Stoney Creek Development & Construction LLC

Stoney Creek Development installed a laundry room on our 3rd floor. It was a big, expansive project including plumbing, electric, drywall, carpentry, and painting. They did a great job; the finished product was amazing! Stoney Creek also renovated our kitchen. The reconfigured our island and painted the island cabinetry dark grey; Installed new perimeter countertops and new island countertop; installed new appliances, installed new mirrored tile backsplash and paint. Everything, but the flooring. Again, their work was outstanding! Very professional and reasonable cost.

Building errors made by Mr. Palumbo and workers include electrical, structural, plumbing, painting, dry wall, floor, door, cabinet, and siding errors, Some work was charged for but not done. Included here are only 2 of several reports: an electrician's report who repaired the hazardous electrical errors made by Mr. Palumbo, and complete report from the deck builders who tore down Mr. Palumbo's deck and built a new one. ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS: BASEMENT AND SERVICE PANEL: Panel replaced but no ground rods installed to properly ground service. Air handler had wire passing through hole in unit with outer sheathing of wire entering into the unit and stopped 4 inches from the internal connection. (No connector used) Inverter for German appliance was taken apart and connections made outside of face plate of inverter. No connector, No cover, No strapping of wire as well as too much outer sheathing missing. Wires not properly stapled or strapped in basement area. Water heater wiring not updated when plumbing done. Under-sized and under-fused Panel had nicked wires, too much insulation, wires not properly fused, loose connections on neutrals and breakers, no proper connectors, inadequate insulation on wires, no grounding means installed. No service outlet installed for units when panel replaced. Wire for foundation fans not GFCI protected or a single outlet for a dedicated circuit. CORRECTIONS - Basement Ground rods driven and service properly bonded. Air handler now has proper connector and proper sheathing depth to connector in unit. Inverter now has proper connector, cover and strapping to face of unit. All wiring now properly stapled, strapped, etc. Water heater updated to proper wire size and breaker fuse. (10awg with a 30 amp breaker) Panel redone by fixing sheathing distance in and out, all loose connections tightened, proper fuse of breakers on branch circuits, nicked wires replaced and fixed as well as proper connectors used. Service outlet installed for units as well as adequate lighting. Nicked wire above panel junctioned and replaced. Fan circuit removed as well as fans to introduce new dehumidifier. A 12 awg feed from panel on a 30 amp double pole breaker-240 volts had been cut at wall and wire nutted back together-now completely eliminated- This was a MAJOR fire hazard. Ran new wire to have outlet towards drive to be GFCI protected.-Was powered by 2 single strand conductors. Wire that was nicked above panel replaced with new wire. KITCHEN SINK WALL: Outlets not GFCI protected: no dedicated circuit. Dishwasher not hooked up properly: No connector used. Wires stripped too far back-copper exposed to metal casing- Fire Hazard-not on a dedicated circuit Disposal under sink had no junction cover installed, no connector for wire, wire nuts not tight-loose connections and did not have its own circuit. Outlets on sink wall and dishwasher, disposal, and towel bar all connected on same circuit-a 15 amp circuit. All 3 need their own circuits-20 amp circuits in kitchen especially KITCHEN STOVE WALL: Outlets, Microwave, Refrigerator and lights all on same circuit. Microwave had no dedicated feed from panel. Refrigerator had no dedicated feed from panel. Outlets did had no dedicated feed from panel and not GFCI protected. CORRECTIONS: Kitchen Sink Wall and Kitchen Stove Wall-ran a new dedicated feed for the outlets and installed GFCI for protection of downstream outlets. Ran new circuits for Dishwasher and Disposal to make dedicated to themselves and installed proper connectors with wiring and proper wire nuts that are tight. Also installed junction cover on disposal. Utilized old circuit for towel bar in bathroom-it now has its own dedicated circuit. Re-worked circuitry to make refrigerator has its own dedicated circuit. Ran a new circuit for microwave to be dedicated to itself. Utilized existing circuit for outlets on range wall and installed GFCI to protect other outlets downstream. BATHROOM: No grounds installed on switches and ventilation fan not ducted to outside of the house. REPAIRS:-Bathroom Switches now properly grounded and fan now ducted to gable vent on rear of house. SUNROOM: FIRE HAZARD- No outlets or switches grounded and NO box extensions used against combatable material tongue and groove walls. 7 of 10 outlets had loose connections, broke connections or too much copper exposed on current carrying conductors. FIRE HAZARD- Switches in Sun room not grounded-cut-off grounds in select cables, loose connections and one box had nicks in two of current carrying conductors which look shorted out prior to switch install and not properly fixed. One of two conductors almost burnt in half and broke when moved. CORRECTIONS: Sunroom-All outlets disassembled and put back with proper connections, box extensions where needed, grounded appropriately and trimmed outer sheathing on cable where there was too much in select boxes. All sun room switches now grounded properly and wires properly fixed to omit serious Fire Hazard. FAMILY ROOM: Outlet close to wood stove had BX armored cable put into a plastic remodel box with Romex. There was neither a proper ground nor a proper termination point for piece of BX. Outlet furthest from woodstove installed in metal box not rated to incorporate a device as well and not grounded properly. CORRECTIONS: Family Room-The BX in the outlet closest to the wood stove is now properly junctioned in basement with a metal box, properly grounded as a transition to Romex. Remodel box was re-installed to proper termination. The box in the outlet furthest from the woodstove was replaced to proper sizing and re-installed as well as proper terminations for grounding. PORCH AND DECK AREA: Boxes not properly grounded, not properly sealed, proper connectors not used. Exposed wires had numerous nicks, cuts and abrasions and too many wires entered a single entry point of box. Both switch boxes were this way. Outlet beside sliding door on deck had no proper in-use covers nor did outlets under bench area. Outlet beside sliding door not GFCI protected for wet location. CORRECTIONS: Porch and Deck area-Deck now redone to incorporate proper fittings, proper box fill of conductors, Re-sealed as well as properly grounded for devices in a wet location application. Proper covers installed and outlet at sliding door is now GFCI protected. Deck repair: Upon inspection, the existing deck was found to be both poorly constructed and unsafe, not meeting minimal standards for acceptable use. Deficiencies were documented in pictures and video. Specifically, problems were found in the areas of footings and