GR General Contracting

Fabulous! On our second job, Gordon & Crew fixed poor job by another contractor. Gordon is forthcoming with information, happy to answer questions and professional with estimates and responses.

This project went very well. From the beginning Gordon did a great job managing his schedule, permits, his team, and our needs. He and his team were both flexible and professional with timing and how the project evolved. We had a few changes we wanted to make after work started and they were responsive and respectful. The post work house cleaning was outstanding. His team also provided timely follow up a few weeks after, fixing little nits. Overall, I was very appreciative of GR's work and have already recommended them to a neighbor. Good work and thank you!

Gordon was very easy to work with. He came out to meet with my wife and I about our plans. His input was very helpful since we did not have any plans or direction to go on. They were able to put in a bathroom, wet bar and extra bedroom in our unfinished basement. The living space was well thought out and it really gave us the extra living space we needed. The bathroom is very nice to have for guests as well. Gordon and his crew were very friendly and respectful of our home, time and family. We always new what the next step would be which helped my wife with scheduling as I travel during the week. We would highly recommend GR General Contracting and we are talking to them about one of our rental houses.

Gordon and his crew completely demoed and remodeled our nonfunctional basement. We now have not only a clean, updated space for our family and friends, but also a new bathroom that was never there before. They were very professional, courteous, and always let us know what the next step would be. A few changes had to be made by our request and Gordon was more than accommodating and helpful with other suggestions. We have used other contractors before and never received the customer service (from Gordon as well as his crew) or quality that this company had to offer. They are trustworthy, reliable, professional, and we felt comfortable with the staff that was working in our home everyday. We would highly recommend GR General Contracting and will be using them again when we remodel our kitchen!

GR General Contracting did a fabulous job on our basement. It took us years to save up enough to do a full basement rehab, and we got at least a dozen quotes from various contractors. Most had quotes higher than our budget or we did not feel comfortable with the company. Gordon was the first to provide a reasonable quote as well as give a professional and competent first impression. We found Gordon to be very flexible and accommodating to any changes that needed to be made. We had a number of unexpected challenges on the project (like almost all major construction projects do), but Gordon was there at every turn to discuss our options and help us decide the best route to take. After demolition and at the beginning of actual construction, he was there frequently to walk through with us to discuss the exact specifications of what we wanted. He listened to our requests and offered suggestions that helped us come up with a plan that is nothing short of amazing. His crew was always courteous, professional and top notch. They worked really hard to keep the project from affecting the rest of our house and our life. Any time they knew they would have to shut off the water or electricity, or knew they would be making excessive noise, they let us know ahead of time. They always attempted to keep the project contained, even though there is no way to really keep the construction dust from getting into the rest of the house! We especially loved Caesar and Alfonso! I was so sad to see them go at the end of the project and found myself trying to come up with other things we needed to have done so I could keep them around. No construction project is ever perfect. Most of our problems revolved around the length of time it took to complete the project. This is mostly due to our Village dragging its feet on the permit and inspection process. This set back the start of the project, which in turn screwed with Gordon's scheduling of his workers across his various projects. While our remodel ended up taking almost twice as long as originally planned, we were not in a rush and understood that the permit/inspection process put Gordon in a difficult position. We kept an open dialogue with Gordon and it all worked out. If we would have forced the issue, he could have sent more workers over, but he has different guys that specialize in different aspects of construction. He wanted to make sure he was putting the right person on the job. By giving him the flexibility and time, he in turn made sure we got the best people for the job. He really knows what he is doing, and if you step back and trust him to do the job, you will not be disappointed. His electrician and plumber really knew their stuff. One of the best aspects of the project was the constant communication. His crew was easy to talk to and didn't mind our questions and requests. If there was something we wanted changed or saw a problem with, Gordon was immediately on the phone or would stop by to discuss the situation. We threw a number of changes and increased the scope of work several times, and they always accommodated us. The finished product was everything we hoped it would be. Gordon can do anything from providing full service to allowing us do some of the leg work to cut down on cost. For instance, he could have provided the flooring, cabinets, etc, but we chose to source them ourselves and he took care of installing what we chose. His guys even picked the flooring up from Home Depot for us! In fact, the guys went out of their way to not only do the job right, but to provide little extras here and there. For instance, towards the end of the project, we purchased shelving we were going to install in the closet. The crew ended up just doing it for us. I was having issues with a gas leak on the grill, and the plumber took a few minutes to diagnose the problem for me. Our only big complaint is with some of the small finishing details. To be honest, the painting could have been better. When looking at the overall basement, it is fine, but upon close inspection, there are small things like nail holes visible in the trim, areas of the walls that are not evenly patched/painted, and sloppy trim painting. The lines where the wall meets the ceiling are not crisp. To be fair, if I look around the rest of my house, I see some of the same problems. Really, I think my minor disappointment lies with the fact that the other guys (carpentry, electric, plumbing, etc.) went out of their way and bent over backwards to make sure everything was perfect. They would even redo something if they were not happy with the work, even if we did not notice a problem. So, in the grand scheme of things, some minor painting problems are not a big deal. As we save up for future projects (bathroom remodel, kitchen remodel, etc.), I know without a doubt that we will hire GR General Contracting to do the job.

I should first say that I have never written a negative review and I don’t take it lightly. We hired GR General Contracting to finish our basement. Money was not a big issue for us, we just wanted it done professionally. My meeting with Gordon went well. He seemed nice and professional. He was quick to say that he could do everything that I wanted but was not good about writing things down which I later found out. Once the work was started, I was told a few times by his employees that they weren’t told much about this job. There was definitely a big communication problem and it continued throughout the job. I kept thinking to myself, this cannot be how they normally operate and I feel that I was overly patient. There would be situations where things would be done differently than how we agreed and then it would be on me to decide whether I would accept it that way or if they would have to redo it. An example of this is that I made it clear that I wanted the columns in the basement to match the columns in the rest of the house. That was not relayed to the carpenter. He built the columns which took a lot of time but not at all the way we agreed upon. Another example, we discussed and agreed on the size of a pocket door that was going to be put in, they went to the store to get it and later I go downstairs and it was a different size door and they say, well, we had this one from a different job so we decided to use this one. Even though, we just agreed on a different size door that very day. One of the things that was VERY important to me was the custom cabinets/drawers that were to be put in under the stairs. I wanted them to look very nice and even showed pictures so it would be very clear as to what I wanted. I cannot express how disappointed I was in the cabinets. The shelves were made out of rough plywood that was split in some parts. I told them that I wanted the inside to look nice like kitchen cabinets. When discussing how the fronts of the cabinets were going to be built, I was assured that I wouldn’t see the seams from where the wood met and that it would look seamless. It was far from being the case. Please see the pictures of the finished cabinets. The paint job was terrible. There were actually nails poking out the front. It got to the point that I just wanted the job over. When they left, I spent much time filling wood holes, sanding and painting. The closet doors were painted with a dirty roller and had little hairs stuck all over. In addition, they were to install 3 new egress windows. They installed two windows but did not install them with the chains that were included so that you and your children could easily open them as they are for emergency exits. When I asked them to install the chains they attached them but not in the right place. They apparently had thrown away the kits/instructions and did not install them properly. The third window came but was the wrong size so they had to reorder which I didn’t mind waiting. Sometime later, this is after the job was over, Gordon says that they can install the same window and that the manufacturer sent the needed parts. This is when it was cold out (late Dec early Jan). I said maybe we should wait until spring to install which he agreed. I was supposed to be first on their list to get that done. It is the end of August and I haven’t heard from Gordon. I did not relay this to them but we have decided to not have them install the window as we are not happy with their finished work. I will say that some of the work they did was good. It is my feeling that because of lack of communication throughout the job, not having a project manager on site with the workers and possibly being stretched too thin, my project suffered.

I waited for 1 week and never received the estimate nor any contact from General Contracting. I then called them and left a message on 2 different days to contact me but never received a call back.

What is it about contractors? I can't count the number of times I've engage a contractor, left VM, an email, had a phone conversation and then ended up getting the silent treatment. It started out fine. I called and Gordon for an estimate on a basement remodeling and he came out when he said he would. It think it was a Wednesday. We talked about my basement and he said he would need to talk to his plumbers but he would have something for me by Friday. Friday rolled around I got nothing. I've come to expect this in this industry. By the time next Tuesday rolled around I still had nothing. At this point I picked up the phone and got his VM. Not surprisingly, still nothing. It's real simple. Set a realistic expectation and then try and meet it. For God's sake he could have contacted me and said I don't have anything yet. Can you give me a few more days. I'm easy. Just tell me what you can do and then do it. If you can't do it don't tell me you can and then go dark. In summary, unprofessional and unreliable. Just glad I didn't have him do any work for me.

This is an update to a prior review. The day I posted the review, I got a refund check in the mail for 75% of what I paid. I am happy I received some money back, but the service was still not performed.

I shopped around for the best contractor to do some egress windows in my basement. Gordon and team by far was the best decision I could have made. The team was nice, responsive, on time and very knowledgeable. Very hard working and determined to get 100% of your customer satisfaction. This was my first time using them for any work and I will for sure use them again. I should also mention they had the most reasonable price of any company I contacted for quotes.

After much consideration we hired GR General Contracting to finish our basement. I can honestly say we are very glad we made that decision. Gordon and his crew were nothing but polite & courteous and able to work with us on a couple of changes we had throughout the process making the changes seamless. We were able to add a bedroom and bathroom in a space that we were told by others would be not possible. They were able complete our project within our original budget and in a reasonable time frame. Communication was always great and they let us know of any delays before they happened. Most were due to the inspection process. That again was an area we did not have any experience in. Gordon removed that worry for us by taking care of it from the start. I cannot recommend GR General Contracting enough and have already referred them to our friends for a remodel they have planned.

It turned out good. It took longer than we had anticipated, but they got it done. It was more because we had more square footage than was allowed in the deal. There was some cleanup that I wish that they had done and just some details that I thought were going to be covered that we had talked about and then they kind of were surprised. Like, the guys were surprised when I asked if they were doing it. Like I had talked to the general contractor, and he said yeah, we'll do that, and then the guys were like, I didn't know we were doing that. That kind of thing, but they did a good job overall.

Gordon and his team were very professional and pleasant to work with. After considering the cost of finishing an entire basement, we were anxious about making sure the end result was what we wanted. I can tell you that we are very happy with the work done and the finish product. We wanted this basement for our 9 month old daughter and future children to be able to use and create memories in and I can say we are excited to be able to use such a nicely built basement. The bathroom built is beautiful and turned out better then imagined. The project took about 6 weeks to get done and having strangers in the home all week with a 9 month old daughter can be a bit intimidating but I can tell you that tell were wonderful and very courteous to the family. Also we have a dog too and our dog became familiar and very friendly to the workers within the first week. We will use them again in future projects.

They were GREAT! I first talked with Gordon on the phone. He was receptive to my issues and worked to fit me in quickly. I appreciated his prompt response. I needed to call him back to clarify an issue and he was kind and understanding. John and his assistant came out and where exemplary. They were professional and courteous. They were more than willing to tackle any job I had. I appreciated their fast work and the work they did was well done. I would recommend them to others and have them back to my house again.

This was a big deal purchase and it did not turn out so well. He painted the boards and sealed them against the water and so forth, but in a couple of months some of the wood starting coming up and some of the edges started popping out. My next door neighbor's deck, which has not been restored, does not have that problem, which is strange. I went out and paid $600 to have my deck restored and it looks like I actually had it destroyed. I really have to go out and pay for somebody to come and restore it again. It is almost like that $600 went down the drain. I was not standing out there the entire time, but it seems like all they did was seal the wood to prevent it from rotting, but not anything else.

They did an excellent job. They showed up when they said they would. There kept everything clean and when they had to postpone the job due to weather they came back when they said they would. Matching the old siding was a concern to me, but, they did it beautifully !

Many reviews contain personal opinion, which is often helpful. I decided to just present the facts on a recent theater room construction: I contracted with GR to finish a 12x28 theater room in an unfinished basement; complete access to ceiling, walls, etc. Estimate was 2-3 weeks. Started work July 22nd finished 5 weeks later on Aug. 28th. Gordon visited the site a total of 4 times (after receiving 50% deposit); 3 visits of his own accord and once on request. Two different crews rotated on the project. They argued with each other and told me how the other crew did things incorrectly. Project delayed due to back ordered custom windows & doors. Gordon apologized for not ordering them sooner. Installed a 6-panel door for the closet instead of a 4 panel like the rest of our house. Contract stated, ?to match existing? meaning upstairs. We agreed to the 6-panel to keep the project moving. July 28th - Carpentry crew shoots a nail through a water pipe. Repaired by plumber later that day. July 30th - Ask Gordon for a change order price on extra work added to job. Received an e-mail from him stating $725. (We need this documentation to settle final bill) Aug. 13th- E-mailed Gordon a picture of the drop ceiling tracks being installed that were visibly off level; by 1 ¼?. Soffit was off level by ¾? over 4 feet. Aug 14th - Gordon came to the site to instruct the crew. They leveled the track. They fixed the soffit with numerous coats of mud rather than rebuilding. I was told by Gordon to stop going downstairs to check out the work. Gordon goes on vacation. Aug 19th - Gordon offers to halt all work while he is out of town. I wanted the work to proceed provided the lead carpenter was on site. Aug. 20th - A fight erupts in basement between the two crews. ?F? bombs & threats of ?Bring it on. You want to fight? continues for about 10 minutes. I have my cell phone in hand waiting to see if I have to call the police. No communication from Gordon over this or what?s happening after one crew stormed out. Aug. 21st - deadline to finish before carpet & a/v install. Incomplete base molding, painting, electrical; no outlet in the ceiling for projector. Waited Saturday for a ?no show? and at 10 a.m. received a text work would be completed Monday at 7 a.m. Spent the weekend prepping the room ourselves. We were given credit on our final bill for the work we did. Aug. 22nd - Told Gordon that if no one shows up on Monday morning at 7 am they would be fired. Gordon e-mailed he would be back in town and ?in touch? on Tues. Aug. 25th. Aug. 24th - Promised someone would show at 7 am to finish work before carpet installers arrive. No one showed before the carpet install began at 8 am. Assumed they ended the contract. At 9 am there is a knock on the door from one of Gordon?s summer interns, apologizing & asking if we would let workers back in after the carpet is installed. I called intern at 1:30 pm letting him know carpet install complete. They return at 2 pm and 2 hours later, while installing the sliding closet door they rip out our new carpet with their drill. We call and schedule for the carpet to be repaired. Aug. 25th - a/v install day. Still no outlet for projector in ceiling. Electrician & carpentry crew show up at 8 am to get as much work done as possible before a/v arrives. 2 electricians, 2 carpenters, and a painter. They have 4 hours before a/v arrives, working in a 12x28 room. Late in day, had to have electrician convert regular switches to rocker switches like the rest of our house. Had to ask for a dimmer switch to be installed which was discussed earlier with him. Had to run to Home Depot to buy material for electrician. ?Stair lighting? was rope lighting plugged into outlet instead of hard-wired. I was asked for a punch list at 2 pm. I replied I could not give one since work was not finished and 7 men were working around each other. At 5 pm Gordon asked his crew to have me sign a ?completion of work?. I refused since work was incomplete pending carpet repair & electrical outlet. We refused their offer to do touch up painting. Aug. 26th - 7:40 am received a final bill from Gordon via e-mail. We reply that we won?t consider paying until carpet & electrical are fixed/corrected and we find out if a/v install is going to charge us more for room not being ready and free of other workers. Gordon replies that his crew will be at our house on Fri. Aug. 28th and ?payment is expected that day in full.? Aug 28th - carpet repaired & electrical outlet corrected. Final bill was overstated by $125 from the add-on's. I mailed Gordon?s original e-mail showing actual quote. GR did not bill us for some extra drywall on the backside of the room. Gordon?s final site visit was 14 days before completion. He never offered to conduct a final inspection. Additional facts: We did not push for a hard start. Hired GRGC on 6/29. He stated they were finishing up a couple of projects and would start after that. Asked if we would be willing to allow them to start if they had a down day waiting on inspections etc. We agreed. We had the area prepped and ready to go for almost 2 weeks. I have several e-mails confirming this; too much to post. Started work 7/22. Everything was not completed to satisfaction. We are either in the process of hiring or fixing ourselves. It was not worth arguing with GRGC or repeating substandard results. Gordon last visited the site 14 days before completion. His opinion of the finished job is based on that. I've never fired a contractor. We've owned 9 homes in 4 states including 2 new construction and our current; a total gut and rebuild. The GC on our current home went bankrupt. We hired a new GC to finish the house and the work was excellent. I hoped to match the quality. I do not know construction procedures but do understand timelines and missed expectations. In fact, when Gordon was here inspecting the crooked ceiling framing, he started telling me all the things that had to be done & methods to correct. I stopped him mid sentence and said, "You are wasting my time and yours. I have no idea what you're talking about, I'll go upstairs and you can tell your crew what needs to be done. We had to change the timing of our carpet & a/v install twice. 1st - when I added additional drywall on the backside of the room. 2nd - when custom windows, doors, and molding hadn't arrived yet. I told him twice, "I understand you can't rush what can't be rushed." He assured me we're fine with our timeline. I asked if I should change carpet and a/v a 3rd time and was told "no" we are fine. That and 2 "no shows" resulted in a chaotic finish with fighting in my home. Finally, I didn't want to inject opinion much less personal and character attacks. I feel compelled to do so; I found Gordon to be a very personable and knowledgeable. I wish him nothing but the best.

Excellent! So happy to have found someone to do the work I need at an honest and fair price, very friendly and easy to talk to. They think outside of the box, which is rare in this industry!

Owner is very personable up front and says exactly what you need to hear to get his contract signed. Beware . . . anything not specified in the contract and I mean to the last detail, even if promised, described, agreed or otherwise stated orally (or even what you would consider expected) . . . may not come to pass. The contract was vague and when it came to details discussed (some ad nauseum - seriously) the contractor miraculously forgot or insisted I had changed my mind or stated the items were never discussed. Classic bait and switch tactics and of course, it's all me making things up or being generally difficult (for the record I own a very old home and have used the same plumber, electrician and recently a hardscapes contractor multiple times with no issues). On top of the contractual issues, guys don't show up for the job, regularly leave the job site on errands or one guy shows up for the entire day - huge safety issue in my world not to mention a one week job turned into four. Not surprising when one guy is trying to build a 140 square foot covered porch. I had a detailed quote from another GC that this one agreed to 'match' - not only did he not match the specs or price but even the work he did is incomplete - no caulking of seams where you would expect, somewhat questionable trim work. This GC wants to sell but not do the project or people management required to complete the job timely and in line with expectations. His staff is great - talented, customer-service oriented, polite. But they can't fight the boss and are stuck in the middle.

Guys did a great job. Very thorough job. Deck looks amazing. Had no problem taking care of some tough-to-get-to places when we noticed they had been missed.

His price was reasonable compared to other quotes. I did not use him because at the time I needed to know the cost to figure out where to get the money and then plans changed. If I need work in the future, he is on my short-list of companies to call.

went okay, had to reschedule several times for rain and not super easy to communicate with. also they didn't fix some rotting sections of board, they just stained over them which was disappointing.

I would have liked them to grind down a larger circumference on the stump because there were some large roots remaining relatively close to the surface. Overall, though, we were happy with their work and would use them again.

GR was a nice guy but the people that he had working for him were not OK. They were very sloppy. There was trash and paint everywhere. I ended up having a leak when they installed the bathtub. I ended up having to come out of pocket because of The cabinet doors did not shut all the way. There were a lot of things that were not correct. I went to the hospital right after they were finished and when I started to get better I had to call a handymen services. The towel bar had to be reinstalled. Instead of using grout for the tiles they used caulk instead. I had to call someone to remove the caulk and install the grout. The back-splash on the counter top was all messed up. It had to redone and repainted. Only half of the ceiling was painted and that had to be redone. The toilet was installed but they left some black stains on the carpet that I cannot get out. They installed a niche in the tub area and when the tile was cut and it was not evenly because it was not cut properly. Everything looks good except for the top of that. When they installed the tub I had to have a plumber come out and cut a hole in the wall because of the leak. The PBCT on the drain was not glued properly which caused the leaking but the plumber fixed it for another expense. I also had to call someone else to come and repair the drywall as well. I asked him to install two electrical outlets and the one outside the bathroom did not work and I called Gordon and he sent an electrician to come and fix this issue which I was satisfied with. I ended up getting everything fixed but other service providers which took a long time.

The work was excellent and Gordon always personally addressed my concerns (mostly just anxiety because this was my first remodel experience). Job was finished to my specs on time and on budget! I will hire again!