I would highly recommend Empire Basement Solutions. The entire team was friendly, prompt, professional and delivered quality work on time and on budget. I reiterate the exact same comments as Karen S. in her 5-star review with a few additions. Dennis listened to our wants and developed a detailed estimate that included everything we discussed. He didn't try to talk us out of or into anything, but offered advice and creative solutions. Many of their "standard" materials would be considered upgrades by other companies. Charlie was our production coordinator and another awesome person to work with. He guided us through some more detailed designs (cabinet layout), developed a great blueprint, was friendly, patient and talented in helping with our selections (paint, tile, etc.). Bob is off the charts. As our overall Project Manager, he would be on-site or at least check-in daily on project status. We would walk the project together and he would answer any questions and handle any modifications that might be necessary. His experience and attention to detail and quality is amazing. The sub-contractors that work with Empire were all great as well. Like Karen S. said, they were all professional, friendly and delivered quality work. They would also take the time to answer any questions you might have, or stop to just explain what they were working on. Their online project management tool provided details of all selections and upgrades so there were no budgetary or calendar surprises. Every major step of the project is outlined in an online calendar and you can see what activity is going to happen on a day...and it actually happens! Our full basement finish took about 3 months and there were maybe only 2 - 3 days where no one was here working. They even finished a few days early. Expect there to be a mess and then not. You're having your basement finished. Unless it has a separate entrance, people will be trekking through your house and up and down stairs carrying all sorts of tools and supplies. The team preps everything to avoid any damage and cleans up as much as reasonably possible each day. Once finished, they did a final clean-up and everything was spotless! I may never move to a new house now that I have an amazing basement, but if I do and need another basement finished, Empire is the first and last company I'm going to call. read more

Empire finished our basement in record time. I was expecting our first child at the time when they completed everything in under 3 months. Great to work with! read more

Contacted them more than a month ago to look at my basement. It's finished but need to get the ceiling and floors redone. For this I think our budget is pretty realistic. We don't need the whole thing built out. Had Dennis call me back twice to schedule an appointment. He was willing to come out right away to look at our basement. He was very friendly and assured me they would be able to do what we want at an affordable cost. (at this point I wanted the wall paneling removed as well, but discovered from other contractor bids that this wasn't worth what it would cost). I contacted Dennis three times over the course of two weeks before he finally got back to me. He apologized and told me to call him back after Labor Day. I did and scheduled a time for him to return to give me an estimate. I actually cancelled plans to make sure I could fit into his schedule. When he returned I told him that we wanted to take the wall remodel out of the estimate. He told me that he would have to redo the entire estimate and would get back to me within a few days with a new estimate. After not hearing anything for TEN days, I called him back. He basically told me that they wouldn't work with me because my budget was too low. I told him it would have been nice if he would have told me that in the beginning as it could have saved me some time. I was actually willing to spend a little more to hire them to do the job because Dennis made me feel like he knew exactly what we wanted and was willing to work with us. I couldn't have been farther from the truth. This company never gave me any paperwork, not even a business card. The other companies I received bids from at least respected my needs. It makes me think I really dodged a bullet by not working with them because they don't seem reliable or really respectable at all. read more

We decided to reach out and start contacting multiple companies about finishing our basement. We contacted 5 different companies to get estimates from and Empire was by far the most professional and detailed. They walked us through their design ideas while giving us a very detailed estimate around our project. Bob was our Project Manager and was great to work with. Realistic and honest timelines made the whole process easy and Bob was really accessible for communication. Our finished project came out great and they did an excellent job matching the rest of our house and original design upstairs. They did great and recommend Empire if you're looking to finish your basement in the Johnson County area. read more

We hired Empire to finish our basement. I could not have asked for a better experience. From the planning phase all the way to completion I do not have one complaint. If I reached out to our project manager, Bob, he would respond by email or coming by the site within 1 day. He would take time to explain to me the process and what to expect next. The people that did the actual work were very professional and very friendly. If I would go downstairs to check on progress they would always stop and talk to me, answering any questions I may have. The work that was completed was done well. They finished the project within the time frame and left me with a beautifully finished basement. I would use them again in a heartbeat and would strongly recommend them to anyone. read more

Dennis was very professional and provided a good initial quote. All changes were tracked and approved on their App. Doug's team did a great job. They made sure that we were happy with the finished product. I would have given 5 stars but it took longer than promised to complete the job. They have added kitchens to offerings. We will definitely consider them for future work. read more

Great job from start to finish...very good project management and attention to details. Highly recommended!

