Home Breakthrough LLC

Background: We had developed a detailed design and identified most of the necessary fixtures prior to contacting Home Breakthrough. Pre-Sales: We met with Francisco on several occasions to finalize the design/scope so that he could provide an estimate, which turned out to be competitive. With the exception of an unplanned change order to replace the subfloor, the original estimate became the final cost. Scheduling: We worked together to schedule the start of the work. A delay in our Cambria order caused the start date to slip 3 weeks, which HB was able to accommodate. Work Process ? At the start of the work, we were introduced to Francisco?s brother and co-owner Antonio, who supervised the entire project, which took about 6 applied weeks. I can?t emphasize enough the professionalism, project management, craftsmanship and integrity Antonio brought to the project and the piece of mind this created for us. Antonio led the effort from start to finish, made sure that all of the work (demolition, plumbing, tile, electrical, carpentry, etc.) was done correctly, and kept us informed of any issues/resolutions as they arose. If he wasn?t onsite that day, we received a call at the end of the day reporting progress. His work crews were efficient, did excellent work, and always cleaned up completely. Results ? Needless to say, we were delighted with the final product (particularly the tile layout/work and the revised positioning of the closet/bathroom entry doors), so much so that we contracted to have an additional bathroom and the powder room completely renovated as well, and were just as pleased with the results of those projects. Overall, it was an excellent experience ? we won?t consider anyone else for future home renovation projects.

Excellent experience overall. Estimate - We solicited three Angie's list providers for estimates and Home Breakthroughs came in as the lowest and more importantly, the most detailed as to how supplies would be purchased and supported with itemized receipts. Additionally Home Breakthroughs clearly laid out in the estimate the details of the work to be done and cited all of the potential events which could increase the labor cost and how much the additional charges would be. Responsiveness - Throughout the entire process, the Account Coordinator 'Anya' was very responsive in both timeliness and with detailed information. Personnel - 'Francisco' was the man who came out and priced the estimate and was the project manager throughout the process. He additionally went with us one Saturday to guide us in selecting the tile, toilet, fixtures, vanity and granite counter top. Renovation - The project lasted five business days and the workman 'Paco' kept a very clean work space and was very comfortable to have in the house. He did an excellent job on the room, it looks perfect. Of particular note was his work on the marble floor, which 'Paco' laid out and moved various tiles around to blend the appearance of the variations in the nature stone.

From the start I had a good feeling about Home Breakthrough LLC. Their office manager, Anya was very prompt and scheduled an estimate with one of the co-owners (Francisco) within 2 business days. Once the estimate was accepted, I very much appreciated the approach Francisco and the team from Home Breakthrough LLC took with my project. I wanted to have a high level of control on the selection of finishes and materials, as well as on the details of the design. Francisco made it clear up front he would be giving me an estimate based on Labor only, and I was free to buy my own materials, or to have him buy for me using his contractors discount with a small margin built in, which worked to my benefit. However, he allowed me to go with him to chose the tile and other materials, so I got exactly what I wanted along with his advice on certain details. Francisco assigned a dedicated employee to complete the job and that one person did the entire thing from plumbing to tile work. At first I was surprised that one person could have all the skills, or be efficient to do all the work. But Paco was awesome and worked diligently for 8-10 hours a day, everyday for 6 days to complete the job. The quality was very high overall and met or exceeded my expectations. We did run into one unforeseen change after the demolition - plumbing on one side of the shower was not done properly when built and required a few hours of extra labor. Francisco was open and fair about that extra cost beforehand and I had no issue with it. I felt he handed this very fairly and transparently. The final step was installing the glass wall/shower enclosure which was done through a separate company. Francisco recommended a company to me, which I used and was pleased with. Overall, I would definitely use Francisco and Home Breakthrough LLC again. The only thing I would say is that their process is really best for people who want to say involved and "manage" the details of their project. Francisco wants you to select finishes and make decisions on the details such as the exact placement of the controls, size of the threshold, size of the inlay tile, etc. I loved this and wanted that, but I know for some they may want to have a "Turn-key" solution and not be bothered once the work starts. I found many willing to do that, but the cost was higher and the outcome not as clear. I liked having the control and input that Home Breakthrough provided me.

