We were fortunate to find John Schull, General Contractor, through word-of-mouth from two other top notch folks in the construction business. He is the General Contractor who did the great remodel on Four Daughters Irish Pub in downtown Medford to rave reviews.
We made an appointment with him and shared our vision of converting our screened porch to a Santa Fe-style all-weather garden room. He was great to work with, a visionary with all the skills and focus that it takes to execute well. He really understood what we wanted from that first discussion. After that it just got better. We thought we wanted sautillo tiles, which are from Mexico and commonly used in Santa Fe. He explained the challenges of maintaining them to us, which my husband confirmed (he used to cowboy and ranch in Santa Fe). That disappointed me until John brought us a sample of the most gorgeous tiles I had ever seen in my life. They were from Spain and far more beautiful than what we originally had in mind. Both Michael and I instantly made a decision to go with them. The interior of our house is painted in a custom color that we call adobe orange. We explained to John that we wanted that color in the garden room as well. He found the most gorgeous aged wood that had streaks of that color in it (see photo) and recommended it for our ceiling along with beams similar to the vigas common to Santa Fe. We instantly said yes.
I was bound and determined to have Pella sliding doors and screens - and I could not be budged. I should have listened to John on this matter as well because Pella's quality is absolutely not where it needs to be. They are beautiful but they are not as well-made as they should be. Without intending to do so, I made John's role as general contractor more difficult than it needs to be because he had to manage Pella, which is dang near unmanageable. Despite that, John got the desired result for us.
We found the beautiful vertical stove that we wanted and John worked with Smokey Stoves to get it installed after he had one of his subcontractors, a stonemason, install the natural stone veneer that we chose.
The quality of every single thing that John did for us was impeccable. To say that we are happy with the result is an extreme understatement.
PS. He also changed something in the master bedroom area that had been driving me crazy since we bought this house five years ago. The master walk-in closet was separate from the master bathroom, which made planning what I wanted to wear and getting dressed far more difficult than it needed to be. He moved the door for me, closing off the one in the master bedroom and creating one from the master bathroom into the master walk-in closet. In addition he redid the shelves and hanging racks to much better fit our lifestyle. Again: So happy with the result.
PPS. The former owners had a gardener put in, a brick patio that wrapped around the garden room. Unfortunately, no adequate preparation was done before laying down the bricks right on the dirt. We quickly realized that that had to be redone properly. John brought in Martin (pronounced Martine) Munoz. Martin's work, as well, was absolutely impeccable.
We had a great time working with John and his subcontractors. What a great group of people! Believe it or not, we're actually going to miss the construction process. That says a lot, believe me. Thank you all. read more
