BW CONSTRUCTION & HOME IMPROVEMENT INC

I employed BW Construction to do a major remodel/renovation on my 100 yr old home and they were fantastic. The work was exceptional, ON TIME, ON BUDGET, and the people are kind, skilled and professional. I have had them back for several projects and my experience has always been the same. I have also recommended them to numerous friends looking for a trustworthy, skilled group. I highly recommend them, and will never call anyone else.

20 Jan 2020 I’ve gone through a near two-year period of recovery and home improvement effort following a July 2017 EF1 storm. This recovery effort ranged from immediate drying/demolition, complete re-roofing, extensive additional demolition and reconstruction of a major part of a historic home (two levels, bathroom, etc.). This involved a significant amount of Pella windows/doors, standing seam roof, oak flooring, porcelain flooring, extensive electrical and bathroom, etc. Beyond storm recovery, opportunity was taken to replace all windows in the house (all Pella material), complete residing (James Hardie), concrete and wrought iron work. Pretty substantial effort. In the end, a gross estimate valued between $350-400K all inclusive. Overall, a job pretty well done by all, in the end, it was just unnecessarily difficult to accomplish. After initial demo/drying, the newly architected design (which was a pretty miserable failure in and of itself) was competed between three similarly qualified candidates (and really only two in the end) and the final award decision went to BW Construction & Home Improvement of Roselle, IL. They served as General contractor for the majority of the job, providing general carpentry and relying on a myriad of their subcontractors, valued at well over $200,000, with add-ons and extensions exceeding $250,000 (incl some work beyond storm damage). I’m going through this effort of documentation in the hopes that no one knowingly has to go through the same/similar experiences that I did, one which really should have been very enjoyable and memorable. Instead, it was absolutely miserable for me. I’ll keep it relatively short here in the overview, and include much more in a detailed appendix (available upon request for discussion), including inarguable facts and pictures of evidence, since I’m 100% positive that every last little bit will be denied through unsubstantiated sales fluff and lies (sort of the same thing, more of the same)! I think that the primary take-away here is not necessarily about quality, although there is no quality function (quality control or assurance), as in zero, throughout the BW organization, and it shows, or about workmanship, although the workmanship varies from reasonably good on one day, followed by numerous days of terrible, absolutely unacceptable, workmanship. The inconsistencies are incredible! Numerous examples of evidence of what this all refers to is included in the appendix. The primary take-away is all about deceit though, dishonesty and defrauding the public. A pretty tough situation to deal with, but I think it’s very important for people to understand! Hopefully, by being aware of this, a similarly miserable experience will be avoided. The primary illustration of this, and certainly the most blatantly obvious, is BW’s claim of being a “certified” Hardie installer (Hardie has absolutely no idea who BW Construction is!). I based my decision to continue with BW (beyond the original storm related work) for the residing work based on their claims of being Hardie certified on their website. This dishonesty and misrepresentation cost me tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention the headaches, anxiety and frustrated sleepless nights to have the work redone by a truly qualified Hardie “preferred” contractor (they actually don’t have “certified” contractors, as claimed by BW), in order to recover from the loss of warrantee from Hardie that BW produced through incorrect installation. A real concern of mine is not really that for me, but for others. Whatever the percentage of BW’s work is siding, those customers paid for extremely substandard work. If you had the Hardie product installed (BW’s recommendation and actually an excellent choice), you’re out of luck if there’s some reason to leverage the warrantee in the future (ask Hardie, as I did!). It wasn’t installed anywhere near per the Hardie standards and is very likely doing serious harm to the home! BW is not only not close to being qualified for residing a home, they know absolutely nothing about the installation standards as established by Hardie for their awesome product! The BW work actually failed final Village inspection, leaving me with a bag of garbage to deal with (as a very small consolation, I’m glad to have withheld a very miniscule final payment, against their very strong insistence!). I encourage you to pay very serious attention to the payment vs progress schedule if you end up engaging them, their approach is childish and you lose (as is the case with several of their subprocesses - purchasing, subcontracting, etc. for example)! They left for good w/o calling for inspection, much less seeing it through. Now it’s clear why they did that! I get the feeling that that is a well-established standard process of theirs, after seeing it executed precisely the same, more than once! These problems were all unveiled after I contacted them to let them know of some unfinished siding detail in a very weather sensitive area of the house. This was just one of the numerous areas the final inspection deemed “unfinished” (highlighted in the appendix, the wording was actually “not complete”, by the inspector). BW repeatedly claimed that it would be “fine” by the lead carpenter and the owners. During the pursuit of a qualified siding contractor, and a real preferred Hardie contractor, innumerable violations to the Hardie installation instructions were revealed by multiple contractors, any one of which violated the manufacturer warrantee! The good news is that the work and rework has been completed, accepted by the customer and set to pass Village inspection. In addition, and maybe most importantly, was a very valuable learning experience. The bad news is that it took substantial personal effort, unplanned for, and very expensive, also unplanned for (tens of thousands of dollars). I don’t think there’s any room to deal with dishonesty in this area, and BW Construction has been at it, well established in their business culture, for a long time! Good luck on your project, it needs to be fun!

