Next Stage Design + Build

They are very professional. The job is well done. They have a four-hour minimum. The original thing I called them for wouldn't take four hours so they asked what additional work I had if any. I gave them some and they happily did it. They have a four-hour minimum., They aren't really handyman but they will do your handyman jobs. The price was reasonable. I was happy.

This is the 6th project that Case has done and they always do a superb job. I can't say enough about all that they do.

My home was built in 1927, and the door just didn't want to fit right. The gentleman who came out, Earl, was great but he really struggled getting this door sit right. I called them back to tell them that it just doesn't sit right and they said that I had insisted they install it without the frame, but I most definitely did not insist on that. They did come back and it is better but it still isn't completely right.

It went exceedingly well beginning with the very first phone call I made. I would certainly use again and I would refer to others without hesitation.

The handy man came on time. After two hours he finished the doors and advised us he had 11am appt and left for the appt around 10:20. We were told to reschedule for the toilet. Very disappointed at only doing the door when both jobs were part of the schedule, which took three weeks to get. Only getting the door for $200, which was to include the toilet and charging addition to return to finish the job. Goughing??? And misleading. Contractor' s usually finish what they start for the agreed upon fee.

They seemed nice enough and very knowledgeable. However, despite my calling them several times, they never provided a quote for the job. I am not sure if my job was too small or too large, but since we did not have a quote after 3 weeks, we gave up.

It went really good! We hired him two different times, we had him do one door and he did a fantastic job so we hired him to do another door in our house.

Everything went very smoothly.

bait and switch. paid for a handyman for one day ($700.00) Company would only agree to sending an estimator to scope the project. ie lets make this a bigger project.

Craftsman prices for workman quality We hired a design/build firm because we wanted a full-service partner. What we got was basically a contractor with some designers on-staff. After the initial round of design / review, we agreed to a final scope of work and schedule. The project ran pretty much on-time, although who showed up each day and at what time was somewhat random. Most things were subbed out, and the coordination between subs wasn't always smooth. For instance, the tile person and the granite contractor didn't quite mesh. The final job is pretty much what we agreed to. My biggest issues were: 1) Quality - They clearly haven't learned the "measure twice, cut once" principle. They ordered and installed the wrong window, which had to be replaced. The tile and the granite didn't line up and had to be reworked. And the shower door had to be replaced not once but twice. It's no surprise that the company name used to include the word 'handyman'. 2) Coordination - You hire a general contractor to have a single project manager and point of contact. We scoped the project with a project consultant. We worked with a designer on the plan. For our project, we were told the lead carpenter would also be the project manager. Then we were given a different name of a production manager. Every week we got a bill from the production coordinator. There was too much "you'll need to talk with ... about that". 3) Price - The cost to remodel a ~ 300 square foot bedroom was over $90K. It would have been closer to $100K, but we chose to do the painting ourselves rather than agreeing to what was quoted. Nothing is gold-plated. There were no structural modifications. it was just a straightforward remodel. We tried shopping around, but there aren't many design-build firms in the Valley. My advice is to hire a designer-architect separately, then hire a general contractor. You'll end up saving 30-40%. 4) Closeout - Maybe I've watched too many episodes of This Old House, where the crew interacts constantly with the homeowners and there's a party at the end of the job. This was nothing like that. For our job, workers would show up most days. They'd work for a while and then leave. If you wanted the schedule, you had to ask - repeatedly. Our project manager kept getting pulled into other jobs. We had to push for fixes. When the job was done, there was a quick walk-through then they collected their last check and were gone.

I would give them extremely high marks. They're expensive but great

The 2 carpenters they sent out were amazing, they were very punctual, polite and obviously experienced with the job. They took off all of the old wood and replaced it so that it matched the original woodwork only better. They installed the new window and it looks so good. And they cleaned up and took away all the rotten wood.

these guys are very competent: They repaired a fallen fence and gate in short order. The results are superb.

It turned out okay, but their estimates were just ridiculously high, so we had them do something else that needed to be done. The deal turned out okay. The people were very nice people. The overall quality and professionalism was perfect. Everything was great. Courteous, professional and on time. They completed the job. In some situations, I absolutely would use them again in the future.

As it turned out, I did not have a full day's work, and the company has credited me with the unused hours. Very nice.

It went fine and everything went well. They were on time and everything was done to my satisfaction.

Case Handyman & Remodeling said that their Guy, Mark, would arrive at 9am. He did. Mark took a look at the job site and then left to purchase the materials that he would need. He returned with a 2 by 2, a piece of Composite siding, nails, Caulking and Wood Paint Primer. Mark then removed the Dryer Vent hose and commenced removing the siding, 2 rows of it, to get to the Termite damaged wood. Upon checking the piece of 2 by 2 that he cut out, I found that the damage had gone higher than we thought. So I instructed him to remove more siding, 3 more rows. After that the piece of 2 by 2 was found to be clear of damage. He then cut a new piece of 2 by 2 and butt it to the original piece. Mark then replaced the 3 rows of siding he had removed without damage. At this time I found a piece of Rough Sawn Plywood in my shed and from that he cut 2 new pieces of siding for the bottom two sections. FYI... the Composite siding was not wide enough to match the existing siding. Mark then caulked all the joints and nail holes and painted the bare wood with Paint Primer. Last of all he went back to the Hardware Store to return the Piece of Composite siding and purchase a Piece of Redwood Trim. The original piece of Trim had cracked and broke when he was trying to remove it. He then caulked and Primed that too. Case Handyman & Re-modeling's Project Manager had Quoted the time of completion by One Guy as approximately 3-4 hours plus Materials. Due to having to remove more siding and cut out more of the damaged 2 by 2 wood, the job actually took 5.5 hours. I was delighted to finally (4 years later) get the Termite Damage removed and replaced with new wood. To me it was a job well done. Thank you Mark McReynolds.

