Polli Construction, inc.

I wouldn't recommend this company. They market themselves as a full-service construction company, but in reality they seem to subcontract nearly everything. The biggest issue is the lack of quality control—when multiple subcontractors are involved, no one seems to take responsibility for the finished product. If they're just hiring other contractors to do the work, you're honestly better off finding and hiring those contractors yourself. You'll likely save money, have direct communication with the people actually doing the work, and avoid paying a markup for someone who isn't providing much oversight. I expected professional project management and quality craftsmanship, but that wasn't my experience.

I recently contacted Polli Construction to request a price to stain our 400 square foot deck and to paint the wood railing around the deck. We were given a fixed price of $7,200 by the Polli Construction (PC) Estimator. Having had no experience with painting or carpentry, I had no idea how long it would take to complete this work. Material from PC indicates that it charges $145 per hour for hourly contracts. I naively assumed their estimate was roughly commensurate with this rate, leading me to expect about 50 hours of labor. The Estimator also noted that the top rail was rotted, and he provided an additional estimate for replacing it with PVC, which I accepted. After laying out a template for the PVC, PC realized that the rot was not limited to the top rail, and that the only options were to replace the entire railing system or not paint the railing. The Estimator provided an estimate for replacing the railing system, which I declined. All parties agreed to continue only with the staining and not paint the railing; the Estimator verbally stated that he would remove $1,712 from the price. The crew had previously pressure washed the deck, and they proceeded to stain it. I have no idea how long it took to wash the deck, but applying the stain took at most 8 hours. Thus, I had an invoice for $5,488 ($7,200 - $1712), for what seemed to me to be a very small expenditure of time by PC. I questioned the Estimator about the pricing; he arranged a meeting with PC’s Owner. During that meeting the Owner stressed two things. First, he stated the importance of the contract I had signed, and how it guided everything else. Second, he stressed that decisions about billing were privileged, and that he had no obligation to disclose the basis for those decisions. Specifically, he refused to answer questions about how he developed the original bid ($7,200) and how he revised it to only stain the deck. I pointed out that the cost of staining the deck had been assessed at a cost 3.2 times higher than painting the railing $5,488 / $1,712 = 3.2), and asked for a justification; he again refused. (He seemed to argue that he could set those prices at any level he wanted, and that the signed contract meant that I agreed with those decisions.) The Owner said that by not objecting to the Estimator’s revised bottom line, I had accepted it and my acceptance was binding. Since I had not yet seen the time required to do the work, I did not have the information to object at that time. The Owner also. stated that I could have told the Estimator that I wanted to discontinue all the work and pay only for work that had been completed. This option was not explained to me. I did not object, and the Owner’s position was that therefore this became the amended contract. In the end, I paid at least $252 an hour for my deck to be washed and stained, and for a template to be developed for replacing the top railing. It is my fault for not knowing how long it would take to stain a deck. But I suspect that many homeowners are in the same boat. Many PC reviewers indicated that it took much less time than they expected to complete a job. If a customer lacks this knowledge, I would hope that businesses would offer a fair price for the service they provide. PC did not. In the meeting, the Owner repeated that I had signed a contract and was bound by it, and that I should have objected when the contract was signed rather than after the work was completed. Unfortunately, it is only after the work is completed that the unsophisticated customer has the knowledge to object. My advice to homeowners who need small home repairs but who may not have the knowledge to accurately assess how long those repairs will take: Do not call PC, because you risk being charged an exorbitant hourly rate for the work that is actually done. The law is, no doubt, on the side of PC. But that does not mean that you won’t feel ripped off when you compare the PC bill to the actual number of hours worked.

The work was fairly extensive, more complicated than originally contemplated. Throughout, each and every worker was thoughtful, on task, attentive to detail, making a near miracle happen… while also being new friends for my rescue dog! They basically rebuilt a wall while also replacing severely degraded windows, and also tending to new woodwork for the interior. Please see the pictures… beautiful.

I got Polli to come out first to get an estimate on getting my front porch redone. Complete rebuild. Full disclosure asked for quote with Trex. I know this is a lot more expensive than pressure treated. I also asked for a quote with pressure treated. The quote I received was $159,000 and change. For a front porch. So, I then thought that pressure treated would me way cheaper. Nope, only $15,000 dollars less. The next company I asked for a quote was nearly $70,000 dollars less for Trex and $100,000 dollars less for pressure treated. This is not a question of quality of work as I have seen the quality. It is very good. I wouldn't have reached out otherwise. But it seems they just didn't want the business. They could have just said that, and I would have been fine. I asked 2 other contractors what normal material markup was, and they stated 10% to 20%. 50% is outrageous. Needless to say, we went another direction. Also, the person who did the quote spent all of 5 minutes at my house. Took a few measurements and was gone.

We had Polli help replace a section of basement flooring that was water damaged. I had done the removal of the old flooring and they did the install for the replacement area. While I wish we had been put on their list a little faster (after the initial estimate meeting), they were very professional and the process was pretty seamless. I was particularly impressed with the professionalism of their crew. Communication was good and most importantly they were timely and did a great job cleaning up after themselves -- something I have not experienced from other mid size to large construction companies. They also did a nice job with "touch up" work like caulking and baseboard trim -- painting was not included in our estimate but they still make it look nice by doing the small things well!

We purchased an older home that we were looking to remodel and make more functional to fit our needs. I worked with Polli's interior designer, and she was wonderful. She listened to me and took the time to understand my style and the vision that I had for my new home. She provided valuable suggestions that helped me understand what would work and what wouldn’t work in the space and then came up with a couple of beautiful designs that left me speechless. I couldn't imagine that my new home could look so great. She is very talented, easy to work with and I would highly recommend her.

We hired Polli Construction to fix a leaky roof that we had hired others to unsuccessfully fix in the past. Our experience with Polli from start to finish was great. The workers were very professional, responsive, and helpful. They had the job done quickly and explained the issues to my husband or I as they worked. The crews were very efficient and any issue that arose during their work was quickly and easily dealt with. We look forward to working with them in the future and would recommend Polli Construction to anyone looking to hire a construction company.

Our experience with Polli has been very frustrating, as we believe we were misled and substantially overcharged for work on our roof, while also having a poor experience with follow-up communications. Polli estimated in the $2,000 to $3,000 range for inspection and repair of our cedar roof, however they recently invoiced us over $9,400, while performing a small fraction of the work we expected. We have asked for clarification on why their labor was well beyond their estimate but we received no response. We were also invoiced for materials well beyond what they actually used, which also included a 50% markup. I recommend avoiding Polli Construction at all costs! ** Edit: Polli reached out to rectify our situation and agreed they did not “set us up for success” and there was a miscommunication issue in their side. We settled on a reasonable invoice amount and closed out the issue.

Multiple projects were coordinated and scheduled, including re-build of bulkhead door, gutters, sump pump installation and dehumidifier with drain installation. Easily added electrical switch replacement when that went out after contract arranged. The work spanned several months as we were forced to wait for ground thought to complete the sump pump drainage. We were kept well informed along the way as to when workers would arrive, etc. Clean up was excellent.

We have nothing but good things to say about Polli. Dave and Nate were great advocates. We were consulted and clearly advised as to every decision and prices were made clear in advance, and came in as estimated (or better). Quality of work was good and all workers were polite and efficient. We had a door, patio and windows installed and everything was done RIGHT