4 years ago my wife and I bought the fixer-upper of fixer-uppers. So much needed to be redone that we decided to gut the whole place, room by room... while living there... with two kids. So that's been fun.
Fast forward to this past fall, where we finally decided to tackle the (frankly, horrifying) first floor; kitchen, living room, dining room, laundry room and adding a desperately needed powder room.
Given that our second floor and attic had already been redone, you could say I've been around the ol' contractor block. We've had some good and some bad, but no one I trusted to do the entire job.
As my wife and I were figuring out what we wanted, and could realistically afford to do, my neighbor invited us over to see her newly renovated basement. This was previously a raw space that was now pristine. It looked like new construction in a 100+ year old house. And our neighbor had only the best things to say about her contractor, Joe.
We eventually setup a meeting with Joe and he really goes the extra mile from the jump. He and his wife Karin are wonderful, down to earth people who didn't seem bothered by the toddler chaos going on all around us while we spoke. They even took us around to see past jobs of similar scope. Endlessly helpful.
When we decided to move forward, cost was obviously a factor. Joe was honest, transparent, and willing to work with us to stay within our budget.
Once the job started, it went as smoothly as one could hope. Joe's crew are a great bunch of guys. I won't lie and say that not having a kitchen for 10 weeks with 2 young kids is fun stuff, but they made it as painless as possible. The workspace was always clean and we had a path to our fridge. And they took the time to do things right -- leveling out ceiling beams that could have passed as a template for a skateboard before putting up sheetrock.
Joe called regularly with status updates, and to hash out any unclear requirements. He'a got a great eye for design -- making a number of suggestions we were thrilled with -- from room layouts, down to details like a barn door for our laundry room. He suggested cabinets that I had reservations about at first, but ended up loving. He and Karin even came with us to pick out countertops and appliances. Above and beyond.
To wrap it up, finding a good contractor is hard and we found a GREAT one, so I was almost hesitate to write this. I don't want y'all booking him up until 2022! I've got a couple more jobs to do! read more