We hired Twin Pines to put on a new roof and install new gutters and downspouts. Initially it seemed to go well. We were impressed by their efforts to protect the landscaping and clean up the job site. That disappeared completely by the second day. They damaged mature bushes and numerous perennials and left the job site strewn with debris and garbage. When we pointed this out to Craig Schewe, who was managing the job, he did nothing to fix it.
Twin Pines finished the roof and when it came time for them to install the gutters and downspouts, things grew much worse. At the time we signed the contract, we specified 3-inch round corrugated downspouts to be installed at the same location--corners of the house--as the existing downspouts (also 3-inch round corrugated). Craig Schewe said that these were a “custom” order and charged us an additional $1000. Eventually they came out to do the work. Their crew was loud, rude and obnoxious, and they ended up installing the wrong downspouts in the wrong configuration and in the wrong locations (right down the front facade of the house). They also left behind copious amounts of debris and garbage.
These deficiencies were immediately brought to the attention of Craig Schewe, who acknowledged the errors, writing,“I’m so sorry the downspouts were installed differently than we discussed. I will definitely make sure this is corrected.” Instead of doing this, however, Twin Pines subjected us to months of delays, broken promises and outright lies.
I received an email from the owner of Twin Pines, Nathaniel Stern. No salutation, no apology, just a brusque statement that: “We cannot find the smaller corrugated downspout...” What followed was an absurd string of emails in which they insisted over and over that they could not acquire the correct downspouts. We contacted numerous suppliers and let Mr Stern know that they were readily available. We even sent him an invoice from his own supplier showing that the downspouts and accessories could ship within days. They simply would not agree to order and install the correct materials for which they were charging us an additional $1000.
It became clear that we could not get Twin Pines to fix their deficient work, so we attempted to negotiate a settlement. Initially, Nathanial Stern accepted our offer (“I will revise the bill and send an email tomorrow”), only to renege the next day. Fed up with Mr Stern’s refusal to act in good faith, we finally sent him a check clearly notated “Full and Final Payment”. He cashed the check and then immediately started threatening a lien. We responded by reiterating all the defects and deficiencies of Twin Pines’ work, including a video of the now leaking gutters.
We regret ever having hired Twin Pines. The experience has been nothing but negative. Based on our experience, we found Twin Pines, and Nathaniel Stern, to be unprofessional, untrustworthy and dishonest.