LANCASTER HOME REMODELING

It was so easy to work with John and Kim, and the basement came out great. John was patient in answering our questions and setting realistic expectations about timing and cost. John's craftsmanship and work ethic particularly came through from how much ceiling space John saved for us in the basement through elaborate channels John created for the pipes and the ducts. Both John and Kim were super responsive to our emails, even in the evening and weekends. John also made sure that we were able to use our washer and dryer through the entire process, even when it meant having to come over on Saturday morning to make sure the machines were properly connected after his subcontractors finished their part of the job from the day before. We love our basement, and look forward to having an opportunity to work again with John and Kim.

A year before we hired LHR to renovate our kitchen, we had another contractor renovate an enclosed porch and expand our living room. That experience was so stressful that we wanted to be very sure to get an excellent contractor who would have great communication without blowing our budget. We interviewed 4 other contractors, received quotes and plans, and John's bid was the most reasonable along with excellent reviews. One thing we made very clear from the beginning was that we wanted daily communication and updates. My husband is an electrical/acoustical engineer and was very particular about his design and how cabinets/tile/everything was laid out. The bottom line is that John did an amazing job, stayed UNDER budget, did not nickel and dime us, had great communication through Kim, and stayed right on the timeline. John is professional, pleasant, patient and a jack of all trades. When one of the plasterers accidentally broke an old window pane, John went out and found an old pane of glass that exactly matched our window and replaced it himself. He built the kitchen post himself with beautiful detail. He often came in at 8am and would stay as late as needed including working on Saturdays. Because of our previous experience with another contractor, my husband and I kept a daily log of progress including taking pictures. We were very pleased with the progress and trust him 100%. His subcontractors were also very pleasant and seemed trustworthy. If we had another renovation, we would definitely hire LHR again.

Both renovations from start to finish were managed with strategic planning, coordination, and follow through by John and his team. John's attention to detail, work ethic,and honesty comes through in the finished product. His experience and expertise gives us the comfort and confidence that the work being done on our home was of high quality and integrity. Every detail was covered to ensure all projects were completed to code. What we truly appreciated the most was that John is at your home, day in and day out, from start to finish, and fully committed to finishing the project. While John is working on your project, Kim ensures that all of the other components involved (i.e. permits, inspection, project timing, etc..) are closely coordinated during the renovation. LHR's approach end-to-end ensures that you are receiving the highest quality of service and at an honest price.

In both cases John has done high quality work. He completed projects on time and within budget. In both cases the results exceeded our expectations. John is very professional and it is a pleasure to do business with him. When working on our projects he was open to feedback/change requests, and was specific and forthcoming about a handful of changes that were needed while doing the work. The projects went smoothly in part because John was accessible both in person and off-hours via e-mail. We interviewed a lot of contractors prior to hiring John to do the first project for us. We picked him because he seemed the most realistic, reliable and reasonable of the lot, and we were not disappointed. When looking to do the second project a year later, we did not bother to interview anyone else and went to John directly. I am confident that if we were to do another renovation on the house, John will be the first person we would call.

First the reason I gave them "B" for the Price is because the price was very good - It wasn't a discounted price it was a good price for the quality of work we wanted. It came out to 75/sq ft. That being said, the price was similar to the quotes we received from other contractors. The flooring and the installation in included in this amount even though we had to select/pay for the floor ourselves and have a separate charge for installation. We ended up choosing Lancaster because they had great references both here on AL and outside AL. John (the clerk of works) did the majority of the work which was very well done and excellent. We had our work done during the great blizzard of 2015 - we had expected things to be a mess but John kept the work site clean and tidy - so that in the evening we could inspect the work or see what was going on in the basement. We had no issues with quality, timing, or cleanliness. He was an excellent person to work with and he explained all things well. Kim was very good to work out the logistics -timing, the payments, the contracts, etc. Also, LHR was very good at innovation. They installed a clear bulkhead door to allow more light in the basement. They installed glass block in key places to increase light. They added a hanging sliding door for space. They turned a regulation electrical door into a dutch door. they sound insulated the machine room and the ceiling. They did some clever and cool things. We had three issues during construction- and how John and Kim handled them speaks volumes to their level of professionalism and care to detail. First, the electrician accidentally cut internet cables to our third floor office - after we contacted John, the electrician came to repair the issue. Second, we had wanted a floating floor but John convinced us that was not the best option for the basement. Third, the floor contractor failed to show up to do a small closet floor, so John did the work himself. This last one impressed us because John did the work himself and was here until 10PM to finish the work, all the while apologizing for the floor contractor. We love the space and how it turned out. We hope to contract Lancaster to do other work in the house. I highly recommend John and Kim at Lancaster Home Remodeling. 100%

John is everything you want in a contractor: he’s talented, experienced, honest, reliable, a great communicator, and a creative problem-solver. The work he did transformed our home, and the new living space is both well-built and beautiful. His sub-contractors are, like John, conscientious and do high-quality work. Kim is also terrific: professional yet very friendly, and quick with responses to any inquiries. We will be working with Lancaster Home Remodeling exclusively for all future home projects.

john and kim were great to work with. kim was extremely friendly and responsive to our questions about planning and billing, etc. john finished our 900sf basement, including a full bathroom. he started and finished fairly close to his projected dates and was extremely receptive to our requests throughout the process. my wife (an architect)had drawn up the plans ahead of time and was very particular in her requests. john consistently addressed her concerns, was very willing to adjust things as we went along, and didn't unfairly upcharge us at any point. his fees were reasonable and fair. the work was done partly during the summer when our kids were home much of the time, and we had family visitors as well. john was respectful of our space and time and did the work with minimal disruption to our household. we'll definitely be calling them in the future for other remodeling jobs around our house.

John was a pleasure to work with, from start to finish. He included me in all the decision making which I thoroughly enjoyed. He always cleaned up after himself every day and secured the room so the rest of the house wouldn't get dusty. He hardly ever took breaks even when I expressed concern about how hard he was working. great sense of humor. all in all a most positive experience. I highly recommend him if you want top quality work.

I found the provider on Angie's List. I scheduled the appointment by email after several contacts with Kim. I had to change the appointment a few times due to personal issues. She was very nice and helpful so we could fine the best day for us. And also had a flexible schedule John came to our home to look at our basement and give us a quote to finish the basement. He was very nice and polite. He discussed all the possibilities, pros and cons of different ways to finish the basement. He spend a few hours in our house. After a few days he sent us a quote by email. We decided to go with a different provider at the end but liked the Lancaster Group very much.

Kim and John transformed my basement, which originally was a musty dark basement, into a fabulous bright space with a family room, a frame-out for a large-screen TV, a laundry room and half bath, new windows and doors, soundproof insulation, recessed lighting, and space for bicycle storage plus other storage. After that went so well, I asked John to make my son?s tiny bedroom (which was a great nursery and a not-so-great teenager?s room) into a cool loft bedroom by breaking into the attic for a loft bed with a library ladder leading up to it. John is incredible: he is very patient and communicative, and was willing to listen to any idea that I had, no matter how crazy. I did not work with an architect or a designer on either project ? John had a great eye for designing and transforming both rooms into beautiful, comfortable spaces. Kim is awesome, and always had her finger on the pulse of the project. She emailed me almost every day during both projects, and kept me up-to-date on the schedule from demolition to finishing. Kim and John did an immense amount of work on my house, and I thought both projects were very reasonable in terms of cost. They were very accurate and clear about the estimates. When I tweaked the original plans (which I did often) Kim and John were very transparent about the cost of added materials and labor. I REALLY liked this way of financing the project ? I felt I had financial control over both projects, and I could decide if I had financial ?room? to make any changes. In summary, Lancaster Home Remodeling is awesome in so many ways. I would work with them again in a heartbeat.

Probably cherry picks the jobs as I indicated in my phone message that I wanted only half of my basement refinished. Regardless, everyone is a customer and deserves the courtesy of a call back. Not worth my while to subscribe to Angie's list if the contractors are rude.

Kim Lancaster, who manages scheduling for her husband John, was super responsive and helpful. She answered all of my questions promptly and worked with me to schedule a time for John to come over for an estimate. Unfortunately for me, before we could schedule time to meet he became booked with jobs until Oct. Since I wanted the work done over the summer we decided not to proceed. But fortunately for me, they referred me to another contractor who I plan to hire. Kim was very professional, returned calls and emails quickly, and was kind enough to refer me to someone they trust.

It went very well overall. We provided the tile (very good Italian tile) but found that we ended up with a mismatch in the lot that slowed up the project for a few weeks. DO check each tile to be sure that die lots are compatible.

Outstanding, the quality of their work is great and John is always punctual, patient, and willing to discuss the work he is completing. I highly recommend working with Lancaster Home Remodeling!

The whole process was efficient and too bad the timing will not work for us.

