AGA Construction Inc

On time, on target, on budget.

AGA provided excellent quality, workmanship and service. They organized the work, kept us informed and stayed within budget and met the project schedule. Overall, we recommend AGA, it was a good renovation experience.

This is the 2nd time we used AGA. I'm satisfied with the quality of work, however it was challenging to get to the end of the projects. We approached AGA with a desire to have a laundry room, and the outer perimeter wall to look and function better. We had a couple brief meetings to discuss what was included in the agreed price, and AGA started the work. I'm not in the construction business, nor am I a DIY kind of person, so I didn't pre-think all the details of the projects. For example, I didn't think ahead of how the lights switch should be changed in the laundry room, or the type of sink drainage, or the cut and material of the sink countertops etc... All this I expect an end-to-end remodeling company to have a vision and bring up during the pre-planning stage. So the project hit bumps when I realized I need to swich the electrical, and my idea of a sink installation wasn't the same as AGA's idea of sink installation. And each thing we had to discuss after the project started, AGA was quick to asked for more money. I would have liked a ton more attention to details before the project started, so we knew exactly what the agreed upon price will give us. And AGA needs to realize, its not up to the client to think of all the project details, it is up to them.

We met with several contractors before we connected with Ilan at AGA. Instantly, we knew we found the right honest person to work with. A few of the other contractors suggested ways to get past an unpermitted room we had in our house - letting us know we'd just have to pay a lot of money later if it was discovered - but Ilan made it clear he didn't work that way and would want to fix it and do everything the right away, which we really appreciated. The workers he sent to us were polite, cleaned up every night, and finished adding our extension an entire month before schedule. I was very pregnant during most of this and they made sure the house was completely protected from dust as they worked. They also came in right on budget. I can't recommend Ilan & his team highly enough.

He came to provide a quote and was professional and thorough about it. My circumstances changed but if I went ahead with the work, I most likely would have picked him.

Although I decided to push off my date of construction due to my budget, AGA Construction was completely professional during the in home estimate and eve came with some ideas and suggestions. If I decide to get the work done in the future I won't hesitate to go back to them for the job!

The job commenced the first week of October -- was promised to last two months. It lasted four, and there are still details to be addressed. The job grew as it proceeded: new requirements were discovered, and some work had to be redone. Sub-contractors did not make themselves available when required. The supervisor's father died. Delays meant the job was not complete when we, the owners, were scheduled to be away for three weeks at the end of the year. And so forth. Then why the A rating? Because we have worked with a number of contractors over the years and know that the course of remodeling did never run smooth. And, despite setbacks, Ilan and his crew remained focused, up-beat, and eager to do a good job. They were consistently polite, respectful, and hard-working. They were multi-skilled, but when an individual exceeded his skill set, the work was promptly re-done. Ilan always said, "Whatever the defects you may see in the work from time to time, in the end you will be happy. We're not finished until you're happy." And we are.

The job consisted of a total kitchen and laundry area renovation. We repositioned the stove and exhaust, the kitchen sink/plumbing, replacing the linoleum floor with tile, added a new window above the new sink location, installed custom cabinets, new laundry hookups, replaced our standard water heater with a tankless gas water heater, installed a glass tile backsplash, and installed a caesarstone countertop. They also ended up taking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and also created a new doorway opening the laundry area to the den in the next room. The original timeline for the project was 3 months, the project ended up taking 5 months because of permit approval delays, work additions we requested, and finally because the under cabinet outlets that we wanted needed to be ordered by the electricians, manufactured and shipped from out of state. On our job, AGA subcontracted the electrical, plumbing, cabinet manufacturing, and countertop fabrication/installation. The crew was respectful and cleaned up after themselves daily and locked up at the end of the day. Ilan stopped by every week to check on the progress. AGA even provided a porta potty for the workers to use on the job, which we appreciated. As with any construction job, nothing goes completely smoothly. There were some problems with the installation of the tile floor. We showed Ilan the problem areas and without hesitation, he called in another more experienced tile guy to fix our floor. He took the necessary steps to make sure that we were satisfied with the work and that the problems with the floor were fixed. Ilan had our best interests in mind and tried hard to save us money by giving his expert opinions and presenting all the available options of how to solve problems. The two reasons that the job went longer then estimated were inspector related problems that held up work that needed to be finished before Ilan could move on to other aspects of the job. And we had to wait for the custom under cabinet power strips to be manufactured and installed. Ilan at AGA is very focused on customer service and will go out of his way to make you happy. Ilan was always available through phone and text message whenever we had questions. Ilan always listened to our concerned and did everything in his power to fix whatever problem we had. He even gave us a lifetime warranty on the work and promised to come back and fix the backsplash grout that was beginning to crack a few weeks after installation. Ilan told us when we first met him that he would ?save us from the rest of the contractors?, and we are happy we choose AGA and would recommend them in the future.

