17 Reviews
Review MeSouth Bend IN
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Work Description: Roof replacement
Comments: Jake started out making you feel like he's the best roofer ever. Promised to be with his workers at all times on the job. Took my money, showed up weeks later, didn't come back when he said he would to finish the work. Was here with his team about 25% of the time. Job has been paid in full for several months but he still hasn't painted the chimney, which was in the contract. Never again.Crown Point IN
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Work Description: Roof Replacement
Comments: Replaced out roof in December and have some ridge vent shingles that did not seal properly and came off in wind. Texted and called Jake and was told everything is water tight and he would be back to replace. Several calls and texts later with no response in 3 months. His quote of "I'll treat your house like it's my own." must not mean anything once the check clears!Wheatfield IN
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Work Description: roof replacement
Comments: It has now been almost 2 weeks since the judge ruled in our favor and Jake has not made any effort to pay us what he owes us.Wheatfield IN
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Work Description: roof replacement
Comments: Look up the Illinois license number listed on the right side of the page. Illinois REVOKED his license in August, 2018 for taking deposits and failing to start work and failing to finish work.Wheatfield IN
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Work Description: roof replacement
Comments: *Update* to previous review. The judge ruled in our favor and Jake now owes us $6,089.00 plus interest.Wheatfield IN
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Work Description: roof replacement
Comments: Regarding my roof and Jake Norris @Smartchoice Construction. He also calls his business Roofsmart. He lives in Roselawn with a DeMotte address. His fiance is Melissa Gelet and she tags him on posts of people looking for roofers.Some will say there are two sides to every story and yes, that is true, but I'm posting nothing but the honest truth here and I have proof to back it up. This post is long but it's important that you read all of it.
When Jake came out to give a quote, he was nice as can be. Very polite, talked about how he has 31 years of experience and a great crew and we would not be disappointed. We checked his reviews. We could not find any except on a site called networx. Most of the reviews were good. There were a couple that were iffy but they were not major issues. We decided to hire him. We met with him on May 23rd to give him a deposit. He wanted half down. We gave him a check for $4,025.00. He said he had two one or two day jobs and then he would be starting ours. This would equal out to 4 days of work, tops. Our check cleared our bank on May 28th. When we hadn't heard a word from him in 9 days from the date of giving him the check, I emailed him on June 1st to ask when he would be starting. I received no response so 3 days later I texted him (June 4th) and asked if he had a for sure start date. He replied "No later than the 12th". On the 9th I texted him just to touch base and make sure he would still be starting on the 12th. I got no response. I texted him the following morning and asked the same thing. He replied that it would be Thursday, the 13th. I told him it wasn't acceptable to keep pushing dates out and that I would like to meet to get our deposit back. He said they were trying to get caught up and had graduation parties, etc,etc. I told him if they can't start Thursday and work every business day unless it rains, then we want our check back. He replied no problem. Thursday morning he calls me and says they won't be starting because they are trying to finish up another job. I told him forget it, we want our check back. He said he's not prepared to do that because the dumpster was coming that day and he already ordered materials. He said they would be starting Friday. Friday morning he calls and says he's sending his crew at 1:00 to start tearing off the garage. I stopped there after work at 4:00 and there were 2 what appeared to be teenage kids tearing off the garage shingles. They were using their car as a ladder to climb up on to the garage. I asked them where Jake was and they said he was on another job. The one kid then told me they were loading the shingles in his car to drive them to the dumpster around the front of the house. I asked if Jake would be there and they said he would be later. I left and came back later and they were both gone. They had torn the shingles off 2 sides of the garage and left most of the wood decking exposed and not covered with felt. This was around 7 p.m. I texted Jake that he needed to get to the house immediately as we have a big problem since the decking is exposed and rain was in the forecast. Also, on the garage, the previous owner attached gutter straps over the shingles and the kids papered over them. He called me and said he was aware of what was going on and that I needed to let them do their job. I told him that I was concerned because he cashed the check almost 3 weeks ago and he kept pushing the dates back on when they were going to start. He raised his voice at me (I would consider it yelling, but he says otherwise). Told me he has plenty of work and doesn't need to steal our $4,000. We ended the call and he called back shortly to say that he has "calmed down" and apologizes. I apologized, saying I'm sorry if I overreacted, but was concerned with how they left the decking exposed. He said their tool broke and they had to go get a new one out of the work truck. He said he would send his lead guy to make sure it was watertight for the night and that they would be working Saturday if it wasn't raining and also that materials were being delivered Saturday. As far as the gutter, he said he didn't want the kids to damage the fascia so he told them to leave it and he would do it. Around 10:00 Saturday they hadn't shown up so I texted and asked him when the material would be here so I could stick around and put it in the garage so it wasn't sitting outside and that I wasn't sure if they planned on working as it had not rained all morning. He replied that rain is in the forecast and they'll be there Monday. It did start raining around noon on Saturday and where they made it "watertight" was leaking significantly. I also have pics and video of this. I didn't call or text him about it that day. I figured I'd wait until Monday. Monday morning they showed up around 8:30. He told my husband he didn't yell at me Friday. We told him it is what it is, let's move forward and just get the job done, and done correctly. He asked us to confirm the shingle color (which leads me to believe he hadn't already ordered materials - the shingles at least when I had asked for the check back). There was an area on the house where the original decking is actually 1x's. The house is gutted and from inside you could see daylight from in between the boards. They began putting felt paper over it and we told him it needs plywood. He said his 31 years of experience tells him it doesn't and that they are less than 1/2" gaps so it will be fine. We said no, we want plywood on it. He said "well if you want to spend the money, it's your house". He said it would be $40 per sheet in addition to what he already quoted us. We asked if it would be any cheaper if we bought the plywood and he said no. We then said ok as we had no other choice. In another area of the house, the plywood was either 3/8's or 1/16's. They cut out a a piece that needed replaced and tried to replace it with 1/2" plywood. We told them that wasn't going to work, that it needed to be the same thickness so the big open hole was tarped and they said they would fix it the next day (today). We talked to Jake a few times throughout the day yesterday and he was very rude and condescending. He told my husband that he only sent the 2 kids out Friday because I was "bitching" about them not starting the job yet. The quote included 10 rafters to be changed. My husband asked him if he could put the new rafters next to the existing and he said he's not about to get up there and clip nails on the existing rafters but my husband could do it if he wanted to. My husband was just asking if that was do-able was all. Jake said that no roofer puts rafters up from the inside. I'll admit, things were tense between us because of how things played out up until this point but we made it clear we just want to move forward and get the job done. He said he doesn't like the "pissy-ness" and we told him we're not pissy and he replied "I am!" He then asked if we wanted him to quit and we told him no, we want him to finish the job as he has $4K of our money and we need the job finished. He said he would leave $2,600 worth of material and that he (and I quote) "doesn't like dealing with people, he just likes to roof". We again stated, we just want the job that he quoted us to do, finished. They worked until evening. He then called me last night to once again apologize that our relationship had "soured". I told him that this is business. What has been said and done is done. Let's move forward and get this job done. He said we will get a "kick-ass roof like he promised". This morning he texted my husband at 7:45 and said they would be there in a couple hours. In the meantime, my husband noticed that they ripped off the drip edge when all we asked them to take off was the gutters. I texted him about that at 9:00 and he called saying it's not his responsibility. 1:30 rolls around and they still had not shown up. I texted him and we went back and forth about the drip edge. We told him that was the lease of our concern and we just wanted the job done. HE QUIT AND LEFT OUR ROOF OPEN and will not return any of our money.
Also, why would he require $4,000 down when he told me today the materials were $2,600. That right there is shady AF! He also did not leave all the materials. He didn't leave rafters, ridge vents, mushroom vents or boots for the pipes.
Portage IN
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Work Description: Tear off & replace shingles
Comments: Jake & his crew were done in two days. They did a great job cleaning up. Because of the timing the price was great.Portage IN
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Work Description: New roof
Comments: Jake did everything promised and on a tight budget. He got permits, supplies and labor for significantly less than other quotes. Great job Jake & crew! Thank you!Valparaiso IN
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Work Description: Roof
Comments: Had "smart choice construction" do my roof on September 22. Overall I'm happy with the roof but it has been 2 weeks and the fascia they were supposed to do is still sitting on the side of my house. Had Jake did what he said he would do I would give a much higher rating. I will definitely find a different company when it's time to do the roof on my garage.Hamlet IN
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Work Description: Repaired roof
Comments: Worked on roof hopefully its repairedalso waiting for receipt to be emailed
was supposed to email estimate for flooring & door replacement looking for someone else to job cant wait forever
Monticello IN
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Work Description: rubber roof repair
Comments: Jake was great, went up on roof, and he did a complete roof inspection. found 2 small holes. pointed out a few other concerns also. he came back a few days later and completed the job. good price. highly recommend him.Kouts IN
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Work Description: My old roof was removed and a new roof along with new sky lights, vents, ice and water barrier sheeting, and drip edging was put on.
Comments: I am totally satisfied with the honesty and hard work I received from Jake and his crew. I interviewed over 18 roofers before I met Jake Norris from SmartChoice. They gave me several color choices for shingles, replaced all the vents and plumbing stacks, installed new drip edging, and paint matched the chimney. The roof looks great! I know it's done right because they explained everything they were doing each day. They listened to what I wanted done and made it happen. Everything I needed was included in the price quoted. I just want to say thanks Jake, Terry, and the rest of the crew for all your hard work the roof looks awesome!!Knox IN
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Work Description: Suppose to seal roof
Comments: Hasn't Done it yetValparaiso IN
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Work Description: Fix a leak in my roof
Comments: Professional, took time to explain the process. Needs to give a written estimate. A little paper work.Lowell IN
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Work Description: Replaced missing shingles and sealed areas around pipes.
Comments: Did job within a day of being hired. Very satisfied.Hammond IN
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Work Description: Roof Repairs.
Comments: Made contact with me immediately over the phone.we met on the job site and set up a repair appointment. all work was done to my satisfaction.Chicago IL
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Work Description: Fixing leaking roof over front bedroom in May 2015
Comments: Call them back Sept because the leaking started back, call Jake Norris 3or 4 time he never came out ,he made promises & he gave us a warranty but be he never show up!-
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Roofing License in IL :
#104.016711