support, framing, decking, seating, and wiring for power /lighting. A summary of each of these areas follows. Footings & Support: Upon inspection, it was found that there was only one support for the deck joists under the interior of the deck. This support was attached to a block slightly buried in the ground. This central support beam was bowing badly and comprised of three boards cobbled together instead of a solid beam. One end of the support was also just resting on the ground. On a deck this size (20' X 22') there should have been interior supports at least every 10ft. We would expect to see at least four interior support footings set in concrete. In addition, there were an insufficient number of footings to properly support the deck around the perimeter. It appeared that only six footers were envisioned to begin with, and only four of those were set in concrete. This is grossly insufficient to properly support this sized deck and is documented by photos taken from a video showing us lifting the deck off the ground using merely a pry rod. For comparison, we used 10 footings set in concrete using 4x6 posts, in addition to lag bolted 2x10 and 2x12 ledger boards and a number of deck blocks in construction of the replacement deck. After removal of the deck. just four holes where concrete was poured were visible. (The customer was charged for 14 footers.) A number of the support posts could be moved easily by pushing your foot against them. Near the house/ramp the band seemed to be supported by 2x4's that were neither secured in the ground or to the deck. Framing (Band and Joists): Framing band boards were found to be poorly secured to the few existing footing posts. When the seating and decking were removed, the band boards could actually be moved just by pulling on the 2x4 seating supports. Therefore the bands which support the joists could have easily fallen, compromising the entire structure of the deck. In other places the band boards only overlapped by a couple of inches and could easily be pulled apart. Joints also were not resting on footers. Overlaps should have been at least one foot and carriage bolted together. Better yet, overlaps could have been avoided by using proper sized boards to begin with. Near the ramp it appears that the band boards were just butted up against each other and toe-nailed together. This is the main support for the deck joists! In places where the band was bolted into the supports, the nuts on the carriage bolts were found to be loose and could be removed by hand. Joists were placed quite irregularly with seemingly little rhyme or reason, and were overlapped at the unsupported center beam. Some joists were nailed together at overlap and some were not. Some had joist ties and some did not. The wrong type of nail was and had already begun to rust. Many were not adequately secured to the frame and a number of joists could be lifted out by hand without removing any nails, screws, or ties. We were concerned about the use of 2x8s for long spans and would have preferred to use 2x10s to assure that the joists would properly support the deck. Decking: The first thing to notice when looking at the deck was that the deck boards themselves were all laid with their joints meeting in the middle of the deck. They were already bowing at the joint as well. Joints should have overlapped instead of meeting in a seam. These were also #2 quality deck boards. Premium boards should have been used as the deck is directly exposed to full sun for a large part of the day. The deck should also have been protected with a semi-transparent stain/coating when the wood dried. You could see from photos boards were already starting to warp and pull away from the center joint. Seating: The seating that was built for the deck was visually unattractive and the support structure and "rails" were shoddily built of 2x4's. Code requires that deck rails have a gap of no greater than four inches in order to be safe for young children and toddlers. Clearly a crawling child or baby on this deck could have easily gone right under the seats and off the side of the deck. Posts should have been made of 4x4's, at least in the corners. When we disassembled the seating we found that many supports were poorly attached to the deck itself and the "rails". Additionally, nails were already rusting and support boards were of poor quality. Power and Lighting: The customer requested that power be run to the deck, receptacles provided, which could be used for musical gatherings, and that lighting provide area illumination. Neither of these things were done. The single electrical outlet and switches (1 for lighting and 1 for the receptacle) were modified versions of what Mr. Palumbo installed. The original installation was inoperable most of the time as the wiring was exposed to the elements and kept tripping the breaker and/or GFCI receptacle. An electrician later modified Mr. Palumbo's work so that it operated for a period of time. When we began work on the project, the system had once again failed and the breaker would trip when turned on. The lighting provided was inoperable by September of 2016. These were merely accent lights typically used on steps and did not provide area illumination as requested. Wires were also visible on the left yard side of the deck and were simply tacked up on any available surface. Additional Items: A ramp was installed to access the deck from the yard. This ramp was poorly constructed with inadequate support leading to warping decking and tacked to structure with merely a 2x4. The other end of the ramp was just sitting on the ground. The customer was charged approximately $22,000.00 by Mr. Palumbo for building the substandard deck. We were outraged by this amount. We have a price breakdown for the estimated cost of the deck that was built, showing a total cost of $7,344 We are confident that this estimate is not off by more than 10% or so. In the fall of 2016 we tore down the existing deck and built a professional, solid deck which tied in to the existing deck as asked, is two levels, provides seating, power outlets and illumination, and includes a solidly constructed ramp and a stone area for a fire pit. The total cost of this new deck was $13,000. Mr. Palumbo did not pull permits for any of the work he did- he said it was unnecessary because he knew the code. Electrical errors were only discovered (fortunately!) when the use of two appliances at the same time in the kitchen tripped a circuit breaker. A licensed electrician discovered the incredible number of fire hazardous errors, including absence of connected ground for entire house. Mr. Palumbo was not a licensed electrician when he did electrical work on the house, a fact he did not share at the time. There is much more to report including work charged for but never performed, incredibly high charges for materials and labor, theft of money and valuables from the house on Mr. Palumbo's watch, deadlines not met, messes made inside and outside the house, Mr. Palumbo going through my mail, including bank statements, workers arriving late and leaving early, and lack of supervision by Mr. Palumbo, but there is not enough space to describe it all. I hope that no one else has to go through this experience.

