Sill Work & Structural Repairs

Always a great job done!

Over all, very well. I called Mr. LaPlante, and he pick up his cell phone while on another job, and made an appointment to see me. He came ready to get down in to a crawl space with knee pads and light. Mr. LaPlante inspected the whole of the crawl space, made recommendations while discussing what he saw were problems. He asked that I take down the old insulation so he may get a better look at what was happening. I did so and he met me once again to get a closer positive look. He wrote up a proposal. Detailed with what he was going to do to fix the problem. His price seemed fair. I did get other quotes, but his ideas seemed more in line with what needed to be done. Mr. LaPlante gets town permits. Which I like, and also gets the work inspected by the building department in the town. I like that kind of integrity and checking. The floors were brought closer to level without destroying everything. The house seems more than adequately supported, and I can't for see it ever moving again. He did extra work that was not in the proposal to better my home like insulating under the tub. He cleaned up my yard when he was done. He's a nice fella who likes to talk, and I enjoyed meeting with him. He called almost everyday he worked to let me know about the progress. Only one thing. He might not start on time because he likes to finish previous jobs. I didn't see this as a problem, because I got the same service when it was my turn. His help is his son whom I have not met. I would recommend this outfit for structure repairs.

Rene was great to work with and his craftsmanship and helpfulness were stellar. At first, we wanted Rene to provide an estimate on sill repairs that we needed completed. At the initial site inspection, he was very thorough at explaining the work required and answered all of our questions. He said up front that he would handle the required paperwork for the town inspection of the repair. That willingness to handle inspection logistics was impressive and very helpful. While he reviewed the aforementioned sill repairs, he noted other structural improvements we could make to reinforce current supports. We also asked him to patch up and close a floor vent, replace several windows, and install a wall frame for an air vent. All in all, we asked him to do many more things than we initially had planned. And we are happy with every single one. Rene was very good about ordering all the required items. And he and his son came out multiple days to complete the work. We appreciated his scheduling flexibility, especially when one day had much less than hospitable weather. Also, we felt his pricing (given his attention to detail and service) was very reasonable. His knowledge, helpfulness, and timely responses were top notch. We would certainly use his services again.

We were very pleased with Rene. Comunication was excellent. He was punctual and cleaned up more than anyone could expect. He takes pride in his work and it shows. We were a little hesitant at the cost initially but feel he was well worth what he charged. He went above and beyond to do an excellent job.

Rene is extremely knowledgable about this area and came up with several creative fixes for our complicated job. We had some foundation issues which he was very helpful with. Our structural engineer was very impressed with his knowledge and expertise. Rene was very efficient and stayed in constant communication with us about the project. We feel very lucky to have found him and recommend him heartily without any reservations!

We did not need to hire him because the job we thought we needed done we did not. He was honest with us and we were so grateful we had him come out and look at it!! He was great! It's so nice to know that there are still honest people in the world!!

I first discovered the condition of the sills this May when I was doing some ?spring cleaning? in the crawl space. Once I saw that the sills looked to be in poor shape, I came back with a screwdriver and was able to easily poke into the west and north sills in several places. In comparison, the east and south walls have no sills - the east wall is built on piers, and the south wall abuts the brick portion of the building. Rene LaPlante has more than met my expectations in replacing the west and north sills of the rear ell. He clearly explained his plan ? the lumber needed, the sequence of events and how he was going to support the house while replacing the sills. In addition, he rebuilt the brick northwest corner where the two sills meet, added concrete pads to better support a portion of the west wall and made sure everything was secure and well attached. In addition to doing the sill replacement, he met with the building inspector for final approval. Given how stressful it was to find that the sills that support the rear ell had to be replaced, it has been a welcome relief to have someone as thoughtful, thorough and resourceful as Rene do the repair work. I interviewed several other "sill specialists" before I found Rene. I chose Rene because a) he himself was the person that was going to do the job - others had "crews" that would appear and whom I would not meet until the job started and b) not the highest price, not the lowest price, but a fair price. Rene was a pleasure to meet and to have work on my historic property.

Rene, Was great to work with. He was prompt, fair, and reasonably priced. He kept me abreast of all the things he was going to do. His work is impeccable and he took great care in our old home (1884).Rene is very detail oriented and takes pride in what he does. The results show this. He was one of the few people who did this type of work that got a permit. To get a permit he must show insurance and any of the repairs are now covered under my Homeowners policy. Buyer beware, if they don't get a permit you may be liable. On a personal level Rene is a pleasant person and very respectful. He understands the concerns of the homeowner. I would highly recommend Mr. LaPlante and have asked him to quote other work at my house. You won't be sorry if you ask Rene.

It went very well. Rene was very responsive, pleasant to work with, reliable, punctual, and completed high quality work. He did what he said he would do when he said he would it. Additionally, he went above and beyond by addressing other issues with the house, including some smalller fixes involving the doors and a deck railing. He also made a point of making the area look better than it did before. I am extremely happy with his work and would certainly work with Rene again.