Overall, A.G.A. did a good job at a reasonable price. Our project was a 600 s.f. addition plus a 200 s.f. storage basement. We added a bedroom, bathroom and family room at the back of the existing house, plus a basement under a portion of the new space and a complete new roof. As we had been warned, the basement added a fair amount of complication and some delay because of excavating near the existing swimming pool and insuring proper waterproofing. A.G.A. brought in quality subcontractors to handle key components such as the basement waterproofing system and roof. The finished project looks great overall, and to A.G.A.?s great credit there were no change orders (i.e. price increases over the contractor?s original bid) other than for two items that were in no way A.G.A.?s fault (in one case re-engineering a foundation due to an error on the architect?s plans, and in the other case changing the plans by replacing a large wood beam across the living room with a smaller steel beam to give a more streamlined look). In my experience, any construction project is going to involve some aggravation and annoyance, and there were some bumps along the way that A.G.A. might have avoided. These included workers who cleaned their tools with the garden hose in the middle of my front lawn, leaving a layer of plaster and concrete dust. The sub or laborer they brought in to tile the new shower enclosure was not up to the general standard of workmanship, and it had to be fixed and partially re-done twice and still shows a few imperfections. A couple of the new walls are a bit off square, hardly noticeable except where they run along a fixed line like a vanity sink or grout lines in the floor tiles where you can see the off angle. And the project finished about a month overdue beyond the promised completion date. Overall, the contractor (Ilan) and his job foreman (Milo) were honest and conscientious and tried to address issues and make me happy as a customer. We are pleased with our completed renovations.

Ilan has integrity, honesty and follow through. We got AGA directly from Angie's list, based on his outstanding recommendations. Our end result is wonderful. Ilan shared clever ideas of ways we could alter our design to gain better results. We listened to him and have a beautiful product. I would reccomend him and AGA. As a retired Landscape Architect, I understand how complicated constuction is. Ilan followed up on the smallest of details to complete our construction project. Well done!

The job consisted of a total kitchen and laundry area renovation. We repositioned the stove and exhaust, the kitchen sink/plumbing, replacing the linoleum floor with tile, added a new window above the new sink location, installed custom cabinets, new laundry hookups, replaced our standard water heater with a tankless gas water heater, installed a glass tile backsplash, and installed a caesarstone countertop. They also ended up taking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and also created a new doorway opening the laundry area to the den in the next room. The original timeline for the project was 3 months, the project ended up taking 5 months because of permit approval delays, work additions we requested, and finally because the under cabinet outlets that we wanted needed to be ordered by the electricians, manufactured and shipped from out of state. On our job, AGA subcontracted the electrical, plumbing, cabinet manufacturing, and countertop fabrication/installation. The crew was respectful and cleaned up after themselves daily and locked up at the end of the day. Ilan stopped by every week to check on the progress. AGA even provided a porta potty for the workers to use on the job, which we appreciated. As with any construction job, nothing goes completely smoothly. There were some problems with the installation of the tile floor. We showed Ilan the problem areas and without hesitation, he called in another more experienced tile guy to fix our floor. He took the necessary steps to make sure that we were satisfied with the work and that the problems with the floor were fixed. Ilan had our best interests in mind and tried hard to save us money by giving his expert opinions and presenting all the available options of how to solve problems. The two reasons that the job went longer then estimated were inspector related problems that held up work that needed to be finished before Ilan could move on to other aspects of the job. And we had to wait for the custom under cabinet power strips to be manufactured and installed. Ilan at AGA is very focused on customer service and will go out of his way to make you happy. Ilan was always available through phone and text message whenever we had questions. Ilan always listened to our concerned and did everything in his power to fix whatever problem we had. He even gave us a lifetime warranty on the work and promised to come back and fix the backsplash grout that was beginning to crack a few weeks after installation. Ilan told us when we first met him that he would ?save us from the rest of the contractors?, and we are happy we choose AGA and would recommend them in the future.

We are really delighted with our new bathroom. We use the steam shower around 3 times a week. The tile work that Ismael, the project manager, did, is really extraordinary. We had some very specific needs in terms of eco-friendly materials and techniques and the guys were very accommodating. The guys are very skilled and competent. The price was reasonable. There wasn't a big issue of change orders. And our baby-blue house looks great too!

