JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Home improvement projects are expensive and the experience can be very frustrating, especially if the project is taking longer than anticipated or if the contractor isn't meeting the customer's expectations.
Local homeowner JoAnn Orlando said she is experiencing a home improvement nightmare of her own.
"I'm surprised my Homeowners Association hasn't been hollering," Orlando said.
In January, Orlando signed a contract with Certified Home Services to install four impact windows.
"They cost me eight thousand dollars," she said. " I think I paid too much ... If you look here on the side there are spaces."
Her complaint is the lack of trim around three of the windows. The company wanted to install metal trims, but she said that is unacceptable. She wanted wood as it was originally.
"When you have cedar, you don't replace it with metal that goes around a trailer," she said.
She also questioned the quality of the workmanship and the price.
But it is a price she agreed to; she said she expected the work to be top notch.
"There's a space there, something could get in, like rain," she said.
We checked Certified Home Services. The Florida registered company is properly licensed.
The Better Business Bureau gives the company an A+ rating. It had two negative reviews that were resolved. So why is it taking more than a month to install four windows?
Company President Ron Ayers told First Coast News' On Your Side: "We're still working on the job. It is an aesthetic issue, she made changes and we are trying to get it done to her satisfaction. It will be done as soon as she is happy."
Orlando, an Army veteran, used her military experience to describe her determination to get this resolved.
"The soldier inside never dies," she said. "I am mad."
To someone, the windows may look finished except for the bare wood that is exposed. Even so, she said they aren't done.
Orlando said they're not completed to her satisfaction. And after paying $8,000, she'd like the company to get the job done.
