I had a great experience remodeling my house with Basements & Beyond…read more
My house (built in 1947) was a very small (825 sq ft) 2-bedroom, 1 bath with attached garage. Since I live alone and wanted more room, I decided to change it to a one bedroom and make the bathroom and closet larger. I also wanted to convert the attached garage to indoor, living space. I knew I wanted a nice bathtub to soak in and a gas fireplace, but other than that, I didn't have clear ideas. I had never done a remodel before and didn't know much about it, so a design-build company seemed like a great idea to me, even though I knew it would be more expensive. Also, since I was working remotely due to the pandemic, I had relocated to Maine for several months. When I went with Basements & Beyond it was a leap of faith since they would be remodeling my house while I was 2,000 miles away.
The experience was great. After visiting my house and looking everything over and asking questions about what I do, how I entertain, etc., I hired them to do the designs. They added things that were great--built in bookshelves on both sides of the fireplace, moving the washer/dryer to my walk-in closet, adding a wall of cupboards in the pantry. These were all things that were needed and that I love, but I wouldn't have thought of.
Throughout the process, I worked with a designer (Kelly) to pick out everything--flooring, tiles, bathroom fixtures, lighting, etc. Since picking out stuff like that is not something I had experience with (or really looked forward to), I loved working with someone on this. I really didn't have strong opinions going into this about what I wanted, so I asked her to pick out a few choices and let me select from that. I am sure a lot of people would want to be more involved looking over hundreds of options, but that wouldn't have been good for me. I trusted Kelly, liked the options presented and was (and still am) happy with all of my choices. Since I was in Maine, Kelly shipped me samples and photos and got on Zoom with me to do the selections. The one thing I had some ideas for was the bathroom tiles--I wanted something a bit fun and bright. Kelly gave me three great choices, and I ended up with a great teal chevron tile on the shower walls. Kelly also suggested painting the front door of the house in the same teal, which I never would have thought of, but love and get a lot of complements on. The front door we picked out is also more jazzy than I would have ever thought to pick.
I tell people that I basically put a brand new house inside my old house--moved some walls, new flooring throughout, brand new bathroom. The project grew on me quite a bit--I originally thought I would leave some parts as is. We ended up changing everything except some large appliances and the kitchen cabinets. The crawl space was even lined and insulated which I had not planned on. Although it was more expensive than I originally wanted it to be, I am happy that we did all of the extras. At one point I expressed surprise that they were suggesting we paint every room and change every fixture, light, etc. Bob said that I would not like the outcome if most of my house was bright and new, and some things were still the old parts. He was right. I have a brand new house inside my old walls (and the house grew a bit to 925 sq ft), and I love it. When I started thinking about the remodel, I told friends I had no idea how to go about it and that I wished I just had someone to do it for me. That's what I ended up with with Basements & Beyond. It was definitely an expensive way to do this project, and I doubt many people would spend what I spent on a tiny old house, but I am very happy with the outcome. I hope to live here for a long time to come, and Basements & Beyond helped me make it perfect for me. I wasn't here in person for anything from the first day of demo until I moved back in almost 3 months later, but Bob and Thomas sent lots of pictures and called whenever I needed to make a decision or approve a change. On that note, there were actually very few change orders, and I moved back in 10 days before they originally estimated. When I returned, several of my neighbors said that I hired great people and that the project moved along quickly.