J National Contractors

N F.

Our pipe had started leaking from the recent winter storm and Axel did a great job coordinating the repair for us. While most other plumbers I requested a quote from were not very responsive, Axel stayed in communication with me even despite him going through family emergency. They also don't charge you to come out to give you an estimate. His guys came out twice to repair the leak itself and the sheet rock that had to be ripped in order to get to the pipe. Axel and his guys made sure to have it all repaired and cleaned to make it look the same way as it did before and do a final check.

Raina H.

J National is a company I have been using for years! I manage a multi family property and have never had any problems with this company!

Audrey D.

I originally hired J. National two years ago for a gas line repair/ replacement of the main gas line to my property. The price quoted was fair, after receiving three bids, so I hired them. The work was done in a timely manner, although not exactly as I had been told, or in the timeline I was originally given. Some of this, however, was due to the city inspection, and moving through the various channels required when having a repair of this manner completed. The customer service at the time was ok and reliable. The young lady who handled all of the correspondence was attentive and helpful.
Two years later, in April of 2015 it was discovered that the main gas line was leaking, and the gas was shut off to the property by the city. I called J. national as they had been the company who completed the gas line replacement. The person answering the phone was no longer the helpful administrative assistant that was with the company previously, and it was a bit frustrating to understand what she was saying, and to get her to stop talking over me so that I could get her the property information. When I explained my issue, she stated that she would pull my file, get with the manager, and call me right back. They did indeed return the call within 5 minutes or so, and this was appreciated.
I now found myself on the phone with a man named Jay, who is the J behind J. national. He was equally as difficult to understand, and did not have a very smooth way with the client, as he did not allow me to speak, raised his voice, and continually talked over me. He was willing to help me, and to get to the bottom of the issue, but appeared to have no record of my signed contract, or the payment I had made previously to the company. He essentially told me he would not send someone over on his dime if he did not have proof the work was completed. After he let me get a word in, I told him that I would send over a copy of the signed contract and a copy of the payment I had made, although I did not feel that it was my responsibility to provide them with documentation they should have on file. This was sent immediately and I received a call back from Jay.
Jay did thank me for providing the information and agreed to have a rep go to my property to see what the issue was and what would need to be done to get the gas back on. He then proceeded to tell me that he would need a copy of the back of the cancelled check from the bank, as he did not have record of this money going into his account. He felt some sort of fraud had occurred and wanted to see that check did indeed get deposited by his company. Now this is really not. My problem as I have already sent over enough information to verify service, but I agree to order a copy for him from my bank. He assured me he would get someone on it right away, and someone did indeed show up at the house in the next ten minutes.
This is where the silver lining to the whole ordeal comes in, and why my start rating is what it is. J national sent over Billy, who immediately located the leak, found the cause, called me, explained the repair, and said he would go over right away to get the part, get it taken care of, and call the city in the morning. He was there in the rain, after hours, and could not have been more competent, informed, and pleasant if he tried. He was wonderful. He went out of his way to help me, cared about the lack of hot water to the house and the situation. He did exactly what he said, and did a great job.
There were some on foreseen issues unrelated to J National, but did impact the completion of the permit and inspection. The second silver lining now enters the scene, Reuben. Reuben called me, told me the problem, gave me a contact number at the city to handle the issue, provided me with very valuable information that was needed, was quick, efficient, pleasant, and very conscientious. He wanted to get the job completed, and was on his way over to the city when I called him back. He too, did exactly what he told me, and was genuinely interested in resolving the problem.
JNational stood behind their work, completed the repairs at their cost, only charged me for new parts that the inspector required.
If you can manage to get past the rocky customer service on the front end, you will be extremely pleased with Billy and Reuben when it comes time to have someone at your home.
If you have an electrical or plumbing issue, specifically request these guys. They are the ones who made a difference between an irritated customer and one who is more than satisfied and happy. These are the guys that J National should hold on to, and keep around at all costs. Because of these two, and because Jay stood behind his work and his word, I will use them again in the future, and I will recommend them to others. The four stars are here because of them, and due to the integrity of Jay.

Diane M.

