Great Lakes Builders Inc

They corrected the structure of the house by adding steal beams. They also raised the level of our home over about a week.

I used them based on what I read on Angie's List. They are in the area, they were in and out and it was done just that quick. The price was fair and I was satisfied with their work, there wasn't a problem with anything.

It went fine. They haven?t done any work yet, but they were good people. They were very efficient in calling me and keeping me informed.

We had Great Lakes Builders give an estimate for this job in mid-2008 but had competing projects to spend the money on. They'd given us 3 approaches they said were all sound and would address the problem, from simple and cheap (leaving everything that's there and installing enough additional posts to support our very thin main beam) to an option with a steel beam that would prepare everything well for eventually finishing the basement, which we may never do. When we called again, in November 2009, they were able to come out the next day to take another look. They worked with us on devising a middle option we could afford where they'd replace the beam and posts but retain as much as they safely could of the existing structure. They realized they had a spot on their schedule to start the following day and potentially complete it within a week, a day or two before Thanksgiving. Although we believe there should always be a chance to mull over such a high-price project, we didn't feel pressured by them and our choice was to get started. Essentially we'd had a year and a half to consider the project. On the second day they discovered that rather than footings they could reuse for new posts, the original posts had essentially been resting on dirt. The owner called to give us the bad news but promised to keep the costs down since they'd made an assessment that the footings were sound. At this point and for the rest of the project they communicated well, and I'd already been given many reasons to feel confident in their integrity, so although I didn't like the way our luck had gone we forged ahead. The owner/engineer was on site several times to check in on the project, though the foreman seemed more than capable and I found out at the end that he's worked with the company more than ten years. At the end of the project they poured concrete to level the area where an old boiler had been embedded in the floor. This has always been a tripping hazard we'd wanted to get taken care of, and they threw it in on top of all the other thoughtful details I wouldn't expect other contractors to consider part of the job. When I walked through before the crew left on the final day, I pointed out a couple minor things that had been overlooked and the foreman immediately took care of them. Though it was a tight timetable to start with and complicated by unforeseen extra work, they did finish within the original timeframe. We were able to leave town for the holiday with everything done, and done well. Everyone on site and on the phone was friendly and easy to work with, even in the face of challenges our basement threw their way. If I have other projects big or small within their specialty, there's no question these are the people I'll want doing the work.

I didn't actually use him but he was fantastic. The job was too small for him, but he was very helpful. He had a structural engineer look at it and he called me back several times. He had me email him pictures. He was so nice. He told me upfront that the job was too small for him, but he literally spent hours advising me for nothing. He really made me understand what my problem was. He was very prompt when I first called.

This is the second time we used this company and were as pleased as we were the first time. They were professional and courteous as always and helped us to navigate and resolve a difficult situation. The crew kept the work areas very clean and were very respectful of our homes. The work was done cleanly and efficiently and Martin helped with the restoration of our units by recommending good people and following up with them.

The company responded quickly, were courteous and professional at all times, finished in a timely manner and the quality of the work was excellent.

Great Lakes rocks! Martin and Michael are knowledgeable, informative and very responsive. They came a week after the estimate and finished all this work in a week. The price was about 5K to 10 K less than I expected. They found they didn't have to do as much work to fix the back of the house and told us about it and also reduced the price accordingly. They keep the homeowner involved in every step.

Great Lakes Builders made this process easy. Martin was friendly, professional and thorough. He understood that I had budgetary constraints and gave options to choose from that would work with my house. He responded quickly and explained everything he planned to do and why. When he and his crew saw there was additional work that would help stabilize my home, he let me know...asked for permission to do the additional work...didn't charge a penny more. If every service provider I'm working with was this good, make that "this great", I'd never be hesitate about starting new projects again. I highly recommend Great Lakes Builders.

We weren't terribly excited about starting these repairs, but Great Lakes made this a very smooth experience. Martin came out to determine where to place the beam, to answer questions, and to discuss the project timeline. The crew that was at the house each day was friendly, helpful, and very accomodating. They were willing to explain what they were doing and answer all of our questions. They did their best to minimize drywall removal and electric/HVAC moves and maintain the original layout of our rooms. Overall, we had a very positive experience.

