DAL Builders

They came out on time and were nice and knowledgeable. Ended up doing the work myself to save money.

Excellently. I'm leery about hiring contractors given past experience with contractors that would stop showing up. DAL Builders was on top of everything and the end result is excellent.

Very professional, great help deciding what to do. There was some delay in getting the permit, but otherwise everything was finished on time and on budget. Pricing is about middle of the road.

They were good and they were professional. I like them. Their estimate was around $6,000. It’s a hard choice but we’re going with another company that we like.

They have been very professional and thorough. They have responded quickly to any questions or requests for more information. We are very close to deciding which company to work with, but DAL is definitely at the top of the list.

Michael was very professional and responsive. He delivered his quote in a timely manner, in the two weeks that he approximated. The quote is beyond my budget for the project, so I will not use DAL this time. The high estimate will likely stop me from asking for quotes on future work as well.

Requested an estimate, but the scheduler told Mr. Larkin and I two different dates. I wasted my Friday evening with my kids, and while I appreciate that they called to apologize, I didn't appreciate being blamed for the miscommunication. It was pretty half hearted. They offered to reschedule, but I'm not missing anymore work or time with my kids to find out. Update: We did reschedule with DAL Builders. They were very polite, and punctual for the rescheduled appointment. However, the estimate was extremely high and we chose not to use them. We were very skeptical of a $10,000 surcharge for using composite decking on a 19x22 foot deck.

It was totally fine. They showed up on time. They completed the job very nicely. There was one time except just the communication mixed up between the guy who came out with the contract that I signed and the guy who started to line up the wood for the decking at the porch and I was asking for tracks which are a composite thing. He says tracks? So I said call your boss; he called the boss so they had to come back the next day with the right product. Nothing was mis-installed because I happened to catch them; the contract was right just the guy assumed that I'm going to use a wood for the decking. Everything went smoothly and done in a timely fashion. I told my friends I really liked using it because it's a good place to start. The pricing was fair. They were equal with other estimates that I had, actually they were better so I consider them a very good price.

I didn't end up using their services but it went fine. The estimate was $500. They got back to me pretty quick. A lot of companies do it for free. The price for the renovation was fine but I was unhappy with the price for getting the estimate. They absolutely arrived on time.

DAL was very professional and knowledgeable. There were some items that I could not decide on at the time, and DAL followed up with advice and an additional offer of help. I ultimately decided to hold off until a later time.

They did not completely clean the deck. The deck is made of a very had wood -- ipe -- and it had gotten some green mold build up on it. The power wash they provided did not completely clean the mold. I was able to do so relatively easily by taking a brush to the deck after they had finished while it was still wet. But I was told that they just power washed, they did not scrub the deck as part of the service. Since the power wash wasn't enough and the scrubbing turned out to be relatively easy, I was not happy with this deal.

We have not gone with them but they were very nice and pleasant to deal with. They were very professional. It was just out of our price range at that time. They were the only ones we had gotten a quote from.

The previous contractor who built the shower and base had done a poor job which was not up to code. Tiles were popping off the floor because the water drainage was improperly sloped. I had hired David Larson for an earlier bathroom gut remodel and had been very please with the quality of his work. His crew demoed the shower threshold and floor as well as approx. 2 1/2 feet of wall from floor. They installed a new subfloor and redirected the drain. They then installed a new pan. They built a bench which was later tiled along with the floor and walls. The work was more complicated and took longer than expected due to constant unanticipated issues with the previous work down. The crew was always on time and the trades were well-coordinated. Everyone involved was most cooperative. They kept me advised on what was happening and gave me options on how to solve the unexpected problems. They were very concerned that I should be comfortable and happy with the results. And I certainly was.

DAL was good. They were punctual. They did everything that they're supposed to do but the quote he gave me was just way more expensive. The quote was $15000 without cabinetry, just to come out and do it. I know it was an estimate but I think it was just far reaching. We didn't go with them because of the price and the fact that I don't get to see my installers and they use a subcontractor for the most part.

I only recieved a quote, refer to details above.

They cleaned my deck. They did a good job.

The quote was for tearing down a deck above the garage that had a lot of water damage as a result of the deck not being built properly. They were very thorough and knowledgeable, but they were about $10,000 higher than the other quotes. They were good and very pleasant and I would have them come out and look at something again. The only reason I did not work with them was because of the cost.

3 day response, over weekend, to Angie's List message.

I'm very pleased with the results with some relatively minor exceptions (some surfaces damaged and some modifications to the original plans) but the process was excessively frustrating. Despite hiring the DAL-recommended architect (for $3,200) plans had to be changed after demolition because nobody had figured out that a wall that was to be removed was full of electrical stuff that simply could not be completely removed. Despite having giving the architect and DAL free rein to punch holes in the walls, neither of them had bothered to do it sufficiently enough to have a good understanding of what was there. As a result, I had no option but to agree to changes after the work had begun. I was told repeatedly by DAL that I would not have to be out of my place for longer than 8 weeks; it turned out to be 6 months. ! And the project was not finished for another 3 months after that. Scheduling of subcontractors was repeatedly mismanaged. Workmen would show up and often couldn't do their jobs because a previous step had not been completed. Contact with my project manager was sporadic. He was an incredibly personable guy, but not organized, and seemingly new to complex construction projects. Marble and wood surfaces were not protected and have some permanent marring as a result. The entire residence was left absolutely filthy with construction dirt at completion. DAL made no pretense of cleaning up. The carpenter was wonderful. Cabinet, floor and woodwork installation was done superbly, thanks to his professionalism. The electricians and the carpenter were both resourceful and extremely helpful in resolving problems and they were both absolutely professional. Subs were reportedly not paid in a timely manner, and at the end of the project, despite being told verbally and in writing by DAL that all subs had been paid and had confirmed this -- they hadn't been, leaving me open to a possible mechanics lien. When I complained to David about this, he became extremely irate and screamed that people were lying to me. It is a simple fact, however, that DAL misrepresented the facts to me: I was told directly by DAL that subs had confirmed their complete payment when this was simply not the case. Overall, DAL seemed very eager to please and they were generally agreeable to change requests (for a fee), but they didn't manage the project in the manner that I would expect from a professional builder. I was repeatedly amazed that things were not handled more efficiently. I've had extensive remodeling work done on previous residences, so I had no expectations of perfection during a renovation project -- but the process during this project was way less than acceptable. My final results are generally very good. The project process was awful, but I'm happy with the results, and exceedingly happy that it's done!

Dal was responsive and professional. They provided a quote and had some great ideas for the fence that we wanted to put around the AC units on our rooftop deck. But the price was a bit outside our budget. Otherwise, very happy with their services. But for the high-end price, we would have gone forward with Dal.

I'll keep this short and sweet. These guys were fantastic. Absolutely professional from start to finish and the deck turned out great. We had some delays to weather that created a late-start on the project but that was the only hiccup. The workers and management were all professional and courteous, and they even helped us with a few things that were not part of the job just to be nice. We are 100% satisfied with all parts of this job, and we are incredibly picky and meticulous about these types of projects. We had some unusual requests regarding materials uses and they were receptive to everything we asked for.

I needed to talk to someone about the deck installed by the previous homeowner. I had been making calls off of Angie's List, mostly leaving messages for call backs but I did reach a few actual people. When I phoned DAL, I got Mike on the phone. As it turns out DAL does not service my area but I asked Mike if I could ask him a few questions anyway. I was exactly sure if I was calling the right places. He was fantastic. He was pleasant to speak to, he listened, he gave me feedback, and he even went out of his way to see if there was any way that they would service my area. As it turns out I am just simply out of their reach, but he did refer to me a guy they work with who can help me out. Mike was professional on the phone, he was informative, and he called me back within minutes to let me know they couldn't do the work but that he had a guy who could help. Truly I am a little bummed I won't get to work with these guys!

They did a good job. They came in and did the work and it was good. They charged me under $10,000. They were responsive and they performed well. We had an issue where the attic ladder that had to be installed turned out to be of the wrong size and the guy in charged of the project just went back and got the ladder with the right size. I thought that that was sort of going beyond the normal call so I thought that, on a whole, they did a good job.

The work went very well. They responded to our needs very quickly and had the repair done within a couple of days. They showed up on time and did the work they said they would do. We had no further issues with the condensation.

Selected DAL early in the summer of 2012 to do the work.The plan was to start work at the end of October and have everything copleted before a business trip in November. In spite of this stated need, they did not push to get everything ready (contract signed, building permit received, workmen scheduled) in a timely manner. When they removed the old decking, they discovered that the existing joists were inadequate and the entire substructure needed to be rebuilt resulting in a Change Order. Not until after the sub-structure was rebuilt did they order and take delivery of the new decking. The boards turned out to be warped so they re-ordered through a different retailer. These too were warped at which time it was determined by the regional distributor that all supplies of this particular decking in Chicagoland were warped. Fortunately, the distributor was able to supply a comparable alternative. However, by the time this was delivered, i had to depart on my business trip. They continued the work in my absence,but I had to worry about what was happening while travelling in England and India. In the end, some of the work had to be deferred to Spring. In April, 2013 work resumed and the next problem was that the stair repair work that they had proposed turned out to be inadequate. Another Change Order and the stair was rebuilt. In the end, we received what we wanted, but not without a lot of anguish. We also wonder whether, if the problem issues had been recognized from the beginning, the job would have cost less. Of course, the three other contractors who looked at this project also missed considering the possibility of the problems and didn't propose anything different.