Advocate Construction - Milwaukee

A representative from Advocate Construction came strolling down our driveway after a hailstorm. If I knew then what I know now about this company I would have had the police remove him for trespassing. I’m 72 years old and I have never worked with a more deplorable company. The shingles were laid way out of scope according to the manufacturer’s specifications their solution, to have the manufacturer give us a waiver for when this becomes an issue. We will see how this works out. The first rainstorm after the shingles were laid the rain literally poured into areas of our house. Other areas, especially around the chimney, soaked through our attic and our wood in-laid ceiling in two rooms. This soaking spread as the months wore on. We had an interior wall begin to break apart from being rain soaked…rain eventually led to melting snow. At first we were told by every representative they sent out there was not a problem with the job. Eventually, after numerous videos and pictures they said they would repair the work. That took approximately six months and a lot of internal damage before they made the roof repairs. Over a year later they finally repaired the internal damage and while I’ve been steadily cleaning up the fine yellow dust that continues to settle due to our wood ceilings needing to be completely sanded, the repairs seem to be holding. Next, almost immediately, came their strong-arm tactics to collect the remaining amount due that had gone from $6,200.05 to $8,200.05. without receiving an invoice I received a call from in attorney in another state demanding I pay this immediately. Since I had never received an invoice and had to ask the attorney to lose his attitude (he didn’t) I decided it was potentially a scam call. I contacted advocate construction inquiring with regard to that since I had no invoice. A few days later Matt came strolling down our driveway, invoice in hand wanting $8,200.06. I had recently contracted COVID, warned him of this yet he wasn’t concerned. He insists the additional $2,000 is our deductible. It appears Advocate (bizarre name considering they are anything but advocates) feels you should pay your deductible to your insurance company and then repay it to them. I wonder about the legality of this and since I am filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Wisconsin Department of Labor (to address that none of the roof installers were “tied-off”) and Consumer Protection, and several other agencies perhaps I’ll find out. Irregardless, we have full replacement coverage through our insurance company so $6,200.05 is what they will be receiving. Advocate finally agreed to the $6,200.05 final payment. We are waiting for a paid in full invoice and lien waiver. I want to also mention the mess the roofers left behind. I spent a month at least cleaning up shingles (some that damaged plants around the house), picking up nails (we have a dog and did not want him stepping on those), staples, beer cans (which I did report to Advocate), wrappers, etc. we also had nine additional bundles of shingles sitting in our driveway for over six months. This made snow clearance and car backing out difficult; nor did we receive any refund for these unused shingles. One of my highest concerns was that at no time did I see any roofer “tied off”. We have a very steep roof in back and if anyone were to fall off that it would probably result in death. I have videos, pictures, all texts, emails, even a letter from their attorney asking for my patience in getting the inside repairs done as proof of this. My husband and I struggle to give Advocate Construction even one star approval rating.

A representative from Advocate Construction came strolling down our driveway after a hailstorm. If I knew then what I know now about this company I would have had the police remove him for trespassing. I’m 72 years old and I have never worked with a more deplorable company. The shingles were laid way out of scope according to the manufacturer’s specifications their solution, to have the manufacturer give us a waiver for when this becomes an issue. We will see how this works out. The first rainstorm after the shingles were laid the rain literally poured into areas of our house. Other areas, especially around the chimney, soaked through our attic and our wood in-laid ceiling in two rooms. This soaking spread as the months wore on. We had an interior wall begin to break apart from being rain soaked…rain eventually led to melting snow. At first we were told by every representative they sent out there was not a problem with the job. Eventually, after numerous videos and pictures they said they would repair the work. That took approximately six months and a lot of internal damage before they made the roof repairs. Over a year later they finally repaired the internal damage and while I’ve been steadily cleaning up the fine yellow dust that continues to settle due to our wood ceilings needing to be completely sanded, the repairs seem to be holding. Next, almost immediately, came their strong-arm tactics to collect the remaining amount due that had gone from $6,200.05 to $8,200.05. without receiving an invoice I received a call from in attorney in another state demanding I pay this immediately. Since I had never received an invoice and had to ask the attorney to lose his attitude (he didn’t) I decided it was potentially a scam call. I contacted advocate construction inquiring with regard to that since I had no invoice. A few days later Matt came strolling down our driveway, invoice in hand wanting $8,200.06. I had recently contracted COVID, warned him of this yet he wasn’t concerned. He insists the additional $2,000 is our deductible. It appears Advocate (bizarre name considering they are anything but advocates) feels you should pay your deductible to your insurance company and then repay it to them. I wonder about the legality of this and since I am filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Wisconsin Department of Labor (to address that none of the roof installers were “tied-off”) and Consumer Protection, and several other agencies perhaps I’ll find out. Irregardless, we have full replacement coverage through our insurance company so $6,200.05 is what they will be receiving. Advocate finally agreed to the $6,200.05 final payment. We are waiting for a paid in full invoice and lien waiver. I want to also mention the mess the roofers left behind. I spent a month at least cleaning up shingles (some that damaged plants around the house), picking up nails (we have a dog and did not want him stepping on those), staples, beer cans (which I did report to Advocate), wrappers, etc. we also had nine additional bundles of shingles sitting in our driveway for over six months. This made snow clearance and car backing out difficult;nor did we receive any refund for these unused shingles. One of my highest concerns was that at no time did I see any roofer “tied off”. We have a very steep roof in back and if anyone were to fall off that it would probably result in death. I have videos, pictures, all texts, emails, even a letter from their attorney asking for my patience in getting the inside repairs done as proof of this. My husband and I struggle to give Advocate Construction even one star approval rating.

