I found Joel Braun through an internet search. After reading hundreds of good reviews across many…read moresites, I reached out to him for an estimate to remodel our master bath. We hired his company and began work on a dare that worked for both of us. I'm new to remodeling and once he knew I wanted regular updates, he made sure to let me know how the day went each day. I was impressed with the cleanliness of the entire process to make sure my home stayed clean despite how dusty the job can be. The job came out beautiful and close to estimate.

I can't say enough about Joel Braun Construction and his team! My parents are elderly and…read morehave been in and out of the hospital for the past 6 months. They have not kept up their home at all, for many, many years. My parents noticed tiles that had fallen off the bathroom shower wall making the shower unusable. The other shower had been out of commission for years due to a plumbing leak. My parents were showering at the gym once a week. Joel came out within a few days after we contacted him and provided a detailed estimate within a day or two which was more than fairly priced. He followed up with us and was called back to the house a few times, to go over the quote and the project with my parents. He was understanding of the situation and spent a lot of time making sure they understood everything, pointing out where everything would go and drawing pictures. He was not pushy and had a lot of patience. The project quickly grew from two bathrooms to two bathrooms with a complete expansion of the master bathroom by reworking the walk-in closet, removal of wallpaper on walls and ceiling, paint of master bathroom, carpet removal, and refinishing hardwood floor. We decided to go with Joel. He was able to start within two weeks. Knowing that he was working with older people, he not only provided my parents with places to get the hardware (plumbing supplies, tile, vanity, paint ect) but he even called to make appointments for them and joined them at the appointments for guidance. If my parents could not make the appointments, he went out of his way to make sure they had choices to choose from. He dropped off a color sample of the vanity and also did a lot of the leg work that my parents couldn't do, which was greatly appreciated. The project was going smoothly. Joel consistently sent updates and pictures of the progress and communicated well with me. Then, when I went to the house to meet with Joel, I noticed the half bathroom downstairs had a water drip. Thats when I convinced my parents to renovate the half bathroom. It didn't prolong the original project. He demoed the bathroom and used the leftover tile and paint from one of the other bathrooms. He went and purchased ALL the supplies, hauled them back to the house and had it done by the timeframe. He finished the project on time and made everything as easy as it could be. He even referred a cleaning service, duct cleaning service, and carpet shampooing service. The finished bathrooms are gorgeous! They did a great job. I would highly recommend using Joel Braun Construction.

Gene is the best. I highly recommend using Alpaca! They go above and beyond and will treat your…read morehome like it's their own. I will definitely recommend them to family members and to you!!

Hired to install hand rails in a bathroom for someone returning from hospitalization. Excellent…read morework on short notice at a very reasonable price.

Josh installed a new drain pan under our clothes washer on second floor. Did a great job and was…read morevery thorough and efficient. I will definitely consider Josh again when we need other projects done around our home.

I'm pretty handy, but I know what I don't know. Josh was able to fix my problem with ease. He was…read moreflexible around my schedule, and did a great job for a reasonable price. I then hired him for a second project that I could do but didn't have the time. Again, he did a great job.

Excellent experience with Lightning Construction and roofing. Both Liam and Neil are fast to…read morerespond, show up as promised, ready to work. I will continue to reach out to this company due to their professionalism, knowledge and work ethic.

Cancelled appointment at last minute on Saturday & never contacted me to reschedule for Monday.read more

