GF Sprague & Company, Inc.

Contacted them for several jobs I need done on a house I’m buying. I was told it would be $ 500 just to come out and give me an estimate. No thanks. Not sure how a business operates by charging you to make a sales call.

FIrst, it is a very hard sell operation. Did not want to speak with me unless my husband was also there. The guy eventually «agreed» to speak to me
and they told me I needed a new roof.
Two other companies diagnosed minor repairs.
I have no idea why I see many of their signs around Brookline. They are a hard sell too expensive company who likely over diagnose for many.

I am not reviewing the quality of this company’s work, but rather their business practices. My husband had seen one of their trucks on the highway a few weeks ago, and, as he is looking for someone to do repairs on our slate roof, he gave them a call. Their original response was that they did not travel as far as our hometown, which is located in southeastern MA. Then they said, because it was a slate roof, they would indeed make the trip out and have a look. An appointment was made, and just yesterday, (⁶⁄₂₃) my husband called to confirm. The person who answered the phone said yes, the appointment is confirmed, and we will see you on the agreed date. Today, he received a phone call from them, and he was told that they do not come out as far into MA as we live, and they are cancelling the appointment. I don’t know if it is one person making all these different decisions or if it is a few people, with one not knowing what the other is doing, but either way, it is a pretty shoddy way of doing business. Now, at least a couple of weeks later, we are back to square one, looking for someone who repairs slate roofs, and, oh, by the way, wood gutters as well, which GS Sprague had also told him that they do. A company may very well do wonderful work, (I can’t speak to the quality of what Sprague does), but if the integrity is not there, I personally have no use for said company.

I had been a previous customer with this company using them to remove ice dams, however this last time was completely unacceptable. I understand the longer than usual response time given the amount of snow that has fallen, however what is unacceptable is that once they did get back to a customer, they only promised to do a half assed job, rather than a complete job.
Why not spend the extra time on a customer and charge them whatever cost you want to charge them to do a complete job, rather than what this company was doing, and doing only a preset amount of time and only do half of a job.
The company will still continue to make the same amount of money, just sees fewer customers. Because of this stupid system of trying to see as many customers as possible and charging only a preset amount for a preset amount of money regardless of job completion, my roof was only partially completed, and of course, the side that was not completed still had an ice dam and started to leak, leaving for a very unsatisfied customer.
I would have called them back, but I constantly received spam e-​mails from them after the fact stating that they will no longer be accepting any more requests and basically, best of luck.
My advice, find a company that will stand by their work for customers they get to. Everyone is overworked and there is a ton of snow, so if it takes a little bit longer to respond or make an appointment, people will understand.

I contacted GF Sprague to remove ice dams that had formed on the front of my home. I was told they would send a team of two guys for two hours at a fixed cost.
I got a confirmation call the day before they arrived, which was good.
They showed up on time with two workers and a supervisor. The supervisor told me they’d be working for 1.5 hours because it was a 3-​man team. He said the team «works faster when a supervisor is there.»
I watched them do much of the work. The supervisor stayed on the ground, sometimes in his truck, occasionally instructing the two workers on where/​how to proceed.
The crew left after an hour and a half with the ice only ¾ of the way removed from my roof. Though I was home the whole time, there was no knock on the door to tell me they were leaving or acknowledge they had not finished the job.
I contacted them to complain and received a follow-​up call the next day. The person I spoke with said that because it was a 3-​man team, the 1.5 hours was getting extra time (3×1.5=4.5) instead of a 2-​man team for the full two hours. He offered to send another team out to finish the job, but said he’d have to charge me again.
I’m giving two stars because the company has been very responsive, despite being busy with a large volume of ice removal customers. However, I do not appreciate being short-​changed 25% of the work I agreed to pay for. I would not use this company again.

