We recently completed a whole house remodel, gutting almost the entire house. We chose KW Builders because of their reputation in our area. After we began, two different people told us how lucky we were to have them as our general contractors, saying they were fantastic. Now that our project is over, we couldn't agree more.
We began planning our job in January 2019, meeting with Jeff at their offices. He answered our questions, gave us some ideas of costs, and sketched out a general timeline. We broke ground in February 2020, just before the COVID shutdown. The project had to cease for 5 weeks, but we were soon back up and running, with Jeff working furiously to keep the project on schedule, scheduling subs and chasing down materials we needed. We had the chance to see how they work under extraordinary scheduling demands, and Jeff's great organization skills kept subs arriving like clockwork. He kept us up-to-date constantly, emailing us with lists of the next things he'd need from us, alerting us to who would be onsite that week, and notifying us of changes as he was navigating the various COVID problems the industry was facing.
We were very happy with the KW Builders employees as well as the subcontractors on our job. They were high quality, professional, and easy to work with. We had good meetings with each of the trades, where Jeff kept his subs focused on what we wanted, inspecting their work with a close eye and insisting on perfection. We lived onsite in another dwelling, so we appreciated the friendly, helpful men who were sensitive to our neighbors, signed for personal packages, and moved their trucks with a smile. We also sincerely appreciated Jeff's obsession about a clean job site. Every Friday Jeff personally made sure that everything was swept and put away, even cleaning the driveway through the winter - it was the cleanest construction site I've ever seen. One of the subs even commented that everyone knew Jeff would get on them if they left it dirty.
Like most people, we made a number of changes as we got into the project. We kept adding windows because they were making such a huge difference, and each time we sheepishly met with Jeff to get his thoughts on potential changes we wanted to make, he was positive and encouraging. It meant he had to go back and revise his carefully constructed schedules, but he never made us feel badly about it. We were given quick estimates for each change, which were very accurate, and allowed us to make informed decisions.
Before we started work, Jeff gave us a detailed budget and timeline. With the exception of the changes we made, he brought the project in very close to the original budget and timeline. Even with the extraordinary pressures COVID created for materials and scheduling, we were satisfied that it was fair and reasonable. After working with another contractor years ago, who put us through a fire drill every time he needed to buy something, we were grateful for the consistent, detailed billing every 30 days.
One thing we hadn't realized would be so important in a general contractor is having someone who is creative. It certainly helps to have someone who spends time pondering problems, and Jeff would often arrive a day or two later with some kind of ingenious fix. Jeff also has a great design eye, and thought of the perfect solution for our kitchen layout that is among our favorite parts of the project. He worked extensively with our interior designer, and worked hard to achieve our vision. He really cared about giving us what we wanted, even when it made his job difficult. When problems arose, as they always do, he was good-natured and earnest in working through them. Especially as a woman on a job site full of men, I never felt like I was being strong-armed into something I didn't want. It's easy to feel intimidated when you don't know a lot about construction, but the focus was kept on what end result I wanted, and how the crew could make that happen. At the end of the project, he kept his subs coming back to work through the punch list, and methodically checked off every last detail.
My favorite part of working with Jeff was his fun, friendly nature and great sense of humor. We spent almost 2 years working together, from planning to finish, countless hours of meetings, emails and texts. He kept me laughing the whole time, and I was sad when it ended. We've been trying to think of problems we had with KW and can't. Even the problems were handled the way you hope they would be. These guys have been working on high-end homes in Lamorinda for years, and they know what it takes to run a successful project for a demanding clientele. Open, honest communication, good organization, great subcontractors, detailed budgets and timelines, hard work focused on the client's desires, and a dose of humor to keep the project fun. read more