Tekton Group

Hiring Tekton Group was a huge mistake. The nightmarish experience prompted me to write this review to warn buyers of what a liar and cheater Allison was. She talked the talk and got our trust to design the backyard. Although it was a slow start, we understood it’s a new community and the HOA took time to review. It didn’t take us long to notice the quality of work and the materials they used were inferior. When our neighbors started digging their backyards, we noticed their rail and house were protected and materials were kept neat. We only had glass protected for 2 weeks, it fell and they just left it there. The workers cut the tiles near the glass and left speckles and pits all over our rear glass door. The damage was permanent. Now I worry my glass would break one day because of the tiny holes in them. Tekton’s standard materials were very cheap. All we wanted was a decent backyard, nothing extravagant. It was tough to fully understand the quality of the materials quoted. After the project began we started seeing samples and realized that the materials they quoted were just too cheap to accept. We had to pay extra for almost everything. At first we did not question the upgrades, but then our neighbors backyards started to show nicely, we asked their contractors and realized the upgrades we paid were standard by other contractors. This was their money making scheme #1 – quote low and make you buy upgrades. Tekton made numerous mistakes and blamed us for changing our minds. Due to Allison’s communication errors, we were stuck with the wrong color stone, cheaper marble counter, wrong decking color (all of which we paid upgrades for), the list goes on. If we wanted to change, we had to pay full price for their mistakes. We decided to live with it. We started asking for cost breakdowns for the upgrade because the cost was going out of control. It was then we knew what a lair Allison has been. We changed an area of 12*12 to a different tile because the design was boring. That along cost us $9,000. The tiles we picked by us at a tile store which were priced at $1.99 per square ft. This means they charged $60 per square ft for labor, and that’s the price for upgrade, not taking consideration of the original cost. The fruit trees (another upgrade) cost $1,000 each. I went to the nursery and saw the same species, same size tree for $49. Allison explained her trees were $600 and it cost $200 for shipping, $200 for planting. But we did not buy these one by one. How do they expect anyone to accept $1400 for shipping 7 fruit trees, not to mention these are tiny citrus trees from a local nursery? After that finding, we told Tekton to stop the upgrades and just give us what’s quoted. The other trees arrived and what’s quoted as 5 gallon plants were substantially smaller than the 5-gallon size we bought ourselves. Allison explained we cannot compare trees to trees, 5 gallon does not equal to 5 gallon. I had to be an idiot to swallow that one. This is their money-making scheme #2 – use cheaper materials. After that, things got worse. Their sub contractor mistakenly built a bigger deck than was quoted. We did not even saw the drawing or approve the size. Tekton made us pay $1250 for the extra cost. Our budget went up 150% because of the upgrades and mistakes. We have one of the smallest yards on our street, no pool, yet it cost more than others with larger yards, a swimming pool, and nicer full bloom trees. For 3rd party items which Tekton did not even touch such as the rear deck railing and the awning, they marked up 45% and try to get away with a poor job. I would be Ok with whatever they mark up, however after the contractor left our exterior with nail holes, I saw what a lousy job Tekton did to patch up. The wall was not even sanded; they used the wrong color paint which made the exterior look awful. I had to get their contractor to show us the invoice to prove how much Tekton marked up, and pin them down to finish the patching. For the amount of money they made and the little involvement, it’s way overpriced. After confronting Allison they over charged us, Allison replied they did not make money on our project. They only mark up 25% and 12% goes to taxes. I saw the receipt from their subcontractors and they clearly marked up 45% or more. And with tax write off, not the whole amount is taxable. It really bugged me when a person made money off you and still cried poor. Getting ripped off is one thing, dealing with a liar is something else. This is a company I would never ever use again.