The fiirst guy who cam out for estimate promised everyhting (scheduling, etc) The second guy who came out to do work (Francisco) had a completely different story along with extra costs, etc. He kept insisting the demolition was going to cause the ceiling to fall in. I had a second opinion from another contractor who said there wouldn't be an issue and just repaired the cosmetic issues of the kitchen ceilling. I had to cancel the contract and they ended up keeping $1,500 because they fixed some of the light fixtures.

We met with Francisco several times throughout the process. Francisco is very knowledgeable and had presented many options for us to explore as we were not artistic enough to explain to him the "look" we were after. He was very up front about price and never acted the salesman - he never tried to sell us on anything we did not want. It was apparent he simply wanted to provide us with a beautiful bathroom at the lowest price possible, without sacrificing quality. He even offered a way for us to keep our vanity and top by adding a riser beneath to improve its functionality. Francisco did struggle a bit with scheduling. He measured our bath no less than three times and early on did not seem to recall what parts of the project we had agreed upon earlier. Scheduled meetings often occurred late or were postponed early on, which initially made me feel uneasy. However, it was apparent that Fransico was simply working very hard at running his business and that we had contracted Homebreakthrough at a very busy time. There was never a time in which Fransico lost his patience or made us feel less important, he simply remeasured and pushed on. Carlos did the bulk of the work for us. It was amazing what one man was capable of doing on his own - I swear that guy has three hands. Carlos' work is beautiful. He was everything we had hoped for - he made sure his shoes were clean or off, wore a collared company shirt everyday, and was extremely respectful. These qualities are hard to find in the service industry today and for us made a huge impact. Kept the dirt, dust and noise to an absolute minimum. The language barrier with Carlos was a little hampering, but overall a non-issue as Francisco very diligently filled that gap. Carlos working alone for much of the time made the project drag on a bit (three weeks of work and another day later on due to having to return the first shower door), but his craftsmanship is top-knotch. Francisco made sure we were satisfied completely at the end of the project. The end result is spectacular and all we hoped for.

We absolutely love our new master bathroom! Francisco, Anna and the other Home Breakthrough project team members were professional, experienced, hardworking, and honest. They worked with us every step of the way to ensure that we would be completely satisfied with the end result. Francisco and Anna offered advice regarding design and material choices based on their experience but at no point did we feel pressured to accept it. The estimate included a fxed price for labor plus cost of material, with their profit based on a easonable percentage of material cost. We liked the fact that all costs were itemized in a spreadsheet. Cost changes resulting from an unforeseen problem with our subfloor and a couple of modifications that we requested were discussed thoroughly and then incorporated into the spreadsheet in a timely manner. The project start date needed to be pushed back a week due to storm related power outage with previous project. Since we had a deadline for completion, some weekend work was required. We were particularly impressed with the meticulous installation of the wall, shower, and floor tile and would recommend Home Breakthrough to anyone who desires quality workmanship at a reasonable price.

The remodel went well. Francisco did a fantastic job of keeping us in our budget without compromising our vision. The workers took pride in their work and made sure that it was up to our standards. When we did want something looked at or changed, they always accommodated our wishes. We will probably use them again for a 3rd bathroom next year.

