In my life as a homeowner, it has been difficult to find a steady contractor who is reliable, trustworthy, affordable and consistent in the quality of service they offer.
Until now.
Meet Jack and his expansive team of professionals.
NOTE: I will not be disclosing pricing in this review. If you have questions, message me.
We had a few things in mind for what we planned to be a series of home improvement projects: reset the fence, which was leaning; remove all of the grass in the yard and put down pavers; put down a patch of turf for the pups; interior and exterior painting of the house; redo or reset some of the existing pavers, which had become uneven and loose; and fill in the gap between the base of fence and the yard to avoid the pups being able to escape.
In summer of 2021, we could not have been looking for a contractor at a worse available time.
As things were reopening in the state, and with the housing market red hot, it was hard to find a contractor to come out to even look -- LOOK -- at the job. People were putting visits for mere quotes on the books 4-6 weeks out.
But Jack and his team came through. Again and again. Ultimately, we opted to do everything noted above all at once. And Jack managed it in a way that we did not have to vacate the house for any period.
About Jack and his team, I appreciate the following:
They are open and honest. Before he even wrote up a contract, he and his team walked the yard on multiple days. Jack came by more than once to speck things out. They were forthcoming: The plan we had in mind would not work given the sloping nature of the yard. And the initial pavers selected would not have fit the style of the home. They had alternative ideas and suggestions and, for the sloping issue, a better plan, which we love, love, love! They ended up building a wooden deck and staining it.
Before we got to work on these various projects, Jack came back to sit down with the contract -- which is a couple dozen pages long. He and his team are accustomed to working on major commercial projects, but have no problem working on a smaller home renovation or remodel (which is just awesome, especially in the current market). So it felt quite formal and legitimate. Jack went over the timeline, materials, insurance, the individual teams who would come at different phases of the project, what would happen if something went wrong or if we changed our minds.
And this is important: Jack was very reassuring and communicated often via phone and text before, during and after the projects. There were two minor but unexpected issues after the close of the project, and both were handled immediately with no question. That is integrity.
Side note: One of the most furious experiences I had as a homeowner was many years ago. I was getting a roof repaired. We over purchased on the shingles, which was fine, because I wanted to have some on hand should there be a future need to replace some or sections. But when the project was done, the contractor took them. When I confronted him about it, he said they did not have them anymore; they used them on a different project.
I cannot see that type of situation occurring with Jack and his team. In fact, he talked about what would happen if they ran long or if they had surplus materials. And we did have surplus at the end of the project. You know what he did? He. Asked. Me. what I wanted to do with the surplus: keep it or return it.
I care about details, and I care about process. At one point, I had a question about *what I thought were* imperfections in how the team was laying the pavers. Jack come out to take a look. With so much patience, he walked me through and explained why everything looked that way and how it would ultimately look.
This is huge. As a woman who has worked with mostly male contractors my entire adult life, these people will sometimes work to make you feel very, very small. Not Jack. He is a professional and his work ethic and integrity show in his communication and in the work. Same for his team. You ever hire someone and the work site is a mess after they leave? I did not find a single stack of nails nor a splatter of paint. Very impressed all around.
And the end result of all of these various projects is stunning -- and all was very affordable given the expansive scope of work and turnaround time (all was completed within about 5 weeks). Never did I feel that I could not trust Jack and his team. Never did I feel like he would try and slide in some hidden cost or oversell me on some nonsense. Never did I feel like something would go wrong on site and he would simply try and shift the blame on his team, on us or on a manufacturer.
We have other projects that we want to complete, and I have asked Jack to stay near because there is not another team that I want to hire to help bring forth any of our other dreams. read more