Have to laugh when I saw the other reviews, similar experience with quote process. Misogynists run the company I think, wanted my husband who is travels all week and he has never written a check on any project around the house — he is a city boy and all thumbs with tools of any sort. I have GC’d all 7 major renovations and work with subs all the time and I am the decision maker and the person who both makes half our income and pays the bills for work around the house as I work from home. I did finally hire them finally bec. had invested so much time and back and forth in the sales process — wanted quality job but did not get it. Still getting ice damns and the request to clear mold off roof (which we paid for) was never done. Now in the market for whole new roof (20 year old house, it is time) and I am searching for a new roofing company. Wouldn’t even call Spraque for a quote: expensive, poor quality work and getting a quote is really unpleasant and time wasting experience.

I feel obligated to write this so others do not waste their time with this company. This is a saga so get comfortable or see the cliff notes at the bottom.
I inquired online then got a call, was asked many? s but as soon as I said «Roslindale,” — suddenly they would not be able to send someone. WHY waste my time? Days later Ernie left VMLs (didn’t know someone had already called me?) so I called back. I didn’t use the «R» word & despite a noticeable hesitance, ~1 week later, Joe came to the house.
He talked at length about how great the company was and said that he would have to meet the other owner, BEFORE even mentioning the job. I said that I was the person to whom the invoice should be made and that the other owner was away. Only after seeing the overflow of mail did he FINALLY back down.
The only way to get the estimate was to meet him again which he couldn’t do until ~ 2 weeks later. The week of our mtg., the co. cancelled our appt. but could reschedule…~2 weeks later. Really? Ernie offered 10:00 the day after Xmas. Thanks but no thanks. Mark came a few days after Xmas… and here’s where it gets truly remarkable.
Mark came at the correct time but made me suffer through a PPT presentation of how great the company was. He finally got to the estimate — price page (plus 6 other sheets that he did NOT review, no detail of materials used, etc.).
Mark then gave me the price of the entire roof DESPITE my having JUST TOLD HIM (& Joe before) that I wanted only the front done now & the entire roof this Spring.
I asked for that price and took notes (thankfully) & had him write that cost on the estimate. He did but when I saw it, it was literally $ 2,566 more than what he had JUST TOLD me. Not a mis-​key and not even close to what I was quoted. He didn’t «know how that happened.» I do.
I asked for the estimate & he ONLY gave me the price sheet b/​c they do «not normally give the entire thing.» I insisted on getting it but WTH are they hiding?
IF YOU:
1. Want to be disrespected, condescended to, treated like you, the home owner, have no intelligence,
2. Believe that your time and effort have zero worth,
3. Can be told anything & will not question it, and
4. Will pay top dollar…
Sprague is the company for you.

Similar to Keren below, they always asked when my husband would be home so that they could speak to the two of us… Really annoying!
But moreover, they charge a ton for ‘emergency service’ where they only «TRY» to fix the problem. Long story short, we spent over $ 700 and still have zero improvement in our situation.
I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. After interacting with multiple people there on about four occasions, I don’t trust them, or their work.

He came as planned, spoke with me for a few minutes and went on to look around and measure what they needed for the quote, telling me he’ll come back to discuss the project.
I have gotten many quotes over the past year for a lot of major projects, and it was the first time i’m not just getting the estimate mailed or emailed. be it.
A few weeks went by, and I heard nothing so i called to hear they left me a voicemail (that I never got and have have no trace of). I requested the quote, and was told that they don’t send out quotes, i need to schedule a time for Mark to come back.
On the day of his visit, 7/​23, he arrived at the scheduled time, came in, looked around, asked where was my husband and just said he won’t talk to me unless my husband was present.
Are we back in 1950? did I miss the memo that women cannot make decision about house business?
no one mentioned over the phone that my husband needed to be present, and if they did they would have heard that he is busy and would not make time for this.
Mark left, and i will probably never see that quote.
I may be a woman but i know far more about home repair than my husband. i have a checkbook, and have signed a lot of contracts for a lot of far more extensive work on the house. I made countless decisions without him ever questioning them when it comes to this kind of issues.
Mark said it was about communication, and to avoid getting disputes later. he also said that he would need both our signature on the contract so can’t talk to me if i’m alone. Maybe he has never heard of someone not signing a contract right in front of him right when presenting a quote?
The only other stories of businesses requiring both spouses to be present i’ve heard are in the cases of shady high-​pressure sales tactics, and according to some other reviews I read (after the fact unfortunately) it seems that’s what was about: sign now or loose a big virtual discount. Unless it was about my gender? I’m not sure what’s worse.
GF Sprague might want to read this Angies list article about this kind of practices:
This whole thing was a big waste of time. Over a month went by since my initial call and all i got is aggravation. I wish I had known about these shady business practices from the beginning and would have never called them in the first place. I really don’t get the rave reviews.

