Cannot recommend this team enough! Although the construction business is riddled with inherent landmines and the city of Austin is a nightmare to work with, the Kanga crew worked very hard to make the process of getting a new backyard studio as smooth as possible. From the initial sales process and design work with Taylor and Jeremy, through the onsite construction and finish out with Brandon, the entire team worked very hard to make sure we were prepared and comfortable every step of the way. Building permits et al in Austin is an exhaustive process and I am so thankful I was able to trust this crew with the entire project from start to finish. We will definitely keep them in mind in the future for retirement. read more

Kanga Room Systems - General Contractors Near Me

We had our roof replaced this week and we were SO impressed with the entire Kanga Roof team! Kyle was an excellent first point of contact- professional, respectful and thorough. We received steady communication from additional team members at Kanga leading up to the day of the replacement, letting us know exactly what to expect and when. Then Wyatt and Lalo and their entire crew were just awesome. Wyatt was very communicative all the way through and Lalo and his crew were fast, reliable and professional. Minimal disruption and very fair pricing. We are blown away with what a seamless experience it was and especially with how nice the roof looks now!!! Thank you!!! read more

Kanga Room Systems - The new roof! :)) - General Contractors Near Me

Three years after construction I am still finding workmanship errors. The fourth issue on plumbing alone. If you hire Kangaroom also hire an independent inspector for every phase of construction. They will hide rather than correct their errors. I will not use them again. read more

BEWARE! Avoid the headaches, find a real Contractor! The mismanagement is not worth the time! I have never experienced such unprofessionalism as with Bryan Tull and Jason Ellis from Kanga. I have been trying to collect payment since 1/13/21 for a framing job. THEY HAVE NOT PAID ME even after passing the city of Austin's framing inspections. Myself and 4 other contractors who I am in contact with HAVE NOT BEEN PAID for work requested by Bryan Tull. As a Contractor I expect payment to be made once the job is complete. When I encounter a problem or disagreement I face it head first. All they have done with me is hide, dodge and try to remain elusive. I have been on other projects and have seen the poor management and confusion of the workers. They should stay in Waco and stay away from larger projects. The Homeowner has asked Me to take over for them because they have failed so badly. read more

We wanted to add a small space for our parents and grandparent to be comfortable in when they visit and after seeing the old model units in Burnet and falling in love with them, we gave Kangaroom a call. We have not regretted this decision in the slightest. We were able to view one of the units at a private residence and it was just what we were looking for. Jeremy, one of the owners, came by a few days later. We went over the options and signed the contact. We were given a time line of 6-8 months. It ended up coming in closer to ten but there were some serious weather delays and the city takes their time with permitting and inspections. Through any delay, the site manager, Kenny, was very communicative and we never felt like we were in the dark or being misled. Kanga Room Systems is a true soup to nuts service. Once we signed the contract, we never had to lift a finger other than a few cosmetic decisions. The sub contractors were fantastic and I can genuinely say that I will miss having them around. We could not be more pleased with the finished product and look forward to the joy it will bring to our family. Kanga Room Systems is a true Texas company and it absolutely shine through in how the conduct their business. read more

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Disappointed that it is taking so long for my son's shed to be finished. It was contracted in July and supposed to be completed in September. It is now November and worried it won't be ready for the holidays. Meanwhile my son is trying to work out of his bedroom while work on the shed is so intermittent. read more

Wow! Don't even know where to start. Jeff Ellis and his sons own Kanga Room Systems in Waco, Texas, building pre-fab homes. My husband and I have been watching and researching this company for a few years and loving what we saw. We contacted Kanga last year during the pandemic to have them build a pre-fab home for us, finishing only the exterior. Having remodeled several homes, we wanted to finish out the interior. After signing the contract, Kanga said they had a 4-6 month lead time. It was more like 9 months but that was fine since we could be flexible. The pandemic, coupled with labor shortages, was the issue. Everything about the build was quality and they were the nicest people to deal with. We are located about 3 hours away from Waco but that was never an issue. Needless to say, we are absolutely thrilled with our home and the entire experience. They are a small company so you have to flexible and patient. We are extremely happy with our Kanga Room Systems home and we would do it again in a heartbeat! Thank you Kanga Room Systems for our new lakehouse! read more

