Framar Porches & Decks/Frackiel Builders

We shopped around for deck sealing prices and they had the best price. Every time I called, the lady was professional and answered all my questions. She must work all the time because I called in mornings and evenings. Although other companies had more reviews for sealing, I went with them because our building's deck was built by them before I lived here. Any contractor that sees our deck has always been impressed with the quality of their work. Framar did a great job sealing the deck too. The only small complaint I have is that I wish they would have covered our windows when they power washed the deck. I had just gotten my windows cleaned professionally so I was bummed about them getting slightly dirty. Overall, that wasn't a big deal so I was happy with their service.

They arrived on time each day, took precautions by blocking exit doors to avoid accidents etc. They used quality material and finished ahead of schedule in spite of a few rain delays. The office personnel was terrific. Whenever I had a question all I had to do was call & I received the answer or help that I needed. I will highly recommend this Company & already have to anyone needing a porch replacement. They took care of all permits & inspections. Plus they took care to cover anything in the yard including trees & plants to avoid damage. I am totally satisfied with my new porch & pleased with the quality & looks of it.

They did a fantastic job. I could not be more pleased. They were very professional and they definitely knew what they were doing.

They were great. The job was done well and completed on time. They took care of the city inspection.

To be honest, I was not very impressed with them. He kind of looked at my deck, said 3000 dollars and left. He was there for like five minutes, didn't take a single measurement and didn't do anything.

Although our previous porch was in good, stable condition the city cited the porch for not being up to code. This forced us into a position to modify the porch up to the current code or replace the porch. We recieved 3 bids from Angies list companies. After hearing feedback from the 3 contractors we realized it is not financally logical to modify an existing porch vs replacing new. Frackeil handled everything. All 3 companies provided similar ideas and services, but Frackiel provided the most reasonable estimate. After accepting the estimate and putting a 1/3 down payment a date to begin work was scheduled 3 weeks in advance. They provided the engineer drawings and submitted them to the city. They secured the permit and began work on time. They secured the building materials, removed the existing porch in 1 day, and weather permitting had the new porch built in 5 days. A final inspection date was scheduled and they met the inspector there for final approval. Shortly after I attended my city court date and the violation and case was cleared. Frackiel did not bother me for payment until final approval from the city was provided. Bonnie was very helpful when it came to dealing with the city and helping me decide between a yellow pine or steel porch. She always was available and provided the necessary info on the phone. The workers were clean, diligent, and worked in a timely manner.

They come very well recommended by other's in the industry. The guy is a total sexist, I have a contract with him and I am the one who is paying the bill but he will address himself with another male in the building. I'll ask him questions and he would answer my neighbor (a male), it was odd. He absolutely listened to what I said and gave me the proper responses. The bid was fair. He did a bid for the repair on our porches (something we were cited for) and he also gave us a bid for a tear down and rebuild the new stairs according to code. No one else that we had interviewed offered to do that. His bid was the same as everyone else's, maybe even cheaper. We also asked him for a bid to increase the size of the landings.

All I did was provide the payment and they did everything else...i.e. deconstruct the back porch, old portion of the roof, old downspout, took away all the debris, rebuilt everything new, and even got the city permit and inspection done without problem. The whole job took about 2 1/2 weeks...they were fast and amazing. When I did have questions about weather and other stuff...their was always someone on the other side of the phone to speak to - not a machine!!! For me, I would hire them in a heartbeat!!!

The bid came quickly. The workers came when they were supposed to. They did good quality work. I got billed fairly at the end. Overall, it was a great experience.

the wood decking was rotting and needed to be replaced. Framar quickly came out and gave me an estimate after I called. The estimate was a bit higher than I expected, but it is a small job so I wasn't too surprised. They helped me decide which type of wood or synthetic product would be best for my decks. There was a bit of a delay in getting the actual work done due to their work load and weather delays. The actual job took a day longer (3 rather than 2) than expected. The quality of work is great. The only complaint I would have is poor communication from Framar when the weather would delay their arrival or cancel work for the day. I had to call them when they didn't arrive to get the message that they weren't coming rather than getting a call from them. I was waiting to let them in before going to work and it would have been nice to be told that they would be 3 hours late and/or not coming at all.

