Academy Remodeling

If you are looking to have your job go exactly as planned and envisioned, and performed by a crew that is extremely professional, on-time and takes pride in delivering an excellent result - Academy Remodeling is your company. This project lasted about 4 days and each day we saw meaningful progress. The work areas were kept clean and did not upset the rest of the house. The crew arrive promptly at 8am each day and covered floors and stairs with drop clothes. The final product was excellently executed. We had asked for the new drywall and all construction and woodworking to be 'paint ready' and it was sanded and patched perfectly - just that- ready for paint - with no extra work as we painted ourselves. They were open to and willing to add in some extra items to ensure we were happy as the job progressed. Never a complaint or any issues. Michael McNish is a true pleasure to work with and assisted us develop the project and was in regular contact with me throughout the job. A first rate experience, a first rate result and a first rate company. We look forward to using them again for our next project.

Start to finish was very easy in regards to the estimate. I had many estimators that never responded to my initial contact and some that I never heard from again after coming over. Mr. McNish made the process so easy and I look forward to working with him in the future.

the carpentry job went very well~on time, well prepared and nicely done...one nail was sticking up & Mike came back to fix that... The kitchen faucet installation was excellent~a difficult job well done~we chose & bought the faucet at a wholesaler which Mike recommended~we used his name in order to get a lower price...there was a factory problem w/ the under sink filtration system~during installation Mike immediately got on the phone w/ his contacts & got it resolved...when the new filtration system arrived we offered to pay Mike for his extra time, but he insisted on installing it at no cost to us... Mike is dependable & a pleasant person to have around the house~we will definitely use him again...he responds quickly to requests by e mail or phone, and we feel good about asking him to do future projects...

Michael McNish was very responsive and incredibly accomodating of my need to have the work done on the weekends. In addition, his two workers were terrific, competent, and very neat. the work was done quickly and without event, there was one little problem and mr. mcnish came back that same day for a little tweaking. the whole experience was positive and i would and will absolutely have them back should anything come up in the future.

My wife and I bought a 100 year old row house in DC several months ago. Shortly after moving, we realized that there were some issues with the existing galvanized steel plumbing - which is not unexpected in these old un-renovated homes. Upon removing some of the walling and ceiling in the kitchen to expose the plumbing, we discovered that there was significant structural damage/decay to some of the carpentry around the plumbing, particularly in the kitchen ceiling/upper bathroom floor, mostly due to old construction techniques and moisture-caused wood rot. Prior to calling Academy Remodeling, we consulted with several plumbers and handymen and decided that the only long-term solution for this would be a full renovation of the upstairs bathroom - including a full reflooring - and a significant amount of restoration of the structural carpentry of the kitchen ceiling. Having this grow to encompass a number of significant projects - plumbing, carpentry, flooring, drywall, tiling, etc. - we weren't sure how or where to even start planning for the multiple and simultaneous processes that would be involved in tackling this. One thing that we did know was that this would most likely require a substantial financial investment. After reading reviews of a bunch of reviews on Angie's List, and not getting much usable advice via word-of-mouth, I decided to give Academy Remodeling a call for an estimate. Mike was able to schedule an appointment next-day. He showed up on time, was polite and friendly, and walked us through the various areas of concern in the house. He confirmed the issues that we had documented, but was able to identify several more - including one that was particularly alarming. In addition to helping us scope the 'need-to-do-' items, Mike also have very insightful suggestions for the 'really-should-do' and 'would-be-really-cool-to-do' items, as well as some resources and references to take advantage of while planning. Mike was very attentive and engaging when discussing the various aspects of the project, and his cost estimate seemed very reasonable. We hope to work with him on this project, and potentially on other home improvement projects that we are planning in the future.

Mike is a professional and straight forward guy. An example of this is he asked why I didn't just ask my contractor to do these projects. I had and eventually went this is the direction I went as my contractor reconsidered and agreed to do these tasks. Mike told me he would provide the estimate within a day and he did. The prices are very reasonable. . I should add he was punctual, too! I have no reason to think that his execution would not be as good as his communication and general professionalism which is excellent.

Mike and the two workers were cheerful, courteous, clean and above all professional. They were truly customer oriented and hardworking, as well as fast but still methodical. They were clean on the job and didn't waste time, and problem solved as needed. I feel this is a trustworthy company who knows what they are doing. I'm glad I found them on Angie's List since I was visiting my 85 year young mother for a month and wanted to help her get some things done but we had no idea who to hire or where to start.

Mike provided quick and reasonable estimates and he and his crew were very skilled at carpentry, were always on time and did perfect work.

Michael was very prompt to respond to our request on Angies List. He came quickly and was professional and friendly in discussing our quote. The quote was returned within 24 hours and the price was very fair compared with an alternate quote from another contractor. Upon signing the agreement, Michael had two workers onsite in two days and the job was completed in one day. He was wonderful to work with, trustworthy and incredibly responsive.

Academy had polite and skilled workers. The prices were very good. I met with the owner before they work started; he was very professional. The work was done ahead of schedule.

The most impressive thing about Mike was his and his crew's willingness to change the plan mid-job. I originally planned to construct closet within the existing space of the den. The floor plan to my unit was supposed to have a closet -- but when I explored the option of creating a closet in that space in the past, it appeared that the builder had changed the design of the building and the area was not usable. I asked Mike to cut into the wall and see if he could install a wall safe and possibly a shelf where the closet was supposed to be located. When Mike opened up the wall, it turned out that the space where the closet was supposed to be, was useable. Mike then changed the entire design and stayed within my original budget -- plus installed CB2 glass book shelves on the wall. At my request and mid-job, Mike changed the scope of the contract at least 3 times and Mike always sent me the revised contract the same day. He also was willing to change certain design features that I did not like without changing the overall price of the contract. I will definitely be using Mike again and have already referred him to 2 friends for work in their condo and townhouse. I would also recommend him to women who have had bad experiences with contractors in the past.

