Pelican Residential, LLC

The Pelican Residential design/build company did a great job. Refinishing our kitchen was a far more enjoyable process than we had ever anticipated. We worked primarily with one of the owners and his crew. The owner was enjoyably personable, very attentive and knowledgeable. The head of the crew was the same, going out of his way to respond to our frequent requests. The owner would call or visit a number of times each week, asking if we were satisfied with how things were going, telling us what next steps were coming up in the work plan, and discussing in detail our options at all decision points. If ever we had a question or concern, all our queries would be responded to within a day or so. At one point we were having trouble deciding on our floor; the owner met us at a wholesale distributor and spent an entire Saturday morning showing us all the possibilities until we finally made a selection. Regarding cost, before you sign any contract you should carefully examine all the elements of the detailed work plan and make sure that it is complete and correct. We ended up having to spend somewhat more than we had planned because we did not do a good job on this; extra work elements that we decided we wanted during the refinishing added to the cost. I should emphasize that Pelican's added costs seemed legitimate and fair. We're very pleased with our kitchen, and will continue to use Pelican in the future. (We are now planning with them for a rebuild of our back porch.)

We began talking to Claire and Bruce almost a year before we started construction, and they were very accommodating in terms of the time they spent with us to come up with a plan for our space. We began wanting a new kitchen--we wound up with a new first floor. It was the right decision and we feel we got good counsel from the team. Once work began, Joel oversaw most of the work on a day-to-day basis, and he could not have been more responsive. Of course things came up--unforeseen issues like windows not being ready on time, but overall the team performed well and delivered mostly on time and within budget. Most importantly, they have remained responsive after the completion of the job. Little things that come up are addressed quickly. They won't be your cheapest estimate but they're worth the extra $. We'll be working with them again.

We decided to use another provider because of quality of cabinets

Working with Pelican in remodeling our kitchen was a wonderful experience. We collaborated closely to plan it all in advance, going through a few iterations to achieve what we wanted. They made valuable suggestions that resulted in a much better outcome than we had anticipated in a number of areas. They remained flexible throughout, even during the construction period, when opportunities and unexpected challenges emerged. During the construction phase, Salih and his crew stayed in ongoing communication, asking questions whenever there may have been any doubt. Very happy and smiling in their work, they are all perfectionists, making sure that everything was done right the first time. Addressing every aspect, they investigated the floor below, the ceiling above, everything in the walls, especially plumbing and electricity. True, they were not the least expensive of the vendors that bid; but you get what you pay for. Given what we received, the price was right. The best example of that occurred shortly after all was completed, and we had our annual whole-house plumbing inspection by a master plumber under an ongoing maintenance contract with an HVAC and plumbing company. When the plumber was checking out the kitchen, he was overflowing with praise for the plumbing work that Pelican performed under the kitchen sink. He said they and quot;did it the right way,and quot; redoing it all to fit the new sink, faucet, disposal and dishwasher, and with “a most efficient design as well.” Indeed, “you rarely see such good work” in a kitchen remodel, he observed. Further, he said that most of the time, remodelers leave the plumbing as is and do a work around, which is less costly to them (and sometimes to the customer); “but the customer pays more in the end” with repeated problems of back up, slow drain, etc. and so repeated needed repairs along with the costs that go with them. Meanwhile, people keep coming by to view the kitchen, some just from word of mouth; and then – upon seeing it, they admire and comment on the excellent work. A couple bemoaned what happened in their kitchens, saying they wished they had it to start over, using Pelican.

To get right to the point, we spent a lot of time with this contractor, trying to come to an agreement on designs and an estimate which ultimately was not possible. My feelings are that this contractor has a lot of good ideas and comes across as being and quot;with-itand quot;, but that it really doesn't want to do small jobs, and has difficulty staying within a small budget (the design team is always thinking of ways to and quot;make it betterand quot;, but this tends to lead to higher and higher costs). We spoke with several contractors to collect bids for our bathroom project and the estimate from this contractor was by far the highest of them all. Approximately one-third of the estimate appears to be for the design team, in addition to labor or materials, whereas other contractors did not charge extra for that. Time and again we informed and reminded the contractor of our budget to no avail. In the beginning of our discussions, we were promised, and quot;Oh, yes, we can work within your budget, no problem.and quot; But as time went on that progressed into, and quot;We can get pretty close to your budget. Maybe.and quot; In the end, the estimate was actually 30-40% higher than our budget. When we balked, the contractor suggested as a compromise that we work just with their labor crew (that is, not with the licensed contractor), with minimal oversight from the design team (that is, perhaps a once a week walk-through by them) allowing their foreman to make most decisions on-site, and still the estimate exceeded our budget by several thousand dollars. The contractor really didn't want to reduce their estimate, and went so far as to suggest that we either ask relatives for money or come back when our budget and quot;improvesand quot;. The contractor was useful initially as far as getting us to think more specifically about what materials we wanted to use, but the entire time we were directed to high-end suppliers and home depot/ lowe's type materials seemed to be poo-pooed. As no construction work was done, I can't speak to their quality or craftsmanship; however, others on this site seem to be happy with the results, but I would note that from reading the other reviews it looks as if several were upsold for additional work beyond their initial projects.

Bruce Kaplan cancelled by e-mail ( due to illness) on the morning of the appointment to come out to my home to evaluate the project. I never heard from him again.

Pelican Residential was okay.

Overall, everything went well. He was punctual and professional. But the estimate he gave was a bit higher than several others who looked at my kitchen.

