Stowe Contracting -Transformative Innovations

Top 10 Reasons I recommend Stowe Contracting 10. Gene is passionate about his work. He told me he would give me an awesome master bath, and he delivered. He gets really excited about transforming spaces and made me excited to hire him for the job. I?m thrilled with my new space. 9. Gene has a fantastic team. Angel was the lead at the worksite every day. The team is prompt, professional, polite, and has mad skills. He reviewed the design with me and asked questions about placement of fixtures, lights, layout, etc., to ensure that I had a say in the process and the final outcome. Gene called me during the day if any questions arose so they could incorporate my input. 8. Gene takes problems and delivers solutions. Any construction project will have its issues. Gene goes above and beyond to handle issues, removing the stress from things that go wrong. My house is 100 years old, and I had crooked ceilings, walls, and floors, as well as a vent pipe that was not properly routed through the roof and leaking gas into my attic. Gene addressed all of these issues with my old house and now my bathrooms are square and level, and my pipes are all properly vented and up to code. 7. Gene does the job right and does not take short cuts. Part of our job involved relocating the laundry service to a hall closet. Gene created a waterproof floor complete with drain and tile in the event of an overflow, and routed the drain pipe out of the house. It was a lot of work but now it is a proper laundry closet that will meet inspection. 6. Gene has impeccable workmanship. If grout lines mean anything to you, Gene is your man. He and his team are super picky about the quality of their work and do not settle for anything less than perfect. Not only did he level our crooked floors and ceiling, but the detail in our bathrooms is superb, down to the placement of our shower niche so the tile lines up perfectly. The tile that I ordered for my shower was delicate and a few pieces were broken upon arrival. I walked onto the job site one day to find one of his crew hand replacing all of the broken pieces with new tile, such attention to detail! I will include cleanliness here too. The team always kept the work space neat and tidy at the end of the day and made necessary touch-ups after moving things in and out of the bathroom. 5. Gene is fair. His quote for my two bathrooms and walk-in closet beat out four other contractors. We had one change order to address a design change and some additional adjustments to correct for flaws in my old house that was fairly priced. 4. Gene makes it easy to order all the supplies with his network of contacts. He put me in touch with suppliers for all my bathtub/faucet needs, custom cabinetry, tile, HVAC, and windows. He also helped intervene with the suppliers when I needed changes or replacements, alleviating my stress. 3. Gene is an artist and his medium is construction. He has great vision and knows how to take a space and make it beautiful. Any recommendation he made I totally accepted because he has great design sense and knows what works. He recommended we remove the molding from the windows in my bathroom to create a clean look. It was a great decision and the windows complement the rest of the bathroom perfectly. 2. Gene is fun to work with. He is really easy to communicate with and wants the renovation experience to be enjoyable. He creates a laid back environment and is always ready with a solution. 1. Gene is a good listener. I could tell at the initial walk through of the space that Gene takes the time to listen. I had very detailed designs that required custom construction. Other contractors rushed through the walk through and did not seem to pick up on the custom design detail that I wanted built, but Gene took time to listen to my design ideas. I am so glad I hired him because during the construction process, there were times when we needed to discuss the details of the design and Gene and Angel were always very attentive to my requests, ensuring that the finished product was exactly as I had planned, with a few bonuses that they brought to the table.

Gene is a very busy man and with the quality and affordability of his work and the work of his staff you will find out why if you choose him for your project. He and his folks are meticulous with attention to detail and quality of workmanship being their strong suit. We needed walls moved, an old shower and tub removed, plumbing moved, electrical moved, reframing of interior and exterior walls along with the installation of a new window. We ran into issues with an old chimney, old ventilation that had to be moved, and old walls that were out of plumb. He and his staff had solutions for every issue. They transformed an old disaster into a modern masterpiece. The house is a Chesapeake bay cottage style home and he totally kept to the style and look my wife and Ii had envisioned. I selected this company based on the reviews and recommendations I read on Angie's list. I priced this remodel with three contractors. Gene was not the least expensive bid but the glowing recommendations on his previous customers made up my mind. "Thanks Angie"

As this was not a huge job, and due to drying times, needed to be done over multiple days, the "start" time varied from what we had confirmed. Obviously, Eugene and his crew were working other jobs as the same time, and schedules needed to be a bit flexible. Very happy with the work done.

