Renaissance Man, LLC

They have been wonderful so far. They are very prompt. Everybody is very professional and kind. They are here at the same time every morning, and they leave at the same time every evening. When he tells me that a job will be done at a certain time, within a certain time frame, it should be done.

Overall, it was another bad experience with contractors in New Orleans. It started out great. Thomas is very professional and responsive. He came highly reviewed on Angie's List, which is one of the main reasons we hired him over other options. We picked out the tile, fixtures, and cabinetry before leaving town for Mardi Gras. They started the work so that we would be out of the house for the demo. It was also our only shower, so we wanted to minimize our time without a shower in the house. Everything seemed to be going well. When we returned home and put eyes on the tile work, things started going south. The tile work was very bad. There was excessive lippage everywhere, tile sheets not lined up well, varying grout line widths, and just generally poor, sloppy work. The tile was 1 inch squares used for most of the shower area. We addressed the poor tile work and the mess they left in the house with Thomas. In regards to the mess, he told my wife that he is not a cleaning service.....Okay......In regards to the tile work, he agreed that several areas were of poor work quality, and he would redo them. The areas that he agreed to redo amounted to probably half of the areas we had problems with. We really just wanted the whole thing ripped out and redone. We knew that was excessive and he wouldn't do it, but it was that bad. When the same worker that originally laid the tile came to redo the tile, we were skeptical. Sure enough one of the areas that he redid looked just as bad and maybe worse than it had. There was now a jagged piece of tile sticking out of the wall.....Great, I can cut myself in the shower now.......I showed this to Thomas and he had no excuse for the poor work quality and again agreed to fix it. Around this time my wife and I had had enough of this tile layer and quite frankly didn't want to leave him alone in the house fixing our tile for the third time for fear of retribution taken against our house or our dogs. Thomas pulled him out and brought in another worker to finish all the tile repairs and remaining work. The remaining work was performed to our satisfaction. There was some miscommunication with our plumbing provider as to when the fixtures would arrive that was completely the plumbing providers fault and not Thomas's. So we had to unexpectedly wait an extra week or so for a shower. Thomas did have the plumbers rig up a temporary handheld device for us. When the fixtures finally arrived, it was discovered that the rough in plumbing in the wall was not done correctly. Mind you we had picked out the plumbing before any work started and the information was available as to what plumbing was required. Whether or not the plumbing supplier provided that to our plumbers or if our plumbers asked for it is none of my concern. This is why I hired a general contractor, Thomas, so I wouldn't have to micromanage such issues. Long story short, they had to go in through our living room wall to correct the plumbing in the bathroom so they wouldn't have to rip out the tile work in the bathroom to fix it. After the drywall was installed, I asked Thomas about the large gap between the new drywall and the trim around the door frame and window frame. It was there because they had replaced plaster and lathe with just drywall. I wondered why they hadn't shimmed it so it would match up with the trim. He agreed to rip some trim and install it to alleviate the gap. It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look great. I got the feeling that if I hadn't brought it up, there would still be a gap in to which you could easily slide your hand between the drywall and trim. I expected items such as this to be handled with more grace gained through years of experience with older homes, and not by slapping up some pieces of trim. The rest of the project went fairly smoothly only having to deal with snide remarks from Thomas about how picky we are and "are we sure this is up to our HIGH standards?" To sum up our experience, we hired a general contractor so that we would not have to hire individual contractors based on Angie's List reviews and micro manage an entire bathroom renovation. We also did not have time to perform the work ourselves especially having only one full bath, but we could have done as good a tile job or better in the bathroom. We pay an expert to do something so it looks better than what we can do, not so it looks like a THIRD GRADER did it.....We assumed Thomas would have workers that he had used and trusts to perform the work. We did not feel this was the case with the tile work. We wonder if this was the first time Thomas had worked with this individual. He agreed that a decent amount of his work was substandard, so why he would continue to hire him is beyond me. Without the substandard tile work, this review would be much better. Everything snowballed starting with the bad tile work into issues with every other facet of the project. I expect things to go wrong on projects and that is fine. It is bound to happen, but not on the scale it did in this case. Lack of attention to detail is the single largest complaint I have of the work, and it permeated into every facet of the job. Thomas fixed most of the major issues we had with the work, but we shouldn't have had issues to begin with. That is what we expected, and we were disappointed.