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I've been in the market for a tiny home for several years now, when I saw the beautiful designs and reasonable price I knew I just had to have a Kanga! I worked directly with Jeremy and was taken care of from start to finish. Also, this is a local Texas company with roots right around the corner in Waco! Glad to give them my business! read more

Pros: Very reasonable price compared to other construction in Austin. Nice pre-fab product design. Cons: Everything else. Project took a year to complete. Quoted around 3 months. Finish out was very slow and performed by second rate inexperienced (although well meaning) subcontractors. They use the cheapest subcontractors they can find, many of whom are just learning their trade, or don't have enough experience to operate independently. Oversight of subcontractors was limited. Project manager changed at least 3 times. Company disorganized. Some lying fast talkers eventually replaced with Kenny, a very reasonable guy. I wish he had started and finished our project. Maybe it would have taken less time. Messes were cleaned up with prompting. General lack of attention to detail. General comments: The pre-fab element of this construction is the external shell. It took them 2 days to deliver and raise. Every other element of the construction process was standard and poorly executed. It took months to get the slab. It took months to get the finish out completed. If I had to do it again, I would have spent 50% more for a less stressful shorter build out. I should have a bumper sticker that says 'My marriage survived a Kangaroom build out". I strongly discourage use of this company. Feel free to message me with questions. read more

I know these are beautiful buildings, but do yourself a favor and AVOID this company. The work is shoddy, not done on time, and the sub-contractors Mr. Ellis uses barely know what they are doing. Pros: Decently quick turnaround from order to installation (2 months). Externally beautiful buildings. This design could be recreated by any decent carpenter though. Cons: Almost too many to list. Most importantly - I asked Mr. Ellis to come out and see the poor workmanship (he was never on-site) and he declined. Getting to the details: Skid base was just plopped on top of ground, 22 inch rise to the floor; Poor framing (using badly warped wood); shoddy workmanship (at least 10% of the nails missed the framing and are sticking out into the interior of the shed; Poor paint job (said he would use Sherwin Williams paint, had to send guys back to Waco when they showed up with Behr; still didn't use right type of SW paint that I requested; and still, in the end, I could see the primer in many spots). While Mr. Ellis was never quick to return phone calls or emails (and I was very understanding since he has a young family), he literally emailed and texted multiple times a day for several days in a row in order to get the final payment. I was able to get some of the cost knocked off, but seriously, find a carpenter or contractor that doesn't sub out. You'll get the same beautiful shed and support talented, but ever-more-scarce craftsmen. Update 3/17/2015: The door of the shed won't stay closed. We have to keep a brick in front of it. Update 5/2/2015: Mr. Ellis has contacted me regarding my negative experience and apologized. We are working together to resolve the issues. I will update my review once we come to a resolution. Update 8/9/2015: three months since contacted by Mr. Ellis and they have yet to come out. My last three emails have gone unanswered. I stand by my original 1star review. read more

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I have to say, we had a completely different experience. Kangaroom did an amazing job designing and building our space. Ben and Michael worked with us on the project from design through completion. They did a great job of setting our expectations upfront and kept to their word. Michael worked with us hand and hand to make sure any challenges we encountered were worked out completely to our satisfaction. From the beginning of the process the construction crew was professional and gave us excellent service. They left the space clean of debris and were exceptionally courteous. Note: Before selecting Kanga, we did solicit a quote from a similar company. Their guy actually came out to our job site and talked about their services and how they could fulfill our needs for the space. bla bla bla......After two weeks of waiting, he never sent us his quote and never returned our phone calls. Why bother to come out? In the end, we couldn't be happier with the results of our Kanga Room! We are thrilled with our new "little house". I can't wait to furnish it! Thanks! read more

