Spectrum Builders

I would never hire this contractor. Here is why:

Ken Palmer, and his girlfriend and co-worker, Courtney Tessler, misrepresented themselves, their knowledge, and the company. They performed far below subpar work, stole materials, failed to achieve permits, used non-English speaking laborers, and provided them with no supervision. I gave him a sizable deposit on our cost-plus project. He was non-communicative and, even upon termination, never contacted us in any attempt to amend issues. Nor did he submit any receipts breaching the most basic agreement of the contract.

The list of code violations composed by a licensed engineer, RLC Engineering, is over five pages long. A few examples follow.

He did not obtain a permit before beginning and failed to bring a dumpster or portable toilet on site until the third week of the project. Even though I attained a self-permit from Anderson County, he was legally required to obtain his own permit as the GC. His workers urinated all over the side of our home and threw their garbage around our property. When we confronted him, he told us he can't control his workers. Isn't that part of his job as a GC? To manage his workers? Also, we had pressure treated wood and OBS board on-site purchased for exterior work we were doing ourselves. He used it. When we confronted him, he said he would replace it, which he never did. We had to buy it twice after paying him for the wood he was supposed to have purchased for the interior work.

Spectrum plumbed the bathrooms without installing toilet waste connections. The plumbing was also installed on a negative slope so that water and waste roll back towards the sinks, showers, and toilets. The pex was installed through splintered holes with no room for movement. So over time, the pex would have sliced opened and flooded into our walls. A warning: Ken Palmer got this mess approved by the inspector somehow. This is baffling to us since there are no drains for the sewage, and the vents are not aligned over sinks, among many other problems. There are literally pages of code violations.

He miscut and omitted openings in the concrete masonry units that were supposed to be removed to make way for windows. Instead, he created rough cuts in the cement to the wrong size, then framed over them without removing the brick. This is hard to understand without seeing it, but it ridiculously expensive to amend and incredibly negligent.

He promised all joints and holes would be filled in before painting our cement ceiling — but instead, he sprayed it without prepping it. It has been less than six months, and the paint is already peeling off.

The floor joists do not fit together. The carpenter did not use a saw with an angle — when I told Ken I would not approve the work, he glued Advantech on top of it to not see it anymore. As though because he put it out of sight, we won't know how poorly our framing is put together.

The floor is rocky and unstable. The plumbers were skinny men, and their modest walks over the floors made the joists collapse. When I told Ken of this issue, his response to me is "A shim is carpenter's best friend." Meaning, they'll prop it up. That may be, but he used stacks of metal pipe hangers as his shims. They spilled out — sliding like stacks of slick cards from under our floor.

The list goes on. This man does not understand construction. He is charming and talks a good game but does not communicate, execute with any acceptable level of quality, does not know plumbing or framing, does not provide documentation, and does not supply his workers' supervision.

Every time and I mean every time we confronted him, his response would be, "This is how I do it in million-dollar houses." He is building homes on Lake Keowee. If you have hired Spectrum Builders for your million dollar home, please be aware of what is under the glued down Advantech and behind the sheetrock. Because you can't see your plumbing, framing, and electrical work, it does not mean its quality and adherence to the manufacturer's guidelines are not vital to every home's longevity and safety.