UPDATE (5/18/16): There was an issue with a pipe in the basement and Basic Basement returned with a…read moreplumber. They had to open up the wall to access the pipe but repaired it like nothing happened. This shows that they do stand by their work. The owner of the company called me and apologized for the trouble of the basement finishing, assuring me that they take pride in what they do, which is evident by the fact that they opened up and repaired a wall for no charge, something i appreciated. I've increased the rating from 2-star to 3-star for that and because all said and done, the final basement looks pretty good. --------------------------------------------------------------- Basic Basement is very basic and will do the least amount possible to get the job done and take way too long to do it. There were many issues along the way and while they responded to them, they shouldn't have happened in the first place. Our job, which began on October 26, was supposed to be three weeks and wound up being 9 weeks. Even with Thanksgiving in there, this is way to long for a simple basement refinishing. Things started poorly in September, when they sent our inspection paperwork to the wrong address. After a week of waiting for it, I contacted them and the error was discovered. They sent new paperwork and I took time off from work to drop it off at the township, only to be rejected on the spot because the paperwork wasn't signed. That meant more time to get new paperwork, which again wasn't delivered when we were told it would be. Once it was, more time off from work to drop it off. The first of many delays. The framing went well, though one day the guys had to quit halfway through because they ran out of wood. Deliveries were scheduled and I changed around my schedule for them, but then the deliveries didn't happen and that caused more delays. There were things about the job that were completely amateur. Some I pointed out, others I didn't, but had I not requested they be fixed, they would still be like that (see photos). Debris clogged our French drain and I asked multiple times to have it corrected. It took until after the trim was put on and three requests later for it to be cleared out. By that point, there was some water that came up. Where the drywall meets the stairs there were gaps that I wanted corrected. I requested this multiple times. Finally they sent over a carpenter to fix a couple issues and while I made a lot of noise about this one, he was never even told about it. Fortunately, a painter we hired separately corrected it (as well as other issues from Basic Basement). This speaks volumes about the annoying communication with Basic Basement. Any issues go through Gail at their office. Gail is not easy to get a hold of and I had emails to her go unanswered for days. Without a cell phone number, the only phone number is her office, which did not get picked up often. The company was supposed to clean around our house and barely did that. I had to tell them three times about trash they left around the house. Even after they finally did pick up some of the remaining stuff, I still had to go around and get a bunch of big stuff that they missed since my kids were touching the pieces of glass and large shards of wood leftover. Additionally, the workers left cigarette butts on our lawn and driveway. (they also had garbage sit for days in our driveway before finally having their truck pick it up. I almost would've preferred a dumpster). When the original contract was drawn up, I was going to be charged $550 for the framing and installation of an exterior door (which I also had to purchase). It turned out they did not need to frame it and instead, were able to simply cut the solid wooden door I purchased to fit the space. They also put hinges on it - all things they did for the interior doors too - yet for this one they charged me $200. I felt it was a petty charge since I would've done the couple minutes work on it myself had I known it would've cost that much. They felt differently, claiming they had told me it would still cost $200 without the framing. I don't have it in writing either way so I lose, but thought that as a courtesy and to make up for the amount of time the job took, they'd waive the charge. They didn't.