Eugene Sibley returned my call the same day and came to my home for an estimate the following day. Work began the following week. Eugene and his crew repaired the badly damaged drywall and doors in a bedroom. After they painted, it looked like a new room. I couldn't remember where the large holes had been. The bathrooms had peeling linoleum floors, a leaky toilet and needed new vanities. They tiled the floors, replaced the toilet and vanities, and painted. Light fixtures were changed, new faucets installed, towel racks and light switches replaced, walls and ceiling painted. Both rooms are beautiful! I couldn't be happier with the way it all turned out. I am very pleased with the quality of the work. The tile looks so good! Nice clean lines between painted walls and trim. The areas were always cleaned and vacuumed before painting started and before grouting the tile. They spread drop cloths so they weren't tracking anything on my carpets. The work areas were vacuumed and things put away neatly at the end of each day. Eugene was very easy to work with, and his crew was very respectful toward my family and my home. Eugene did a lot of the actual work himself, but he called and stopped by everyday to make sure we were happy with the work. I would definitely hire Stowe Contracting again. In fact, we have already tentatively schedule another project with Eugene before the end of this year.

Gene is a hard working professional. His care with our floors and stairs was wonderful. He or his worker laid out drop cloths each day and ensured that everything that could be harmed was covered. He came when he said he would and stayed until he said he would. He worked an entire Saturday to ensure that the job was progressing appropriately. His price seemed fair and the workmanship was great. Word to the wise, though, if you're ordering a shower door, order it at the beginning of the process,not at the end. The shower door man delivers a couple of weeks after ordering, which means that your shower enclosure can be finished, but mostly unuseable until the door arrives and is installed.

First off, this was a very big project for us. Gene and his team significantly remodeled our entire first floor; changing dated, dark, poor functioning spaces into a bright, open, and highly functional separate kitchen/dining and family rooms. The final product exceeded all of our expectations and Gene deserves most of the credit for that. The cost of service shown above included all of the labor, subcontractors, ceramic tile, cabinets, wood, drywall, insulation, and other supplies. We purchased the appliances, granite countertops, electrical and plumbing fixtures from others which Gene installed making the total cost of this renovation to us almost $67,000. We met with Gene and his kitchen designer Ryan to discuss our goals in April 2013. Ryan quickly provided the best overall design from several offers we looked at. We signed the contract in May and knew we were in for significant disruption, but didn't think the renovation work would run into early October 2013. Gene has several other challenges in his life during this time, a new baby and moving his family into a new home, which probably contributed to the longer than anticipated schedule. However, he kept of informed of what was happening throughout the entire process. The quality of the work was very good and he was very responsive to fixing a few things that weren't exactly right the first time including replacing some cabinet doors that had manufacturing defects. He was good in explaining certain changes and additional costs due to conditions encountered during demolition such as additional work needed to repair a rotted foyer subfloor. The granite countertops, ceramic floor tile, backsplash tile, and overhead range exhaust hood look exceptionally great! He also did a great job in transforming our family room into an bright open space with a new cathedral ceiling and a new doorway from the adjacent dining area. We are very happy with the final result. Thanks Gene!

Eugene's men were a pleasure to work with. Every day they made sure to clean up after themselves and vacuumed the complete kitchen. They did an excellent job removing all of our old kitchen cabinets and all the old flooring. Everyday they took all the old material that was removed with them. Everyday they did a fantastic job of cleaning. All the kitchen walls were refinished before they installed all the new cabinets. They did an excellent job of installing all the new cabinets and new appliances. We install a new stove, microwave, garbage disposal, dishwasher and refrigerator. There where a couple of issues with one cabinet drawer front and a side panel on one cabinet. Eugene took care of these issues as soon as the cabinet company had them remanufactured. My wife and I are so pleased with our new kitchen. Thanks to Eugene and his men.

Eugene did a great job with our bathroom, and recommended an excellent tile company as well, where prices were very competitive. The bathroom was a shell when he arrived, he was professional, didn't act like I was an idiot (you would be amazed some of the things I've heard from contractors). He was upfront with the costs, and never complained when I added/changed things mid-project. Because I work long hours, he showed up to do the quote when I was available, which happened to be at 7 am! The overall workmanship was great, and he came back to finish one piece that was bothering him after the fact. He started the project on time, and since my timeline was flexible, he always let me know when he had another project he needed to work on for a day (ie, I was never surprised when the crew wasn't there for a day). Appreciate the hard work he put into the room, and it looks fantastic.

Gene seems like a nice guy over the phone. I set up an appointment for a Friday, he failed to show up. When I called him, he explained there was a scheduling error, he apologized, and asked to reschedule. Mistakes happen and he seemed professional, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and rescheduled for the next day. Again, he failed to show, this time he neither answered the phone or returned the text. Very disappointed for what seems like a major lack of respect for other people's time. I do not live at the property I am renovating, so wasted travel time and wait time for two days in a row, regret calling him. Based on his apparent lack of responsibility, I would not hire him and cannot recommend him.

Stowe Contracting came out and gave me a price for the work. I purchased all the fixtures and picked out exactly what I wanted. Within a couple of weeks the work began with the demo of the existing bath. The crew had the demo completed in one day and removed all the debris. The next step was to change the pipes to accommodate the new shower configuration. They installed a new ventilation fan and patched the ceiling where the old fan used to be (which necessitated going into the attic on one VERY hot day). The marble for the walls went up in the next couple of days along with replacement of the toilet. They painted the walls, grouted the marble tub surround, laid a new tile floor then began installing the new shower heads and grab bar. They cleaned as they went, leaving the area clean every day before they left. They installed a new shower door, light fixture, towel bars, and vanity. The owner of Stowe had the marble vanity top fabricated by one of his suppliers and it is beautiful - just what I wanted! This all sounds easy but there was a lot of work involved to fit a bathroom that was built over 60 years ago. The workers were always careful of the rest of the house and worked with me to solve problems as they arose. I did not change the existing tub and it was a little spongy so they came up with the idea necessary to fix the problem. This is the second bathroom Stowe had renovated for me and both are truly fantastic! I would definitely use them again, in fact, they are going to give me a price for a new roof and installation of fencing. These guys (and ladies) are great! They will be my first choice for any work I need done around the house.

I had water damage in the floor and wanted to install a shower. Eugene's crew replaced the bad flooring, installed a new shower and vanity. They were able to reuse alot of what was there - sink top, toilet and linen cabinet. Fresh paint and trim - I'm very happy with the new look. Work was completed in a week's time; they left my home neat and clean each evening and made sure my cats didn't escape. I would definetly recommend Eugene and use Stowe Contracting again. Thank you Eugene, Tony & Greg!!

After having difficulty with two other contractors, my neighbors told me about their satisfying experience with Stowe Contracting. I called Gene Sibley and reviewed my needs. Due to scheduling issues, it took about a month or so to get started. The other contractors wouldn't return my phone calls while Gene was as anxious to get the job done as I was. I was lucky to get his team lead by Miguel Torres. I distinctly remember Miguel taking about one hour to make sure a TV he was mounting was level. I knew then that I was lucky to get someone with his attention to detail. Like all projects there were surprises along the way but Miguel and his team were able to handle the simple changes without any additional up charges. Miguel was always able to take my cryptic requests and knew to do the right thing. The results always looked great. I am extremely happy with Stowe's work and would recommend them to anyone without reservation. I love returning to my new beautiful home after being away.. As I said earlier, it took a while to get on his schedule but the results were well worth the wait.

I was looking to hire a contractor to re-do my small bathroom in the apartment in D.C. that I own. I don't currently live in the apartment and rent it out to tenants. I spent at least 500 dollars flying to D.C. from where I currently live, not to mention time in a hotel so I could interview a few different people to do the job. I thought things were going to work out well when Gene came to my house. He drew up a contract for me to submit to my building, which I did as well as gave my building the advanced notice to do the work. I had planned everything around a specific time when my tenants were on holiday so I wouldn't need to pay for the 4-5 days that it was going to take to do the work and not have to put them up in a hotel (the apartment only has 1 bedroom). A couple of days before the job, Gene was supposed to go back to the apartment and take some measurements and never showed up. I emailed and called multiple times and never heard back from him. Because of this I now need to spend a few extra thousand dollars going back out to D.C. to interview other contractors and put my tenants up in a hotel. My tenants are also very upset with me now because I had promised the bathroom would be in better condition within a given time period. I would never recommend him to anyone else, and honestly I keep reading these responses online to people's disgruntled experiences, but there is NO excuse for this unprofessionalism. If something came up or he couldn't do the job, he really should have been honest about it.

Working with Gene is wonderful. He is not your typical contractor. He wants to get the job done as much as you do, and he wants your repeat business. Our neighbor recommended him to us and some of her friends as well. It seems simple, but Gene wants to do a good job and for you to be happy with his work. It took a little longer for us to get started than we had hoped, and the project took longer than he had projected, but we were prepared for that. I think it always takes longer than expected, and you never know when you will run into a roadblock (like the water company breaking your main water valve or multiple items not being delivered by the cabinet maker and having to wait on their lead time to receive them). When our old cabinets and counter tops were removed, we figured out why we'd previously had a mouse problem - the sub-floor was missing under portions of the old cabinets - the crawl space was literally open into the house underneath the cabinets. We also found the whole house water shut off valve, which had been hidden behind the previous cabinets. I chalk these items up to "old house" issues, which were not a part of our original contract, but which we had to add in once they were discovered. Gene gave us a fair price to move the valve and add in the missing sub-floor and hardwood. He also went down into the crawl space and made sure it was completely, tightly closed up, and that there was no way any more mice would be able to find their way into our house through the crawl space! Unfortunately, Gene was not able to shut off the water form the street himself to move the valve, and so we had to call the WASA to come shut it off. WASA broke our main valve while trying to shut it off and we were left without water for several days. Once they fixed the valve, we had strange noises coming form our upstairs pipes when we turned the water on and off. Even though Gene hadn't touched the upstairs, he worked for 3 days to figure out what was going on, eventually calling in his plumber, who was able to remove metal debris that the water company had let into our pipes. He had to remove our stacked washer and dryer from their tiny closet and noticed that the dryer vent pipe was kinked and therefore blocked. He took it upon himself to remove the dryer vent (with much indignation for the installers) and bought us a new dryer vent pipe, noting that there could easily have been a fire due to the lint build-up. The total extra cost for this was $300, which we were happy to pay based on the discovery of the kinked dryer vent alone, not to mention for the removal of the debris in the pipes! Gene and his crew have good attention to detail, and discerning eyes - they do things right the first time so they won't have to do it again. And if they did miss something, they fixed it as soon as we brought it to their attention. That was so important to us, and much appreciated. I would recommend Gene 100% to anyone looking for a contractor. He is a straight shooter, and he is fair. He is not trying to make a profit on the cabinets or counter tops, he just wants to be paid a fair rate for the work he does. He takes pride in his work and wants the customer to be happy.

