Merrick Design and Build Inc.

First, I would use them again if - and only if - Paul did the actual work again and I didn't care how quickly the work was done. (There's no choice of "yes I would use this provider but with a caveat.") The quality of the work was great, and I know I'll love the kitchen once time goes by. BUT.... They were expensive, but I knew this going in. I decided on Merrick based on other reviews which were generally good, Peggy (who designed the kitchen) and the fact that they were a local family company. I was willing to pay for quality work from a company which would stand behind their work. The MAJOR problem was timeliness. Pretty much only one man (Paul) worked on the project other than contractors (plumbing and electrical). I started this process in May and decided on Merrick in June. They knew my budget from the beginning. I was told the project could certainly be completed by "the holidays," which I originally thought was Labor Day. Silly me. When I was told to go out and select things like tile, floor, appliances, etc., I was given no guidelines as to the cost I should consider. The one exception was the granite, which I was told to keep at a particular level. I did try to select moderately priced, but good quality, items. (No Wolf stove or Subzero fridge!) When they came back with the initial quote (2-3 months later - the first red flag) it was almost a third over my budget!!! David, the owner, came out to see if any modifications could be done. We finally ended up with a budget which was over my original budget (by the way - forget doing a kitchen with the "national average" of $55,000!) but I could live with. At that point, I realized the holidays would probably mean Thanksgiving, but they put "December 15" as the contract completion date - to make sure they could meet the contract completion date. They almost never sent anyone to help Paul - even though he requested it, and I was questioning the deadline. (One guy maybe a couple of hours two-three times came.) FINALLY, yesterday Paul cleared out everything - not quite a month late. Since it was a two-month projected timeframe, that's 50% over budgeted time! We couldn't decorate for Halloween (totally expected), couldn't have family over for Thanksgiving (somewhat expected) or Christmas (NOT expected! - and we couldn't even decorate) or New Years (NOT expected). Paul pretty much kept everything outside the construction area clean. He cleaned up the construction area every day before he left. I don't know if Merrick is over-extended, or if they just didn't care about our project getting completed. They ordered items which didn't fit, and then didn't immediately reorder the right ones. You would think experienced remodelers would know how to measure! I feel that if Paul wasn't such a good carpenter (he really did do good work), I would have totally been disappointed - perhaps even angry. As it is, I will eventually love my kitchen and the irritation about Merrick's lack of concern will fade. Oh, by the way, the delays were NOT due to any changes I made. I added on a couple of small items, but neither of those were done by Christmas, so it certainly didn't affect the overall timeliness. I had thought a few things would be different than they were done, but decided I could live with what they did (and perhaps I had THOUGHT they were different, but they weren't!) so didn't have them redo anything. Now that they're out, we can finish painting the dining room and living room (which are now open to the kitchen) and put back furniture (we had to store furniture outside so they had a "staging" area) this weekend and start enjoying our new kitchen. Downstairs bath (my son's) - done at the same time - was pretty much the same story, but we had no changes/additional work at all.

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We met with Merrick and asked them to do a feasibility study for a project that we were looking to do. Keep in mind we never would have had them do the study if we knew that it was not feasible to do. They told me in advance that our project was going to be within our budget and they had no clue what their costs were. Once their costs were too high they stopped doing any work for us and would not provide us with a refund. We effectively spent $3,000 for nothing. My frustration is that if you are a provider shouldn't you know effectively what your cost per square foot is? They also employed several project estimators and told us that the project would be within their budgeted amount. They also on the design nickle and dimed us for any additional piece of work which I did not like. I prefer vendors that are more honest or at least have a better clue about their costs. Several of the other vendors we spoke with that provided estimates were much more in-line with what the costs would have been for them.

The workmanship by Joe Dougher (the Merrick Home Repair person assigned to our job) was outstanding. He was creative, precise, and highly skilled. We would use Merrick/Joe Dougher's services again without reservation. The cost of the renovation was higher than the original estimate (probably not unusual for this type of work), but at the end of the day we were so satisfied with the results that we didn't argue it.

Initially, the work seemed fine but the bubbling/chipping continued. While they agreed to retreat the area based on their warranty, they said the problem may be efflorescence which was never mentioned before. We asked for work orders to justify the $2300 charge for work completed, but no records could be provided. We then asked for a refund given that it seems all they did was scrape paint and re-paint for $2300 when it only cost $5000 to paint the entire front of the building (from a different provider of course). What's troubling is the shoddy work performed and refusal to refund the exorbitant cost of such subpar work. I would NOT recommend Merrick Design Build for any projects as their costs are rather inflated and much higher than other similar contractors. Look elsewhere!

Merrick was very responsive about arranging a site visit and their architect showed up on schedule for our appointment. After some brief discussion, it became clear that their pricing was well above the range that we were considering and we did not pursue our discussion with them further. Subsequent estimates from two other contractors were much lower and we chose one of those contractors for the project.

They were on time, they stayed in budget, and they were very good to work with.

process went well, no work stopping, on site carpenter/site manager at house daily, project foreman very available, no conflict over changes, pleasant and neat workers and subcontractors. Quality materials and workmanship.

We knew that we wanted more space and a better flow to our small house (and closets!), but we didn't know the best way to get there. The first contractor we spoke with wanted to make our Cape Cod a Colonial. That was too big for our lot, and more space than we wanted. We spoke with another larger builder, whose solution was to put a few dormers across the front and back, which didn't seem very creative or really responsive to our needs. Then came Merrick. After an initial visit, David and Lindsay came to see our house and brainstorm on what could be done. A few weeks later, we met with Lindsay, who presented us plans, saying she and quot;lived with it for a couple of weeks.and quot; We were blown away. She came up with a very creative solution that would preserve the openness of our floor plan and give us the extra space we wanted. Merrick's design process was incredibly well organized, and they were willing to work with us to fit the project within our fairly tight budget. Once we agreed on the scope of work, we worked with Lindsay to refine our plans and start selecting finishes. Lindsay has an incredible eye for the big-picture design of the project, as well as for the little things like how a given fixture would look in the new space. She was always available, usually answering emails within an hour. After some delays in permitting and finalizing a construction loan, we began construction in mid-September. Though we weren't given a firm date by which the project would be finished, we were given a rough estimate. For the amount of work that was completed, I never thought we'd be in the house at the beginning of February. Four and a half months was very fast (though we were helped by a warm winter). Our project manager, Brian, was friendly, responsive and highly competent. He has the perfect temperment for his job as conducter of the construction orchestra -- even-keeled and seemingly unshakeable. Other members of the Merrick team, such as Julio and David, were very friendly and responsive to our questions. In sum, we're very pleased with the work Merrick did on our home and would highly recommend them to anyone considering a home renovation. Here's a picture of our addition: and lt;divand gt;and lt;a href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/4012184/Silver-Spring-Addition-traditional-exterior-dc-metro'and gt;and lt;img src='http://st.houzz.com/simgs/5d4179c1019d2834_3-3946/traditional-exterior.jpg' border=0 width='320' height='218' /and gt;and lt;/aand gt;and lt;/divand gt;and lt;div style='color:#444;'and gt;and lt;smalland gt;and lt;a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional/exterior'and gt;Traditional Exteriorand lt;/aand gt; by and lt;a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/professionals/design-build/c/Kensington--MD'and gt;Kensington Design-buildand lt;/aand gt; and lt;a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/pro/addiemerrick/merrick-design-build-inc'and gt;Merrick Design and Build Incand lt;/aand gt;and lt;/smalland gt;and lt;/divand gt;

.The process was slow, originally planned to be 1 week, but there was a delay in obtaining the glass walls and then we were out of town and the whole process ended up taking about 4 weeks. Only a small part of that delay was the builders fault, however the builder was aware of our time schedule for being out of town.

David met with us in his office, and went over our existing floor plans. On the spot he was able to do a rough design of our kitchen and bathroom on the computer, and show us a couple examples of similar kitchens that he had remodeled. He gave us a ballpark estimate of what it would cost to do what we wanted to do, and discussed the challenges of financing such a project. We are still contemplating financing options and do not plan on moving forward with the project for another year or so. It was our understanding that if we decided to move forward, Merrick would provide us with a written contract complete with all materials itemized, and work would not start until all items were obtained (to avoid delays once the work started). Having recently finished a bathroom remodeling job with another company that did not do this (nor did they have even a sketch of the design as far as we are aware), we are well-educated as to the value of having these things in place.

While Merrick hasn't yet begun the work (it should commence in June of 2013) we wanted to write a review of the design process that we began a year ago with Lindsay. Lindsay is, with all sincerity, the sweetest, most honest, and most professional person we've ever encountered in the home improvement realm. We cannot imagine working with anyone else. In fact, my wife and I were so compelled to work with her we decided it would be a waste of time to get additional bids. Lindsay has, over the course of the design process, taken every one of our unusual requests with patience and consistently found a way to make them work in order achieve the effect we're after. There was no curve ball she didn't crush and no email she didn't respond to and absorb. We've been blown away at her ability to track and integrate every single one of our off-handed requests and rapid-fire emails. She oozes a level of competence and attention to detail you just don't expect to encounter these days. We strongly encourage anyone looking to work with a design-build firm to begin and end their search with Lindsay @ Merrick.

It was great. They are very professional, conscientious, and have a strong attention to detail

I called, asked for a quote. They came out within a short period of time and gave me a quote. I then scheduled the installation of my storm door. They came out when they said they would, installed it in a very efficient and professional manner, and it looks great!

Mr Merrick was very prompt in returning my calls and flexible in scheduling a date/time to have him come into DC to do a walk through and provide a rough estimate of what it would take to reconfigure a very small half bath, remodel an upstairs small full bath, and turn a small nursery room adjoining the master bedroom into a master bath. We walked through the basement underneath the first-floor half bath and looked at the plumbing situation (as well as some potential brick work in the basement itself). Then on to the upstairs existing full bath, and then the potential new full master bath. He provided rough cost ideas for what we wanted to do. Merrick Design has a great process where you do this step, then meet with a professional designer and have plans drawn up. At that point, Merrick works to get exact costs from subcontractors as the process moves forward. Very well thought out process. Several of the houses in our neighborhood have used Merrick Design and been very happy with their work. We will not be moving forward with our project at this time however, but will keep them in mind for when we do.

We had actually contacted them for doing an extension of our house. They did a good job with the installing but the only thing is that when they came to install the ad deck fan it wasn't working and they hadn't checked it prior. The other thing is that they had ordered it and we didn't get it on time, so we had to reschedule it the first time. When they came the fan wasn't working so we had to reschedule it again. They did a good job but the only thing was that we had contacted them for a potential addition to our home and we would have expected more for that job which was pretty simple than not rescheduling. If you think about it in a larger scale, that was a pretty simple job how would it be if we had the addition done through them, so I expected much better service from them. We wouldn't have decided to go with them for that addition

Based on a recommendation from a colleague, we called Merrick Design and Build's main phone number, and I described the situation to the woman who answered the phone. First off, her name was Jocelyn, and she was so professional over the phone, listened to everything I said, took notes, and said someone would call me back. I expected a call from a sales associate, or perhaps a project manager, and I expected I would hear back in a day or two. Instead, I received a call within the hour from the company's president, David Merrick. We talked for a while, and he said he'd like to visit the property with us, setting up an appointment for the next day. We spent about 2-3 hours walking through the property, discussing needed repairs as well as future projects. David also gave us his priority list (from emergency repairs, safety needs) and talked about how long we could delay certain projects. He gave low/high estimates for everything and discussed what he could sub-contract as well as how the whole project would be managed. David also found things the average inspector might not (e.g., lead service pipe); he told us which aspects were up to code, which were not, and how large of a concern these things were. He also seemed very aware of the age of our children and discussed the nature of how the home would need to be updated for young children's safety, or what we would need to be aware of. He also had clear timelines for when and how long everything would take to accomplish. Afterwards, we had a follow-up phone conversation as well as several e-mail correspondences. Through all of this process, we never felt pressured at all, and David even talked us out of several proposed changes and additions. Further, he gave us our vision for how we could do a and quot;smalland quot; renovation to a and quot;largeand quot; renovation, pricing out both approximately. In the end, we did not go through with the home purchase, but David and his company sold us on being future customers. The next time we have a project, Merrrick Design and Build will be the first company we will call for estimates, and we can say with 99% certainty that this is the company we would trust to do anything on a future home.

It went fine. We may use them again in the future.

They did excellent work. Everything still looks good, so it has stood the test of time.

Most excellent. Great communication, great staff (neat, conscientious, professional), beautiful job. Will definitely use again for big and small projects.

I think they did a great job. They are creative and they stand behind their work.