Case was responsive, friendly and did an excellent job. I would use them again for sure and highly recommend their service!

I would like to share my experience with Case Remodeling. I hope it will help someone not to fail in to the same traps I did fail. Basically the nice lady over the phone made me to believe that the job will be done in approximately 2 to 2.5 hours by 2 handyman. However it took 4 hours to complete. Here is how I got fooled by the nice voice over the phone. Make sure you don't do same mistakes. Catch #1: The both products (I was planning to install) was purchased from Home Depot. Home depot provides installation estimates. After emailing the product links I have been told by Case Remodeling, that based on the links the job supposed to take 2 to 2.5 hours. Do not trust what they say. In reality they stretched this job to 4 hours. Just by clearly doing things very slow. I felt that handyman's got instruction from they management to stretch this work to 4 hours and they did. I recommend trying to work out estimate for the job without agreeing on hourly work. They will tell you that they do hourly work only. That is not true. Just getting hourly orders allow them fool people and charge them more than expected. If you insists on the estimating the job total they will do it. Catch #2: If you agreed on hourly work anyway. They will tell you that they feel like 2 handyman will do the work faster than 1 handyman. That is not true. In my case: One was staying and watching while another one was installing first awning. He could work on installation of the second awning at the same time. Then they both moved to installation of the second awning by the same manner: one is working, another one is watching. So basically I was double charged for awning installation. Do not agree on a second handyman. You better get one and give him a hand when he needs. Over the phone they will say that they have some liability and handyman can't accept your help. That is not true. I offered help to handyman for turning canopy around. And guess what??. he accepted it. Catch #3: Do not assume a handyman will have every single screw or nail you need. In my case they suddenly realized they don't have appropriate screw to anchor my canopy to concrete (By the way I told them over phone about installing over concrete). Then one drove to store to buy the screws another one just was hanging around. Guess what. It took 40 minutes for handyman to come back and they charged for 40 minutes for both handyman's. I recommend checking all the things and get them ready. Once handyman comes in, spend few minutes to go over with handyman and make sure he has all he needs. Worth case you can run to store by yourself and bring missing things in mean time. I was fool enough to let them complete both jobs and then one drives to store and another one hangs around. This is how they manage to overcharge people. Good luck!

The final result is excellent. They led us through hundreds of decisions. My better half was responsible for making choices and she is very happy with the final result. Once demolition began, the work was tightly scheduled Monday through Thursday, with Fridays reserved for absorbing unknowns. I am very impressed with their tile setters. The rest of their subcontractors rank "excellent" too, but the tile setters take top prize. I am disappointed with their estimating process pre-contract, as the final cost was slightly more than 25% in excess of original estimated range, despite minimal change orders. On the one hand I can't figure out what wasn't expressed in the original conversations to warrant such a low original cost range; on the other, the final cost is not out of line for the scope and quality of work and materials of such an extensive rebuild in the Bay Area, especially considering the "priority" scheduling that resulted in minimal inconvenience. I do recommend them to family and friends that want quality results. (update December 2014: I discovered they didn't cap an abandoned roof vent. I don't have time to address it with them properly so adhered an old fondue plate to keep the rain and roof rats out. Left message for them to address it in January 2015.)

It went very well. Tim was our handyman. He was pleasant, efficient, knowledgible and actually listened to our preferences in what we wanted done. We already had the grab bar for installation in a tile lined shower. All I had to do was show him where I wanted it on the wall. We have 8 tall bookcases or wall units (on 3 different walls) that we wanted secured to the walls in case of future earthquakes. Tim looked them over and went out to a local hardware store for the supplies (we didn't know what to get). He obviously knew exactly what to do and did a great job. Also he hung 3 large paintings and a wall clock for us. They look very nice now. All the projects took about 3 1/2 hrs to complete. We were so pleased, that we talked to him about future projects we want done. He gave us some advice about them and took some notes. I will be calling next week to schedule.

I initially contacted Case for an estimate on installing a whole-house fan. I had researched some fans which are suspended in the attic, with a duct from the fan-motor to a ceiling-mounted grate. So these type of fans should create very little noise and vibration. I talked to Jeff Schroeder (project manager) and he did his own investigation and provided some advice on cost and complexity of installation for various products available on the market. I selected a QuietCool fan based on this and my own research. The installation was done very professionally, despite small problems encountered by the technician (Tim), described below. He installed the fan in a hallway, pulled a new circuit from the breaker panel, and installed a countdown-timer switch where I wanted it. There were no extra holes made in walls or ceiling, and he cleaned up perfectly. What made this job harder than expected: The fan duct and grate are designed to be installed between the ceiling joists (to avoid cutting them), but the joists were not oriented in the expected direction, and changed direction where an addition had be done on the house...which is also right where I wanted to install the fan. Like many attics, mine was complex, with limited access, existing ductwork in the way, and blown-in insulation covering everything . Tim figured out where he could mount it without cutting extra holes in the ceiling, and made sure everything would "fit" in the attic. The job was expected to take under 4 hours, but took 5 1/2. Considering the complexities involved, I didn't mind paying for the extra time, and feel I got very good value.

It was very good. They've been wonderful. They did everything and it was really well done. They're on time and I absolutely don't have any complaints. I would certainly not hesitate to call them again. They're prompt, polite and competent.

I have used them before and he is in my home again today to do more work.

He was wonderful. Many other contractors we not willing to do a smaller job. The subcontractor was on time, tidy, and the end result is lovely. The owner(Jeff) of the company came back to personally inspect the work. Friends and family have noticed immediately without me even mentioning the new tile. I will defiantly be calling Case H&R for my next remodeling project.