We are a condominium community in houston flooded by hurricane harvey. J national wasn't even a asked to bid on the rebuild project. Because their reviews were so poor. However, unbeknownst to anyone else, The former(resigned before being voted out) president had a longtime friendship with the owners wife. She secretly ,illegally, brought J national instead of the company the board had voted on and chosen. There is nothing wrong with having friends and acquaintances bid on work. That is not what happened here. J national didn't ever bid, after owners started asking questions and realizing that a switch of chosen companies occurred. Scott Trainer the houston manager wouldn't even provide a copy of the contract to owners. nor would he provide a price breakdown detailing what exactly they were charging for. Mr . Trainor and Mr. Katav give an entire new meaning to gaslighting. They talk in circles. They will not answer direct questions. Unfortunately, all of the owners suffered. The former board member paid out the money before the work had been done. None of the work was signed off on by the project manager. The majority of the board had no idea what was going on. All in All, the hoa was billed and paid over $202,000 for what actually was only $48,000 worth of work. Then, they walked off the job. When owners demanded answers. Mr katav came down from Dallas claimed he would make things right . However after a year of stringing the board along , the evidence of the outright fraud and billing for work that was not done was irrefutable. Mr. Katav left the last meeting, admitted that there were serious problems with the numbers . He promised to get back to the Hoa board president and then "forgot".We are in the process of exploring every legal remedy the HOA has available. DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE. I never leave reviews. But am so disgusted by the extent of this fraud. Thank goodness for yelp and other review sites. Hopefully, any potential customers will read through all the reviews and immediately remove J national from any consideration.

LaTerrence M.

I hired JNational for electrical work and they did a good job. In particular, the foreman was a really nice guy who had sold his electrical contracting business to JNational. The gentlemen was very helpful as well and pointed out several other issues that needed to taken care of regarding my units and the entire complex in general.

JNational also bid on and worked with our HOA for several projects. As with any major construction project, there will always be issues that come up and will need to be addressed. Whats important is the ability of the contractor to show up with a good faith attitude and a commitment to honesty and making things right. I am glad to report, JNational came through and made things right.

Nicki K.

I was scheduled for an 11:am interview today for an administrative position. I was scheduled to meet Tatiana and Maggie, per a previous phone conversation.

When I arrived Tatiana, who was at the front desk, was already speaking unprofessionally to someone on the phone.

I walked up, introduced myself, and she handed me about 10 pages of paperwork. I said "I thought I was scheduled for an interview at 11 am?" In otherwords, please do not ask for:
1) my social sec number
2) my eexact address, including unit number,
3) for me to reiterate my entire resume, work experience, piece by piece
4) for me to reiterate my entire resume's contact/reference info
5) signature for them to do a background check before I've ever met ONE person to see if it's a good fit.
6) ion my day off, I had 2 more appointments scheduled... even the doctors office tells you if you need to come an hour early to complete an autobiography, which again was already on resume

People who ask for all of your personal information without even first meeting you make me wonder.

And not to mention that every person who walked by looked a lot shady.

And then there was another guy who apparently got all dressed up and ready for an "interview" too...he kept rolling his eyes as if to thank me for saying what he was thinking.

J NATIONAL...Please DO NOT WASTE PEOPLE'S TIME. IF YOU ARE A DOOR TO DOOR, FULL COMMISSION, OR OTHERWISE SOME FUNKY SCHEME (PYRAMID ??), then just man-up. Some people still need that. Just try some honesty and respect of other people and their time.

This place is junky!! It's contrary to the pics on the Internet.

Ahhh!!! Now I feel better

Michael D.

JNational has been servicing our property for the past 5 years. I would highly recommend them to anyone. They have always been very professional, punctual and informative when explaining details of the job/repairs needed. They by far are my #1 call when in need. The other reviews are true -I will give a shoutout to Yuval as well. Yuval is very informative and has made JNational feel like we are part of their family! All of their guys are great. I don't think I have ever met any other one of their guys and had any bad experiences. Hats off to JNational! Thank you for such great service.

Matthew V.

They use unlicensed plumbers that don't know what is legal or not. Beware of using for anything other than clearing the sewer line through an an approved outdoor clean out at a residential house only.

Steven B.

Hi there all you busy people. Thanks for taking the time to read this review and I hope that it finds you well and in need of a great Electrician.

Let's start at the beginning. I started to get flickering lights, my garage door stopped opening automatically, the A/C went out along with my electric stove, microwave, and washer/dryer. I had partial power...meaning my TV worked and I had some lights in the house. I live in Texas, in incredibily HOT weather in the summer...and of course, when the A/C went out during the beginning of July in 100 degree heat I was terrified.

