M. Horn

I recently hired Zitro for a rather large roof replacement project on my 90 year old house. Recommended by my A/C serviceman (Joe Calvaruso, AllStar Heating & Air), I chose Zitro for a number of reasons: (1) They were agreeable to my working with the crew instead of either being absent or standing around watching. (2) Angel (the owner) quickly followed up on my first call and brought two of his foremen to the site on subsequent visits to discuss my goals and their strategies. And (3) Zitro proposed a very reasonable price for the job. Angel discussed various optional “add-ons” in advance that affected the price, including renting a dumpster and a port-a-let, but left those decisions entirely up to me.

Once work began, the workers proved to be skillful, efficient, and thrifty, not wasting supplies or time. They all were very respectful and accommodating, at times patiently waiting for me to complete installation of certain components (which Zitro was not contracted to do). Speed was important to avoid rain damage to the house interior and Zitro completed the work with time to spare.

Mid-project, some measurements were considerably off in part of the structure. Once I drew it to Angel’s attention he halted work, and after a very thoughtful and thorough discussion of the issue, ordered the problem corrected, even though it required re-doing some of the construction at a cost to him of about 12 man-hours.

The Zitro crew performed very well, but I was most impressed by Angel’s patience with my daily, and sometimes nightly, communications with him, and by the fact that he visited the job site at least once every day and sometimes twice to check progress and to entertain, with good cheer and earnest attention, my minor tweaks and adjustments along the way.

Contractors seem to be battered with criticisms and complaints after a job is done. But a client will get better satisfaction if they know exactly what they want, have a pretty good idea of construction techniques, skills, and materials, and have an appreciation of what is reasonable vs. unreasonable to expect. It is then incumbent on the client to communicate effectively with the contractor and vice-versa. Angel makes this part easy. While some contractors ‘listen’ with a deaf ear and do what they planned to do anyway, Angel listens to ideas and questions and responds very frankly, looking for a way, if possible, to accommodate the client yet honoring his employees and the contract. But you have to be looking ahead, not constantly demanding do-overs.

I certainly recommend Zitro to others.