United Building Solutions

**United Building Solutions Review** "You'll never get it perfect, my guys did the best they could" ~Jake Freels, United Building Solutions We contracted United Building Solutions to add a porch on for us above several other project bids because he 'sounded' like he knew what he was doing. We requested it look like the other porches in our HOA and provided pictures for him to get ideas from. Jake Freels suggested stamped concrete and we went with it. Our other main request was to pull permits, other than that we trusted he knew what he was doing, and we wouldn't need to direct the workers. Especially since our original post on here was a request for a GC to run the project. We have a lot of details for this if interested, but for sake of length we'll try to narrow it down to the important details. Quoted project length: 21 Days to complete Actual length: 196 Days They dug the footer holes in our front yard without having permits ready. It took another 2-3 months to get the permits. He never drafted anything for this project and wanted to submit my hand drawn image. When they rejected it, it took several weeks before he got a drafter out and permit approval. Footers were poured and blocks set. concrete forms went up. I had to stop them because apparently Jake made a change to the plan, without talking to us, where he decided to change the plans to put steps in front of our door to get down to the porch. Block guys came back out and installed two more rows of block to make it what we originally discussed. Form guys set everything back up. We provided pictures on color ideas and stamp patterns. Jake said it was possible. When verifying color the day of the pour, I simply stated "make it look like the picture". He had to redo the sidewalk because the concrete set. At that point I directed the guys more. They said they hadn't seen any images that we had sent to Jake which he had also stated in texts. They also taped a line to paint the pad to give it the look we were going for, but the sidewalk is really what we were going for in the pictures we sent to Jake. Once the concrete was fully set, the framers came out and had the upper section framed in a day. From there we waited for whenever they would come out to work a bit then go. They ran out of materials a couple times. We had a lot of 'fine detail' issues that weren't fully worked through. We opted for the metal roof but after install noticed lots of dents and scratches that he claimed would never be perfect. In the end, our porch doesn't look like the HOA because it's missing a frieze beam (that he said wasn't needed despite the #1 requirement of make it look like the HOA). There are several other small issues that we came to realize he won't be able to get to where we need it. He never created a model or drawing of the overall project for us to see and his guys to work towards. Summary: If you're looking for quality and timeliness, we don't suggest Jake and United Building Solutions. If you want someone to GC or direct the project, definitely not his specialty. If you just want to pay extra for connections to subcontractors for you to direct until you get your end goal, then he has some people to reach out to. Communication breaks down and you have to keep on top of it or you'll end up with something you didn't intend. I plan on redoing a lot of what his guys did to fix it properly. Jake sounds confident in his interactions and will tell you yes to everything but will run up charges without approval and change plans midstream without notice.

We needed several major things done on my dad's house we were trying to sell. A new roof, the chimney needed torn down which resulted in a need for new siding on the chimney side of the house and some masonry work in several areas. We called United Building Solutions on a Friday morning. They had a quote for the entire project the same day and stated they could get started on Tuesday. They completed the entire project including cleanup in one day! on Tuesday, (the day they said they would be there!) and returned Wednesday to haul off the dump trailer- all the work was completed. The job came out perfect and quickly. BTW the siding was a perfect match of the existing siding - Mr. Freels took great measure to find a good match! Mr. Freels also responds to all calls and texts without delay - very responsive. We could not be happier!

Jake and his crew were very professional and did a quality job. I would highly recommend using his company for any construction or roofing needs. A+

This project was a abomination from start to unfinished. shorted the job materials damaged 2 of 4 skylights. failed to get right flashing kits for skylights reinstalled old flashing kits wrong. Was told he would be back this spring to make it right, NO-SHO as of yet. (5/17/18) the roof was installed last year. Never replaced gutters that were quoted, Just another "pick-up truck contractor" If JAKE FREELS comes knockin run like hell & don't look back. I could go on with more, but I think I made my point. (there is more) Feel free to come & look, I'll give you a tour. My name is Floyd "Scott" Breslin, phone # (937) 408-5736.