BW Construction are the varsity team.

Jason and Scott arrived on time and immediately got to work. They replaced the sunroom door, caulked the entire room inside and out where it was needed, and also repaired a window. They cleaned up the work area completely when the job was done. Both were very professional and helpful.

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Great consultative approach to our window replacement. Was a big believer in the product and was patient as we worked through our condo association.. Efficient and clean and the work has stood up very well.

Due to injuries with a member of the crew, our job was postponed. We continued to wait for BW to due extremely high recommendations. BW was the most expensive quote we received. Given the great reviews we heard and the premium we paid, we expected a significant level of service beyond an average general contractor. In the end, the work performed was of great quality. The guys that came over where extremely professional and on-time. However, we did have a few disappointing issues: (1) Tile was initially laid on an uneven bathroom floor, no communication of needing to level the floor prior to laying the tile was made. The tile needed to be removed, the floor leveled, and new tile installed. We were happy to pay for the cost to level the floor as it was not initially included in the contract. However, we also covered cost of additional tile. We would have expected BW to communicate that the floor was uneven and the tile would not look correct prior to it being installed the first time. (2) We provided the team with a key for the door and confirmed 1 key was sufficient. Without our permission, BW simply hid the key under our door mat each day after they left. (3) We inquired whether a couch left in the basement needed to be moved prior to the renovation. They said it did not, but it was left uncovered during renovation. Tool bags were consistently left on it. We needed it professionally cleaned after renovation was complete.

BW did a fantastic job building a wood framed gable roof over our patio, which tied into our existing house roof. Great communication from start to finish. Crew was extremely punctual, friendly and neat. The quality of work is second to none and it looks like the roof extension has always been there. We are extrememly happy with the final result at a reasonable price.

The gentleman that came to my house to do the estimate was prompt, courteous and really listened to my concerns. He went through what needed to be done as well as the different types of windows out there. I will definitely use them once my insurance check comes in.

We assume the job wasn't big enough for him. Would not call again even for a larger job.

Contacted BW for a bid on windows, siding, doors, and general construction after reviewing Angie's List reviews, BBB page, and getting a referral from a friend/neighbor. Only contacted top-rated contractors in the local area, and BW product quality were right in line with the other bids we received, though their prices were a bit high on the vinyl windows and siding. The reasons we did not end up choosing them for the job are (1) another company's windows were the best we have ever seen, (2) that same company offered an unbeatable price for the siding product we wanted as a package deal, and (3) BW's prices for vinyl productions were a bit high. Despite ending up choosing another company for the job, we were impressed with BW'S prior work and products. We will definately have them bid on other reno work in the future.

Crew was polite, friendly and did a great job on a three day project, would definitely use this company again. Nice work done for a fair price.

I have used them a number of times and they are very good. They are responsive and they do good work. They also charge good prices.

They did a good job. The people working in this company are credible, and we do not worry about them not showing up or not doing a good job.

