Bade Brothers Building Company

On March 23, 2022 Ben Bade came over to my home to start the process for putting together an estimate for a major bathroom remodel. It was obvious that he knew what he was doing and had some great ideas/recommendations. He told me he would have the estimate out in approximately 10 days. After 17 days, I sent an email and told him we were looking for the numbers. It took a few days but he replied he was behind, but would have the estimate to us in a day or two. Long story short, after several emails telling him we were ready to go, and not getting any reply, we decided to move on after wasting and waiting 49 days for a promised estimate that NEVER came. Additionally, after sending Ben Bade an email telling him we were moving on, I never received a response from him. No apology for his unprofessionalism. I realize everyone is busy these days. There will come a day when that isn't the case and when that occurs, we should all remember who was professional enough to deliver as promised, or at least polite enough to follow up with a text or email.

Our bathroom remodel went fairly well and I love my new bathroom!! Bade Brothers were upfront with us with what to expect, the timeline and cost. They answered all our questions and were always available when I had more questions that came up. I really would recommend them. I can’t imagine anyone handling my many inquiries better than they did, which was often. They delivered an awesome new bathroom and I’m looking forward to our next potential project with them.

It was a great experience all around. Ben was professional, his quote reasonable and he met all timeframes needed and promised. His workmanship was excellent and I could not be happier. In the past he has also put in another window into my shop, converting it into a beautiful artist studio with lots of light. If you can make it onto his busy schedule, consider yourself fortunate.

I decided to write this review after reading the review made by a client of Bade Brother's Building who gave them an F. I find it difficult to believe these claims and on behalf of Bade Brother's, I felt I had to share my experience as a client....I do not know them on a personal level. Our job was extremely difficult given the house is 130 years old and they had to custom fit each piece of a new staircase. They could not have been more polite or professional....and the work is exquisite like a fine piece of furniture. The stairs they put in were exactly what I had asked for with not even the tiniest fault. I watched as they labored making sure each board was fitted perfectly. I would highly recommend them as masters of their trade doing work that is above and beyond what we had expected. We have since moved and are considering a kitchen remodel so this is why I got on their site and saw these reviews. I will be calling them to do our job without hesitation.

Ben was a very friendly person, and pleasant to work with, but work simply was not completed as I had hoped for. I felt other jobs took priority and I heard MANY excuses for numerous delays. Most of the subs he had come in did excellent work, and I had no complaints with any of them. The invoicing left a great deal to be desired. I would receive a bill with a flat amount due. When I questioned him for details, it was a battle to get him to provide any kind of accounting. When I did get some kind of detail, it was a massive puzzle which I had to piece together to get any kind of understanding. I was led to believe this was all due to whoever did the accounting and billing. There were several areas where work was not done to my satisfaction. Some problems were corrected, others were not. The tile work in the shower was terrible. The tile had several very bad cuts - irregular, jagged and not at all what I would have considered "professional." The tile was not set in a flush, consistent manner. I was not happy with the grouting which was used in the shower and around the sink. I wound up spending several days of my own time drilling out and removing all of the grout around the accent tile behind the sinks. The walls had to painted twice because the wrong paint was purchased and applied the first time. After it was painted, there was some kind of grit on the walls. This was nothing more than dirt which had either been stirred into the cans, or had been picked up by the rollers. There were several reasons (excuses?), but nothing was done to correct the problem. He did state he would come out and fix it. He never did. Much of the equipment was stored in our garage and driveway for a prolonged period of time. We were more than willing to accommodate this for a brief period of time, but this lasted several MONTHS! We had to finally ask for all of it to be removed. I often felt the problem was me. I will admit, this is the first time I've had a builder into my home for a major project like this, and I relied heavily on his expertise and guidance, but I also felt I just didn't get the quality of work I had hoped for. Ben did offer numerous suggestions and ideas which were great and which were very helpful. Due to a variety of personal problems Ben had, the work on both baths was delayed for several months. It took 10 MONTHS from the first time he came in to the last time he left. The time the house was torn up and was disrupted was no where near what had been stated in the initial time frame for completion. Ben did offer to come back in and correct what I wasn't happy with. I told him we needed to talk about that. That was the last I ever heard,

Ben Bade did not do his job as the general contractor. The subs did a good job, the cabinet guy Kendall, Tree City Woodworking was fantastic; he does excellent work. The major problem is that Ben was not on top of the job and kept making excuses when he made mistakes, instead of fixing them. Whenever he made a mistake his standard excuse was the 'things happen when you remodel' or better yet it was my or my wife's fault for not following up. For example: We had tile that needed to be matched on our floor. We had what would have been enough extra tiles from the original install, but Ben did not measure correctly and took out more tile than he said he would. He then used some of the tile we had (that was a good match) to patch the floor under the new island where it would never be seen. We were left several tiles short and had to use replacement tiles that were not a good match. I sent him all the specs on our new appliances prior to the start of the job, the range hood called for a larger duct than what was in the ceiling. I came home to find that he had not replaced the ducting and had the ceiling already patched. His excuse was that he felt the duct that was there was adequate, when I pointed out that the manufacture's specs specifically called for a larger duct, he argued and whined. Only when I insisted, did he very reluctantly agree to change it out. We had a new vent hood installed with new cabinetry, he had the specs for the cabinets, well in advance. When it came time to install the new hood cabinet, it could not be used as it extended over one of the light fixtures. I had to re-work the hood cabinet to figure out how to make it fit, I am not a contractor and should not have had to do his job. If he had been on top of the job he would have moved the light fixture or redesigned the hood prior to the install. He was installing the microwave oven and I pointed out to him the the specs called for an anti-tip block to be installed. He response was that he figured the face screws would be good enough, I had to go into my garage and cut a piece of blocking to make sure the oven was installed correctly, once again lack of detail and a willingness to short plat the job for expediency. I purchased some light cans from his electrical sub contractor. The sub said that Ben could deliver them next time he came by. Ben did so and charged me a 20% delivery fee for his "supervision". I don't know how much supervision goes into delivering light cans when you were going to be at my house anyway but that is what he charged. As I said the subs did a good job but if I hadn't been very involved with reviewing every detail it would have been a much different story. Do not use him unless you are willing to scrutinize every detail to make sure the job is performed correctly.

Everything went well, and it was a pleasure working with them. They did excellent work, they didn't leave behind any messes, and they were very dependable and trusthworthy. In fact, they did the work while we were on vacation and always made sure our house was safe and secure.

It's been a very good experience so far. We communicate through email and telephone. They haven't finished the work yet so I don't know if there is anything I'm going to dislike. All they brought over is beautiful.