I am not a shill for Pelican. There were some delay issues, mainly due to the provider of our kitchen appliances (ABW). That said, we highly recommend this team to anyone. We were looking for someone to hold our hand through the project, and they did. Great design ideas - including the flexible/dynamic ones to deal with issues as we progressed. Highly professional, friendly, knowledgeable, and just a pleasure to work with. Designs were handled by Bruce (and Salih on the fly and lt;grinand gt;), Joel is the PM, and Salih ran the different crews, and all pitched in and got their hands dirty too. Bruce spent a lot of design time with use throughout the project, providing us with imaginative yet practical ideas, and didn't disappear as the project went forward, but kept checking back with us. He always left me particularly with a confident feeling there was rational thought and experience behind his designs and plans. Joel kept everyone focused, things moving, and contributed his own very welcome ideas. Among other tasks but typical, he helped us schlep our CD library and shelves upstairs someplace out of the way of the work. He is straightforward and honest, and we knew generally what to expect, even as we chose to expand the project to include replacing two additonal rooms with wooden floors, and putting in a beautiful stone foyer floor. Salih inspired us, and made us feel safe leaving our home in his hands. He and his crew figured out ways to correct the original builders mistakes and shortcuts, suggested and then moved our washer and dryer to a new, better home in the basement, suggested and put in additional lighting (beyond Bruce and Joel's) in the living and family rooms that changed everything. The job did take much longer than we'd anticipated, but most of that again was due to the appliances not being ready when they were promised by the provider. Everyone worked long hours, including lots of weekend work. We are still amazed at the great job they did, and occasionally ask each other why didn't we do this years ago.

,We were very pleased with their work and the results. The owners came in at least twice a week to oversee the work and answer our concerns and questions. The workmen on the project were excellent. They were totally responsive to our questions, concerns and requests. The design proved to be outstanding and almost a year later I am still extremely pleased with the design and workmanship.

We contacted Bruce from Pelican about our kitchen remodel a few days after we closed on our house. The house was built in the 1970s and the kitchen had never been updated. Bruce shuffled his Saturday morning schedule around so that he could come to the house and take a look at what we wanted done. We talked to him about trying to get the kitchen mostly done before we moved in (in 4 weeks) and what we wanted to be done. We had some ideas about what we wanted, but he really provided some great ideas and a few days after the initial meeting, he emailed us plans and a price quote. The following Friday, Bruce, Joel, and Salih came over to talk over and finalize the plans. They gave us an estimated completion date of June 10th. We signed the plans and the next day we got a picture emailed to us of our kitchen stripped down to the studs and the wall between the kitchen and dining room was gone. Over the next 4 weeks we worked closely with Joel and Salih picking out all the details that go into a kitchen. Joel would send an email with decisions that we had to make and we would try to get back to him ASAP to make the process go a smoothly as possible. We did change a few things throughout and Joel and Salih handled the changes with no problems. Anytime they had a question about something or were unsure about what we wanted, they didn't hesitate to call and ask us which made us feel every comfortable that we were going to get exactly what we wanted. We had a few site visits where we would go through and make sure everything looked good before they proceeded. They were still working on the kitchen after we moved in (end of May), but they were very considerate about calling and letting us know when they were going to be in the house. They would also ask if it was ok if they worked late some nights or early in the morning which was fine by us. After 4 1/2 weeks they were finished with the kitchen to the point where we could use it. Joel and Bruce came by to look over everything and took notes of little things that needed to be finished off and asked if there was anything that they might have missed. We noted a few small things and a few days later the crew came by and finished the project off about a week ahead of schedule. We were thrilled with the design Bruce provided, the work Salih and his crew did and Joel's communication and management from start to finish. I would highly recommend Pelican Kitchen and Bath to anyone looking for a remodeling job to be done. We will be using them in the future for any other projects that come up.

It looks fabulous. They said the boxes were perfectly sound even though they were old. The ones they did need to change they did without any problems. It saved us a huge amount of money. We were really happy. They came up with the very cost effective solution. They were able to work with the manufacture to pull my order with other orders in the factory so they didn't make any special runs.

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I needed a total and quot;pull and replaceand quot; of a cramped, 1960's bathroom in an old house. To complicate matters, the location was in a rural area about 2 hours away from the DC area. Joel and Bruce and their team managed to bring the project off without a hitch, giving me the and quot;bathroom of my dreamsand quot; in a timely and fully professional manner. We stayed within budget, and the end quality exceeded my expectations. I have lived through a number of renovations in different houses, both in DC and other cities: this is the only one where I can say that the process as well as the result was a pleasure! More specifically: the project started with design consultations. Anne-Marie Darby Brown caught perfectly the rustic chic look I was aiming for. She worked with the major appliances (tub, sink) that I had chosen, while finding me compatible items to complete the practical needs of a bathroom. She is brilliant at seeing spacial relationships and potentials: the new bathroom feels much more spacious than the old, although it is actually about 2 feet shorter along one wall -- and the two feet gained in the adjoining room by pulling in the bathroom allowed for a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. Construction involved removing all the old appliances, tearing down a wall, electrical and plumbing work . There were some surprises (old house = weakened timbers), which Joel informed me of promptly and dealt with while keeping on schedule. Communication was excellent, always, via email and telephone, and several on-site walk-throughs so I could make design decisions in consultation with the Pelican team. They often raised issues which I would not have seen, so that my choices were always well-informed. Salih and his crew are true craftsmen -- taking great pains to ensure that the lighting was angled exactly right, and finding just the right shade of white paint to finish off an old door. They left the house cleaner than it was before! As I saw the excellence of the work on the bathroom, I had Pelican do some other renovation in the house: bookcases, stair rails and some lighting. Joel and Bruce were always clear about what the extra work would cost, and worked with me to prioritize the new projects, so that I could keep my wish list within my budget. I intend to use Pelican again and am recommending them to all, without any reservation whatsoever.