Melde Construction company's motto "Love your home. Enjoy the journey" is nothing but a facade after the experience our family endured from May 2022 to December 2025. The quaint white building on 6th street, showcasing yearly "Austin Best Builder" signs with owner and employees who wear black tee shirts that say "Humility & Curiosity & Diligence & Confidence" is simply not at all what we experienced. We recently settled a six-figure lawsuit against Melde Construction, (new owner) Bernie Calcote, its former COO Nic Bell, its former Project Manager Jesse Marsh and several subcontractors. Mr. Calcote and Mr. Bell were never deposed under oath after much legal maneuvering and boxes of evidence and hours of witness testimony are not easily accessed publicly. Therefore, we feel an obligation to warn other potential clients about key facts before possibly hiring Melde construction or any of the people involved. Melde: 1) did not keep the project notebook required by the contract that would facilitate us to see invoices for labor & materials 2) used incorrect building materials 3) did not follow architectural plans 4) charged us for work they never ultimately performed 5) made errors that could have caused catastrophic fire and/or carbon monoxide poisoning 6) repeatedly lied by omission about water intrusions in the house while family lived elsewhere If this was simply a situation of a construction project that took too long and went over budget, or if Melde had taken responsibility, we would not be voicing our concerns publicly. Melde blamed the homeowners and refused to be accountable for its actions. Homeowners are still trying to solve Melde's errors, among the most egregious issues: -concealed water damage to original hardwood floors after failing to protect home during at least two storms (fall 2022) -installed incorrect furnace in attic that would have caused fire if activated -charged for an electrical service upgrade that did not occur -installed brick type we did not order, had workman chisel to look weathered instead of ordering weathered brick -placed new HVAC condensers without discussing placement -painted over damage to the ceiling in the garage (garage was not within project scope) -installed doors & handles on the addition that don't match existing doors & handles which are directly adjacent to addition -charged DOUBLE original quote for metal handrails then did not paint with direct to metal acrylic enamel -did not honor warranty for windows, left project with multiple hardware, latches and weather strips missing Before entering into contract with Melde Construction (Bernie Calcote bought business from Leon Melde in July 2016), feel free to contact us for more explanation and details. There are many credible construction companies in Central Texas. We highly recommend considering our feedback before choosing this one. read more

These guys are awesome. My wife and I put an offer on buying a home in south Austin, only to find that our lender wanted the two-story covered balcony replaced before we closed. It was completely rotted out and was a safety hazard. Out of the four contractors I called, Melde was the only one who responded right away. Two of the other companies told me the balcony was beyond the scope of their abilities. As for Melde, I knew they did home renovations, so I wasn't sure if our balcony was a job they'd do. Nick was able to come out within a day or two to give us a quote, and he assured me that they could do high-end renovations, build a dog-house, and everything in between (including the balcony). They were able to start the job the following Monday. They finished on time and under the original estimate. I was very pleased with the work. I'll definitely do business with them again. read more

I have been working with Melde on several projects over the past year and am incredibly satisfied with their attention to detail and flexibility. Projects with strict or tight budgets require a certain amount of flexibility of cost vs quality. Melde has been very instrumental in helping us and our clients stay within budget by having many subcontractor relationships of different levels of quality. This helps us and the client with our push-pull system (an idea where you may want to save money in a place of lesser importance to put money into something of greater importance). We also like that Melde works with us from the initial schematic design phases of our projects to ensure a level of design integrity and budget maintenance throughout the project. This allows us to minimize budget overages late in the project when it becomes difficult and often costly to scale back. I cant express our gratitude enough for finding a contractor that cares as much as our clients and ourselves about the quality of each project down to the finite details. Every time there is an issue in the field, Melde does not relay the problem without proposes several alternative desirable solutions. We are currently working with Jason Knight whose expertise has been valued severely in our current residential remodel project. I look forward to working with Jason, Bernie, and other Melde team members on many other projects for years to come. read more

Over the years both myself and a family member have hired them do multiple projects for our property after a recommendation to use them from a friend. I have to say they have done well by us on both large and small projects. The owner and crew are great! They have redone our front porch and refinished it years later, rebuilt a back outdoor staircase, built a carport, and done an extensive whole home renovation for us. The large renovation required attention to almost every room in the house. It began in May 2013 and ended a bit behind schedule in October 2013. Much of this delay was due to the slow city permit process, not Melde or their management. We redid the roof, replaced windows, all new electrical, plumbing, and some flooring as well as adding a second full bath/laundry room, and updating the entire kitchen and master bath. We also did all new AC duct work, some updates to the fireplace, and a few structural supports were fixed. For the large renovation our project manager was Michael and he and David did most of the day to day work on our project. I can not speak highly enough of these two. Their attention to detail is outstanding which is amazing for someone like me who notices any little detail. They both went above and beyond multiple times in helping with the job as early on I had some personal things come up that I had to attend to unexpectedly. I felt very lucky to have Michael as the project manager as he took the time to really listen and explain every detail of the project to me as well as being helpful and realistic in making decisions. He was very effective at keeping the project moving along in a timely manner and getting things done effectively. He kept his eye on everything going on exceptionally well! I felt he was very tuned in to my goals and realistic about the project and where to spend the extra money to add value to the home as well as where we could cut back. I always felt heard and supported in my decision-making, which I appreciated. The craftsmanship of the numerous built-ins and things they did for our home is wonderful and I still enjoy it very much! I cannot speak highly enough of the quality of work that they do, it is impeccable! There were a few things I was really unhappy about but they were not enough to overshadow the positive experience of the entire job. The first was the architect that we used to draw initial floor plans. She was sub-contracted through Melde at their suggestion and was absolutely horrible. Lets just say after multiple visits to the home (which has a very simple and straightforward layout) she still ended up making huge mistakes on the existing and final new floor plan. Our final floor plan from her had grossly incorrect room dimensions as well as a still incorrect layout, but again this was not Melde directly although why they would work with this woman I have no idea even if she does cost less. The second thing I was very unhappy with were some of their subcontractors. Many of them were fine and did quality timely work, but many of them were not. The AC person we used did a terrible job and we ended up having to have the company who we purchased the existing unit from come in after moving back into the house and try and fix things, and ultimately had to completely redo all duct work. The plumber was constantly not there when they needed to be and never hooked up the garbage disposal correctly or hooked the sprinkler system back up to the main water line. Ultimately things got done but I was unimpressed even if these contractors did stay within budget since I ended up spending a fair amount more money in the long run to fix these things. The last thing I will say is that I was disappointed with the final clean up before I moved back into the home. They were rushing onto another job that had already started and didn't hire a company to come and just did it themselves. I ended up having to go through and do most all of it again myself before I moved back in which I could have done without. Overall as I mentioned the Melde Construction Company and crew were wonderful. They were always very professional, helpful, and clean no matter who was on the job, they even had a subcontractor come back and clean up a large mess he left in the crawl space under my house. I would not hesitate to call them again for any job large or small and I appreciated all the hard work they put in to my renovation. The craftsmanship of the work they did is exceptional and has been admired by many people in my home since as well as other contractors. They were very helpful in their suggestions to meet our project goals and help update an older family home that was desperately in need of attention while staying true to the history of the house within reason. I am glad we made the choice to use them for this project and would recommend them to anyone. read more