Our first major project for 2023 was completed by Empire Home Remodeling and we couldn't be happier and excited about the final look. We replaced the windows all around (11 windows) and also had the gutters and downspouts replaced on both the house and the garage. The final results are outstanding. Beginning with Darren's (Sales Rep.) thorough presentation of the window products available to us, to the fantastic communication effort of Megan (Project Coordinator) in the office, to the accuracy of Rick with the final measurements, to the two excellent work crews (Gutter and Downspouts) and (Window Installation, Dee & Josh), ... the experience exceeded our best expectations. We have a whole new look to our home. Our process started the first part of February and was completed by the second week in April. We were updated at each stage of the process. At all levels it is very obvious that everyone's attitude is professional, and quality is a top priority, and exceeding customers expectations is the ultimate goal. Kudos to Empire! Empire Home Remodeling is a top of the line company. Barb and I whole heartedly recommend them for any home project that you are anticipating in the future. They have proven to be everything they imply .... professional in practice, quality orientated, customer friendly, on-time driven, and competitive in pricing. This was in 2023. In 2024, we again called upon Empire to do a complete re-siding our home. We met again with Darren (Feb. 2024) and selected our vinyl siding color and also selected our color for board & batten. We were notified the order was placed and Megan would let us know when it arrived. End of March, materials were delivered to our home. Installation crew arrived the next day by 8AM. The crew of five removed the old, insulated, and applied the new siding. They remained until 7PM and finished the project in full. Once again they were professional, friendly, quality orientated, and knowledgeable. The workmanship is outstanding down to every minute detail. Our house now looks like a brand new construction. Our sincere "KUDOS" to Darren, Megan, and the entire installation crew. To all Homeowners .... Empire Home Remodeling = Peace of Mind.

Pros: I got a new roof and siding due to hail damage. Cons: TLDR go with AN ACTUAL LOCAL ROOFING AND EXTERIOR COMPANY because this company kinda sucks My experience Once you are all signed up and committed your main point of contact will virtually disappear. If you have any issues or questions with your installation you will not be able to receive an answer for months and it will be less than reassuring because they aren't actual roofers. They will charge your insurance full price and then hire the cheapest workers to do the job and use the cheapest materials they can legally get away with using per the specifications laid out by the insurance company for maximum profit. Example: They used Kingsguard q250 for underlayment insulation which is .2" thick and does not insulated anything, it's just a leveling board which is described on Kingsguard website as "When every penny counts, you can rely on the performance of our most economical fanfold siding underlayment". I'd like my insulation to insulate... In Wisconsin, where we have harsh winter and hot summers. I don't care about having the cheapest possible budget product, I want the most effective one. My biggest regret was not using a local company like Semper Fi or James R Taylor and Sons. Literally all this company did is take my business then left me out to dry when I had questions or concerns. Once you are signed up you can forget about it, you'll never hear from your sales rep again even though they're your "main point of contact". Installation day of my siding I had a simple question regarding my installation (should the top trim piece be caulked or not) which the "foreman" on the job who spoke effectively zero English could not answer so I went to Advocate and it took literally months to get a response which was less than convincing. This is NOT a roofing company, this is a company that specializes in talking to insurance companies while keeping you out of the loop on the details. They also left a pretty hefty mess which I am still cleaning up and my 4 year old and 3 year are still finding nails many months later. I originally went with this company because I was worried that insurance was going to deny me and I'd have little recourse but it turns out if you have actual hail damage they approve and hand out these claims like candy so just go with AN ACTUAL ROOFING AND EXTERIOR COMPANY who will put their name on the line. Maybe someday if I'm feeling generous I'll delete this review but for now let's let it ride because I needed to vent a little and I genuinely would not recommend going with them if you care about your home as I do.

We contacted Empire to get a quote for replacing windows in our house. I set up an estimate appointment. We also had other contractors bid on the job. It seems like all the other contractors followed the same playbook. Give an extremely high estimate, then offer a reduced price and say it is only good if you sign right now. Tomorrow the price will be the extremely high price again. Crazy. The Empire salesperson Darren Hill came in to give an estimate. He was prepared, professional and impressive. He went over options for us and the Empire pricing was great and their windows are wonderful. We ended up also getting some doors, siding for our house and horse barn as well as getting the soffits and gutter guards installed. I worked in purchasing for 23 years and have never met a better salesman than Darren. The whole install was planned and coordinated by Megan from Empire. Megan is great at working with you to get things set up and her attention to detail is amazing. When the time came to have the windows installed we were excited. Our old windows probably should have been replaced years ago. The new windows were put in and they look and operate great. The crew was fast, detailed and polite. The siding crew came in next. The crew was headed by Adelmo and they did an incredible job of transforming our house with the siding and soffits. It looks better than I ever imagined it would. The gutter guards were the last things to be installed and they were done quickly and it is very nice knowing I will not have to get up on ladders to clean out gutters twice a year. Overall, the Empire Team is better than advertised. They have great products and well trained professionals at every level of their organization and I am so happy that we utilized them for their products and services.