I was impressed with their responsiveness. They finished the project much sooner than I anticipated. They were very competitive in the bidding process, and Ilan's project manager was very good. There was one little item that was of concern to me, where the deck and the other part of the outdoor fireplace came together, but they were able to fix that. I was definitely impressed, and would recommend them to other friends, in fact, I already told some friends about their good work.

The provider did a SUPERB job! I don't usually write reviews, but they're professionalism compelled me to write this review. Plus, as a rental property owner, I've worked with multiple contractors in the past, so I understand how their work compares to other contractors. I highly rate their workmanship and ethics. Not only do their employees work hard, but they are prompt and work diligently the entire day. I was also very pleased with how well the foreman communicated with me (almost daily) and how easily I could get in touch with him. He promptly returned all of my phone calls and was very responsive. The provider also made a minor repair to my HVAC unit without charging me extra which was a major convenience for me. I was also impressed with the professionalism of the office staff which helped me through the permit process which was complicated by a problem with my address in the LA County system. I would definitely use this provider again because they are clearly focused on customer service.

I called to set up an appointment. They said they would call me back. They didn't. Called again, they said they would call a second time. They did, we set up an appointment, but I forgot the time. I called back to confirm, they had no record of the appointment. I got a final call, saying yes, we had an appointment between 8am and 9am this morning. At 8am exactly, I get a call from the project manager, cancelling. I asked if they could come later today, he said he would get back to me, no word. 3 strikes. If this company isn't organized enough or even interested to provide the estimate on a several thousand dollar job, then they definitely don't get to do the job.

Illan's team at AGA did a wonderful job. They worked with us on the price and timeline. Since we have two small children, not having a kitchen was very inconvenient. Illan and his crew were very responsive--from ensuring that things happened according to schedule and in cleaning up very often. When little things were not done to expectations, Illan was great about making sure things were taken care of. I would HIGHLY recommend Illan to anyone of my friends and family. Great company and Illan is a solid guy and contractor. The nice thing is that they are a smaller company and Illan is a partner, so things were handled very quickly. Since we went with a friend for the cabinets (a big portion of the remodel budget) other contractors preferred not to bother. Illan was willing to work with us and the project went very smoothly. Other highly rated contractors (from Angie's List) even told me the job was too small to do!? Great company; great team; great man in Illan.

I did not use the provider.

The staff and supervisor arrived every scheduled day on time. They all took a break and lunch hour together at the same time. I really appreciated this because I prefer to be present when the work is being performed. The proprietor was very professional, clear in what was being done and the reason for it. I was given an approximate date of completion and it was exact to the day. He did additional work that was not in the contract and it was exceptional with no additional fee. I will be using him again in the near future.

It went great. The team at AGA came out to bid on the service. They were priced right in the middle and I decided to go with them. I'm glad I did. The project was completed on time and right on budget. Good quality and good communication.

I recommend Ilan Hrir and AGAConstruction without reservation. Working with them was a perfect experience. When I was ready to start this project I called a contractor who had done another remodeling job for me. He said this was too small a job and wouldn't do it. So I tried 6 more contractors, some from Angie's list, who either said the same thing--too small a job to do, or came to see the layout and were never heard from again. And then,fortunately, I found Ilan at AGA Construction Inc. The experience working with him and his crew was perfect. Ilan came to estimate the job and as we talked I was impressed by his directness, honesty and calm. I described what I wanted in cabinetry and the other work which I detailed above ,and he was unfazed. We agreed on his price ( my budget was under $5000.00) With my supplying the sink, faucet, fan, medecine chest, and towel racks the job came in under budget. First, Elan sent his cabinet maker who patiently heard my ideas, made suggestions and sent me a drawing for approval. Then the demolition crew came, covered the floors, and very expertly removed the old . They took away all the debris ,swept the floor and even wiped the dust with wet cloths. Each time that work was done the premises were always well cleaned. Picking the counter top was difficult for me. I wanted to get it right. Elan took me to the tile and stone yard where I made a choice. Only after i thought about it I knew I had made a mistake. The next day I called Elan wondering what his reaction would be. But he was calm, understanding and sent me back to make another choice. No problem,no drama. What a pleasure. In order, come the cabinet installers, the plumber, the electician, , the carpenter, the painter and fnally a man who put in new light bulbs.The job is finished and I am delighted with the result. Without exception , everyone Ilan sent to work here was professional , efficient, courteous, and accommodating . But to me the most important thing was the communication that Ilan maintained throughout the job. Each day he called to tell me when and who would arrive . And he checked in to hear that all went as planned . Nothing ever became a problem. What I wanted was what his crew delivered. Many times he repeated that he wanted to be sure I was satisfied and happy with the job. I could not be better served.