When the day arrived (on the day specified and on time) a team of workers came, took out the first window moved it to the new area and installed the new larger bow window. The first window was stained. They moved it with such perfection there was not a mark on the window. All of the team, with two remaining, left. The other two men finished up because they needed to put a roof with shingles on the outside of the house for the window since it was bow window. They also put all of the trim around the windows. The next time I used BW Construction was when I had a gas fireplace installed. The installation was halted by the Fireplace installers because the junction box for the electricity was in the way. We called BW for an electrician and the next day he came out, moved the junction box and fixed the dry wall that had been cut in and you would never know work had been done. When I needed new pella casement windows throughout my house, I called BW again, after seeing the fine work they had done with the other window. They again came with a crew and in two days everyone was gone. They installed 3 bow windows and three sets of three casement windows in each room, with trim. The casement windows were larger than the original windows. These were all wood. Again, they left everything spotless and the job was perfect. I've had the windows since 2008 and they have never leaked. The next time I used BW was for a complete kitchen remodel. Bob came and we discussed ideas. He suggested places that I should look at cabinets, countertops, fixtures, floor and tile from. He did say you could order from anyone you wanted but that he had a good relationship with these dealers. The person with the cabinets laid out the plan for our approval. Bob suggested that I purchase all of the appliances ahead of time and have them delivered and waiting in the garage for when the men were ready for them. Everything was coordinated perfectly. BW said they would come on Oct. 4 and be out by Thanksgiving and that is what happened. I was able to have Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone walks into the kitchen and comments on the craftmanship. The last time I used BW was to install Trex railings. Again the job was perfectly done.

Our twenty year old house was in need of new windows. Bob Willis stopped by my house, measured all of my window openings, and quickly got back to me with the quote. Once the window were in, a date was scheduled for install. He told me how many days it would take, and what to expect. His guys were very professional and pleasant to have in my home. They arrived as scheduled and cleaned up each day before leaving. I have a seven window, bow window that they had to build on site. Our bow window turned out beautifully! There was a follow-up by a painter, who touched up spots around the windows upon completion. In the Fall, I was having trouble getting one of the windows locked, one of his crew stopped by and showed me the trick to getting it locked. We were very pleased with every aspect of this companies work!

I solicited three bids. BW was the middle one in terms of price, but I felt that they had a good attitude and good approach to the work. Plus I had used them before, to replace a window with a rotten frame. It turned out that I was right: they were extremely professional and did very high quality work in the bathroom. All the workers were very friendly and respectful; they even got along with my dog! They kept my home clean during the construction, and acted like the most cultured of guests. I felt completely comfortable leaving them alone in my home while I went to work. They completed the work as specified, and the bathroom is beautiful. We even hit a few snags that I thought might require "extra" work (and extra fee), but no; they just took it in stride and got the job done. My one tiny negative is that the work took longer than I had hoped. It was almost two full weeks, which seemed kind of slow to me (not that I'm an expert; maybe that is normal). But they showed up every day (even Saturday and Sunday!), and were always working hard. So I can't fault them for not going as fast as possible. I think they are just that meticulous, which is a good thing, after all. And in the long run, it's the quality of the work that counts, not the speediness of the process. We are extremely happy with our new bathroom, and will definitely ask them to bid again when our next remodeling job pops up.

They were very good with window installation. I also contacted them for step railing and gutter heaters, to which I had to call back on those two things. They did however take care of the issue.

The quality was excellent as well as their professionalism. We would recommend them.

Bob came to my house on time and gave me an overview of the window installation process a few days later I got a proposal. After I compared Pella to Marvin, I decided to go with Marvin, which they don't install (Pella Certified Contractor). I'll definitely call them back when looking for other remodeling projects.

They did very well and I was pleased with the work they did. I did a lot of research and it took a long time to find them, but they did everything they said they would do and they did it well.

They were very nice and thorough. Their estimate wasn't broken down into labor vs. materials, which we requested. I wish they would have broken down the bill a little more.

Bob actually responded unlike some other companies that I called for the installation. They came out and measured, ordered the window from Pella, and installed it. So far no leaks. They showed up on time. The installers were courteous and careful. I may use them again to replace my front door.

They were excellent craftsman. They paid very close attention to detail. They finished the job on time and paid special attention to the fact that I was on a deadline to have to project completed. They cleaned up after themselves at the end of each day. I have used them in the past for installation of large sliding glass door and they did a great job then too and I am scheduling another window project for them in the near future.

Pretty well! They said it would take one day -- it took one day. The price was what they said the price would be (it was no deal -- partly Pella's fault and partly that the contractor didn't extend any of their discount to us either (which I'm assuming they get) -- that's why a "Fair" in price. I liked these guys a lot. There were small courtesies that would have been nice: Bob, the contractor, promised to stay until the doors were on the 4th floor. He didn't stay. I saw him drive off (he didn't say good-bye), and if he would have stayed maybe the doors wouldn't have gone through the stairwell. Michelle, my Pella contact, couldn't come out to look at the job. She called to tell me (fine). She said she'd call today and didn't get to it. I called her. The guys could have told me they were going to lunch, asked which bathroom to use, etc. These are small things. Overall these guys R solid