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They come across very professional but they are worst than car salesmen. Great record with the bbb but beware! Prices change all the time. Details of what you initally requested disappear or get changed. They do it to be sly so you don't notice. Be very careful! They are not to be trusted with your hard earned money. They try to sell you the home of your dreams for the price of the home of your dreams and then when its time to get into contract they really sell you the "contractors special". They request more money for less! They insist on you buying their tile, fixtures etc., that they allocate pennies towards so you can upgrade when you get to the showroom. Thats when your bill starts going up. That's their bread and butter... Just like the dealership. All the extras add up and the dealership in this case shells only inc makes a killing. I was having a bad felling about them so I looked everywhere online for reviews and I found nothing so this is why I am writing this. I should have gone wtih my gut in the first place. They are deceitful. They promise the moon & stars and they will not follow through with their promises! In fact they will try to get out of the deal. We are not talking about a couple of thousands of dollars we are talking about $125, 000 +.in these tough times they need to re-evaluate their business tactics if they want to make it through. Beware! Go with your own architect and piece the job out yourself and save yourself 20%-30% of the total cost. Then maybe you can afford all the extras that they try to take out of your project so they could make more profit. Good luck & I hope this helps & go with your gut!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
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I wish I saw this review sooner. They just pulled the same thing on us.
Very disappointed.
I wish I read this sooner. They just pulled the same thing on us.
We are so disappointed. Salesman was nice, but the owner changed
everything after the contract was signed. Beware.
THERE WORK IS VERY UNPROFFESIONAL VERY SHADY WORK AND LOW QUALITY. THEY HAVE COME BACK NUMEROUS TIMES AND STILL COME BACK. WILL NEVER RECOMMEND THEM AND WILL NOT EVER EVER THINK OF HIRING THEM AGAIN. MY HOUSE IS STILL A MESS FROM THEM. SHADY WORKERS!
Well here is another victim> I can personally attest to their blatant lies and misrepresentations
My name is Michael
I purchased a home in the Seaford area of Long Island about 6 months ago.
I have been looking for a contractor to do a second floor and a garage. After doing some local research, driving around to see what’s going on in my neighborhood and who is working near by. I have been seeing a lot of the shells only trucks around. I see other trucks in the area too, but don’t look as nice and clean as theirs. I have been getting estimates from other companies and as I am looking online, I see this site come up. Obviously I took it upon my self to go to the locations where I been seeing their trucks and asking the owners of the home questions on how everything is going, since I am planning on hiring them to do the work to my home. On the contrary of what is said here, the three houses I have been to so far without asking for references from the shells only representative that came to my house. They are all extremely satisfied. That is a very important role for me in choosing the right contractor since it is such a major renovation and there is no going back to interviewing contractors when my roof is off. The kind enough owners that allowed me to see the work and ask them questions about the company also interviewed the companies I called. They are happy with shells since they hired them and two from the three are in the final stages and one had just finished the framing process. One gave shells only additional work to do aside from what they originally hired them to do since they were satisfied and the other gave them a kitchen job that also was not part of the original job. I am looking forward on choosing the right company and from what I read here to what the actual people are saying and I am personally verifying. I don’t have a doubt shells only will be doing my renovation.
I am looking forward on working with them. All I can say is LOOK FOR YOUR SELF before thinking that any company is bad because you read things that are the contrary of what the company really is. Three out of Three customers are very happy. I know because I took it upon my self to check. Any one can do the same and get that “bad gut” feeling out of the way as indicated on a previous post. It was a calm feeling after talking to their current customers that didn’t hesitate to tell me GO WITH SHELLS.
Two years ago a fire destroyed my family's home. The first contractor we hired destroyed our home even worse. Shells Only stepped in on their own and rebuilt my home. The work crew was always on time, they were all always polite and friendly and they worked extremely hard. They stayed late many nights to ensure our home would be completed in a timely manner. Our exceptions were more than met and our house came out beautiful. I would ABSOLUTELY recommend Shells Only to anyone, they are a wonderful company who cares about their customers.
Of course Shells Only can post all the fake posts they want but just ask the right contractors. Yes Shells Only is big, and they appear to do good work on the surface but let the buyer beware. You be the judge. As for me I know first hand that they lie, lie and lie. Don't pay them until their work passes inspection and don't let them do your plans.
They appear to have a first class business. Slick ads, and supposedly no complaints. Yea right. A great sales job guys but those of us who know the real deal know better.
Shells only has the worst reputation in long island home improvements. I didn't know this until we hired them. They have clever ads saying they'll build you a dormer for something like 20k. That's just for a shell. They should stick to only building shells. However their framers are pretty bad.
Our job was completed on time. The drywall work had to be redone. Two walls were able to be pushed around because there was nothing securing the lower stud. The building inspector told us they had to demand things numerous times because they didn't use enough nails, the nails weren't hitting studs, etc. Once the job is done we're having drainage issues with the cement work. A patio they built has the crappiest grade handrails which needed to be replaced.
We made the mistake of letting them do our plans. Better off letting an 8 year old do them. The owner of the company says he's an architect. The salesman mentioned this at least 4 times.
What Shells Only does is act as a general contractor. Once they have your contract, they get the cheapest framers, cheapest plumbers, cheapest electricians, cheapest masons, etc to do your work.
you're better off dealing with a company that doesn't use salespeople who have never done construction in their life to come to your house and tell you what you need.
I was hoping that the recession would take care of Shells only. Until I saw their truck cleverly parked at Lowes. The pictures on the truck isn't their work. It's from a catalog.
TOTAL RIPOFF! I've seen their work, shoddy at best. From a distance the work looks good but after careful checking, you will be very angry. I saw what they did to my brother and I would not let them build me a dog house. I've let several friends who were planning work know not to use them. TOTAL RIPOFF.
I have to say I'm so glad I didn't let these reviews stop me from using Shells Only for my project. They did a great job. There were a few issues that popped up during the construction, but they were handled thoughtfully and fairly. It really makes me wonder if the people who put up complaints on sites like this are actually competitors of the companies they are knocking. As a business owner it scares me to think that a competitor of mine can sit down at his computer for 5 minutes and write a fictitious complaint about my practice and really hurt my business. The fact that this is anonymous facilitates that type of behavior and possible defamation. That's why I checked with BBB and Consumer Affairs about anyone I do business with. They will not accept "anonymous complaints
Just had our dormer done by shells only. Had two people on our street who wanted work done and we told them DON'T use Shells Only. You will pre pay for all work completed if you agree to their foolish payment schedule. DON'T SIGN IT. None of their workers speak english or flushes your toilet after using it. Oh, and you don't get you job supers phone number, have a question call the office. But they will call you every three days or so demanding you pay for the next round of work they havent done yet, bank check or cash only please. Overall very sloppy unprofessional crew, will not have much respect for your home or family. DON'T use these guys. They are to big to care about you. Find a smaller better respected company who will serve you better. Good luck.
The home owners that are complaining are just cheap skates . Always trying to get some thing for nothing, theses home owner got in over they heads with the construction project.
Chaplain taste, and a two cent budget, this company offers you other options and up grades, you do not have to purchase the upgrade. But they show what's available not like a one man band working out of his band, I always said go with a company you can sue in court, not a guy who works out of his van. Again these homeowners big cheap skates. You have no business buildings a home improvement project if you don't have the money . One last thing, the complaints start when the bank loan starts. Shells only and there staff are a top notch company.
Shells did my kitchen about a year and a half ago. After a year I noticed the tiles on my kitchen floor are chipping on the edges. Some of them even have tiny bubble-ish holes on the surface of the tile. Others have little hairline ridges along the edges, if they haven't chipped off already. I called Shells about the problem almost three months ago and they still have yet to get back in touch with me regarding a solution. I am chasing them weekly with phone calls and they constantly pass the buck. Initially the foreman came to my house with a rep from the tile distributor who seemed shocked about what happened with the tile. But I was informed this particular tile company is out of business now so they can't replace the floor. Their solution was swap out the damaged tiles with our leftover tiles. First problem, I don't have enough leftover tiles to replace the damaged ones, second problem...the leftover tiles were all damaged also! And the installer had even gone through the tiles and marked them all in the areas where they were chipped so he knew not to use them. So obviously the whole batch was bad, and instead of putting the project off and getting a quality product to install, they just put some overpriced crap in my kitchen. After numerous phone calls I'm getting no response now. So now I have a new kitchen with a horrible chipped floor and nobody at Shells is trying to solve this problem. So much for this quote up top "We always strive to resolve any and all customer issues quickly and professionally." I would never use this company again or refer them to anyone else for that matter. The picture with the purple tags are the damages tiles...quite a lot if you ask me.
I am happy to update my post directly above regarding the kitchen floor to say that Shells is working with us to get the problem fixed as soon as possible. The owner came to my house and assessed the situation and is doing everything in his power to get it fixed. He gave us a few options and warned of the pros and cons of each one. We picked out new tile for the kitchen floor, and I am just waiting for an installation date. The problem appears to be with the tile distributor, they are refusing to accept responsibility for selling damaged tile, and Shells was just trying to get some answers instead of responding to our calls with the same info. So the lack of communication was actually just miscommunication. I am confident now that the issue will be resolved in the short term and I sincerely thank everyone at Shells for their dedication to getting this problem fixed.
After going through the labor intensive process of shopping for a contractor as well as picking out tile, fixtures, etc. for a new bathroom we decided to get a quote from Shells Only. We received several quotes for the labor from other contractors but liked the idea of having the materials and contractor come from one location. We visited the showroom on several occasions and spoke with the staff who helped us pick out our tile, vanity and flooring. We didn't shop for materials anywhere else because we liked their inventory and the girls in the showroom were very helpful. After they came to our home and measured we scheduled an appointment to discuss the cost. We requested a quote for the whole project in addition to a price for the materials only. We wanted to compare the price with other quotes and planned on purchasing the materials from them regardless. Which they were aware of. We had an appointment but waited forty five minutes and were basically told everyone was to busy to help us and they didn't want to turn away business. When the owner, Dennis, finally acknowledged us we were made to feel like they really did not want or need our business. I guess the walk-ins were more important than people who were already committed to purchasing their materials from Shells Only. Dennis went through our quote for the entire project and when we asked him for what the materials alone would cost he refused to give us a number. He was obnoxious and arrogant throughout our entire meeting with no real apology for keeping us waiting. We were basically told we couldn't get a price without doing the entire job with them. It must be nice to have so much business that you can turn customers away but I don't know how that's possible with Dennis in charge.
I had shells only do my second floor in 2007. The work was ok and the materials and subcontractors used were subpar. How do I know this, easy, the work I've had done on my first floor, by different contractors have resulted in zero problems. Shells only issues are numerous. The sheet rock is below quality. When the door frames were put in, they hammered the frames in so hard, the sheet rock was completely damaged and to "repair it", they just covered it and barely with spackle. My flashing was done incorrectly - it's been leaking for 10 years. I know this because I had a subfloor put in in the attic just last week and noticed that the insulation and wood and joists were wet. Flashing was not done in a step formation but rather two pieces put together side by side. If I didn't move my stuff around in my attic I would never have known! Now, I need a new section for my roof which is less than 10 years old! Also - they installed a vent for my second floor bathroom. Where was it venting? Directly into my attic! Not outside! Who does this? My GC fixed that last week also. Talk about a fire hazard! My second floor tub is not pitched correctly so there is always just a little bit of water in the tub and has caused discoloration. They used nails to attach sheetrock to studs. Who does this? It should have been screws. So now, every single room - wall and ceiling has nail heads popping out of the walls and ceiling. Yes I understand about the house settling - but if they used screws - like you're supposed to - this wouldn't happen. I will never recommend them. You are just a number to them. So dissatisfied. Wish I could go back in time and talk myself out and go with a smaller GC who would care more. I will be complaining to the BBB.
Paul and Karen Nardone,
We did find your records which show that we built a dormer for you back in 2007 located at 167 Allen ave. Oceanside NY in the original amount of $54, 924.00. Our records also show all town inspections have been done and completed as per state and local code. We do not have any records that indicate you called for any service since your project was built back in 2007 (10 years ago). I want to reply to your concerns. The sheetrock nail pops is common due to normal settling and may also have something to do with your recent installation of attic plywood done by others? As far as using nails, we use screws as a industry standard. A roof leak would show up somewhere, somehow way before 10 years. It is possible after 10 years of weather; the flashing may have shifted which is a minor service repair. (We have no records of a service repair order called into our office.) When the bathroom vent was installed is was brought over to the outside vented overhang. Some of your concerns 10 years later lean more towards normal wear and tear and standard maintenance. However, after 43 years in business and still having the same Phone # (631) 422-9190, we have never refused any of our client’s requests for service after our normal warranty. We are offering even after 10 years to send one of our qualified project managers over to your home to do an inspection of our own and discuss this further, please contact our office at your earliest convenience...Again, I would like to reiterate that all of our work is inspected by your town inspectors. If something was not up to code or properly installed we would have never passed our inspections.
Not happy with the policy of no breakdown when they give you a total. Went in for a bathroom and first off I had to use their stock I couldn't supply anything I wanted from an outside source. Thn when I came in for a total I was given a crazy price without any breakdown of the costs. Avoid this place very pushy sales people and our much more expensive than anyone else around. Lost this job.
Overpriced, shop around you'll do much better. They try to control what and where you buy your supplies. They want to supple all items, but never give you an itemized price. They were thousands more than any other place we shopped, for the exact same work.
I agree, we went in for a kitchen freshen ( small kitchen ) and at first really liked the sales people, and I'm sure it's not the sales staff fault. We returned for a price to do the job, now we explained we did a lot of shopping around and had 5 estimates. We wasted nearly an hour before they would even give us the price for the job. Then was shown a price with no breakdown at all ( like others here have mentioned) for over 5k more than the next most expensive. Their only way they would lower the price was to step down to cheaper cabinets. We explained we had estimates for even higher quality cabinets than they offered for nearly 4k less, but they could careless. Then we were told all sorts of lies about how they had better quality faucets then stores like home depot, when we called the facet company direct they laughed and said everyone gets the same quality if it's the the model. We also priced the cabinets they offered and found them to be 3k+ cheaper then the better quality cabinets we bought. Do your homework, they are way to expensive for what they offer.
Wow glad that I checked the reviews before getting sucked into a bad mistake, was thinking about having them price a second story addition to the house. Will talk to a GC instead. Thank you everyone for posting your experiences.