Although we didn't change the basic footprint, flooring, or cabinetry, it was still a major project for us. Everyone has heard nightmare stories of contractors that come in, demo, and then show up sporatically. I'm delighted to say that absolutely was not our experience. We were very fortunate to pick AGA Construction. It was done strictly by using Angie's List writeups so I'm going to be absolutely honest with you. After we contacted AGA, Ilan came to check out the job. I'd read a writeup that said AGA wouldn't accept something that wasn't a complete overhaul. Obviously, since we were keeping the old flooring and cabinets and my husband was building any new cabinets, that is just not so. Ilan never tried to push us to do anything other than what we wanted. He did say it would be better to use his subs and suppliers since he had leverage with them. We went to the tile place he recommended and didn't care for their tile selection.. Ilan not only told us to go wherever we wanted, he let us use his contractor number to get a contractor's discount since that was fine with the tile store (Tileshop, Inc. in Van Nuys - they're fabulous). He had no financial gain from doing this since we were paying for the tile. We did use his granite supplier since I promised my husband I would try to keep the process as simple as possible. Since Ilan could tell we needed a bit more assurance before signing the contract, he came back with Milo who would be doing the bulk of the work. It gave Milo a chance to see the job and make sure the quote was realistic and gave us a chance to meet Milo. We knew immediately we would be in good hands. Milo is a genius. He can do everything, wants it to be done correctly, is extremely reliable, and has an artistic sense. He worked mainly with his two sons (Milo and his sons -- sounds like a sitcom) although there were a few days that other workmen were here -- mainly for wallpaper removal and plastering. During the plumbing section, Milo's son discovered a leak in one of the major drainpipes. Fixing it was additional (of course) and that was the only additional cost to the original contract. Tami, who runs the office, is absolutely indispensable. She was very quick to follow up everything. Although it was originally supposed to take 4 weeks, it actually was closer to 8 weeks. Milo started on the scheduled day and, with the exception of three days, someone was here every single workday. Was everything perfect? Of course not. There was really only one problem area and it had to do with some of the people that worked for the electrical subcontractor. Had I known, we might have specified using our own electrician. To Ilan's credit, he handled it and made sure that, although it was still the same subcontractor, we got someone who knew what to do (Javier), asked questions when he wasn't sure, corrected the work that was wrong, and completed the rest of the work correctly. Milo was a big help in this area as well as with the granite installation. Diego, who worked for the granite subcontractor was very nice about meeting us at the supplier and double checking the templates against the granite and looking for any granite problems. He also let us come to the workplace before cutting so that we could be sure we were getting the areas we liked best where they would show. If you haven't figured it out by now, we're a little particular. There were a couple of little missteps but nothing major and they were very good about coming out and adjusting anything that was not to our liking. We're loving the new kitchen and my husband misses Milo. I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending AGA Construction, particularly if you can get Milo. Ilan is very honest and very fair and that says an awful lot. Their website says they're not happy unless you're happy and, in this instance, he backs up those words completely.

Élan showed up when he said he would to give me a bid was easy to reach and rebuilt my garage from the foundation up to great results.

Met with one of the owners of the company, Ilan, and discussed the situations to be addressed, and what procedures would be required to complete the job. Ilan was very patient, as it took more than one consultation for us to fully understand the scope of the work. We made our decisions, hired his company, and planned the process to begin. Before any demolition began, we met with a window sub-contractor company that Ilan worked with to order new windows and schedule delivery. We were very specific with window representative about the look and installation (set back) we wanted. Once windows arrived, demolition was completed, repairs were made, and new windows installed, and new stucco applied (smooth finish, as we had informed job foreman). Once stucco was completed two problems were obvious: Stucco was not smooth, but rough finish, and windows did not have the required set-back that we had insisted upon. Ilan was very responsive. He worked out the problems with his foreman, and they decided to add a 2x6 stucco border around the windows - simulating a set-back. The stucco on the wall itself was corrected to make a smooth finish. We were very pleased with these corrections. Interior plaster was repaired, and finishing around new windows turned out great. *There were some time delays throughout the job due to other, larger jobs being completed by the company. The other leaking newer windows were corrected to our satisfaction. The sub-contractor that Ilan used for the custom gutters was not very responsive, and time passed by before Ilan was able to put some pressure on them to get that part of the job completed. When completed, it looked great. AGA Construction was on top of everything, and quickly took care of issues from sub-contractors. The final price was very reasonable. And yes, clean-up was very thorough.

