Revive Home Improvement Showrooms Want big time aggravation, #2 lumber and zero quality control Revive is the place for you! Ripoff Columbus Ohio

I'm taking the time to write this report because Revive Home Improvement Showrooms was not in here when I checked before my project began. I sure wish it had been.

First let me say you'll be impressed with both the Revive website and the sales person that comes to your home. You'll hear all about their local showroom and you'll get the promise of the best quality materials and a price that will come in at the lower end of your bid spectrum.

But that's where the good times stop. I experienced Revive trying to deliver a whole deck package into my front yard long before demo of my existing deck even was to start. I was barely able to stop this from happening. It took many phone calls but I saved my front yard.

After that they had the plans drawn up wrong. Good thing I caught that. They didn't want to go back for a change on the building permit but I insisted. Then the arguments started over everything from me catching them not putting concrete into all the footer holes to not wanting to dig new footer holes to match the corrected building permit.

Bottom line... Quality means nothing. They say Deluxe lumber. You get lumber with #2 stamped all over it. That means lumber with knots the size of softballs some split and very ragged.

The crews themselves have some young guys that are personable but the crew leader is only in it, to complete it. If a board is in the package and it's not broke in two it's going up. Oh, and they will use some old used wood in framing. The only thing that matters to this company is that it passes code. Which only means it won't fall down and collapse. Again, it can be the most ugly thing that you've ever seen and still quickly pass code.

When I sent pictures to the lumber yard they said, "What did they do cut the boards with a hatchet!" I swear to God that's what they said. That's how rough the job was.

At the end I wasn't going to pay for this 2nd rate job but the owner who is a friendly & personable guy agreed that the deck railing posts should be lag bolted in and not just wood screwed. He agreed to replace some of the worst pieces of lumber and gave me a discount. Wanting to get my yard back and seriously not trusting them on my property anymore I paid knowing I'd have a lot of extra prep work before I'd ever be able to stain and seal.

Oh, and one last thing. They'll have you sign a "warranty". This "warranty" is really a disclaimer basically saying nothing is covered once they're done. Basically if the deck doesn't collapse or fall apart (that code thing again) they are done.

Within a couple months I had balusters so twisted some were almost touching each other (they started out about 4" apart). I was told the warranty specifically states bowing is not covered... and of course that's exactly what it says.

They did say they'd be glad to come out for a $50 service call plus materials to fix it though. Nice........ real nice!

My advice is, and I'm in the property business, if you only care about the cost, quality is of no concern to you and you want to play General Contractor for a couple weeks just to make sure the size is even right... Well... the deck will at least be fairly sturdy.

To anyone with any quality standards in mind. Run... run away as fast as you can from Revive Home Improvement Showrooms!

Coach
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
U.S.A.