windows were not finished at this point so my father in law assumed they were going to lunch. When I got back I saw all the tools and everything were gone. I called Jim and asked him if they indeed went to lunch or had left. He called them then called me back and basically blamed my father in law for being in their way so they packed up and left, when he told them all the had to do was tell him they needed to work there. Unfortunately that didn't explain why the other windows that he wasn't near didn't have screens in them, have any sealant around them, nor have the trim back up around them. After a lengthy conversation with Jim we decided that a $75 refund for my father in law having to fix the window job that we just paid him 1K for was reasonable. His response to me asking for a refund was, "A tube of Caulk isn't that expensive." I'm confused as to when it was MY job to finish the work he got paid for. Thankfully my father in law was there because by now my children were having epic meltdowns.

Fast forward to this month (August) and I have still not received any refund and Jim won't return any of my calls and texts. I would recommend that you NOT use this company.

claimed iconBusiness Response10/07/2015

Cindy appears to be a troubled young mom, who, since we finished the project, has done nothing other than try to blackmail money from me by blanketing social media with this nonsense. Her major complaint is that her children were subjected to waiting with her at her house until the work was completed, as well as having to install two window screens and caulk around one window. She knew that I lived in Tarrant County, and that it would take about an hour to travel to her rental property, without traffic. Well, there was traffic that morning. I called her to let he know I was going to be about 35-40 minutes late. When I got there, I called to see where my guys were – they had accidently gone to the same street on the other end of town, so they showed up about 15 minutes after I did. Both windows were installed by 10 am; she was happy and paid me the balance. I left to go to another job, and was there by 10:45. The guys were finishing up when I left. My main guy has worked for me for 27 years, is capable and efficient, knows how to talk to people and is always courteous. When he tells me that he was stopped from completing the caulk because the father in law wanted to install siding, I believe him. The reason the screens were not installed and the window caulked is that her father in law told my guys to stop working while he installed siding around one of the windows. My guys were getting paid to install the windows, not to wait around on anyone else, and got tired of waiting. They left him the caulk to finish up. This was after the father in law had asked them to perform additional work to make his job of installing the siding easier, which they did do. We were hired to install two windows, after 2 different trips to her rental property to price different projects. They were originally going to repair the house and keep it, but decided to sell, and only wanted to replace the two windows. Evidently the house had been added to without getting the required permits from the City and Cindy was afraid that would cause a problem selling the house. One of the windows we were replacing was in the addition, which had settled so much the original window broke, and the vinyl siding pulled away from the house. I believe the inspector she has referred to is the purchaser, or his agent, and not a city inspector. Additionally, I spoke to the interior designer who recommended me to Cindy. She said that Cindy was never actually a client of hers - that they belonged to a mom's group and met there, and that Cindy would always ask her advice and opinion, but never actually hired her to do a project. When I showed her what Cindy said about her never recommending me to anyone else, she said that was the first that she had heard of it, then told me how much of a problem Cindy had been. I believe that Cindy is the one who will never get any recommendations from the designer again. She and I are working together on several projects.

This listing has been claimed by a business representative.
JS
Jim S.

08/07/2013

Provided by YP.com

Since 1984, FWD Builders has built a notable portfolio of Award-Winning Custom Homes, Additions and Major Renovations. Our years of experience in design and construction, along with our commitment to excellence in craftsmanship and service, have earned us our reputation as one of the top remodeling companies in the Metroplex. By combining comprehensive Architectural Design with Construction Services, we are committed to providing unique design, exceptional craftsmanship, unsurpassed project management and customer service. Our personal approach to home renovation ensures the quality, meticulous attention to detail and superb finish that have become hallmarks of an FWD Builders project.

FWD Builders has received more than 27 awards of excellence, from Contractor of the Month, to Contractor of the Year, to a national award from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. FWD’s work has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens Special Interests Publications, as well as an ABC Nightly News segment on Home Improvement.

K
kslagle1

11/12/2012

Provided by YP.com
FWD Builders built a room abov...

FWD Builders built a room above our garage and did a lot of renovations in 2000. Now in 2012, we are looking to do some more work on the house and our current contractor keeps finding things that are blatant code violations and obviously never passed an inspection. (a staircase where the top step is at least 3" shorter than all the rest, a balcony that goes over the allowable 25' line from our alleyway) Also, they clearly never fixed the foundation to allow for the extra weight of the new room and so that side of the house sank and clear cracks were noticeable before we could get the foundation fixed. Also, all wallpaper that was applied by them is peeling off and discoloring. We are going to end up paying a lot more now to fix their mistakes from 12 years ago.

claimed iconBusiness Response08/06/2013

Karen, I can assure you that we pulled a permit for your Dad’s project, that we had all of the inspections performed and passed by the City of Dallas Building Inspectors. We also had a foundation engineer out to look at the foundation of the house and give his opinion of the foundation and if there needed to be additional support added because of adding the room upstairs. All of the particulars of building the addition were approved by the City of Dallas prior to them issuing a building permit for us to do the work. I have all of the original documents and green tags from the inspections if you would like to see them. Dallas has, along with much of this part of the country, experienced a drought over the past few years that has impacted foundations county wide. In areas where there is active soil movement (as it is where your home is) the foundation moves with the soil when there is change in moisture. I don’t know if the building setback has changed, or if your new contractor is miss-informed, but the setback only is applied to the first floor. That is why the balcony was approved to be built the way that it was. That is also why the house is able to be built with roof overhangs or soffits that extend past the building line or setbacks, otherwise all houses would have to be built several feet away from the building line to allow for roof or balcony overhang. I’m sorry that I didn’t hear from you when you began this process. Perhaps I would have been able to answer some of your questions then, rather than this response sometime after the fact.

This listing has been claimed by a business representative.

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Since 1984, FWD Builders has built a notable portfolio of Award-Winning Custom Homes, Additions and Major Renovations. Our years of experience in design and construction, along with our commitment to excellence in craftsmanship and service, have earned us our reputation as one of the top remodeling companies in the Metroplex. By combining comprehensive Architectural Design with Construction Services, we are committed to providing unique design, exceptional craftsmanship, unsurpassed project management and customer service. Our personal approach to home renovation ensures the quality, meticulous attention to detail and superb finish that have become hallmarks of an FWD Builders project.FWD Builders has received more than 27 awards of excellence, from Contractor of the Month, to Contractor of the Year, to a national award from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. FWD’s work has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens Special Interests Publications, as well as an ABC Nightly News segment on Home Improvement.
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