Willis Builders Inc

Our project was an in-law suite attached to our house. The project started in July, 2017, and was completed in May, 2017. Our favorite thing about Matthew was that he was very quick to respond to any question/concern we had. He was always easy to reach. We also enjoyed his positive outlook and upbeat attitude when it came to problem solving. His workers, Marcelo the carpenter and Giovanny our project manager who can do almost anything, did an excellent job. When we hit a glitch, with the plumber, for instance, Matthew was very efficient in fixing it. Overall, we would wholeheartedly recommend Matthew Willis and his crew.

I hired Willis Builders in 2017 to build a new screen porch. While the finished product is good, it was an unnecessarily rocky and frustrating process. Matt, the owner, agreed to have the project completed by April 24th, roughly a 5 week timeline, and agreed to have that deadline written in the contract. The project started off really well with the company starting right away and completing a lot in the first week. For whatever reason, everything slowed considerably after that and it required frequent nagging to get them to make progress. The project manager would not reply to email, text or phone so getting updates or asking questions was very difficult. Matt was generally very good about getting back to me though so that helped but even after he apparently spoke to the project manager, there was no improvement on that end. The project was finally completed at the beginning of June, about twice the time we agreed upon. There was no unusually bad weather (done in Spring), no permitting delays, no external issues to blame for this. When pressed I would hear conflicting stories about the delays or would receive promises that were not kept. As for the quality of work, I would give it maybe a 7/10. Overall, it is a good looking screen porch, but there were a few issues. The ceiling was originally going to be stained, but because the quality of the wood used was not great, I thought it best just to have them paint over it. They used indoor outlets for an outdoor project so it failed inspection the first time around. They must have run out of the 1” molding that goes all around the perimeter so for one of the three walls, they stuck up half round shoe molding instead which looks really odd. But again, those things are not that major and we are happy with how it turned out in the end. The way Matt charged for this project I would describe as somewhat “misleading.” When we met we agreed and shook on a total price of $22,500. When I received the contract, the total price excluded some things that ended up increasing the total cost by several thousand dollars. For ex. the roof was listed at $0 but in the description it stated “We will budget $2000 - $3000 for the labor to install the metal roofing . Roofer will give pricing and will be under $3000.” I missed that line item (my fault) so already the cost was really at $25,500. Another example is the cost of materials. Contract states, “We estimate materials to total around $7500” so that is what I budgeted but when they came to $8400, Matt emailed me that, “I had no idea what it was going to cost when I said I guesstimate materials at $7500.” A “guestimate” could be anything I suppose. I think in the future, a fixed price would be preferable for the customer. I don’t think Matt is a bad guy, and I think the crew is competent, I just think his team and process needs some work.