Gene and his crew were awesome! We were impressed with Gene from his initial visit when he came out to give us an estimate. The bathroom is in the loft of a cottage and is kind of a funky space that initially had a weird layout. Within 2 minutes of first looking at it, Gene came up with a whole new layout, very similar to the one it had taken my husband and I months to agree on after a lot of back and forth. We didn't know exactly what we wanted all the time (color of the grout, should we tile or paint the shower ceiling?, pattern of the tile etc.) and Gene was very patient and cool throughout. He would offer his suggestion, but wasn't pushy if we decided on something different. It took us a little bit of time to get the project going because of Gene's busy schedule and because we had to decide on and purchase finish material;, but Gene would check in regularly with us to keep us updated on his schedule and see if we had any questions. Once the project got started, work moved fast and took less time than Gene estimated. His small 2-man crew was great (shout out to Angel and Javier!)--pleasant, polite, always cleaned up after each day, and I trusted them in my home when we weren't around. As to the finished product....I'm the kind of person who is usually a tad bit disappointed in how things turn out--I was worried that the end result wouldn't be as nice as I'd envisioned it in my head...but this time, the finished product looked even better than I'd imagined it would! The bathroom looks amazing. Everything came together just beautifully. And I love that Gene is just as excited, if not more so, than we are about how awesome it looks. We would recommend Gene and the Stowe Contracting team to friends, and we are already planning on using them for other projects around our house.

This is a project that we had hard time explaining to many other contractors. The ones who gave us a quote were by far above our price range. Most did not even return our calls after the initial meeting. Gene - the Stowe Contracting owner, came to look at other renovation tasks we had but I could tell that he was particularly excited about this aspect of our conversation. He looked forward to taking on an out of ordinary project. We did not have to say very much to Gene and his crew. They knew exactly what our vision was and made it happen on time and on budget in a way that exceeded even our imagination. This was not a standard job and required advanced engineering, carpentry, electrical, drywall and painting skill sets to ensure all elements worked together. The structure holding up the roof above our bedroom had to be rebuilt, the walls on all sides had to be raised with new lighting, drywall and fan installed. The same crew under the leadership of Stowe's master craftsman Miguel did it all from framing to painting. Miguel was very detail oriented. He walked us through the design to confirm any questions. They used top of the line materials, for which Stowe provided receipts, to make sure that the structure of our home and our roof was more sound than when they started. The original builder cut costs on the lumber so we were glad to see solid 2 x 6 timber go up above our heads. When Stowe was done with our bedroom our master suite was completely transformed from an ordinary builder-grade bedroom to an inspirational, open retreat. We open our eyes each morning to admire the vast space above our heads with recessed LED lights and a modern two blade ceiling fan. Our neighbors who have the same townhome across the street could not believe the transformation. If we ever sell the place, it will undoubtedly make a huge impression on the potential buyers. If you have a project in mind that requires "outside of the box" thinking, Stowe is a great contractor to keep in mind. They enjoy making your home a place your want to spend time in and bring a lot of passion, skill and experience to make it done. If we had not run into Stowe our home would not feel like our dream space.

Gene was recommended to me by my real estate agent. Although he missed my first message, I definitely give Gene the benefit of the doubt as we were preparing for what was supposed to be a huge snowstorm. Once I got in touch with Gene we scheduled a general timeframe in which he would be able to come out and complete the necessary work on a condo that I was selling. Gene arrived on time, replaced the leaky hot water valve under the kitchen sink, was professional and friendly. I would recommend his services and definitely use him again.