I contracted Kanga to build my studio shell. Build was fast, good quality, and the team communicated clearly. Was the perfect choice for my needs. read more

Kanga Room Systems - General Contractors Near Me

I live a few hours from Austin and wanted a place to stay when I visit my daughter and her family there. So we began a joint project to have a tiny house built in their backyard. It would be available to other famiy members also and we wanted something with clean lines and a modern look, and something easy to maintain. As a fan of tiny houses I was familiar with a lot of the companies that build them and the styles available. Because I don't live full time in Austin and my daughter and my son-in-law work full time and have a young son, we decided to find a company that would handle all aspects of the project. Having heard of the complicated permitting process in the city we also felt we would need help navigating around that. Jeremy met with us and arranged for us to view a completed project that was similar in size and style to what we wanted. He asked us what different options we might want. Several days later we met again to go over the plans and make some decisions. Shortly after that we received paperwork to review and make sure it was what we wanted. Changes we requested were made and questions answered. We were told at the time it would be 6-8 months so we knew it would not be a fast turnaround. Weather caused some delays but throughout the project we were kept updated. There were a lot of permit demands by the city of Austin that often made no sense. Jeremy was invaluable In helping us navigate this process and meet the city requirements. I would say the permitting process was the only stressful part of the project. This was due to the seemingly never ending requirements of the city. I hope that in the future Austin will make it easier for these tiny units to be built. The contractors that worked on the project, and Kenny, the project manager, did a great job. They went above and beyond, making sure the yard was cleaned up and trenches covered for a birthday party my grandson was having. They even put some IKEA furniture together for us when we dropped off the items and had to leave! Kanga Room Systems was easy to work with. Any time we decided to make a change or add something they were accommodating. We love the tiny house! It is beautiful and comfortable and we look forward to many years of enjoyment from it. read more

Let me start off with the fact that when they came to install the plumbing, they broke the main sewer line from my house to the city, resulting in me finding human feces in my yard one morning. When I brought to the subcontractor's attention that there was feces in my yard, he seemed surprised. When you pay a company over $50,000, you would think that they would be professionals and at least know not to break the main sewer line. After reading several poor reviews on Kanga, I really wanted to give Kanga the benefit of the doubt. May of 2017, I started the process of having a Kanga built. I was told the process would take 3-4 months. Almost 1YEAR later, I am not hopeful that the Kanga will be finished anytime soon. I have really tried to be patient, but I am finally fed up. Kanga has given me the runaround from the start. Including taking months to send the needed paperwork to the bank so I could get approved for a loan, taking months to submit plans to the city for permitting and inspection, and not finishing the work, and doing the work incorrectly. For 3 months (since January 22nd ) my entire yard has been ripped up with 2 foot trenches. I used to enjoy my backyard, but for the last 3 months my yard has been a dust and mud pit. They also left trash and a huge pile of supplies in our yard where snakes, spiders, and weeds have taken up residence. The plumbing was not installed correctly so there has been dirty water stagnating in the kanga shower for over a week. They say they will send someone out to fix the issues, but the problems have not been addressed. Kanga blames the slow progress on the city and inspections, but I am realizing that Kanga and the subcontractors they hire are the problem, not the city. From what I can gather, in order to secure your contract and money, Kanga tells you the process will take about 3 to 4 months (because who in their right mind would give Kanga their good hard earned money if they knew it would take over a year to build a 16 x 20 ft room complete with one sink, one shower, and one toilet?!). Once Kanga has your contract secured, they continue to secure as many jobs as they can and juggle all of the jobs doing poor and slow work. If you are looking to have an extra room, guest house, office built, I highly recommend you look elsewhere. read more