Mike McNish, the owner of Academy Remodeling, is an outstanding contractor. For the entire experience, he was responsive, on time, and offered excellent ways of doing the work in the least expensive way. Mike is personable We will definitely use him again. He is knowledgeable about home construction, plumbing, electrical and repairs. His team of workers was also excellent~they were skilled & definitely anxious to meet our expectations. We have already spoken to Mike about resurfacing our deck in the spring & will not hesitate to call him for other jobs in our home.

I found them on Angie's List. They are a great company. They are incredibly responsive. They came on time to do the estimate and held to the estimate. The head guy, who owns the place, just communicates and tells when he is going to be there and he is there. Some of the crew he has been working for him did some phenomenal work. It was all timely and neat. I didn't even know they were here. They went about their business and finished what they said they would finish. It was an excellent workmanship. The price is competitive.

Overall, we had a great experience. Michael and his team were prompt and professional. They worked very diligently to get the job done correctly. The first day they were here, a saw broke which cost them a little bit of time but rather than saying they would come back and finish the next day they stayed late and got the job done. When we had a few questions, they came back until everything was completed to our satisfaction. Michael even went above and beyond and helped us come up with a solution to install a baby safety gate in a tricky spot. We look forward to working with Academy Remodeling again in the future!

We will report how it went overall when the work is completed.

Michael scheduled the estimate in the evening to accommodate my work schedule, showed up on time, provided a thorough and fair written estimate the next day, and was able to schedule the first phase of the work the very next week. It was clear from my interactions with Michael that he was not simply a handyman; he was thoughtful in assessing multiple options for my work and balanced in the approaches we discussed. The work was done quickly, efficiently, and per the original schedule. The quality of the drywall work was as expected: it looks like new construction or better. When the work was done, everything was cleaned and swept up; in fact the room was cleaner when they were done than before they started. Finally, normally I am uncomfortable leaving my home in the hands of contractors when I can't be there, but I felt comfortable giving him a key and letting him come and go as-needed during the process, which worked out well.

Responded immediately to the request for information and scheduled a time for an estimate, worked around our work schedule to show up early on a weekend. Mike arrived on time, spent the time to walk through the entire project. Promptly received estimate at a competitive price. Also explained that one of our choices would increase the cost of the job and suggested a less expensive option if we were interested. Still finalizing our contractor, however our experience so far has been positive.

Mike, showed up on time, cleaned up after done and the stone work was beautiful. His team also did electrical repair and replacement. When a problem arose, Mike came to fix it.

Very successful, time and price as quoted, repair is invisible.

Mike was very responsive in providing his original estimate and updated estimates when we were interested in adding tasks to the job throughout the project and his pricing was very reasonable compared to other estimates we received. Additionally, the final costs held true to the original estimates. Mike was helpful at multiple points in offering suggestions for saving money on certain materials and suggesting alternate vendors for materials we were not as familiar with. We were very pleased with the results of the floor, cabinets, appliance, and moulding installation and we would recommend them to others for future work of this kind. The backsplash installation didn't go as well as planned - in part because the particular tiles we picked out were difficult to work with (many were chipped) but the team doing the installation also didn't seem to pay as much attention to detail as we would have liked with the tiles, so I hesitate to recommend them for this sort of tile work. Mike, to his credit, agreed that the initial work was not well done when he came to see it and wanted us to be satisfied, so he had his team redo various areas until we were comfortable with the end product. In the end, we have a beautiful new kitchen which we truly enjoy using and we have received multiple compliments on its overall appearance.

I found Academy Remodeling extremely easy to work with on this project. I had an Ikea kitchen installed. Mike and his crew spent a lot of un-billed time with me going over my plans, knocking holes in walls to see if we could create extra space, looking for beams and vent exits, etc... so that I could create a workable plan at the time of instillation. Mike never raised an objection to any of my plans, including my building the cabinets along with his crew as they installed them. As a woman I found he and his crew extremely respectful and agreeable to any last minute changes that I wanted made. I never received any "attitude" from them, even after I asked them to basically destroy a full days worth of work due to an after the fact design change that I made. I paid for the extra day of work, although it took them more time than that to fully change everything to my specifications. When obstacles were hit they asked for my input, not wanting to change my plan without my approval, and when I didn't like their solution they always found a way to make it look the way I wanted. Mike and his crew are honest, hard working, respectful and nice people.

I was given a written estimate for this job, as well as a time frame. Academy Remodeling finished the job in the time they told me it would take and for the price quoted. I was very happy with the work they did. Mike and his crew are very neat and respectful.

I was quoted a price over the phone that was $100 less than a plumber I had spoken to first. Mike and a helper replaced the seal at the price I had been given over the phone.

I called three of his references and all were very happy with his work. The excellent references and his background as a USNA graduate impressed me. When we met, I was confident he would do a great job. Everything was done as agreed with no mess. He and his team worked very fast, doing the demolition one day and everything else in three more days. All of the work was done with attention to detail, everything looks perfect. He explained why he was doing everything. I highly recommend Mike and Academy Remodeling to everyone!

Written estimate in advance. Variety of services all through this one contact. Will shop for supplies or use any fixtures or pieces you supply. Work was prompt, house was left clean and tidy.