Decks! by Home Specialists

Bottom line: After 1 YEAR and thousands of dollars we still do NOT have a completed deck. Use extreme caution with Decks! By Homes Specialists - after our experience, it’s hard to believe any of his positive reviews are real. Decks! By Home Specialists / Denis took a deposit in April, 2023, and our contract stated he would be finished by May, 2023. This is now March, 2024 and our deck is still incomplete. The roof of the deck is being supported by two 2x6 boards that are secured with…bungee cords. Yes, bungee cords (but give him credit, they’re pretty fancy bungees). The deck is not level - which I kinda thought was a basic tenet of building anything. One of the posts hangs over the edge of the concrete meant to support it. There are piles of dirt (or sheets of clay after a rain), scraps of wood, and holes (12” X 12” X 12”) in our yard. There are warped spindles and rails, and screws sticking up out of the deck (the heads are stripped out and they can’t be screwed all the way in). All this, one YEAR after signing a contract with Denis / Decks! By Home Specialist. For almost 1 year we have lived with a back-yard that is dangerous and unusable. And, a few months into this ordeal, in July / August, Denis thought it wise to tear down our old deck, so our back door opened out to a 2-story drop (yes, that first step is beyond a doozy, it will kill you)...just a little icing for the cake. After 6-8 months of delays we started talking to licensed, legitimate deck builders to come in for triage. The deck will not pass the county’s inspection, and the other deck builders won’t “fix” his work - they want to tear it down and start over because of liability concerns. So, we waited, hoping Denis would send more than one man, for more than 2 hours, and finish it. When I complained, again and again and again, Denis was full of excuses and new completion commitments - not one of which has he ever met. Ever. Here we are at the one year mark, and our only recourse is to send a Right to Repair notice, then a lawsuit. Aside from the fact that we’re out thousands of dollars and may have to tear down and re-build the deck, a few other fun facts to consider before making your own decision: -There was absolutely no proactive communication whatsoever. Not once. You have to chase him down to get a schedule update…except when he wants money, and boy he’s on that like a dog on a bone. -After not seeing anyone for weeks on end, out of the blue Denis’ guy would just appear and sit in our driveway for a couple of hours. A couple of times at 8:00 Saturday morning (dogs a barkin’, Ring Cameras a dingin’). Sometimes he would work on something for a couple of hours, but other times he would just leave without even getting out of his truck. We were so confused! -Sometimes he will have materials delivered…without telling anybody!. If you aren’t there, you might come home to find a stack of wood or a palette of concrete blocking your driveway…whoops! -He doesn’t do phone calls except when he’s selling you…you have to text him. I’m old fashioned - I like having a conversation when I’m writing you checks with multiple zeroes.

Stay away from him! Denis Richardson will sweet talk you into thinking he will build the best deck on earth but he just wants your money. We signed a contract in March 2018, as of Nov 2018 all he has done is take out our old deck leaving an unsafe yard for my dogs and more excuses than I can count as to why he hasn't started. There have been no permits pulled to even start building anything. So he took our money with no plans to return to do any work at all. He has done this to several people this year just google him. He is nothing but a thief and liar. STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY