Empire Remodeling

Al's crew arrived on time and worked cleanly. The initial work was completed last winter, and the issues that needed redoing/fixing were completed this summer. We would use them again.

I e-mailed Empire Remodeling requesting a quote to remodel 2 bathrooms, 2 - new toilets, one new sink, new shower faucets and new flooring for one bathroom. When I didn't hear from them I e-mailed again about 10 days later. It was another 10 days before I got a response, after I'd posted a negative report on Angies List. I was told that they'd been on vacation the entire month of August without access to a computer. I noted that they were listed as guaranteeing a response within one business day, and was told that they wanted Angie's List to indicate that only applied to telephone calls. While their accessibility can certainly be improved, that doesn't warrant the "F" rating that I originally gave. I've revised that rating with this update.

We intend to hire him in August. He came out and gave us an estimate quickly. He seemed good. He was quick to respond and very straight forward. He listens and he didn’t miss anything in the estimate. He gave some suggestions. He was just very professional and quick. We haven’t yet had any work done but as far as the first contact that we had with him, he always got back to us and I liked that about him. We will use his services again in the future.

We decided not to go with them because their quote was way more than expected. They were responsive in calling us right away.

The job went well. No debris or mess left, everything was left neat and clean at the end of each day and disruption was minimal. The project was completed in a week and the quality of the job is quite good. We are happy with our new shower

I called Empire one afternoon from my office in Hartford and Bob said he could be out that afternoon. I left work a bit early and met Bob at my home. He was right on time which is important to me. He looked at the bathroom, we sat down and he gave me an estimate right then. I do not usually hire people on the spot, but Bob's relaxed attitude and being a company that has been around awhile sold me. He started the job around 3 weeks later (as he stated he would) and my bathroom was completed in about 3 days. It is a small bathroom, but 3 days was still faster then I had anticipated. You could tell they cleaned up as they went and that I appreciated as well. He did call me as a follow up which I thought was a nice thing to do for a customer. At the same time they were doing the bathroom I had asked Bob to leave me an estimated on installing a 'wall' air conditioner unit which he did and I plan on hiring them again in the next few weeks.

I’m incredibly pleased so far. They came in today and they put some sheets down. The job that they have done so far has been phenomenal. The owner of the company came to give me a quote. He didn’t pull any punches. He told me the way it was. I had 3 quotes and he impressed me the most. He was very laid back and he wasn’t pushy. They’ve done a good job today and I’m going to have them remodel my whole house. My husband and I were totally lost and we didn’t know who to hire as a contractor. I thought I would shop on Angie’s List and I shopped. I’m incredibly pleased and I'm glad I did that because Angie’s List offers such a lot of information about contractors. It tells people who they should call. It gives the information about the fact that they are insured and bonded. I didn’t want to go through the Yellow Pages and Angie’s List was incredibly useful to me. I had no idea who to hire and when one is spending a lot of money to have some work in their home, it’s very scary. I’ve had very positive experiences with Angie’s List. Their responsiveness is wonderful. They are courteous, professional and I don’t have one negative thing to say about Empire Remodeling. I would use them in the future too.

Al and I talked on 3/21 and agreed we had a miss-communication. I will update this report when the work is performed. Al, the owner of Empire, quoted me a price to replace two kitchen counters and to tile back-splashes for each. We agreed upon a start date of 3/16/2011. On Monday, 3/14, I called him to confirm I was on his schedule. I left a message for him to call back as he did not answer his phone. Al did not show up to start the job. I have not heard from him.

Everything went very good and I was very happy with them. They called back very quickly and they came when they said they would. They gave me an estimate and started work within a week. It was done in the time it was said it would be done and the work was very good. They were little late starting the job.

The job went well. There was a minor delay in which a part had to be retrieved from their office but the work still continued on site. I think they did an excellent job in a timely manner and will continue to make Empire my plumbing company of choice.

