Ritz Design Build Budge It Home Remodeling INC

A big project like that is stressful - but the team really worked to complete it professionally. On time and on budget - we did add on a few upgrades, and snags got addressed in an agreeable way. Good results!!

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Purchased a home in Oceanside, and was looking to do a major (flooring throughout, complete kitchen redesign, bathrooms, electrical, etc.) remodel, so I started talking to various contractors to get initial estimates. There was a house near my mom's place that had a Ritz sign out front, so I called the number to see what they could do. The receptionist was very nice and attentive, and after talking to her about what I was looking for, she scheduled an estimate at the house. When he ( I believe his name was Ed) showed up, he was on time and listened attentively as we walked through the house and I described what I was looking for. As I wrapped up my pitch, and asked what his initial thoughts were, I was completely surprised when his entire demeanor changed and he basically began talking down to me like I wasn't good enough for his company! His message was that Ritz was more of a "high end" remodeler, and I'm quoting verbatim here, "needed another $200k remodel like they needed a hole in the head." I let him ramble on for a few more minutes, and then told him it didn't sound like we were a good fit for each other. Not sure if he needed to take more of his medication, but was really shocked at how quickly the whole tone of the conversation went south. After seeing a Ritz project in a very similar neighborhood and I'm sure with a similar scope, I can't believe this guy is representative of his company. Not sure how many other prospective customers he has insulted and chased off (have seen at least one here on Angie's List), but my advice to Ritz Design-Build is to put Ed out to pasture. He is doing your company no favors!

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Our experience with Ritz was one of the most professionally satisfying experiences we've ever had. After designing and building no less than four homes as we traversed the country, first in the Navy and then in civilian life, we like to think we learned something about good design, permitting and construction practices. The professionals at Ritz have, in our mind, re-defined the standard of excellence for us. Many know, at least intuitively if not by experience, that the most important part of any construction project is the foundation. If it isn't plumb and square then nothing else that follows will be either. Sure, a good framing crew can cover up foundation mistakes, but that wasn't the case here. The foundation was perfect (I had it independently checked). And the framing crew? Absolutely the very best I've ever had the pleasure of working on any of my aforementioned four homes. I can say the same for the electrician, mason, painter and on and on. I learned long ago you can tell a lot about a company and in this case a construction team by how clean they keep the construction 'zone' during the day and how they leave it at the end of the day. Not only is it a sign of pride they have in their work, but it is an indicator of how the workers think about their own safety and that of the homeowner. On our last home project, I had to 'get after' the company owner several times for the project not meeting my safety and cleanliness standards. For our Ritz project, I never had to make that call. As I told the owner of Ritz, his subcontractors, many of whom have been with him for several years (which is almost unheard of in this business) are his competitive advantage over all the other build/design firms in SD. Truth be told, we don't refer to the team that worked on our project as subcontractors; to us they were no less than expert craftsmen. Did the project go perfectly, without flaws? Of course not. I've never had a home build go perfectly, but this one was closer than all the others. The owner was active, engaged and committed to making it right. One of the mistakes was, admittedly ours. In trying to save some money we insisted on a cheaper shower product installation only to have to agree late in the project we were wrong. He had every right to charge us for not only the demolition of the old plastic shower, but then to 'stick it to us' for the new tile installation, especially since our 'change order' delayed the overall project schedule. He surprised us with his generosity and desire to make sure we were satisfied. We are big fans of Ritz and the people behind the logo. We've told the team at Ritz to use us as references. We can provide no better recommendation than that.

The good thing is they answered the phone and actually followed through with an appointment. Which leads to the other part of the review... Though I tried my best to keep the secretary on the phone long enough to explain to her our project status and what we're looking for, it appears that effort was in vain. Leslie (the secretary) was itching to get off the phone during our initial phone call, though I wanted to explain that we are primarily looking for a bid for the labor piece of our project since we are working with a designer in material selection and everything else. So she scheduled Ed, a "senior designer", to come to our home later in the week. She even called an hour prior to confirm the appointment. Ed calls himself a "designer/estimator", so I'm not sure who has the correct title, but Ed made it abundantly clear from the moment he stepped into our home and saw our proposed floorplan from our independent designer that he was ticked off. He was not happy he had to be there. I'm not sure if it was because he didn't think we had enough money to go through with our approx 100k in total project on an approximately million-dollar home because we are young enough to be his children and we wear jeans, or because he thought it was a waste of time for him to be involved in a project where he wasn't the primary and sole designer. He pointed out very early that he didn't think his company would be a good fit for our project, but yet he stayed in our house and kept going on and on about minor details in our (preliminary) design that he didn't like. He was very proud of the fact that he's been doing this for 30 years, and he reminded us of that fact multiple times during our conversation just in case we had forgotten it from 10 minutes prior. In short, he was condescending, rude, untactful to say the least, and certainly not doing very well selling his company's services. Finally, nearly an hour into the visit, when he listened long enough to discover that we were not necessarily against taking our independently developed design and having a one-stop design-build shop like his take over, he actually mentioned that they would love our business--though non-verbally all else indicated otherwise. At one point, Ed asked if we had talked to any "real" contractors about the job--how much more condescending can you get? I mean, if you nicely want to explain why you think you're the best person for the job and why we should choose you, we very well may do that! He said he would get back to us with a proposal within the week. We never heard from him again. SIX weeks later we got an email from the secretary asking if we still needed them... ? In the end, we happily took our 100k+ elsewhere. Ed seemed surprised to learn that we originally found our independent designer on Yelp, as if it is preposterous to use the internet to find home services online--I know that wasn't done 30 years ago when he started his "career". I hope this review will help shed some light on the business practices, processes, and overall attitudes at this company for anyone considering doing business with them. My impression from our consultation is that this company would be a great fit for the presumptuous, snooty, and rich.