Can't say enough about our experience with empire! Our basement finish looks amazing! We felt the communicate, level of finishes and details are exceptional! We will use them again for any project we may have! Thank you for making the process so easy and trustworthy! We got 5 different quotes- some higher, some lower, we truly felt best about this group! read more

Run far, far away from this company. I signed on with Empire because out of the four companies I met with, they were the most reasonably priced and professional. Once I signed the agreement, all professionalism disappeared. We are at the three month point and just approaching the halfway point. Out of the 12 weeks, they have worked only 3 - 4 weeks. There have been multiple issues and nothing is resolved, including damage to our home they will not take responsibility for. I have reached out to Dennis with issues and he is unresponsive. Even to the point he came to my home to pay a worker and wouldn't even get out of the car or pull onto my property - just that morning I reached out to him to connect. Still have not heard from him. I have requested a copy of the contract and they will not provide it. Unfortunately I paid the project in full because they misrepresented the payment dates because I did not have the contract to confirm. I could go on and on with the issues this company has, but will stop for now. I am in the process of pursuing legal action and will update once everything is resolved. read more

I'd stay away from Empire. We were very comfortable signing with Dennis, the owner, back in June 2017 because we had friends who had a good experience with their basement remodel and because Dennis was professional and reassuring. We signed on June 3rd and gave them a 50% deposit on our bathroom remodel with the agreement that the project would be completed by August. Soon after signing, timely communication and consideration for our project to be done in a timely manner fell to the wayside. We also felt that we were beholden to their schedule when they wanted to meet or inspect the bathroom - which they did 4 or 5 times asking a day or two before if we could meet during hours I usually work. The project lead had to undergo surgery and we got assigned a new lead with the promise that the project would still be completed on time. As of the end of August, no one from Empire had even put together a schedule for when work would begin. Adding to the headache, they wanted to charge more for a drain that wasn't somehow included in the original bid of "laundry rough-in." They argued that we asked for a laundry rough-in and were promised electrical supply and water line supply but that did not include the drain. I felt nickel and dime at this point and it took another week or two to contact Dennis's wife who will respond to phone calls, emails, and text messages. We finally got our money back in October but not after worrying for weeks that we'd ever hear from this company again. I hope it was a fluke and a rough patch for the business and that they've improved their service but I will never do business with Empire again. read more

We chose Empire Remodeling to finish our basement because of their professionalism and competitive pricing. They incorporated several custom features that we requested and were flexible with our frequent change requests. We love our added living space and are very satisfied with how everything turned out. read more

Empire did an incredible job on our basement remodel. I thought they offered great advice on the design, while also letting us do what we wanted to do. Communication was great and everything was well planned and happened when they said it would happen. It was a fairly big project, so there were inevitable issues, but I always felt they went out of their way to make sure we were happy with the end result. I was very comfortable with everyone who worked on the project and again, we are very pleased with the result. I look forward to working with them again in the future. read more

"Unprofessional Work" My husband & I hired Empire to finish our basement before the birth of our second child, due late May 2015. We were informed it would take 12 weeks MAX for them to finish 533 sq. ft., with a new bathroom (no rough-ins available). We signed a contract in February & they were to begin work in March. We were assured that communication was something they valued, & that we could see our job's schedule on a portal called Builder Trend. We also would be able to call our contractor if we had questions. Here is a review of our experience: * Timeline: Our "maximum 12 week job" took 22. Empire knew that we hired them because we were having a baby & wanted this done before the baby was here; their ability to come close to our due date was part of the reason we chose them. * Unprofessional work & actions: o Used Benjamin Moore paint when we were told to pick out Sherwin-Williams colors. o We requested that the duct workers use an existing exterior vent for the bathroom exhaust vent. We came home to a new hole in our house. o After 4 touch-ups, paint job still looked like a DIY. Little things like sanding wood, smoothing drywall splatter, and removing flooring splatter were not done. o Used cheap plastic mollies to mount hardware instead of metal anchors like we had asked and were assured would be used. o The baseboards flanking the steps are uneven - one side is several inches higher than the other. o Our handrail was installed incorrectly & the oval rosettes needed patched. We told the contractor that they should be replaced to be done right, & he replied that people would not see it unless they were looking up from the stairs. Not the point - it should be done right. * Poor Communication: We had two instances where it took 2+ weeks to get responses to our numerous phone calls/emails. When selections needed to be made for materials, we were never given a time frame as to when those needed to be done. * Unscrupulous change orders: One change order was pushed on us that we felt was a result of their mis-estimating the project. Another change order requested by us came back insultingly high; this came back after several weeks of ZERO communication, which was a big red-flag for us. We also had an unofficial change order where we were charged $80 by a subcontractor after he had done work that Empire claimed was not covered in the contract. We were not informed beforehand of that fact. * Lack of respect for our home & living space: We communicated from the get-go that we would need to maintain usable access to our garage and laundry facilities throughout the job. Once work began, we were often cleaning up construction mess to avoid tracking saw dust, dry wall dust, etc. through the house. * Work left in dangerous conditions on two occasions: First, we came home to sheet metal screws, sheet metal scraps, & dry-wall dust left in our upstairs living area, which is extremely dangerous in the home of a toddler. The dry-wall dust was partially cleaned up by the subcontractor with OUR Dyson vacuum. Second, our hot water heater flue was not reconnected to the main furnace flue, so the flue gas would vent into our basement rather than outside where it belongs. * Anxiety on our part: o My entire maternity leave (12 full weeks) was full of loud noises, sub-contractors ringing my doorbell to ask me questions (that the GC should have already told them), & people in & out of my house. o The two periods of no communication gave us legitimate concerns that Empire had abandoned our project. They did give us a 1% discount when all was said and done, but this did not even cover the two questionable change orders described above. If we had to do it again, we would not hire Empire Basement Solutions. read more