Al was very good about keeping us informed by text message. He even sent a photograph of the work in progress. The result was great. Lots of attention to detail, like laying the tile in the linen closet and under the molding and heat registers. The job was finished on time and on budget even though they had to work late on several of the days to get it done.

Al provided us a quote for the work described above. He was on time, professional, enthusiastic, and communicated important things to be aware of when taking on a project of our scope. He seemed honest, and would likely be quite easy to work with. I would certainly recommend that Al be considered for re-modeling jobs. We ultimately changed our plans and only used Al for a quote at this time.

We were very pleased with the quality of work. What we weren't pleased with he fixed. He was a really nice guy. He was easy to get a hold of and communicate with. The guy who runs the company is very professional.

After I made the decision to proceed with the project Al came back to remeasure all the windows & door to insure the new windows & door would be correct and the project could proceed smoothly. And that is exactly how it went. If there were any difficulties the crew handled it professionally and I never knew there was a problem.. From the carpentry to the framing to the painting, the work is northing but high quality professionalsim.. They matched the paint on the windows to the original and they took the time to get the exact match for the 2 windows and door that had to be stained. they came early on time and stayed late in order not to leave any disorder overnight, and cleaned up at the end of each day as well. It is obvious that Al & all of the crew take pride in their work and I couldn't be happier that I chose them for my project. Al keeps track of what needs to be done and will keep you informed to the projects progress. since the project was completed we've had some cold & windy weather and the proof of their workmanship has proved itself. There is absoulty no cold air, or drafts, comming from the new windows & door! Are you looking for high quality work for your projects? I intend to use them again and you might want to as well

Al is knowledgeable, dependable, takes direction,trustworthy, timely and has excellent skills backed by pride and all followed by a clean exit.

The guy who came out was on time since he came when he said he was going to come. He communicated pretty well. He also gave us an estimate on the spot. He took all the information and spoke about what we wanted to do. He explained a few things and gave us his number. He was the first person who we spoke to and we had a couple of others lined up too. His responsiveness was excellent. He called us back in a timely manner. He was early and professional. He was pretty good and we would hire him again.

Al from Empire Remodeling was a lifesaver! I used this company on a previous job over the winter and decided to go with them for a second round of home repairs. We priced around getting quotes from several other companies but the quotes were way overpriced and noticed many contractors were raising prices for windows and weatherization due to the tax credits one would get at the end of the year. The prices were also very high due to lumber supplies and other building materials going up over natural tragedies going on all around the world. We did not realize how prices can be affected literally overnight. Al did wonders, he stuck by his quote and charged us for extra materials only after showing us the reason for the extra. If we could not afford it he gave us the price and the option to complete the job when we could afford it. He did not pressure us or try to make us get work done we could not do. He shopped around for the best price quotes from several different places to get us the best deal. He even went out of state to buy supplies in order to get lower costs. Al really went out of his way to make us happy and get everything we wanted done within budget. He did not hide the costs for the materials and was very upfront. He was extremely fair and his team was OUTSTANDING! They were clean, professional, hard working and got the entire house done in 2 weeks. I strongly recommend anyone using Empire Remodeling for ANY job needed for your home or business. If your looking for honest, hardworking Americans who are fair and professional, please call these guys you will not regret it!

They were here every day. They worked all day long. They showed up on time. If they were running late, they would call me and let me know. They were on schedule and on budget the whole time.

I did not use them. We had bought the laminate flooring. His bid was somewhere in the middle monetarily so it wasn't money. The first thing he said when he came in was that he didn't think we had bought enough stuff. As it turns out we are returning 10 boxes. There is something called quarter round that finishes up on the sides instead of baseboard. I wanted quarter round and he said he didn't know if he could get anything to match it. There was a kind of negativity. Nothing seemed right for him. I didn't give up on him. I spoke to 2 other people. I wanted some further information from him and I called on a Saturday and got the answering machine and left a message to call me back in a day or two. He called me back on either a Wednesday or Thursday night at 9.30 to say that he had just got my message. By that time I had chosen the other company. I wasn't impressed but I can't say anything about their work. He showed up at the time he said he would.