Ritz Design Build built our dream dining room. We live in an HOA in the Tierrasanta area of San Diego CA and have a small back yard with not much room for expansion, so we were thinking a rectangular room large enough for a table for twelve. John at Ritz designed a gorgeous, perfectly sized dining room with a vaulted ceiling and two push-out windows. In addition to the dining room, Ritz also added two arches to our existing living area, built beautiful cabinets in our original small dining area, replaced our flooring and redesigned our fireplace. The result is an updated living space with character! Every member of the Ritz team - designers, demolition crew, framers, carpenters, painters, etc. - was professional, personable, polite and patient. Having heard stories about the earthiness of construction crews we were especially pleased that we never heard a "bad" word. It was apparent that each worker believe in a job well done. Project manager Tom kept the process moving along and updated us daily, usually in person, so we knew what to expect next. Laura, a new member of the team, helped us pull our material selections together so they all "work together". We are 100% pleased with our new living space! When we are ready for additional home improvement we will be calling Ritz Design Build.

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Their clever design helped maximize limited space and integrated the new addition to our existing structure. Their workers were skilled and experienced and obviously took pride in the quality of their work. Our interaction with all members of the team was pleasant and helpful. Communication was excellent and we received a quick response to any questions. There was careful scheduling of all the trades and we were always informed if workers would be present on our property. We could not be happier with the result and would recommend Ritz Design Build to anyone interested in a high quality result.

You won't be disappointed with Ed's team. We have worked with Budge-It and Ed Ritter twice now. We remodeled in 2004 and again in 2010. The house looks great and it's a perfect place for our family as our kids get older. You will enjoy working with the team. Keep a good stock of Diet Coke on hand for Ed :) Thanks guys.

Our experience started with the bid process, and we were immediately impressed by the responsiveness and courtesy we received. The project manager (Edward) and the design architect (Eddie) arrived on time, and had already gone to the City to obtain information about our property lines, set backs, and provided us with a professional folder with their company information, their current certificate of insurance, and our property information. Very professional. We interviewed 2 other contractors and decided Budge-It was best for our budget and needs. I checked their references, (2 past customers and one current - after all, you want to see how they are doing DURING construction), and all three were extremely pleased. So away we went. Another huge factor in our decision was the fact that their design team is in-house. Their architect, Eddie, was extremely helpful, patient, offered wonderful suggestions, incorporated our wishes into a design plan we were very happy with. We even changed our minds on a few details and not once did they complain about having to change the plans. The customer service was set at a very high bar from the get go. He would even come to my office to review changes and finalize the plans, which was very convenient. They provided a construction schedule which let us know which trades would be coming in during the process so we could plan ahead. Our particular contract allowed us to purchase all the fixtures (flooring, lighting, bath vanities, toilets, bath fixtures, tile, paint colors, etc.) and they would always let us know when we had to have certain items ahead of time, which helped with our budget as well. The demolition crew was quick, efficient and very neat. They parked a dumpster in our driveway and a portapotty as well for the contractors to use. There were no issues whatsoever with either. At the end of the day you couldn't tell they had been there except for what they had demo'd. Then came the concrete guys with prepping the foundation, and pouring the footings and new foundation - it was a beautifully smooth finished product. Even the neighbors were impressed. Then came the framers, who did a super job, always confirming any questions they might have, always making sure to leave the house broom swept, and always very considerate. They even built our custom fireplace and installed a great skylight in our walk-in closet. The plumbers and electricians followed and they were extremely professional and knowledgeable as well. When we changed our minds about anything in particular, they too would offer suggestions and their work was first class. They even put up with my husband's tinkering with installing a custom steam shower and they just worked around him and offered suggestions for him as well. The roofer was able to locate our exact concrete roof tiles, even though they had been discontinued and we were facing the possibility of a different color new roof. Again, we were very impressed. The drywall and stucco crews came through and did a great job, all walls beautifully straight and the taping and texture matched our existing house such that you cannot tell where the old house and new house started and stopped. Now THAT's good. Their tile guy (Miguel) and finished carpenter (Mark), did a superb job with our bath tile and custom walk-in shower, bath tile flooring, hard wood flooring and all our trim and casing work around our windows and doors. They were meticulous - really beautiful work. Don, their foreman, was there almost every day taking care of all the details, finished painting, installation of all the hardware, mirrors, towel bars, touch-up paint, picking up flooring and tile for us, working around us and being as polite and professional as could be. We are extremely pleased with how the remodel turned out and would recommend Budge-it in a heart beat. They communicated very well with us during the process and made the payment plan very efficient and seamless. Our friends and neighbors couldn't believe how quickly the job went, how minimaly disruptive the project was, how nice the remodel turned out, how courteous the crews were, and how clean they kept the construction area and yard area. Do yourself a favor and call these guys, you won't be disappointed.