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Our Kanga Room lake house was completed a month ago (June 2019). The experience was fantastic. The ease in selecting the features of the house and making changes to the floor plan was awesome (including reversing the house and redesigning the back of the house to be the front due to the lake view we wanted from the bedrooms). More importantly, staff was highly tolerant of change orders throughout the process. They were always available to talk and answer questions. Because this was a second home two hours from where we live, we needed someone we could rely on without us having to provide constant supervision. Kanga Room delivered. The process does take more time than you would think - especially since they traveled from Waco to our far east Texas property. But again, we didn't have to supervise it on a regular basis - so it was worth the time. We drove up every so often just to see the progress, which was awesome (and very important as we didn't need the kind of stress that goes with constant supervision). More than just getting the house done, Kanga Room staff helped us out with other, existing buildings on the property. This included painting a very large metal building the same color as our new house that required a special painting process, which we didn't even realize. That was awesome of them to coordinate the whole thing and ensure our best interest. I can't speak highly enough about our experience with all of the staff at Kanga Room - from sales through the construction workers - everyone was fantastic and we are over the moon with our house. Thank you Kanga Room. read more

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I am unclear why some Yelpian filter protocol removed my positive review, but I didn't realize that an autocratic level of censorship existed on your site and find it contrary to the spirit of end-users freely sharing their experience. I have shared an honest and fair account of my experience with Kanga. If there is any doubt that my statement is somehow "coerced" or false - bring your dubious self to my house and I will give you a tour of my awesome Kanga. I appreciate the level of abuse associated with "crowd opinion," however - this is my truthful experience, feelings, and you should not remove my comments. If you think this communication unworthy - call me 512.297.8111 read more

Beyond pleased with the quality, craftsmanship, service and responsiveness to my questions throughout the building of our Kanga! We purchased in October 2017 and was told possibly May 2018 before the build would start. Was really happy they actually got started in February and finished up a couple of weeks ago. Our little "pool house" is actually quarters for my grandfather who is getting up in age, but still needs his own space. So this works for the entire family! After the build was completed, we had some questions and concerns and Taylor was so responsive it was almost instant. They've had to come by and fix a few minor things, but it is always within a couple of days and they are extremely courteous. I would highly recommend them on your next backyard bungalow. Feel free to ask me any questions, it was an excellent investment partnering with Kanga!! read more

We could not have had a better experience. We bought a hill country place with a Kanga already built. Smaller than we needed (tiny is great, but we have four kids!), but we fell in love. The perfect mixture of laid back Texas Hill Country and so flippin' cool. So we bought it, thinking we'd get someone local to add another cabin. But as we looked and priced and looked, well, we decided Kanga made sense. We had them build another cabin, and a shed (silly to call it that, bc it's really a beautiful even more tiny house), and they're just perfect. If we asked a question or had a concern during the building process, they answered in minutes (really!). So yes, there's a review or two that concerned me on the front end, but that was just not my experience. At all. I know I sound like a paid advert, but promise I'm not. When we squirrel more acorns, we want to add another cabin, and it'll definitely be a Kanga. read more

Pretty product and good prices but the company is completely disorganized on the construction side of things. They went through about 3-4 general contractors during our project, and destroyed my backyard. What was billed as a "6 weeks for the factory order, 3 days for the installation and 2 months for the finish out" turned into a one year process- and my AC is still leaking despite months of calling to get them to repair it. My advice is if you have your own contractor, use their panels but DON'T have them build it. read more

We had been researching options for adding a small guest house on our property for quite awhile when I came across the Kanga Room site. We made a couple of visits to Waco to the see the shop, ask questions and check out the construction. We we're very impressed with everything and everyone at Kanga and decided to go with a cottage-style cabin to match our existing home. After a couple of months of tweaks and changes, we finalized the design and signed the contract, anticipating two to three months for completion. We ordered a shell only, as I want to do the interior work myself. Remarkably, within six weeks it was complete and installed! Actual work time here on site was about six days. We could not be happier with the quality of the construction and ease of the entire process. These are not cheap, "pre-fab" type buildings, but rather are well engineered, well constructed structures using quality materials and standard custom home processes. Communication from start to completion was superb. Average response time when emailing or texting a question was literally about five minutes. Everyone we worked with, from Taylor (sales), Brandon (construction manager) to the crew doing the construction and installation were extremely friendly, helpful and accommodating. Many thanks to Taylor, Brandon and all of the crew that worked so hard to make our new little Kanga cottage so perfect! read more

Well built with excellent follow-through. Works closely with we to identify items I wanted to accomplish by myself. Highly recommend.