Tom has spent hours and hours going over every detail of my kitchen renovation. His attention to detail, flexability, suggestions, affordability, and general ease to work with make this company a win-win. So thrilled to work with them.

Total and complete office remodel. Took awhile but they did the job as hoped for and were willing to make changes and adjustments on they fly. Will work with them again, as they did the work with a good attitude, had all the required expertise, and worked well from the idea stage to completion.

Over the past 5 years, Stoney Creek Development has completely remodeled my master bathroom (including changing the floor plan), installed a skylight in my roof, and remodeled my kitchen -- granite counter top, all new cabinets, new sink, etc.. Recently, I had a frozen/burst pipe in my exterior back wall, and Mr. Palumbo fixed everything. The kitchen & den floor had suffered serious damage, and Mr. Palumbo installed ceramic tile, which looks beautiful. The original builders of my house had not adequately insulated the exterior back wall, so Mr. Palumbo is now putting up new vinyl siding, but first making sure that there is adequate insulation in the wall. Over the years, Mr. Palumbo has established a professional relationship with dealers, for granite, tile, etc., so his clients are assured quality materials. Mr. Palumbo is a perfectionist, and everything that he and his crew do is first-rate. I am always surprized that when he's done, the room looks far better than I could have imagined. He has the highest professional rating as a general contractor, so he's knowledgeable about plumbing, flooring, carpentry, electrical issues, and everything else needed. The project that I'm listing below was the remodeling of my kitchen.

I had a fantastic experience with Stoney Creek. The owner, Thomas Palumbo, is so knowledgeable. He walked us through the entire process, from start to finish, on our kitchen and bathroom renovation. Helped us plan the space, pick fixtures and other materials. My renovation came in at budget and was completed earlier than expected. And how often does that happen!!! You can't go wrong using Stoney Creek for your building/renovation projects!

The project was finishing a basement. No comments yet........waiting for the project to be over. I will update is in two days.