I've used him before and the job went smoothly. This time, I was charged for 2 men @$250 each per day and one basically sat around for the entire job. After a few days of this and less than stellar work, I had someone else come to finish the job and fix the crappy sheetrock work.

Thomas and his crew were absolutely amazing! They are professional, accommodating, and timely. Thomas said the job would take 2.5 weeks and he was not only right on target, his results were exceptionally great. The bathroom finishes were perfect and all my wants were addressed even when it meant deviating from the initial plan. The crew was professional, clean , and trustworthy. I was able to leave them keys to the house, go to work, and know that the safety of our family was protected. Thank you Thomas for your commitment to our satisfaction!

We could not be more satisfied with the results of our kid's new bathroom. Thomas was very knowledgeable and helpful. He was extremely prompt in communicating. I could always get a quick answer by email or text, so things moved forward at a brisk pace. He said the bathroom would take 3 weeks and it actually did! He will tell you up front you have to have all of your items ready when he starts so you are not waiting for things to be shipped. So for some of our choices we got what was in stock at Lowes and Home Depot and it was fine. Towards the end of the bathroom renovation, Mardi Gras break was approaching. We had several rooms where our ceiling texture was not applied properly and had started peeling. Thomas and his crew reapplied our whole ceiling during the break, while we moved out and it looks wonderful. While we were out of the house I thought our wood floors looked dull. His floor guy buffed and put a coat of polyurethane and when people come over, they think we changed our floors. For the first time in years, we do not have a list of home projects we need to do. I definitely recommend Thomas and will use him for all future home renovations.

Excellent experience with Thomas Koch! He made so many great recommendations during the entire process. Very accommodating with our requests for additional projects. We were very happy with his electrical and plumbing contractors. We still can't believe what a gorgeous bathroom we have. Perfection! We highly recommend Thomas and plan to use him again for our upcoming kitchen project.

They had to do some deconstruction which created lots of dust. They covered everything in plastic before starting so the clean up was very easy. They also taped construction paper to the hardwood floors and walked on the paper to keep my floors nice. They showed when they said and worked steady all day for about 3 days. A couple of issues came up that we didn't expect - like the outlet wasn't connected they way it should have been. It was a simple fix and no drama. Thomas clearly loves his job.

The laborers arrived on time and worked very efficiently and diligently. The start and completion date were "as projected." Undoubtedly, the finished product added HUGE curb appeal to my humble abode. In fact, my neighbors comment how nice the new driveway looks. In the future, I plan to hire The Renaissance Man to update my bathroom, renovate my laundry room and enlarge my master bedroom. Fondly, Simonne from Metairie, LA

Thomas and his crew were very responsive to all of our needs. He understood all of our needs and had excellent suggestions to solve sum water problems due to leaks. The crew showed up on time, worked hard all day, and cleaned up at the end of the day. Thanks Renaissance Man for a job well done,

It has already been a year since Thomas (Renaissance Man) remodeled our house, and we are just as happy now with the result as we were with the process. All the work is of the highest quality and is beautiful. We really enjoyed working with Thomas; he is warm, intelligent and personable and genuinely loves what he does, and it shows.

excellent job done and quickly

Overall really good experience. Set a date to start and started on that date. Gave an estimated time table for completion and was only off by one day, which is very good considering. If you know what you want design wise I feel Thomas can make it happen, and was comfortable working in an old 1850's building. I did get multiple bids and will say his was not the cheapest. I've learned in the past the hard way on that one. I liked how detailed his bid was compared to all the others with everything broken down- labor, materials, etc. I felt like I knew exactly what I was paying for, compared to just getting a list of what was going to be done and a total dollar figure at the end. The remodel looks great and I've received many compliments on it.