After living through a nightmare with a contractor that was supposed to renovate an Airstream for us, my wife and I were in a real time crunch for some office space on our property. The Kanga team was quick, professional, attentive, on time and on budget. The plans were drawn in a day (it's a small unit). The build was done in 3 weeks. Once on-site, the team had it installed and completed within 5 working days, including setting the concrete feet. Great job, and it's the prefect size for a home office. read more

I cannot say enough about this company. We ordered a 200 Sq Ft office/ studio for our backyard. Taylor, ours sales rep, was very timely, knowledgeable and patience while we went through the process of deciding exactly which unit to purchase. She was extremely communicative and timely through out the contract, deposit and delivery process. And it was during the holidays... so I def appreciated that. They arrived on a Wed, and finished Friday at 11am. They didn't leave an ounce of trash behind and were very considerate of my yard when wheeling everything in ...and that could have definitely been an issue had that not taken such care. Brandon, our Project Manager, was also great to work with. Very communicative and knowledgeable. Made sure to double check and ask important questions about the wiring details and placement. He was mindful in coordinating the return of their mechanical sub to install our HV/AC. I am a local GC so I will be finishing out the interior with my own crew, but they were amazing at the foundation, shell construction and roof. I am extremely happy with Kangaroom Systems and highly recommend them, all their team members who helped us and their product!!! read more

Kanga room has false advertising on their website. After reviewing size and prizes for a Studio on the website I visited their models and office on Burnet road. When approaching the disinterested stuff that works there, they handed out a modified catalog with handwritten prices that were $3000 more expensive for just the base price. There was a lack of service, a certain attitude and definitely I did not feel I was going to get a good product in the end. If you pass by Burnet road and look at the models there, they look faded, and the exterior panels are falling into pieces, I noticed that one of them was hanging from the screws. I would suggest you look somewhere else for this king of project. read more

My experience with Kanga Room System homes has been negative. About a month back I talked to two representatives of Kanga Rooms about pricing, options and shipping. Based on quotes I got from the representatives and Kanga Room's online pricing I made a bid on the property. Once the landowner and I agreed upon a price, about three weeks later, I called Kanga Rooms to place my order. To my horror I found the price of the house jumped from around $105.00 SqFt to $155.00 SqFt (that price is without site preparations). I was then informed that the lower prices on the webpage and lower price quotes given by Kanga Room representatives had not been good for over five months! In other words, Kanga Room Systems had higher pricing the whole time I was talking with them (while working out a budget and then bidding on property) and they never told me of the price change. After I contacted the owner of Kanga Room System, he wrote back stating he would look into ways of bringing the cost of the house down. His solution? To sell me an incomplete house - just the shell with NO interior work done: no insulation, interior walls, floor, electrical, or plumbing! So, I am left hanging in the wind, and that is okay with Kanga Room Systems. Buying a home is a big thing; therefore, if something stinks stay away from it. In looking for other prefab house possibilities I have found two: Amish Cabin Company and Cabin Fever. Both come off as much more professional than Kanga Room Systems homes. read more

I've spoken with the Kanga guys several times about a little guest house for my back yard. We're still in the process but I've had a great experience so far. I stopped in after just seeing their spot on Burnet. I was really surprised about the other Yelp reviews, so I thought I'd just throw in my 2 cents. read more