I thought the sill plate on my newly bought home was slipping out due to rot. Very concerned, I phoned Rene and he asked me questions about the sill plate then agreed to come out to check it out promptly. Once at my home, he quickly assessed the state of the sill plate and laid my fears to rest: the plate was not slipping out; it is fine just getting wet due to leaky shingles. As a side benefit of the visit, Rene gave me recommendations on how to improve ventilation of my shingled home. I found Rene to be a cordial, polite and honest man with obvious expertise in his field.

Rene is one of those rare craftsmen who truly loves what he does and it shows. During our home inspection we discovered that we had extensive damage to two sills due to powder post beetles. We also had a corroded lally column in our garage that needed to be replaced. Lastly, we discovered a "temporary" house jack in the basement that had clearly been there for decades, and we were concerned about the stability of this area, especially as we were about to place an 800 pound piano in the area directly above it. Rene responded quickly to a request for an estimate and spent well over an hour walking through our entire house, understanding and then explaining how the house was constructed and supported. He noticed all kinds of things I had not yet noticed, which was fascinating-- my husband and I started calling him the House Whisperer. "Here's where they pulled the Christmas tree out," he'd say, pointing to a scratched area on the ceiling. "It was a dry tree at that point, you can tell by the marks." And so on. Rene started work about a week or two after we accepted the estimate, and coordinated getting the building permit from our town and organized the inspection after the work was done. He replaced the sills beautifully and quickly, and confirmed that the beetle damage was not more extensive than we had thought. Rene masterfully re-plastered the interior of the walls where they had cracked and even patched a few other hole around the area, unrelated to the job. After the sills were replaced he put down a weather backing and new, primed clapboards and trim to match the rest of the exterior. For the garage support, he jacked up the central garage support area with temporary jacks, removed the concrete/metal lally column, poured a new concrete base (there wasn't one previously), inserted the new column, and even painted it with a rust-proof paint. He even left us a couple of reflective tapes to adhere after the paint dried. In our basement, he removed the temporary jack left by the previous owners and created a beam and post support to go under the joists to add additional support under our piano. We now feel confident about moving our piano in since the previously long run of the joists is better supported to hold that kind of weight. I was very pleased with Rene and his work ethic. He's a chatty but very kind person who loves old houses and how they go together. I highly recommend him and would use him again in a heartbeat. He even adjusted the price for us after he determined the sill work was not as extensive as he'd originally thought in the estimate. What kind of a contractor does that these days?

Rene might just be pathologically conscientious, and can you ask for much more than that in someone doing work for you? Rene did more work than he quoted for (without charge), and even dropped his price on some of the work he did quote for. Hopefully this doesn't set an expectation that he feels the need to meet (sorry Rene!). Just pay the man, you get your money's worth. We had accessible rot under a landing that extended past a wall into a finished room. The others that we took quotes from had no interest in attacking the finished area. We, on the other hand, wanted more than just a whitewashing. Rene went left and right as far as it took to do things right. He also extended his work into a second day to come back and address the multiple issues on the outside of the house (which were identified by him) and thus prevent more water from getting in and causing future problems. We're left feeling that we received a complete fix AND solution, AND that is was at a very fair, straight forward rate. If you are lucky enough, and have the patience to wait, to get on Rene's calendar, we highly recommend him.

Work went smoothly, Rene was very knowledgeable and fully into the job, start to finish. Very thoughtful about the work he does.

Rene was one of the most professional and meticulous people that I have had work on my 1815 house since I have owned it. He came over and spent quite a bit of timing reviewing the issue as going over the work that needed to be down to do the repair. I also had him look at some other items and he provided all of the options on those repairs as well as was honest on what items could wait. I and will definitely have him back to complete that additional work as well. Rene showed up right on time on the day he promised and quickly begin the work. I appreciated him explaining what he was going and I was pleased that the job went very well and on budget. I would definitely highly recommend Rene for any structural work that you may need done. He is a rare find.

Renee is very professional, has fair rates and is a pleasure to work with. We highly recommend him to anyone needing support work/repair for their home.

Rene came over on time and spent time with us looking at the problem we had with the garage sills and gave us a quote for the work. He also noticed that the main support for the loft was tilted and not properly designed. He gave us a quote to fix that too. We accepted his quote and he showed up right on time on the day he promised and got right to work. His work is very meticulous and very professionally done. He was great about explaining what he was going to do and it went very smoothly. It was a 2 day job, and everything was done right and all thoroughly cleaned up. I would definitely highly recommend Rene. A+++.

Rene and has team were professional and worked quickly, but with attention to detail. They restored the foundation and the basement of our old colonial and cleaned the basement of the debris previous owners' had left us. They also found some of the work was taking less time and materials than they expected, so they talked with us and discussed additional things they could do for us in our house. Their honesty and efficiency were very much appreciated and really left us delighted with our choice.