In March 2010, we purchased a rental home in South Nags Head and contracted Todd Coyle to reside our home. We also considered having him redo our roof but fortunately we ultimately chose a different contractor. During our initial communications, we informed Mr. Coyle that as absentee owners we were very concerned about the quality of work as it would be impossible for us to be on-site to inspect his work. We specifically indicated our concern regarding potential leaks if the work was not done correctly. Mr. Coyle was adamant that he would take all the appropriate steps to ensure that our house was moisture proof. This “guarantee” was critically important in our choosing to use Todd.



Shortly after the siding was completed, our realtor was at our house and noticed that there was an issue with some of the new siding as she could “see daylight from the inside of the house”! We contacted Todd to inform him of the issue. He went to the house and agreed that his crew “could have done a better job”. To his credit, Todd fixed the area.



Our frustration was that Mr. Coyle did not catch this issue during his own inspection or did and didn’t think it mattered because we were absentee owners. We further concluded that Mr. Coyle was not on site inspecting the work of his crew – which was something he committed to prior to our agreeing to hiring him. While he ultimately fixed the situation, we subsequently had additional water issues inside our home (more to come on this).



As part of the siding work, Mr. Coyle was also contracted to paint the wood on our back deck to match the color of the siding. By April 2011, the paint was already peeling. We contacted a local paint store to come and evaluate the situation and it was their opinion that the peeling was likely due to Mr. Coyle’s painter not using primer and / or they painted over wet wood. Mr. Coyle agreed that both issues were possible but promised to come and redo the painting correctly. This work has still not been done.



In March 2013, after we noticed internal moisture issues, we had a contractor to come and evaluate the situation. It was the contractor’s opinion that the moisture issue was directly related to the siding, flashing, etc. work done by Mr. Coyle not being completed to Hardi Plank specifications. We have subsequently confirmed this by reviewing Hardi Plank’s installation guide. We contacted Mr. Coyle and he indicated that he would come and look at the house and fix whatever was done incorrectly. Due to personal issues he was unable to do this in March and we agreed to meet him face to face during our next visit to the Outer Banks in August 2013.



Despite multiple attempts to get in touch with Mr. Coyle during a three week period in August he was non responsive. We have made multiple attempts to contact since returning from Nags Head all to no avail.



In summary, Todd talks a good game and seemed sincere about fixing both situations; however, his actions have not aligned with his rhetoric. At one point, he even indicated that the work was done “over three years ago” and he shouldn’t be held responsible now. I’m curious if he would feel the same way if he were in our position?



Our desire was to work through the issues with Todd on a fair basis and even indicated that we were more than willing to share some of the repair costs. His lack of response and willingness to do the right thing has left us with only one option and that is to contact the NC License Board for General Contractors, Dare Country Better Business Bureau as well as positing on sites like this to make other homeowners aware of our very unsatisfactory interaction with Mr. Coyle. Having owned homes in the OBX area off and on since 2000, we have learned that you get what you pay for. We would emphatically warn anyone that is considering using Mr. Coyle for work on their home in the Outer Banks to consider alternatives.