I called my electric company (Oncor, BOO!) to help get the power going. I had no idea what was going on. They came out when I wasn't here and left a note on my door stating I would have to replace the part on the meter box because it wasn't their problem and they suggested I call an electrician to get the power going. Luckily I have a home warranty and they sent out J National Contractors from Dallas. Juan Chavelas made the call. My power went out on a Friday afternoon...the hottest part of the day and everyone was reluctant to come out on a weekend and they wanted an arm and leg for emergency calls. It was now Saturday afternoon and I still had no power. When Juan came out he was exhausted from working all day, but he still cared about my problem. He knew I was without power in 100 degree heat with no where to go. I don't have a lot of money for hotel rooms and no way to cook my food. He went right to work.

Juan finished the job quickly without taking a break in the heat. He got my power back on in less than an hour. This kind of company, and man, go to show you that some people still care about the customer. Which is number one in my book. I don't normally do reviews unless someone goes above and beyond the call of duty. This company is now going to be my "go to" company when I need an electrician. If you need good people who care about the customer and not just the money, please go with them. Their efficient friendly attitude is so refreshing in a world that's filled with so many people who are just there for the paycheck and don't care about your problems. So please, go with J National if you need a good reference.

Sualeha A.

Response to Jay Katav's response to my original review.

J national was not the company that was chosen by the board of directors after a lengthy bidding process involving a detailed scope of work and exhaustive comparisons.
J National was excluded from consideration and was NOT included in the final list of qualified companies that would be considered. The reasons were two-fold. It was discovered that the previous president had secretly sent all of the other competitors bids to her longtime friend .Jay Katav"s wife! In addition, J National had numerous terrible reviews across many popular online review sites.

The acting board president decided on her own, and without any competitive bidding or review by the entire board chose to bring in J national . J national was not required to bid on the same scope of work all the other companies were given. No proper procedures were followed and noone knew what was going on.
Fact. J national through Scott trainor refused to give a copy of contracts to owners upon request or to the property manager. He ignored requests for some kind of documentation that showed what we were being charged. It took months, to finally get the contract. after they were long gone.

The structural work that J national did perform was of such poor quality, the structural engineer when asked to come sign off on the work , instead submitted a 23 page list of incomplete and unacceptable work that must be redone.  This was work that J national had said they had already done and were trying to get approved. (see pictures attached) 

When individual owners realized that the original chosen company had been replaced without any notification and when owners viewed the initial work that had been performed by J national, 106 out of 131 owners gave written notice to the hoa office that forbid J national from even stepping inside their units.  The pres resigned. J national stopped all work and didn't even complete the units that they had started.

After the newly elected board stopped any further work from being done before an audit could be completed. J national decided they were done. The work they had done was not only poor quality, but it did not comply with the original scope of work approved by the hoa. (see attached pictures) J national never would never provide any kind of price breakdown for what we were being charged. Several audits determined that Jay National had been paid for 25 percent of the total possible contract price yet not a single unit was completed according to their own scope of work.

I have talked to several yelp members who have contacted me through yelp messages. These reviews and yelp are doing exactly what they were designed to do.  warn other consumers away from companies that have not performed up to any acceptable standard and far worse got paid for work that was not done and then walked away.








posted.. 03/07/20
We are a condominium community in houston flooded by hurricane harvey. J national wasn't even a asked to bid on the rebuild project. Because their reviews were so poor. However, unbeknownst to anyone else, The former(resigned before being voted out) president decided on her own to give J national the contract. (did i mention we later found out that she had longtime friendship with the owners wife.) She secretly ,illegally, brought J national instead of the company the board had voted on and chosen. There is nothing wrong with having friends and acquaintances bid on work. That is not what happened here. J national didn't ever bid, after owners started asking questions and realizing that a switch of chosen companies occurred. Scott Trainer the houston manager wouldn't even provide a copy of the contract to owners. nor would he provide a price breakdown detailing what exactly they were charging for. The work was of such poor quality owners could not proceed with their own rebuild. The majority of the board had no idea what was going on. When owners demanded answers. The president stopped showing up to the property. eventually, owners united and forced all work to stop until an audit could be done. J national left the job, left the leftover ,soggy materials strewn about the property. Owners were left to pick up the pieces with much of the work left undone. After yelp reviews started appearing, Mr Katav agreed to come and meet with the new board to go over the audit that we had performed. He admitted that there must have been serious mistakes made and he would make them right. He promised to get back to the board president within a couple days and then "forgot". We are in the process of exploring every legal remedy the HOA has available. DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE. Thank goodness for yelp and other review sites. Hopefully, any potential customers will read through all the reviews and immediately remove J national from any consideration. don't forget to see the pictures of the"quality" of J national's work