We were moving out, so didn't want to spend a ton of money doing anything fancy; we just wanted a solid set of stairs for our move-out (and for our home buyers). Marek gave us a great quote, and didn't try to talk us into anything we didn't want or need. The day the work was scheduled to be done, his crew didn't show up on time. An hour after they were supposed to arrive, I called the office; they checked and told me that "my" crew had had to go to another project first to finish up the job they'd been working on yesterday. A bit unprofessional (surely they should have called me to let me know of the time change!) but the crew arrived less than an hour after that. Interestingly, neither of the workers spoke English, and they actually started demolishing my stairs without knocking on my door, telling me they had arrived, or even confirming it was the right address. That was a little disconcerting. They did good work, though communication was a bit bumpy (the older guy's "No English!" actually turned out to mean yes, he did speak at least a little English, but just didn't really want to). Once arrived, they worked quickly, cleaned up after themselves, and the stairs look great, are solid as a rock, and very well built; I wish we'd had this done years ago.

We got a bunch of quotes from other contractors. Framar was in the lower third of the bidding. We went with them because of their reputation (grade of A-list), price, responsiveness, vision, and flexibility to meet our needs. The porch was demolished in a day. The new foundation was poured and the new porch and deck were built within two weeks. The builders were very professional and we're happy with the result.

Having trouble getting straight information about new standards from the city for porches.

I called the listed number on June 2nd in the afternoon. The lady who answered was pleasant and told me she needed to check Mark's schedule to see when he would be able to look at my porch. She told me she would definitely get back to me by the end of the day. It is now 10:30 on June 4th and I have yet to receive her call back. Not a good way to start doing business, especially when most people are looking for work.

I had these guys out and the representative was a nice guy and very informative. The first time we had an appointment it was canceled and we rescheduled. When I received a quote, it was a little high for my taste. They do good work though, as I have seen their stuff around the city and they definitely knew the neighborhood and inspectors.

They did what they said they were going to do. They drew up the plans and they took care of everything. The quality of work was very good and I give them my highest recommendation. There were no hidden costs and any unforeseen expenses were borne by them. They had also told me that, if there were any problems with the inspector and they had to do extra work, they would take care of it, and they did.

They were great. They got everything done quickly. They cleaned up after themselves, and actually cleaned up after some other contractors that were working on the building as well. And the deck is beautiful!

They did a very good job. They were very affordable, and very skilled. They were able to get me scheduled quickly. They still have one part that is not finished, but the weather is preventing them from finishing.

We'd been written up by the city for our back deck not meeting current standards so got a few estimates and Frackiel was the best. They took care of all the details regarding permits and inspections and clearly communicated with us (the condo association) on the status and process. Their workers were courteous and hardworking and the final product is sturdy, great and up to code. We would recommend them for any porch/decking needs.

The company started the job on time, employees arrived each day on time and the job was completed as scheduled.

Mark examined our deck and was very helpful in going over different options and prices. The work didn't happen the week it was scheduled and we had to call to follow up, but they did come through promptly with a new date, which was kept. We were not able to communicate with the workers that arrived, but Mark came out immediately and served as a liaison. We are very happy with the quality of the work that was done.

Extremely well. I obtained estimates from three other companies. Marek, of Frackiel Builders was the most knowledgeable and informative, more of a consultant than salesman. His estimate was thorough, inclusive and accurate. They provided the architect to draw plans and obtain a permit. Construction was timely and efficient. Workman were polite and pleasant (thank you, Karl). Job site was left clean at the end of each day. Office personnel, Bonnie, was pleasant and efficient. Marek met with the building inspector upon completion to review and approve the project. Overall, a very positive experience, leaving me with the feeling that I received good value for my investment in a new porch.

Framar was recommended to us by a City inspector after they cited our building for code violations. Mark provided an initial quote, but we sent architectural drawings to him for a follow-up along with the City code violations. I followed up with his receptionist the following week to ensure they had received the drawings and she said they would be in touch. I waited another week and finally called again and the receptionist told me they would not do the work since it required the building of a wall in our basement to satisfy the City of Chicago. If I had not called, I am sure they would not have contacted us to tell us they would not quote on the work.

Very good - Any concerns were answered and addressed.

When I called for a quote, a representative from the company stopped by our building the same day to take measurements, and we received our quote within 24 hours. We had gotten quotes from a number of contractors, and Framar's was by far the most reasonable. Mark came to our building to meet with the condo association before we hired Framar to answer our last-minute questions. Once hired, they got started right away on our drawings and permit. After the permit was attained, we scheduled the porch construction right away, and once the porch construction began, the entire 3 story porch was demolished and re-built within 2 weeks. The entire process took a little over 2 months from when we signed the contract. The workers did a great job and were very professional.