Overall, we couldn't be much happier with the experience. To start, Francisco (the owner) came to the house to look at the bathroom and gather information for an estimate. The cost of the work was comparable to other companies with similar reputations. However, there were differences in the time estimate to complete the job. Francisco is very up-front about the time requirements and his quote was longer because he believes that doing the job properly requires more time. This was actually music to my ears considering our experiences with other contractors. Once hired, Francisco goes shopping with you to pick out all the things that you'll be putting in the bathroom (tile, fixtures, etc.). Francisco had great advice during the trip and his presence was very helpful. You also get some savings using Francisco's contractor pricing. After settling on a start date, a crew (led by Roberto, who was outstanding) began prepping the house thoroughly for demolition. All the floors were protected through the job and everything was covered in plastic. Aside from the unavoidable dust, the house stayed reasonably clean throughout the job. Roberto always cleaned up at the end of the day and was as unobtrusive as possible. Regarding the work, I thought Roberto did a great job. Everything was done at a high standard and there was very little that needed to be put on the punch list. Immediately after the work was complete, Francisco's brother Alberto stopped by to inspect the job and to clear out all the remaining materials. Home Breakthrough also provides a cleaning service at the end of the job for your entire house, which is great. They were extremely accommodating with getting the ladies out to clean on a Saturday night prior to guests arriving on Sunday. It was really above and beyond what I would typically expect for customer service. Any issue I had during the job, Francisco was always available via phone. He also came out to the house very late on several occasions to accommodate our schedule, despite living at least 45 min. away and likely missing valuable time with his family. This job could have been a nightmare (it was our only bathroom in the house) and it turned out to be a seriously fantastic experience. I'll never use another contractor as long as I can help it.

Bottom line is that we love our new bathroom and had a very pleasant experience working with Home Breakthrough LLC. We will definitely recommend them to local friends and wouldn't hesitate to use them again. The designer and job foreman, the company's co-owners, were very responsive whenever we needed them, regardless of the hour (due to the fact that the workmen did everything during the day and we got home late from work, we usually had to call them after dinner to discuss anything). After we signed with HBLLC, Francisco, the designer, took us shopping for products in our price range and guided our purchases. HBLLC made some of the purchases themselves from pro shops, but also suggested which items we could buy for ourselves and avoid the 10% markup that HBLLC added to the things they bought, saving us additional money. There were some small delays on getting all the parts ordered, due probably to some miscommunication over who was supposed to pick up what (us or them), but these were minor and we got started only a couple weeks later than we had originally hoped. Once they started, the project took about 3 weeks, which was the amount of time originally anticipated. One or two workmen came every day and stayed all day (first the demo guys, then someone who put up all the backer board, then the tiler, etc.). Though the project created a big mess (lots of tile dust!), they were careful to always clean up at the end of the day. We barely got involved once the shopping was over, but the few times we did, we were very pleased with the way Francisco worked with us. When some of the tiling was laid out not quite to our liking, we called Francisco, who passed our request on to the tiler; it was fixed the next day! Because of DC-area traffic, there were a few times when someone was running late getting to us from Frederick on the few occasions when we needed to be present, but that's to be expected. At least they were always willing to work with our schedules, waiting until evenings and weekends for those few time when we needed to be at home. HBLLC also went out of their way to leave the rest of the house in good condition. Because our walls were plaster/lath, some of the demo work damaged the other side of the wall as well. HBLLC checked with us before they did the demo once they realized this would be the case and made sure we had spare paint for the adjacent wall. With our OK, they completed the demo, putting some cracks in our bedroom wall on the other side of the studs. Then at the end of the project, they re-leveled, primed, and painted it, removing all trace of the damage--we were very happy that they took the time to do a good job on that extra problem. HBLLC did all this within the price range that we discussed, which was very competitive for the job. We got a great value and a beautiful bathroom when they were finished. One final note, for those deciding whether to work with HBLLC: they work up their materials allowance a little differently than the other companies we priced. The materials cost includes EVERYTHING that is required, including items as small as nails, paint rollers, trash bags, etc. This is not deceptive marketing--they will spell this all out for you before you sign. But it is different from the way we are used to working, where the material allowance typically only covers the big things (toilet, tub, tiles, etc) and not the building and cleanup materials. Just something to be aware of.

The estimate for a remodel job is almost double compare to other contractors. If you want to drain your money call them.