Stowe Contracting began work on February 12, 2013, tearing out the old bathroom in one day and removed all debris within a day or two. The next day they began the process of moving the existing bath drain to center it for the new shower. They removed the floor and found a second vinyl floor beneath that and removed that one. After removing all the flooring, they found the toilet flange was not the proper size for the new floor and had to replace some of the pipe to correct the problem. They re-routed the heating vent from the center of the room to a bulkhead above the door which raised the ceiling in the center of the room. Within the first few days, they had done all of the above and installed new drywall on the ceiling and walls. There was a short lull in the work, awaiting the arrival of fixtures that I had ordered. They tiled the shower and shower pan in one day and came back the next to tile the floor. Grouting took one day since you could not walk on it until it was fully set then they installed the vanity, toilet, towel bars, toilet paper holder, and hook. After another day delay awaiting the marble, the bathroom was complete except for the glass shower door which was still enroute and I could use the bathroom except for the shower. The shower door was delivered on Monday afternoon (late) and was installed Tuesday morning so today I took my first shower in my new bathroom and I couldn't be more pleased. The entire project was completed in a little over 3 weeks just as they had promised.

We had a leak in our kitchen and after calling a plumber we discovered the toilet seal had broken and was leaking into the kitchen. Our previous bathrooms were quite ugly utilizing all builder grade materials. I decided instead of just replacing the toilet to do a long overdue renovation on both upstairs bathrooms. I called several contractors and had many responses but the lead time for people to even come out and quote was two weeks to a month. Gene was very accommodating and came out promptly, took pictures, had meaningful discussion to get an idea of what we liked and did not like. Gene came back with a quote that afternoon, for labour of $16,000 to do both bathrooms. The materials were up to me to choose including all fixtures from Faucet Direct and tile from a local supplier. I chose pretty high end materials which pushed the price up higher than I would have liked. Faucet Direct was a bit of a pain to deal with and made me lose 2 days of work waiting for deliveries and had several broken items delivered. Gene handled that promptly and got new items shipped and even got me a rebate! Genes crew were fantastic. They showed up daily and were probably the cleanest crew ever! They were also helpful in making some design choices. The result was amazing, I now have two wonderful spa like bathrooms which will really up the value if I decide to sell the house. In the meantime I have two great new bathrooms! I highly recommend this contractor

We had a great experience working with Gene. He was very responsive and came to give an estimate within a few days of my call. Work began about a week after the estimate and was completed within the time frame discussed. Gene and his crew were attentive, very clean, smoke free, and courteous. They laid down tarps to protect the floors and covered everything in the master bath when tearing down the shower. Everything was cleaned up completely at end of day. We are very happy with the work that was done. It was just what our bathrooms needed to refresh and brighten their look. We highly recommend Gene/Stowe Contracting and would definitely hire them again!

We had an excellent experience working with Eugene and Stowe Contracting. In addition to a complete kitchen renovation our project included major plumbing and electrical reconfiguration as well as instillation of a window and a tankless water heater. Eugene was very easy to communicate with through out the entire course of the project. He was able to listen to our specific needs and also made some great suggestions that really took our kitchen to the next level. The crew that completed the work were very friendly and left the house spotless after each day. We would definitely use Stowe Contracting for any future projects and would highly recommend him to others.

We are not complete as of yet. In the progress of making changes and waiting on cabinets.

By far this has been my best experience with a contractor. Stowe Contracting was a breath of fresh air, I have horror stories of contracts over promising and under delivering. From the initial meeting for the estimate to the finish of the job, Gene was professional, honest and very attentive to my request. Each day they left the work area clean and neat, which is very important to me.They paid close attention to detail and the finish work is impeccable. His work speaks for itself, everyone that has seen my kitchen has asked for his number.

Demo, re-framing, rough-in plumbing, Formed a shower pan for tile floor, laid tile in the shower and floor and granite sills. Nice niche in the shower also. Then all the final hookup and completion for the room. Stowe contracting had lots of creative ideas that we considered and we chose some of them to complete the room. They are currently performing a remodel of two other bathrooms for us in an investment property. Pics on that will be up soon!

Gene and his team bailed us out on a Sunday --- they had initially scheduled the work for a Monday but when they learned we had been without hot water for days they came out on a Sunday morning instead, and had us sorted by noon. Great guys, great work, left the place cleaner than when they arrived!