I hired GF to fix my roof after some damage from ice dams. They were quick and very professional. I would use them again

I contracted for $ 12,000 with Sprague Roofing in the fall of 2010 for work to address ice dams that arose the previous winter at the rear of my house. The project was a total disaster and a complete waste of money as the ice dams and water damage the next winter were actually worse due to their poor design and improper installation.
While I received a detailed quote, it immediately fell apart when their crew showed up to start work and started making project changes on-​the-​fly. Specifically:
1) The salesman — Mark V — assured me that there was adequate space to install soffit vents on the main part of the rear of my house but the project manager took one look and said that a product called Smart-​Vent would be required.
2) The Smart Vent was installed in a manner that did not provide adequate cooling all the way to the eve, resulting in — you guessed it — ice dams. However, the problem was now compounded because when the water backed up, it spilled into the ventilation slot required by the Smart Vent installation. This meant that water was not seeping through shingles, but pouring straight into my attic through a hole they had cut into my roof.
3) They installed Smart Vent over a section of my house that has a cathedral ceiling (and therefore no attic). The Smart Vent works by allowing air to ventilate the attic through a hole cut into the roof. Only in this case, there was no attic so the cold outside air flowed into the rafter space between my ceiling and roof. Due to recessed lighting, this cold air immediately entered this room. I notified them problem of this before the project was complete and they removed the Smart Vent but refused to give me a credit for this section of the work.
4) Their Smart Vent installation protocol was to install the product several feet above the eve, resulting in a very noticeable and ugly line in the roof which was unacceptable in the front of the house. As a result, we agreed to eliminate the front half of the house from the project. However, when it came time to settle up, they offered less than a 15% discount to the contract price although they had not done any work to the front half of the house.
Additional: Do not be take in by their high pressure sales tactics. My sales rep worked up a quote that seemed quite high. After I balked when presented with this quote, he immediately offered a $ 2,000 discount BUT ONLY IF I SIGNED THE CONTRACT THAT DAY. This SHOULD have been my first warning about their business tactics — shame on me.
Epilogue — In the fall of 2011, I had another company remove and replace ALL of the work performed by Sprague. While I again used the Smart Vent product, this time the installation was done correctly and — although it has been a mild winter — I can tell that there will not be any future problems as all the ice and snow on the eves of my house immediately sloughs off.

Sprague did work on our gutters as well as our chimney. The guys were kind, reliable, and did a really great job. We had a bunch of back-​and-​forth initially with what needed to be done and what would have been «optional» at this time, but everything went very smoothly once we had the contract set. Plus, they came out last year and took care of our ice dams (when I was extremely pregnant), which was really, really appreciated!

Oh gosh. I heard some ok things about this company’s work. But their sales tactics are high pressure and pretty uncomfortable, and awful. And we crossed the line into dishonest today. They say one things one week, and then the next week it’s like they never said it. They also keep repeating «That’s the way we do things, and we found works for us.» Ok, but it doesn’t work at all for me. And it isn’t what they agreed to. I simply don’t play games to get work done. Maybe they should just focus on roofing and not playing games with people. I held off my job to get this quote, and now I have to scramble. This company seems to untrustworthy. In the face of having been completely misleading and dishonest, they shrug and repeat canned lines. This is just not a good way to earn people’s trust.