The project went exceptionally well. Our Project Manager, Francisco, did a great job of communicating whenever he felt the decision was important. His team were very nice, very professional, and did exceptional work. The tile work is beautiful, and every last detail was well thought out. There were decisions that we were asked to make that would have never occurred to us to be necessary, but each time, we were saved from making a costly mistake. Another thing we loved was that they completely walled off the room they were working on and covered the floors entirely.. There was never dust or smells of any work in the rest of the house, and we have dust allergies, so it was not the messy, miserable experience we were anticipating. Francisco and his team worked on our job straight through from beginning to end. They showed up every day after we left and were gone by the time we came home, so it was almost as if the work was magically getting done. They did a lot of work each day, as well, so there was never a concern about how long it was taking. We had heard so many negative things about bathroom remodeling and we checked out a lot of other contractors - even ones with A ratings on Angie's list, but none of them were as responsive or as professional as Home Breakthrough. Additionally, they gave us a better price than most of the others. We feel that you can't beat the overall combination. We would highly recommend this contractor to anyone looking to do remodeling.

Overall I was extremely satisfied with the work that they did. I would use them again in the future.

We are very pleased with our new master bathroom. It took about 3 weeks for the work to begin once we had everything picked out and it took Home Breakthrough 4 weeks to finish our job. Francisco spent quite a bit of time with us shopping and going over the details of the project. Anya was always helpful and quick to respond to our questions. Antonio supervised the job, but Paco did the majority of the work and was great. The tile in both the shower and floor was very well installed as were the 2 large cabinets, 2 mirrors, 3 light fixtures, and 2 medicine chests. We had a problem when Paco inadvertently put a couple of small holes in the wall of the bedroom next to our bath, but they were repaired well. They knew we had a deadline of 12/9 and were willing to work some Saturdays (with our approval) to get the job finished in time. They arrived promptly at 8am each day and finished around 5pm. They kept our house and floors well protected and always cleaned the floors leading to the stairs and the stairs before leaving each day. We would definitely recommend them to others and would also hire them for future remodeling jobs.

They are creative and very honest. They are very reliable. I've used them for my whole house several times and I've never had a problem.

I really can't say enough good things about this company! My experience from start to finish was so much better than I expected, given all of the contractor nightmare stories I've heard. Francisco, Antonio and Anya are the consummate professionals and go the extra mile to keep their clients happy. Although I spent more than I intended, the additional cost was largely due to my choice of materials and not to any cost overruns by the company. Their estimate was a fixed price for labor, plus cost of materials, with their profit generated by a very reasonable percentage of materials costs. I like the fact that they provided copies of all receipts, which allowed me to keep track of costs being charged to my account. I also liked the fact that they were pretty accurate with their timeline. They told me it would take about five weeks to complete the job and that's exactly the amount of time it took. The crew was efficient and cleaned up behind themselves at the end of each day. I was going for a very sleek and modern look and insisted on stained gray, flat panel cabinets which, in an area of the country that trends toward a more traditional or transitional look, was very difficult to find. Francisco and Anya went above and beyond to find a supplier that offered what I was looking for and they were able to get me a pretty substantial discount on what were essentially custom cabinets. I am thrilled with my new kitchen! I like their work so much, I've decided to engage them to redo my bathrooms as well.

Based upon my requested via Angie's list Anya contacted me via email. We scheduled an estimate for an onsite visit. Leon was on time for the visit. I had already worked with an architect to draw out our kitchen design to ensure all contractors bidding on the job had the same detail for the work. Leon review the document and took a copy of the drawings with him. He committed to provide me an estimate a week later. I called and emailed the company more that five times. I got Anya on the phone and she was shock and surprise Leon never provided me pricing. She said it would be taken care of that day. She committed to call me back but never did nor did I receive an estimate. Don't waste my time if you don't want to bid. Also, Please send me back my copy of the drawing.