Working with John and Kim was a pleasure. The job began when they said it would and was completed at the estimated time as well. John works on one job at a time and makes sure you are happy before he is done. We had him do some additional work (more lights than we first thought, etc.). John made sure to let us know how much it would before he added it in so there were no surprises. We were very pleased with the outcome of our project and very happy to work with John. We were also very pleased with his sub-contractors. Our job took about 45 days and we felt very comfortable to have John in our home. John made suggestions to improve the job, but was not pushy. John is everything you want in a contractor: he shows up on time, completes the job on time, has great quality work for a very reasonable price and is a pleasure to work with!

John's wife Kim does all the administrative stuff like scheduling/billing etc and she was quick to respond to our initial meeting request. She was very easy to work with. We liked John from the get go. He was always there the minute he said he would be, and personally was a breath of fresh air compared to the contractors we've worked with in the past. He knows his stuff but isn't a "know it all" personality. He offered suggestions, options, and words to the wise throughout the process, and never assumed he knew best without talking to us first. There was a doorway we had requested to be double width and we came home to find that it was a standard width. He didn't point the finger--he actually apologized for his mistake and had it fixed like an hour later. His sub-contractors were remarkably professional, courteous and helpful, many of them going above and beyond the requirements to offer suggestions for things we hadn't considered. When picking a contractor, it's easy to forget about all the subs who will be in and out of your home, and these guys were all top notch. I 100% recommend John for your basement or general remodeling project. I would recommend getting full clarification up front on what the quote includes. Flooring isn't standard for a lot of basement contractors, for example, so don't assume it's included if it's not stated in the proposal. That was the case with the other contractors who gave us proposals as well, so it's a general tip! The best way to summarize the project is to say our basement is beautiful, was finished on time at a price way less than what we expected when we started requesting quotes, and done by people we genuinely enjoyed working with.

John's wife Kim does all the administrative stuff like scheduling/billing etc and she was quick to respond to our initial meeting request. She was very easy to work with. We liked John from the get go. He was always there the minute he said he would be, and personally was a breath of fresh air compared to the contractors we've worked with in the past. He knows his stuff but isn't a "know it all" personality. He offered suggestions, options, and words to the wise throughout the process, and never assumed he knew best without talking to us first. There was a doorway we had requested to be double width and we came home to find that it was a standard width. He didn't point the finger--he actually apologized for his mistake and had it fixed like an hour later. His sub-contractors were remarkably professional, courteous and helpful, many of them going above and beyond the requirements to offer suggestions for things we hadn't considered. When picking a contractor, it's easy to forget about all the subs who will be in and out of your home, and these guys were all top notch. I 100% recommend John for your basement or general remodeling project. I would recommend getting full clarification up front on what the quote includes. Flooring isn't standard for a lot of basement contractors, for example, so don't assume it's included if it's not stated in the proposal. That was the case with the other contractors who gave us proposals as well, so it's a general tip! The best way to summarize the project is to say our basement is beautiful, was finished on time at a price way less than what we expected when we started requesting quotes, and done by people we genuinely enjoyed working with.

They were too busy to provide services to me. Slow to respond to contacts. Offered to suggest other company to do the work, but didn't follow through.

John was one of four contractors we asked to give us estimates on our basement remodeling. We chose him because of his cost estimate and his straightforward manner of dealing. We also checked his references and they were overwhelmingly good. We were also impressed by his wife, Kim, who handles many of the email interactions. She was prompt and courteous in every way. John helped us lay out the perimeters of the room and navigate the choices in terms of size of rooms, and layout of bathroom fixtures and lighting. Much of the construction took place while we, as well as he and his family, were on vacations during the summer. We trusted our home to John while we were away, and we were happy we did. He is very trustworthy and straightforward. We encountered some setbacks due to the local city inspectors and John handled them in a very expedient way. He was very clean and tidy in his work, not creating a large mound of debris or mess in the work area or around the house. We would definitely use him again.

I haven’t done any work with them but I am considering them. They have been professional. I don’t know about their work, but they have been timely when responding and their follow-up has been very good.

He was confident and reliable. He was trustworthy, and he can think for himself and employed people to do the work. The workers were good and he works by himself but he had hired them for working. He is very responsible and capable of doing the work. He did a good work and he was reasonable on the price. I will use him in future.

They were professional and nice but their price lead me to go in a different direction.

Bad weather and a few structural surprises challenged John's crew throughout. They resolved every issue and often worked in the rain. The railing system produced some interesting challenges especially on the stair rails. The work was high quality as was the daily cleanliness of the site. We were very impressed with the comprehensiveness of John's assessment and bid. We are already discussing another project with him.

The project was great from start to finish.