Artista Builders is excellent. The owner, George Stabolitis, is a true professional. He is highly knowledgeable and an absolute perfectionist when it comes to detail. He is very hands on. He listens to the customer every step of the way and has excellent design suggestions. His entire crews are hard workers and trustworthy. He did a complete bathroom remodel and it turned out beautifully, it's magazine worthy!!!!! read more

We contracted with Arista Builders for a master bath remodel. We were sold the story that this contractor would back their work and any problems would be addressed immediately. So to begin - we, the customer, did the total demolition - they started with stud walls and ceiling, the concrete demo was accomplished per Arista's / Marks specs, they had to remove nothing except their trash they made day to day. Length of job 5 months - started in June finished October. So we could go in detail as to all that went wrong and Mark will probably dispute each and every claim we make, but in the end if proof is needed we have pictures of the work and the bogus receipts we received upon request. The sub-contractors this company uses are deplorable from the sheet rocker (Mitch Smith Drywall and repair), to the electrician (Get wired electric), the countertop company (PGI professional granite installations), the building supply store (Pittman Pea Ridge Cash and Carry) and the cabinet builders / installer (Solid Solutions Custom Cabinet). Not one of them gave a detail invoice even though we requested them as such. We have come to the conclusion that using a general contractor business at this day and age is just not worth the money or time read more

Project: Original contract is to totally gutted two bathrooms. Mark and his team at Arista designed and rebuilt walls in the master bathroom to allow handicap access, installed new tile shower and new toilet, new cabinets, sinks, new mirrors and new lights; remove over 2,000 sq. ft of high pop corn ceilings and retextured; painted whole house and replaced baseboards; replaced kitchen countertops with granite and painted all kitchen cabinets and replaced all recess lightings. We are so pleased with the project and expanded the project to include roof replacement and blinds replacement. Communication: Mark is an excellent communicator, be it in text or phone calls. The house that we had it renovated is our second home so we were not there during the construction period, but he gave me an update every week of the progress. When I was in town, if he was not available to meet with me, he would have Duane, his assistant meet me. Cost/Budget: Arista's proposal of the original project is $4k higher than another proposal I received, but I decided to go with Arista because of the details they listed out (we do have to refer to the contract now and then, just like the mirror in the Master bathroom, it clearly said customer will pay for it, which I forgot). There were no additional costs unless it was a change order on my part such as I picked a higher quality of granite. I was at the granite store with Mark's assistant as Mark was out of town. Mark actually called his granite contractor and let me know what the additional cost was before we left the store. Timeliness: I was informed that this project will take 6-8 weeks, it has taken a little longer but this was attributed to the tiles that we ordered from Home Depot was delivered incorrectly, and Home Depot had to get exchange from another store. I got a phone call and e-mails from Home Depot regarding this issue as I placed the order with Duane, Mark's assistant. Above and Beyond: Half way through the project, I decided to change the blinds and Mark did all the measurements for me so I could have an approximate cost. Also, I have made purchases at Wayfair, and Mark was kind enough to let me put his phone number as the contact and arranged for the delivery as we are not up there. I have dealt with a few contractors in renovations at our main residence in South Florida, and I am more than happy with the outcome of the renovations done by Arista Builders LLC. We needed new lights and fans in our house, and Mark was able to recommend someone we could purchase them from. I placed the order on-line and Mark went and picked up the products and installed them. The outcome of the project and the workmanship are above my expectations, even my realtor is amazed how great the house turned out. read more

I hired Arista Builders to do my home renovation on a cost-plus basis. The scope of work involved, a kitchen relocation, building of a master bath (old kitchen location), a bedroom addition, some general re-framing (adding/removing doorways), as well as re-building my wrap-around porch. Things began smoothly when general construction started, but soon took a negative turn, after noticing some discrepancies with billing (labor and materials). **** was almost never on the job to supervise his subs, and was very out of touch with the work being completed, and with the time it took to do certain tasks. Myself, and my fiancé noticed his workers performing tasks with little, to no sense of urgency. After multiple face to face discussions about items in question, (and a hostile discussion from **** toward my fiancé, stating that "If we question his integrity involving his hours clamed, that maybe we don't need to do business anymore") we requested that he turn in a detailed list of all labor performed, and the time it took to do tasks at hand. He eventually turned in a hand-written list of the work performed, with the time associated with completing each task to that point. After reviewing the list that **** turned in, we were even more shocked to find out the time it took to do specific tasks, as well as being double billed for other tasks. (Ex. Install total 347 sq. ft. of bead-board ceilings/walls = 85 labor hours [That translates to just over 4 sq. ft. of bead board per man hour, or over 2 full weeks of work on that one task alone]) We called a meeting at the house to go over each item on the 39 item hand-written list, and for an explanation as to the time it took to perform those tasks, and when going through the list, we didn't even make it to item #9, before **** stopped us, and told us that the list he turned in, was "not accurate". (Why turn in a hand-written list to your customer, as your justification of labor, and it not be accurate?!?!) After requesting that he re-visit all items in question, and come up with a more accurate number, as well as proof of payment to his subs, he stated that our meeting "weighed heavy on his heart", and HE TOOK OFF $30K from the bill, all the while insisting that labor/material was STILL the cheapest way to complete the job... What we later found out, was that **** was billing us at a much higher hourly rate for his workers than what he pays them, plus an ADDITIONAL percentage off top for each worker as well across the board. So in actuality, the "goodness of his heart" was him deciding to only charge us what he actually pays his workers, plus his additional percentage... ($30k is quite a lot of money, to just simply take off of a bill if you ask me. Especially when your only submitted justification for your high labor costs is "not accurate"...) Due to deadlines on the project, and already requesting one extension with the bank, we decided to proceed with the job, under the agreement that all work/labor would be well documented until completion. Proper documentation was never done, and again, hours/materials were improperly billed, with no way to be accurately tracked. I began keeping my own time for labor on my job, due to the fact that many tasks were having to be done two and three times before they could be considered satisfactory, and after reviewing bills, I found that I was even being billed for hours that the workers weren't on my job! When I confronted **** in person at the job site about the quality of workmanship, and the hours claimed, the discussion quickly turned negative, and he became irate with me, and proceeded to get in my face and scream calling me a liar! Eventually, police were called, and **** attempted to have charges pressed against me, which were quickly proven untrue, after multiple eye-witnesses gave written statements to the police dept. claiming that **** was aggressively screaming in my face, and trying to provoke a fight. After that last encounter, and seeing exactly what **** was trying to do, I determined that it was necessary to have my lawyer handle all communication with **** going forward, until we can reach an agreement. After much back-and-forth, we reached an agreement on a price, (the original agreed upon amount) but **** found a loophole, where he didn't have to pay for the exterior paint job, even though it was listed in the contract, and the work was performed and a check was written to him as payment for the work (Not to mention our verbal agreement for him to pay the exterior painting contractor [I'm thinking this was his plan the whole time]). After speaking with my lawyer, he assured me that we have a clear and concise case, and could even go after him for damages, but the cost we would incur to prove we were right, would far outweigh the amount that we are fighting for. We are currently unable to get a receipt from our plumber for completion of work, due to **** not paying him either... read more