Home Breakthrough exceeded our expectations!! The service was amazing. Francisco, our designer, spent a great deal of time in person or on the phone describing options and walking us through the remodeling, as well as taking us shopping. He was flexible so that as the project proceeded we were able to make adjustments and major changes, such as when we decided to bump out the wall in the master bathroom. The team that provided the labor was very professional and very hardworking. The quality of their work was exceptional. Anya, the project coordinator/office manager was thorough and quick to respond to any questions or requests. Overall, the project went very well, any inevitable glitches were handled well. Home Breakthrough keeps cost in mind and advised us as we explored options. We decided to spend more money than we originally planned for, which was totally our choice, because it was worth it to us for the improved design and quality of our finished bathrooms. The bathrooms are GREAT!! We plan to use Home Breakthrough in the future to remodel our kitchen. We recommend Home Breakthrough!!

We would definitely use Home Breakthrough again and highly recommend them. Like most people we were concerned about prices, so met with several contractors with Home Breakthrough via Leon providing the most reasonable quote. If you want top notch design advice then Francisco definitely fits the bill. As for the quality of work, Antonio is simply put exceptional, and works hand in hand with his crew. With any big project, there will be questions and what we found especially refreshing was both Antonio's and Francisco's constant availability by phone, and there willingness to meet with us anytime. Anya is also quite east to work with and when we had questions about anything bill related, she provided prompt answers. In sum, excellent work at reasonable prices, by folks we trust.

Francisco and his crew did a phenomenal job at a fabulous price. Francisco took a tremendous amount of time to identify the materials we would need for the job, and his design ideas were excellent--we had a run of the mill renovation in mind, but the flourishes/touches he suggested make our newly remodelled bathroom a showstopper! Francisco's crew was incredibly efficient--they flew through the work-- and the quality of their work was top-notch, and no detail was overlooked. The crew was also exceptionally clean--when we came home each day, we commented to each other about how it looked as if nobody had been there that day. We'd recommend Home Breakthrough to anyone looking to do renovation work on bathrooms and kitchens, and he'll be the first person we call when we get around to renovating our kitchen!

This is the second time we used Home Breakthrough and once again we are very satisfied with their work. Antonio worked with us to plan the project and then came back with an estimate. The work was done on time and within the budget. Antonio was always pleasant to work with and the house looks great. I strongly recommend Home Breakthrough. They are good and they care.

They did fantastic job. They are very professional. They are able to do anything you give from start to end. They understand the customer. They provide excellent service. The quality of service provided is high. I would use them in the future.

Excellent workmanship, completed on time, quality work and materials all at a fair price.

Francisco and Anna were extremely forthcoming about pricing, which was one of the most refreshing things about my experience with them. They advised me where the cheapest materials could be found, and were clear about hourly labor charges, etc. Because they were working on the only bathroom in our house, they asked the laborers if they would be willing to come in on Saturday and Sunday, which they did. I was very impressed by this degree of concern. In the end, even with a major change of plan about three days through, the whole job wound up taking less than two weeks, which was a feat. They replaced all the plumbing, floor joists and tiling, walls and insulation, reconfigured our HVAC ducts to accommodate a fabulous new pocket door, and installed a new tub, toilet and fixtures. We ran into one minor scheduling goof in which the project manager told us it was ok to check out of our hotel room and come on home, but when we got there, we found that they clearly weren't done and so we had to find a new pet-friendly hotel at 10:30 pm. We told Francisco about it, and he promptly resolved the issue by reimbursing us for our hotel stay and then some. I appreciated his professionalism, and the fact that I didn't need to make a fuss about it. He seemed to genuinely care about our satisfaction. There's no way you can have a large project like this done and not run into any hiccups, so the way he handled it when we did was greatly appreciated. We have another large project coming up, and will be scheduling with them again for certain. Their results are immaculate, by the way - our bathroom is the nicest room in our house!

A wonderful experience from start to finish

Everything went very well. Their employees were very efficient, respectful, and very helpful. Their price is very reasonable. The person who came to came to do the job was extremely helpful.