Steve E Valenti Builders Inc

He was fabulous. He was able to squeeze in a glass shower into a tight space as I live in an older Victorian style home. He did a wonderful job. I was very happy with the work.

They have been doing a very good job. They've been a little more expensive than I would have liked. They had the lowest bid by a substantial amount but once he got started he had to revise his bid because it was clear that the work was larger than he anticipated. We had a sixty percent increase in our bid cost and that was disappointing because he kind of ran around the whole bid process. The other ones I think were better at biding and it's not that Steve didn't know what he was doing. It's just that Steve was not willing to see the issues that really were there. If I had gotten five bids and they were all equal to Steve than I was just simply to go by quality.

Overall, Steve is wonderful to work with. He works at maintaining the budget of the project . He is easy to work with, very professional and works with a great team of sub contractors.

I think they gave us a comparable quote, but we went with someone we had worked with before. I have no idea how much the quote was for, but it was comparable. I don't think there was anything they could have improved on. They came on time when they had told us they would come and see the place. If I remember right, they are the company that we weren't home for so we had asked them to drop the quote off and they were pretty prompt about it. We had some questions and they didn't really answer them too well, but they were really good.

No large renovation project is without its trials and tribulations (e.g. "what do you mean the bamboo shipment has been held up for two weeks, we have in-laws coming to stay...") especially when you are living in it and through it and having never done anything so major before it was particularly helpful to have Steve as our guide. He clearly loves transforming living space, pays close attention to detail, and considers every material, ever detail and ever choice. Working with him was like going to a good restaurant in Italy where you don't just pick items from a menu you have an open discussion about the comparative merits of this or that ingredient so when the end result is there you end up appreciating it all the more because you have learned so much as you went along. My wife is was trained as an architect and it was something to watch the two of them go over the details of the plan. His patience and engagement, clear pride and delight in the finished project, made the process a positive one (although I would never wish two back to back renovations on anyone). We were also appreciative of the respect his sub-contractors had for his judgment and quiet insistence on the highest possible quality. One gets to live somewhat more intimately than one would like with the different teams of tradespeople that got involved, but you could also see that they also respected his opinion. You knew Steve's hand on the project was firm. From time to time, he would take on specific tasks to do the work himself to ensure it met his standards and I think this helps to differentiate him from general contractors who are more project managers. If you are looking for someone to work with you, listen to you, help you navigate the choices especially if you are interested in investing in a energy efficiency and "green" design, than Steve is a great choice.