Gikas Painting & Contracting
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Overall: Gikas will give the outside of your home what it needs. That means "what the house needs," which is not always the same as "what you want to do" or "what a contractor would love you to pay for." We did a complete exterior renovation with Gikas. This included extensive carpentry work as the home has been horribly mistreated over the last 60 years or so. The before and after don't really do it justice—window sills and decorative elements had been smashed off to make way for awful yellow aluminum siding that ruined the exterior proportions and angles. We took off all the siding and took it back to square one. While replacing all the decorative elements would have been far too expensive, I feel like we did right by the house. Alex acted as the foreman for the project, and George the owner of the company would stop by from time to time. Two things stood out for me. 1) The attention that went into making the new carpentry match the existing (115 years old). They did this by using salvaged lumber, which comes in dimensions you can't get anymore, and by applying their extensive experience with homes of the period. They have a couple of carpenters who are really talented, particularly when it comes to building porches. One of them replicated all the pieces of a round porch column using a miter saw, and it was a sight to behold. 2) Alex was very responsive and communicative, which is a nice change from many contractors, who disappear on you. We did the project in the winter (good timing) to make the home ready for sale. Even with weather uncertainty we were able to finish most of the work shortly before COVID hit, and then there were just a few touchups, which could be completed with social distancing. The communication and scheduling was key to completing on time. 3) I solicited multiple bids and ultimately Gikas gave me a little more value, throwing in some badly needed porch repairs that make a big difference in the home's overall look. With any construction project, there are cost overruns, but they did it on the agreed-upon budget (I added on a new back porch that wasn't originally in the scope, and some additional shingled areas, which amounted to about a 3% increase in the overall budget). That made me feel good in the end about selecting Gikas.
Steve C.Steve C.
10
Maybe we were just unlucky during the pandemic, but the crew didn’t do a good job and the first project manager was worse. We had to clarify multiple aspects of the project (since even the floors, chimney and stairs were missing in the estimate). Then, we forgot to clarify for the columns and it was a big discussion to have them done. We had to pay extra in the end. They came back many times to correct issues but it was a very long and painful process. It took them one year to correct the errors and at the end, the new crew was a lot better. We also asked for a new project manager who was also better. Meanwhile, when it’s done badly the first time, you keep having endless problems. As you can see on the picture (20 months later), there was no preparation before painting the deck. Half deck initially peeled in 2 months. They came back and redid it but they didn’t do the sides of the deck again. I’m sure I’ll keep finding problems going ahead. Again, maybe I just got a very bad crew with no supervision, but man, that was rough.
J AJ A
30
Nearby Attractions Of Gikas Painting & Contracting
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