My experience with Thomas Koch, Renaissance Man, LLC, was excellent from day one. I bought the duplex in January, 2014 and spent 2 months interviewing contractors and sub-contractors. I wanted to save money by not hiring a general contractor; the last time I renovated a house, 20 years ago, I hired a general contractor and paid him hand over fist without knowing better. Although Thomas is a general contractor and has excellent sub-contractors, he didn't mind if I hired my own sub-contractors; he even helped me coordinate the Electrician, HVAC Co., Plumber and Floor man. You have to understand, I'm a perfectionist who had never personally overseen a renovation to this extent before. I didn't know how to do it, and I was very nervous. All I knew is I had to keep within my budget. The most frustrating part about finding workers is getting the quotes. They would come to the house, listen to everything I wanted to do and leave, only to send me a quote 3 weeks later. By that time, they had forgotten what they had actually seen, and their quotes didn't include everything. I couldn't compare apples to apples with these guys, because they were so disorganized with their quotes, and I couldn't trust the quote, since they obviously had forgotten what work we had discussed. Thomas was very efficient. He quoted me quickly on what I needed done. He kept to the quote and didn't nickel and dime me. Of course I made changes, and there were some unexpected issues, but the change order prices were quite fair. Change orders are a perfect opportunity for contractors to gouge you, because you're in the middle of the job and they know you are somewhat over a barrel. Thomas never took advantage and never got frustrated with my changes. Overall, Thomas gutted and re-modeled kitchens, removed wallpaper from walls, re-mudded plaster, patched plaster and sheetrock from holes made by the electrician, moved a closet, re-screened porches, patched and refinished floors, did some tile work and painted the interior of this 4 bedroom, 2 bath duplex. Thomas and his men were professional, always showed up, cleaned up well (although not everyday), did excellent work , began the job within 2 weeks of being hired and finished in record time. Even after the last check had been paid and the job was complete, he would come back to do little jobs for me, like fixing damage the moverscaused, such as broken windows and banged up walls. It really wasn't the movers fault. That refrigerator was just too big! I highly recommend Renaissance Man, LLC and would use them again.

I met Contractor Thomas Koch at his rather significant renovation project on a historic building. After a tour of his renovation, we discussed how he moved load bearing walls about to improve the functioning of the interior space. I was impressed as he spoke not as a "contractor" but as a craftsman and an engineer. He looked at my drawings and drove to my site and gave me his estimates. They were spot on and his crew started work as promised. They accommodated any challenges at the job with professionalism and without "change orders". The work proceed as planned and his men made improvements when ever any "surprises" came up. Thomas Koch, Contractor, is a true Renaissance Man. Having lived abroad, he speaks 5 languages. He is a true visionary but he focuses on details. He leads by example. His craftsmanship is outstanding. He has the highest integrity. His word is his bond. No question that Renaissance Man, LLC, has a sterling reputation.

Every aspect of the work was handled in an extremely competent and professional manner. Thomas is knowledgeable, friendly, humorous and extremely diligent. As important, he is very responsive. Most often he would answer my calls himself, if not he would get back to me in minutes. There was never a time over the two months of the most recent renovation that I didn't know exactly what was happening and when. The most recent renovation ran into several problems, none of which were caused by Thomas. Nonetheless, Thomas not only adapted to the problems, including rearranging his whole schedule, but helped solve other vendors' problems. Moreover, he did much of the additional work caused by these problems for free or for very reasonable additional charges. Throughout, he never lost his good humor and professionalism. The quality of his work was excellent. If anything was not exactly the way my wife and I wanted it he would cheerfully adjust to our satisfaction. Since Katrina we hear mostly negative comments about contractors. Thomas is a clear exception. We have several other projects to do in our house and we would not trust them to anyone but Thomas. Another point worth noting. Thomas is very honest and straight forward, he doesn't beat you down with details in his estimate or try to set you up for costly change orders, he treats such things flexibly and fairly, which I cannot say for other contractors we initially contacted. All of the others, particularly the larger ones, provide a very detailed estimate that seems impressive at first glance. Then when you read it you notice a lot highly technical and precise descriptions of the work that the estimate covers. Now that we have done two renovations it is clear to me that those descriptions are set up for change orders. I had no knowledge of what those descriptions meant, sheet rock finish is sheet rock finish, right? No, the finish the estimate is based on is one that will be unacceptable so the one you want will cost more. This is throughout the estimate. None of that with Thomas. He is very clear with you about these things and tells you in advance so you can get an accurate estimate. All-in-all, my highest recommendation for Thomas: A++

We were very pleased with the way the project turned out. He did just what we asked for and for a great price given the scale of the project, the labor involved, and the materials we wanted.