My Kangaroom construction began as scheduled, sort of. Day one they showed up 4+ hours late, because of a ticket due to lacking proper commercial licenses/vehicle registration or something, due to their trailer and trucks carrying too much weight. They didn't call ahead to let me know what was going on for hours. I didn't think this was a big deal, they would just come back 3 days in a row to finish, right? No. And I didn't find out until the afternoon on day two. They would be gone for a week, and then another week, and then maybe in a few days, or maybe not. My project was pushed back because of another project, which didn't seem right because they screwed up. Communication was horrible all around. I had to email either my sales person or try to contact my subcontractor EVERY SINGLE TIME. They NEVER updated me with information unless I bothered every person I could at the company to get an answer to a very simple question "When are you coming back to finish this 80% complete structure?" After many delays they came back and finished the project, maybe 2-3 weeks behind their "2 day max" initial estimate. Overall construction quality seems pretty decent. It's fairly well insulated (I upgraded all insulation aspects). I work out of a 10x12 cottage style with modern doors as my office, and it holds up in Houston, TX heat very well. My only question mark is why did they not put down a padding subsurface (this is like $20) before the carpet tiles. I wanted to put one down myself (while waiting around for 2 weeks) but was worried it would somehow mess up the gap between the wood trim and the carpet tiles. It would have made for a more comfortable and warmer flooring, and provided extra sound dampening (in the winter). All in all I love having an office in my backyard away from the house, but the installation process was terrible. The crew did clean up their mess which is nice considering most home builders don't do this hardly at all. The crew seemed very competent, and worked very quickly. I think Kangaroom had stepped up their standards for subcontractors, but they need to train them on how to communicate when they are talking with someone that has just given them a check for $15,000 and no finished product. read more

Terrible experience from sales through construction. They dropped the ball in every possible manner. I could write 16 pages of complaints if I wanted but I'll just say look for someone else to build your unit. There are plenty of contractors in Austin that can build small shed units, finish them out, and you'll be able to get on with your life. read more

Like Mindy, I could also post pages of complaints. Our project was slated to be finished in early June ("at the latest"). We are still in process now in October. They have given multiple deadlines for various parts of the job, not a single one has been met - no exaggeration. They do not seem to have sufficient knowledge about building codes in Austin. This has resulted in endless hold ups when it was time for inspections. I wish we had made a different choice with regard to builders for our back house. read more

I had them build 2 rooms (14x14) in my backyard. I've very happy with how they came out, and the price was very reasonable compared to alternatives. I've dealt with many contractors before, and although these guys aren't perfect, they were better than 90% of the ones I've had dealings with. We had numerous issues with siting the buildings (an easement that we didn't know about until they started digging holes for posts, among other things), and they were very patient and helpful in working around the obstacles and reconfiguring the design so that we could still fit the two buildings on the lot. You can see the design and look of the buildings on their website, don't be too discouraged by the negative reviews, I had none of the issues those people talked about. The quality of the work and the craftsmanship were excellent, and I had no problems in any of my dealings with the company. read more

Love love love our Kanga cottage! Friendly family oriented business. They built the shell, and we finished it out just the way we wanted. Would highly recommend this company to anyone! read more

Please don't disregard the negative reviews. When I was researching Kanga prior to my build I could only find 3 reviews online, two of which were negative. I was like "but they're so cute" and "I really want one, it'll be fine!" WRONG!!!!! I even muted the warning bells that were ringing after my first meeting with these guys. I only have myself to blame and at the end of the day I have a cute guest house BUT it was a full time job chasing these bozos and dealing with the f-ups. A year later and I've just had an AC chap out to look at the split system that broke - installed incorrectly! Have reported the subcontractor to the Texas Dept of Licensing and Regulations because he wouldn't come back and fix the AC under the warrenty - we will see what becomes of that. Anyway, point is, sure the builds are cute BUT if you don't heed the warnings, be prepared for empty promises, slack timelines, countless excuses and questionable work standards. read more