Although there were some issues, I cannot help but give these guy an A rating because their work ethic and overall desire to always make things right at every turn was simply over the top. They were honest and professional from start to finish, did an excellent job and kept the project on track and within the budget. We spent over $100,000 with A.G.A over the course of a year and I can honestly say it was worth every penny. Work was done to code with regular city inspections and overall everything looks great. Description of property Condo, top floor, 3bed 2 bath with roof deck Work Performed Gutted an existing powder room and turned it into a laundry room Demolished a wet bar and old laundry room and created a full bathroom in its place Leveled the floor of the entire top floor loft of the condo Rebuilt and tiled the entire roof deck which was deteriorating and leaking Rebuilt a redwood planter that runs the length of the roof deck Replaced the 14' sliding glass doors that lead to the roof deck Replaced and painted all doors and hardware throughout the condo with moulding (6 doors) Patched and resurfaced all walls with skim coat to get rid of 1970's textured surface Painted entire condo interior Replaced and painted all doors on two full size closets All demolition, plumbing and electrical for the above work, some was quite involved to ensure that we conformed to city code for condos What Went Right They showed up pretty much every day they said they would and did all work as specified and to code. The end result ended up looking great, and when things were not done to our satisfaction, A.G.A. would usually bend over backwards to try to make us happy. There were not a lot of surprises or any real cost overruns. When there was something that we hadn't anticipated (needed to level the upstairs loft of the condo) I was comfortable enough with Ilan to have a verbal agreement that it was obviously going to cost more without bothering with a change order. Probably would have been better on my part to insist on a change order, but it speaks to how honest these guys were that at times, I didn't even care because I knew they weren't out to nickel and dime me or screw me over. In fact, as far as costs go, I am pretty sure they ended up losing some money on our deck job since it ended up being more involved than they anticipated. But instead of passing on the costs to us, A.G.A. just ate it. What Went Wrong As far as design goes, it was up to me and my wife to figure out how we wanted things to look. If you are looking for an HGTV-esque contractor who comes in with samples and helps walk you through options for how you want the shower to look and what finish to use where, this didn't really happen with us with A.G.A. This was ok since we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted, but it's worth mentioning. Also in order to keep costs down, it was us to me and my wife to procure finishing materials (tile, moulding, etc) and even large items like doors. Lastly there were times when A.G.A. would ask us to find our own guy to do work that they didn't perform, such as buying and installing Silestone countertops in our bathroom. Later, when the vendor we found ended up doing a mediocre job, A.G.A. would come back at us and say "Hey, you should have asked me...I have a guy that could have done that!" This happened a couple of times and it was frustrating. There were other small examples of disorganization on A.G.A's part (asking us to order specific sized doors for the laundry room, which turned out to be too small - not once but *twice*) and a few instances where the last 10% of the work was never quite up to the quality that we expected (some sloppy finishing work here and there), but since they would always try to come back and fix our outstanding issues until we were happy, I really can't fault them too much. There was a problem with part of the deck leaking after the first heavy rain, and they fixed it immediately. I still need to have them back to repair some interior water damage caused by the leak, but I am waiting until some other roof work is done to ensure its not done prematurely. Conclusion Overall A.G.A. did a fantastic job. There were a few hiccups here and there but the fact that they were so honest and did everything they could to make things right when there was even a small problems counts for a lot. I think we got very lucky choosing A.G.A.. I have heard horror stories of contractors not showing up, refusing to fix shoddy work, overcharging and generally being a nightmare to work with. A.G.A. was the complete opposite of this and it was refreshing and a relief to do business with a contractor with integrity and a solid work ethic.

We are very happy with the final work. When the initial work was completed in 2011, all seemed well. We thought the initial work was fine, but we weren't jumping up and down with some of the issues we faced with some interior paint work, etc. When Ilan came back to inspect the issue of continued water damage, he brought a crew we really trusted (led by Milo), and felt that between Ilan and Milo they really understood the issues and worked hard to make everything right. It did take about four months to get the new work scheduled, which we thought took a little long to get started. When they started in August, it took about two months to get it completed, and we added on a full stucco fix as well as some patches and re-installs of other windows. Sometime we had days where we had no workers, and yet we still had a construction site in our master bedroom and living room. I know that contractors are often working on numerous jobs, and this was a slightly frustrating part of the job. But the finished work is well done, and we've had absolutely NO LEAKS during the recent rain here in Los Angeles. Ilan was our point man, and I believe he was very upfront about what he could accomplish, and was responsive when I called with an issue or question. He stood by his work, and fixed whatever issues needed to be addressed.