My advice is to avoid The Basic Basement Company…read more First, the company's 800 square foot/$9,999 advertisement is just a gimmick to get in the door. While the salesman was nice enough, the mathematical jiu jitso performed rapidly to explain why that price was impossible for my 344 square foot unfinished basement space made it clear no one gets that price. As I debated hiring them, I received numerous, urgent emails and calls saying I had to decide by a random date. I should have known better. I'm normally not taken in by these high-pressure sales tactics, but I fell for it. And I very much regret it. Second, the basement that was supposed to be done in 90-days took five months. Again, this was a 344 square foot unfinished space that required framing, electrical and drywall. They did not paint or install flooring. I was told they don't do flooring. Five. Long. Months. Third, the drywall guys left my garage door open. In their defense, I opened it for them and it was on me to close it. While this wouldn't have been a big deal under a normal situation, it was a big deal because when they left (never letting me know as I was working in my home office in the front of the house) they also left the door between my family room and garage wide open. When I got off a call to check on them, my 7-month-old Golden Retriever walked out of the office with me and into the family room (not unusual) ... and then ran right out the door, down the driveway and onto the main road. It took me more than 15 minutes to find him (he's fast) and another 10 to get him back to the house. Fortunately, he was not hit by a car. I called immediately to raise a little hell about this and the next day when they returned ... no apology was offered AND they did it again! I learned my lesson, though, and crated my dog for the duration of the time The Basic Basement Co. workers were at my home. Fourth, they left my basement - both the smaller space they worked in as well as the larger 900 square foot unfinished space with storage and exercise equipment - covered in lots of drywall dust. At no point in the drywall process did they cover the door to the separate, 344-sq.-ft. space that was being worked on. Everything I own down there is covered in an inch or more of dust. I'll be cleaning up for months. Also, the room itself was left a mess. The concrete floor was covered in dust and clumps of spackle. The door and door knob (both sides!) were also covered in spackle. And the last two bags of trash from their work sat in my driveway from early December until the middle of February. They also never consulted with me when decisions needed to be made during the project - the biggest one being that they decided on their own to create four different ceiling heights in this 344 sq.ft. space. I knew there would be two levels because some duct work runs through the middle of the room. But the third as created because they said that was the only way to connect the wall to the ceiling in one corner and the forth height variation was created because a single television cable wire ran across one section. They don't touch even low-voltage wires. But they never let me know this. I could have (and ultimately did) have the wire moved by a separate contractor. Instead, they had to make a second trip a week or so later to tear out some of these various ceiling heights and make it a bit more even. There were countless other issues too minor to detail individually. But the "basic" take away is I feel I paid a little too much, it took a little too long, the ability of their workers to be thoughtful and respectful of being in my home was non-existent, and the clean-up was unacceptable for what I paid. Workers showed up in some cases dressed like they were homeless (it's construction and I don't expect suits and ties, but no uniforms and literally looking bedraggled). Honestly, there were mornings when I opened my door and I wasn't 100% comfortable letting them in. I have a family to think about. They also snuck out like cats without a word and clearly weren't concerned with making sure the pieces of the project they were responsible for aligned with what I wanted or asked for. What I will say is the drywall work itself was decent (there were issues there, but nothing extreme in terms of quality) and the look of the space is good. But another contractor could have done it in less than one fifth the time and probably for a little less money. Also, I want to compliment Gail in their office. She was a genuinely respectful, responsive and helpful person to work with. I think she does the best she can with a pretty challenging organization whose workers made plain they are underpaid, overworked and not happy to be in my home or anyone else's. Stay away from Basic Basement.

Tom fixed our gas fireplace, by basically replacing all pieces by new ones, when fireplace…read moreprofessionels refused to touch it, unless we bought a brand new one! Tom did it in 3 hours, and saved us thousands of $$$. Tom can basically do anything. And we will hire him for our next big job (master bathroom).

Quick service call, came the same day of call. Friendly and professional. Tom hung a TV for me and…read moreinstalled a very difficult headboard.

Excellent service. Quick service and good value. Would recommend to others and will use again.read more

I highly recommend DJ. He helped with the installation of a swing set and trampoline, very…read moreprofessional, and charges are reasonable. I was very happy with his work and would definitely engage his services again.

I had MDR give me a quote (along with a few other firms) to split a large upstairs space, adding a…read morewall and door and basically making a bedroom out of part of it. The quote was around the middle of the ones I saw, and I got a good vibe from Michael, so I decided to go with them. I'm incredibly happy with the work they did - they matched the existing features (trim, door style etc) of the house perfectly. They had good ideas and brought up things to consider, and additional costs for any changes along the way were reasonable. The guys who worked at my house were incredibly friendly and polite. The work turned out amazing - better than I had even hoped. Can't recommend them enough and will definitely go back to them for any similar work in the future.

Had a great experience with MDR Home Improvement. They installed vinyl front step railings for us…read moreand did an awesome job from start to finish. They were incredibly responsive over text, which made scheduling and communication really easy. The team showed up on time, worked efficiently, and completed the installation way faster than I expected. Everything was done cleanly and professionally, and the finished railings look great. The whole process felt smooth and stress-free. Would definitely use them again and highly recommend!