Initially, I had heard several cracking noises in my attic which concerned me. I called Great Lakes Builders and Martin Lewandowski came out to examine it. He didn't find anything in the area of which I was concerned He thought the noise might have come from the aluminium siding shifting on the house, especially in warm weather. But he did immediately locate two cracked rafters in another part of the attic. Also, a part of my roof was sagging. Mike Lewandowski arranged for Martin to come out and give me an estimate, which he did promptly. Martin and his crew came several weeks later and made the repairs in little over an hour. They were completely professional. They carefully moved whatever was necessary to do their work and, when they left, it was as if they had never been there.

I selected Great Lakes Builders because of the glowing reviews they received on Angie's List, and the kind of terms reviewers had used to describe this company. After the agony of not knowing what was going on , except that it could potentially be serious, I was looking for a company that would be trustworthy and professional. What can I say: I got that, and so much more,in Great Lakes Builders . Within 1 hour of my initial call, Mike returned my call and took ample time to listen to me. Within 36 hours, Martin came out to look at the problem. I was impressed with how unusually perceptive he was to my concern , but also by how great he was in creating a reassuring and trusting atmosphere, showing interest not only in the technical job at hand but also in the art in my home and places in the world that I have traveled. Subsequently ,Martin took several calls form me to answer additional questions I had; he also came out another 2 or 3 times to measure up and examine the space more carefully, as well as to explain the engineer's report further. Within 1 business day of my signing the contract, the work was initiated. The crew was punctual , professional and careful and left the place tidy. Jacking up of the beam was done ever so slowly and not to a great extent, in order to avoid cracking of floors above or significant cracking of plaster walls. Martin oversaw the work personally. They worked some 4 full days. In the process, Martin concluded that one additional piece of work would not need to be done, and this saved me some $2,000 in additional costs. He also did extra work, at no additional cost to me, e.g. cleaning the basement wall , tuck pointing and parching some bad areas, as well as repairing patches of the concrete floor that had been badly cracked for years. I don't know how to be more positive about this company. Both Martin and Mike have unusual people skills and the technical know-how that inspires confidence. They demonstrate a high level of integrity and they keep the interests of their client front and center . I was quite anxious going into this project, and could not have landed in better hands. I am truly impressed with them and would highly recommend them to anyone with a challenging structural issue.

We knew when were purchased our home that this work would need to be done in the near future. We decided to get it done as soon as possible so that it would not cause problems for us later on. We researched several other companies and found this one to be the best in cost, knowledge, and length of time to complete the job. We are very pleased with their service. They were on time every day and cleaned up at the end of each day. We were shown all of the work and were told why it needed to be done prior to the end of the project. They were even friendly and understanding of our two dogs, who decided to walk through the wet cement. We were even told of a safety hazard in our chimney that we had not been aware of. They fixed the problem quickly and at no additional cost.

It was terrific, I was so impressed with them that if at a later date I need work done I would hire them without any reservations. They truly are an ethical and a knowledgeable company

I was in an attorney review period and just completed a home inspection. The home inspector noticed that a door was angled towards the floor and had cracks in the corners (there was buckling in the tile of the bathroom associated with the door). He recommended a structural engineer. Mike is not an engineer but his company specializes in working with other companies' engineers to remedy structure problems. He was very knowledgeable and provided some possible causes and solutions for each cause. He gave me a "high-level" estimate based on what I described or showed him via pictures. I was impressed with his honesty and professionalism. I never ended up utilizing Mike or his company as other issues turned up and I decided against bringing in a structure engineer and decided not to buy the house. If those other issues did not come up, I would have definitely moved forward with Mike and his company.

Overall, I had a great experience with Great Lakes Builders and Martin. They want to do the job right as opposed to expediently. This included installing additional joists and other work in removing significant crowning in our living room. I was extremely impressed with the end results when compared to the uneveness of the floors before the work began. In addition, they found other potential problem areas in the basement and repaired them accordingly (even if not in the original estimate). While there were a few snags, Martin was very responsive and even jotted down notes after the project was finished with the aim of continually improving their service.

On December 30th, I noticed that my garage door was squealing horribly. Looking up, the ceiling had sagged 6-8 inches. The ceiling rafters had lost their connection with the joist beam and only the garage tracks were holding the drywall and rafters from falling. I contacted GLB on New Year's Eve. They came out on New Years Day to perform an estimate. They were able to get started the day after to add support and perform a thorough inspection. They were concerned with the structure of the garage and worked with my brother-in-law (professional architect) to create a solution that would be sound and aesthetically pleasing. They started working the next Monday and were done in three days. They were clean, friendly and very communicative. If every company worked like this, Angie's List would be out of business.

It went very well. They were professional, communicative and competent. I need to get another inspector, and based on his recommendations I'll go back to Great Lakes and get some work done.

I choose them because of their ratings on Angie's List. The workers were very good, very professional, and I have no complaints. It took them the better part of a week to complete the job. The work was expensive but it was reasonable as far as I can see. They came out within a day and had the work scheduled. Since, I said it was OK that they started the job quickly so they could fill a space in, in their schedule they gave me a discount.

Great Lakes came out again to our bldg. after we had accepted their work proposal to further assess the needed work and write up a final contract. We really appreciated their attention to getting the job done right. Their original proposal was for $10,000.00 of work. But upon starting the job and going into the wall surrounding the south side window lentil they discovered that the lentil was "good" and not in need of replacing. This discovery resulted in greatly reduced work project. And consequently, a much reduced price for the work done. They did all the masonry along the south and north supporting walls about 80 sq ft, filled in the z cracks, filled in other foundation cracks along the east walls, did an inspection of a support footing, and again found that it was solid, then refilled it with concrete. We were thrilled in finding such honest contractors, who did only the work that was needed. We had already paid for 2/3 of the job, as per their contract. But after they had completed their work, they mailed us back the overpayment of $3000! We couldn't recommend them highly enough for their professionalism, their knowledge and their honesty.

The work went somewhat smoothly. They were very quick to respond and talked with me a lot. I did not read the contract close enough to realize that they would not do any finishing work. That left me with a lot of work still to do on the outside of the house. In addition, I had originally called them because of the leaking in my basement that was caused by a rotting wooden foundation and while the foundation wall is now replaced, the leaking problem still exists.

It went over extremely well. It went smoothly, and they were honest and nice. They were also very smart, straightforward, and fast. It went really well.

They did very high quality work. They were a bit pricey but very worth it. Their employees were kind and polite. They were relatively on time. I would recommend them and use them again.

We had Great Lakes in to quote us based on Angie's List recommendations. Had a very good feeling after meeting them, but at the same time wanted to have an unrelated 3rd party corroborate what they had to say. We hired a structural engineer who basically told us verbatim what Martin had to say about the work. We also asked the engineer what he thought the project should cost and he said and amount between 3 and 10,000 MORE than our quote with Great Lakes, so we were sold. I think the job ended up being much more difficult for them then they first envisioned. Our house was actually never constructed properly from the beginning, with the beam running about 8" away from the center load bearing wall. I have come to appreciate that it was a wonder that it didn't fall down before we did this work. Because the beam was offset from the center GL had to sister in a number of LVLs to distribute the load appropriately. We also ended up using a 6" steel beam instead of an 8" (in order to work around existing plumbing AND with the blessing of the structural engineer) and they had to add a 4th post, which they did at no additional charge. They intuited that we would want them to dig down deeper than average for the posts so that either we or the next homeowner will be able to do a basement remodel without having to adjust the posts. There was an additional charge for that, but then we had a credit for work that they didn't have to do so we ended up being $50 below the original estimate. They worked for at least 3 weeks on and off at our house and as I mentioned I think it was a surprise to them how difficult this house was to rectify, however, to their credit they didn't come back to us asking for more money for unforeseen work. Martin was extremely professional, very customer oriented, took all our calls and listened to all our concerns. He has a very subtle eye for the job and was actually concerned that we, the customer, were pleased with the work. Also, I was very impressed with the young man who dug the holes for the concrete/rebar footings. He was so precise and the work must have been backbreaking. Just to be fair and balanced I have to say that not all the workers have the same subtle eye as Martin and may have been a bit heavy handed with the jacking up of the house, i.e. more concerned with making the level read level than whether the doors upstairs could open/close or plaster walls that were cracking. Martin rectified that whenever possible. Also, they didn't put back the electrical conduit that they pulled off the old beam. I thought maybe they would have done that before they left, but it's not a big deal, we'll just clip them up ourselves, though not before I hit my head on it - twice!

Wonderful company. In addition to giving us a quote for the work we wanted, they also suggested a second way of configuring the columns to maximize usable space. Overall, they were very responsive, worked within our budget, and was able to begin the project quickly. The crew arrived on time each day and were very professional/hard working. Would highly recommend to anyone.