I could start by saying that I'm a "high-maintanance customer who will nit-pick the smallest details when it comes to things that I spend money on," but what's the point? I'm sure we all feel like that to some degree...wanting the most for our money and trying to get the best value, etc. Over the years, I've learned a few things when it comes to hiring contractors and one of the pitfalls is hiring a contractor who sub-contracts out. This might save you some money, but in the long run it's harder to manage the quality of the work and materials when the job is based on the "lowest bidder" mentality. It will cost you in the end.
I found Norm through a friend's referral and he and his partner, Brian, do all of the work. There's a great deal of security when you can talk to the person who is actually responsible and accountable for the work. There's also something to be said for a group of guys who pay attention to the details.
The job started off as re-siding the exterior of my house, then grew to include new roofing, replacement of my attic insulation (which was no easy task considering it's only a crawl space), and the building of a custom wall with columns. He even offered some lighting suggestions to make the driveway area more contemporary and helped me to replace my water heater when they noticed that the last owner did something ill-advised to the main water pipe which caused rust to get into my water tank. And just when I thought we were done, they helped me to run my TV cable in a way such that it couldn't be seen from the exterior.
Throughout the entire process, Norm and Brian offered lots of useful suggestions and accompanied me to look at various materials. All in all, it was an excellent customer experience.
I can't speak highly enough about these guys. read more