Trying to get matching materials from the previous contractor created delays and frustrations. Throughout a long process, Al and his crew were patient, considerate and, ultimately, left me with the beautiful floor I should have had in the first place. Al is my contractor for life. I would never consider using anyone else again. Thanks Al!

Very well. Al was professional, punctual, knowledgeable, and experienced in what I wanted to do. I decided to wait to schedule the work until I have the cash in hand.

From the beginning, starting with the estimate, Al was on time, professional and open to my ideas and flexible with design. The crew was great, Relatively neat, on time and paid great attention to detail. If they weren't sure about something, they checked with me but kept working to ensure efficiency. The overall job took longer than originally expected but all of the guys ended up getting the flu so all in all, they were troopers. The only negative was that we did go way over budget. This had some to do with my changes in plans but Al ended up spending significantly more on incidentals that expected. Be sure to build in at least 20% overage if you are doing big job.

I asked both Loews and Empire for estimates. Loews charged me $35 and didn't give me an estimate on the spot. I had been to the store and decided which carpet I would buy. At that time I gave them an approximation of the square footage. They estimated between $1500 to $1600. Empire did not charge for the estimate and brought samples and pricing. My choice was the Berber. The quoted price was $$3,800, therefore I decided I'd go with Loews which did not get back to me in a timely manner. Empire called within a couple of days and offered to meet Loews estimate, which was a huge drop in price and also to do the job the following day. I accepted, and although they came in the afternoon and worked into the evening, I, who had moved out, trusted them to lock up after they finished, which they did. They did a very good job, and cleaned up well. I could not afford the Berber Loews had and feel I did very well. A representative from Loews called a few days later and was very unhappy. He told me he'd called days before and left me a message on my answering machine. I had no message and my caller ID didn't show any calls from Loews. Since I was waiting for a call I checked my phone log daily. So in this case the early bird got the worm which I believe was offered due to the bad economy.

The person who came out was good. I recommend him. He gave a ballpark figure and not a written estimate. It did not cost anything for the estimate. I would probably use him again for the estimate.

I had many people come to give estimates for the work but since the job was for a down flow oil burning furnace with central air in a small enclosure, plus a new electric water heater, the job was very intimidating for those without the experience. I was being steered into installing ducts in the ceiling and switching to a propane furnace to installing a central air/furnace in the attic switching my electric water heater to oil. None of these estimates were giving us what we needed or wanted. The job estimates were in the tens of thousands. I was very discouraged. BUT...Al from Empire Remodeling did not back out. He said it was a small job for their company but since we were in a jam he would help us out and assured me it could be done in a timely fashion as winter is knocking on our door. We signed a contract with all work itemized. Empire Remodeling tackled this job by researching what was needed to help us get the tax and energy credits and gave me all the paperwork for everything purchased on the job. He did not try to up sell any services. His price was fair and right on target when the job was completed. His guys were knowledgeable, friendly and professional. His men who came to do the job kept the area clean and even found some electrical wiring from a previous electrician's work in our attic that was clearly not up to code and a serious fire hazard. I was so grateful that they found these open wires as it was a fire waiting to happen. They added 200.00 to fix this and it was cheap compared to the work that was done as it was a mess up in that attic. The job took 2 days and on one of the days we had to work and could not be present in the home. We left the key with Al and he locked up and hid the key for us and not a thing was moved in the house. The house was clean and warm when we came home the following evening. Al called me to tell me the final bill and we squared up. Everything was excellent. I will be using Empire Remodeling in a few months to get siding, doors, windows, garage door, new roof and drop down stairs for the attic. We look forward to working with Al and his crew again. These guys are excellent and I would recommend them to all who needs work done by people who have experience and know their stuff!!