With Thomas, I found someone who actually was good, fast and cheap. He and his crew were always on time and went above and beyond to fix unanticipated issues and not extra cost. They did a fantastic job and even finished ahead of time, for far less than what other contractors quoted me. I'd recommend Thomas to anyone, and hope to work with him again in the future.

The workers were professional and Thomas was response to all my nerves, questions and sighs. ( I hate remodeling). They finished on time (Yay) and on budget.

After finding them here on Angie's List, I have now used Renaissance Man 3 times in the last year. I have been quite happy with the services so far. Previously I had bathroom vents installed in 2 bathrooms (that both vent to outside), some A/C and heater work done, and just last week I had a walk in shower torn out, new liner installed, and newly retiled. For each project, the contractor Thomas, will explain (an re-explain if needed) and answer any questions or concerns I have. If I leave him a voice mail, he always returns my call promptly. I never feel as though he is selling me anything. I tell him my issue, he tells me all his thoughts and suggestions, and I come to my own decision with confidence that I am making the best call. His crew replaced the tiled shower and did a few other miscellaneous sheetrock items around the house all while we were out on vacation. They kept my pets out of the work area as requested, and all work was done on time. I feel they have been SPOT ON in the telling me how long a job would take as well. I get the impression from my phone calls to him that he is always following up and checking in on his crews jobs. I know he followed the progress at my house as well, by things he said. He is really what you want in a contractor, and I will continue to use Renaissance Man as needed.

Renaissance Man (Thomas Koch) responded to my phone call and gave me an estimated cost for the work I wanted done. The work consisted of updating an existing bathroom including replacing a tub and vanity and tiling around the tub. He followed this up with a written estimate. The work began promptly and was completed on time and for the estimated cost. I was very happy with the work schedule as having major work done on a house is disruptive even under the best circumstances. The bathroom looks great and is functioning as designed. I would recommend him for this work and would use him again.

It all went well. it turned out to be a bigger job than originally thought. Thomas and his employees stayed at it until the problem was discovered and the tile work was redone. He was especially helpful in finding the best tile to bring our bath back to its original beauty.

Thomas was very responsive when I initially called. He actually answers the phone, somewhat of a miracle in itself in New Orleans. I made an appointment for him to come by and estimate the job. He turned up when he said he would and gave me an estimate and time frame for doing the job. I provided the materials, all purchased from Lowes which included tile, grout, backer board, backer screws, etc. I also removed the old tile and backer board (not a job I would recommend) which saved a lot of money. Thomas also said that I could lay the backer board myself and save some more money. I didn't do that. We had 2 of Thomas' guys at the house each day, the same two each day. They started on a Saturday at 8:30am and worked until 5pm. They did this every day and finished the sealing of the grout on Thursday morning. They left the area clean when they left and did an excellent job. Thomas does all remodeling projects and will be the first person I call when I want anything else doing. I had a couple of other quotes which were a little more expensive but included materials.

Thomas came very soon after I talked to him. He even called or texted if a few minutes late. His crew arrived on time . They were very polite, and worked hard and quietly. They did everything on the contract and more. I will use them again soon & would highly recomend Thomas to all.

We often use the cliche, "Nice to've met you," but I can honestly say that I'm glad I got the chance to meet Thomas Koch. I'm not local, and had to try to find an honest contractor who could transform a closet into a shower and a game room into a bedroom for my mother, who can't get up the stairs anymore due to illness. Most of the contractors told me they'd give me a bid at Thanksgiving and work us in next year. Thomas was here the same day, gave me a fair price, showed up on time and got quality work done by the agreed upon date. He "worked around" any number of issues to make it all happen. If that wasn't enough, he made a point to visit w/ Mom every day, have a cup of coffee with her and make her feel special. You can't go wrong, he's a gem.

The owner, Mr. TK -- I think -- responded to an email inquiry very promptly. I was off on the day that he called and he made arrangements do meet for for an estimate that very day. He was very impressive and had a good handle of the problem, even inspecting underneath the house to give a very complete estimate. His rates were very competitive. He responded quickly to revise his estimate as more details came in. Overall, I was really impressed. The other owner of the building wanted to go with another contractor, so I didn't end up working with Renaissance, but I'm sure that I'll call them again in the future.