Alloway Innovative Construction

Just like a previous poster (and many more on other review sites), we hired Alfie to do multiple jobs on our house, paying entirely up front. (He needed to order all of the parts, he claimed.) He did an OK job on most, said he would return to install a new screen door that was «back-​ordered.» An email a month later was returned – the door is still not ready. The same a month after that. Then, after three months, he completely stopped responding to many, many emails and calls. Do not trust.
As another poster burned by Alfie put it: «You have been warned.»

Alfie was nice enough at first and his prices seemed reasonable. I even didn’t mind that he sent a subcontractor to do some painting, without any prior notice that someone else would be showing up at my door. After partially completing some work at our Columbia Heights rowhouse, he disappeared and left it unfinished. After months of occasional check-​in calls and emails, in which he would claim that he planned to finish the work, he stopped responding altogether. He kept claiming that he was waiting for a replacement kitchen cabinet which was on back-​order from Lowe’s, yet they have no record of him ever ordering it. He took some of our personal property (a door to match the new cabinet) and will not return it. AVOID.

Alfie was great for two years, then he cheated me out of $ 800 for two jobs — installing a new doorbell/​intercom system, and installing a light in a desk.
He brought the light, but then he stopped working on the job midway through last fall, even leaving a ladder at my house, and refusing to return multiple phone calls and email messages, both to him and to his wife who helps run the business.
I did call the company that supplies the intercom system, as he’d sent me an invoice from them and asked for advance payment for it. They tell me he never actually ordered it.
I thought maybe a health issue kept him from returning my calls, but I see from the other posts here that he is working… and simply ignoring me – and cheating me.
Not the guy I thought he was, or at least, not the professional he used to be.
So I finally changed all my locks (as he has keys to my house) and turned him in to the Better Business Bureau, where he already has a D– rating. So far, he has not responded to the BBB’s complaint.

So I was impressed with the reviews here on Unilocal.I contacted Alfie. His 800 number does not work, yet after sending emails and finding a local number on the bottom of his web page, he got back to me. Within 24 hours he was at our home, we did a walk through with him and his worker. Alfie took notes and said an estimate was forthcoming the next day, or within 48 hours at the latest.
I have not heard from him in over a week. I have called, emailed and texted him. Needless to say, if he gets back to me now, I will not use him. Beware of the contractor who is late on giving a simple, promised estimate!

Sent them an email, told them I needed jobs done quickly and needed estimates within 1 – 2 days. Took them a few days to get back to me, then came by and looked at jobs. It’s been a week since they came by — no estimates, no email, nothing. Wasted my time.
Would give them a 0 if I could.

We used AIC for a second time. They do very goo work, in particular dealing with the unknowns of old houses. They are very competitively priced.

I’m with Gretchen. Alfie and Colonel are both great. I had them fix the gas lines to my fireplace, hot water heater, and furnace. My builder hired incompetent people and didn’t install them properly. I was yelling at my builder nearly every day for 3 months about my hot water heater turning itself off constantly. They would come by, turn it back on, only for it turn itself back off. I got fed up and called Alloway and they said that it kept turning itself off because it kept detecting a gas leak. They fixed it and I haven’t had a problem since. I called them the next day as I was paranoid, and they sent someone over within an hour to check it out.
The next week, Gretchen and I had them install dead bolts to our condos, and Alfie came by and spent three hours on our doors. He did an amazing job, and he even went to Home Depot twice. The first time because we had the wrong locks and the second time because one of the locks had a missing piece. He didn’t charge us extra for the trips to Home Depot.
They also fix roofs. thought I haven’t had the need yet to go to them (cross fingers).
**Updated 7−12−2013**
Yeah, I’m still quite happy with Alfie. I recently called him to replace shower hardware (lever, faucet, shower head etc). Again, my incompetent, fraudulent builder used the worst and cheapest hardware he could find from Home Depot (it was Glacier Bay). Unbeknownst to me, the regulator which regulates hot vs cold water actually broke within weeks of being installed. I finally decided to replace the cartridge and bought a replacement from Home Depot. It was a pain in the butt finding a Home Depot that carried the cartridge.
Well the darned thing didn’t fit as they stopped making that particular part/​size, and I made the faucet worse by fiddling with it. I ended up ordering Delta faucet hardware online, but I couldn’t seem to find a decent plumber that would do the installation within a week. (BTW, I did some research online and discovered that you basically don’t want to buy ANY faucet hardware from Home Depot. Apparently even the high end ones like Moen have cheap versions, and these cheap versions are what Home Depot sell.)
I remembered Alfie and called him. He stated he was able to come within the next day, and he asked me some questions about access to the pipes, types of pipes (copper vs PVC), etc. He gave me an estimate over the phone (which was the best estimate I had gotten), and showed up the next day on time with all the materials he needed. (You’re charged separately for them btw, and he will bring a receipt from Home Depot.)
He worked on my bathroom, and now my shower faucets are working great for the first time. Understand that my shower had previously been worked on by 3 other plumbers, and they were only able to make it work passably. I mean, it worked, but it sucked.
Alfie made a mistake with the access panel he had to cut, which I didn’t discover until the panel I ordered came in, so I emailed him. He responded right away about sending someone in a few days.
His work comes with a 1 year warranty, and he definitely comes back.
I noticed he got a bad review from several people here who have never had work done by him. Apparently, he never delivered on getting estimates to them. Ignore those reviews. Well whatever listen to the reviews, but ignore the 1 star ratings. They are not fair.
I don’t think these people have ever worked with contractors before. Like most other small contractors that I’ve dealt with, if they don’t come back to you regarding an estimate. It means one or more of the followings things: (1) they don’t want the job because it will be a pain in the ass, (2) their price won’t be competitive, (3) they’re really that super busy, (4) they’re on vacation and/​or (5) you’re a pain in the ass and they don’t want to deal with you. Yeah it would be nice to hear back, but recognize that Alfie is very price competitive and doesn’t have assistants.
Also, the website is not updated (I don’t think Alfie has much time fiddling with that), so if you want to reach him call him at the number above. It’s up to date as of today. I recommend him to everyone.

Alloway Innovations has been absolutely great! They respond quickly via email and telephone, have fair prices, and do a great job! They do pretty much anything… small and large jobs, and you can even pay via paypal! Highly recommended!