Remodeling Specialties/Fred Sons

In order to prepare my mother's 4-bedroom colonial house for resale, I sent Fred a (rather long) list of items that we needed to have fixed and asked him to prepare a quote. He visited the house with the list in hand, and we discussed each of the items, including those that he did, and those that would need to be subcontracted to others. He subsequently provided a detailed price estimate, as I requested, which was very helpful. I was happy to pay him the $75 for his time and estimating work. Good information is worth the cost, and he clearly put at least that much time into it--probably more. His prices seemed to be similar to the other contractor that was bidding. In the end, I decided to go with the other contractor primarily because the other contractor provided a wider range of service types. In many cases, managing several subcontractors would not be a problem, but in my case, since I do not live in the area, I felt it would be better to have fewer contractors. Even though I'm not planning to use Fred's services this time, having prices from him helped me feel confident that the other prices that I received from the other contractor were normal.

First I would like to stress the quality you will get with Fred.? He has exceptional attention to detail and looks at the project with a designer's eye.? He is?able to provide recommendations on aesthetics and what will work for your project.? You may pay a little extra for this quality and craftsmanship, but it is well worth it in my opinion.? You are?getting a contractor that cares about your project. We remodeled our living room in two phases.? The first phase was to remove ugly?knotty pine from our walls and install drywall and trim.? We also installed a new sliding door which Fred recommended and we were glad he did, it looks great.? The second phase of the project was a few months later (Fred was very helpful in phasing the project).? We did a custom remodel on the fireplace.? Fred helped us put together a design, was there when we picked out cabinets, and helped us pick a tile for around the fireplace opening.? The end product was beautiful.? We also had him doing this around the Christmas holiday and did so with no delay.? Fred is very responsive and helpful.? We made a few changes throughout the project and he worked closely with us to make sure things turned out the way we envisioned.? He really cares about the projects he works on and it shows.

Responsiveness was not good to start with. I heard nothing back for 4 days before I called again. Fred apologized and stated he thought Jessica had returned my original call. Fred was prompt in returning my call when I had a question about the bill and he resolved it to my complete satisfaction. en

Fred Sons did a superb job of repairing a leaking bathtub drain that was beginning to do damage to my kitchen ceiling.He also did a perfect job of repairing the drywall.Clean up was great.My tenants were happy.His assistant did some extra roofing repair work as well,and sent photos to document his work.All this went on the day after I came home from surgery-he made it easy for me to work with him,which I truly appreciated.

Fred Sons and I initially started working together when he problem solved an insidious leak that was due to an improper window installation by another contractor. By the time I realized I had a leak, I had rotted wood, carpenter ants and wet dry wall. I had several other p professionals in, at no small expense, and no one fixed the problem. Fred was the one who did. He took time and really made sure he knew the cause, and then also made sure the leak was truly repaired before putting the dry wall back up. And then in 2009, we remodeled the bath and in 2012 the kitchen (details above) These were both functional, but ugly. And now, they are truly beautiful. We were able to update and modernize them, but they both look appropriate to the age and the overall value of the house. Any new visitor (or any one who has not seen them before-- ie, out of town guests) always provide unsolicited compliments on both rooms. He has always been on time for appointments. He responds to inquiries in a timely manner. He will offer suggestions for consideration, but of course ultimately do what the home owner wants. Beyond the basics, Fred is also creative, cooperate, responsive, kind, honest, detail oriented, responsible, respectful, and talented. He has a keen and artistic eye and helps the home owner make aesthetic decisions as well as practical ones. I couldn't be more pleased with my new rooms, Fred's work, and my relationship with him. I am now planning a remodel of a breezeway, and will undoubtedly hire Fred for the work.

Fred came in and look at the job we wanted him to do, provided an estimate and date of service. The job was completed professional and on time.

His quote was originally for about $5000 less than we ended up paying (contract was time and material while the quote was just an estimate). We did end up using glass tile for part of the shower which is more expensive than the original quote, but we also simplified some things that should have brought the cost back down. The time portion of the work was the thing that seemed to keep extending which caused the price to keep going up. The quality of the work was very good except for the glass tile which was scratched in a number of places. I think it may have been the first time that they had worked with glass tile, and this caused both an issue with labor cost and the quality of the finished product (again, only glass tile). The rest of the work was of very good quality. I had a quote for the same exact remodel job (including glass tile) from a company that gave a guaranteed quote, went with Fred Sons because of the initial low quote, but ended up paying about $3000 more than I would have paid guaranteed. Final problem was when our sensing humidifier stopped working. Fred had subbed out the electrical, and contacted them to fix. After the fix was completed, we were informed that we had to pay the labor for the fix. Yet another disappointment as it relates to the cost. If he had let us know that we would be paying for this, we would have switched it out ourselves.

Started off with him having a service fee of $75 which everyone I spoke with said that was ridiculous. I was hoping for $75 we'd get an experienced, professional person, but that was not the case. He came in ridiculing the decorating job. Thank god it was a new house and wasn't my interior work. The guy was very arrogant. Gave us more decorating tips than remodeling and still charged me $75.00 on top of that. It would have been a great gesture for him not to take my $75.00. Other Angie's List remodelers that I contacted and had a meeting with did not charge and were very helpful with our project. Would not recommend this company at all.

Fred Sons wanted $75 to come out and even talk to us about our renovation project. Sure, they mentioned it would come off the total bill if we chose them, but we're careful, and like to discuss design ideas/get estimates from more than one company. Am I being irrational or is $75 to come out and even meet with me insulting. I'm an educated man, multiple degrees, and I would never charge a potential client just to talk. Let alone $75. Bad business ethics in my honest opinion.

This is a very difficult review to write for me. Fred is a very nice person, there is no doubt about that. This was my very first experience with a contractor doing inside work, so please bear with me. He was called in to estimate a kitchen remodel, but I choice to give him smaller projects to see how he would do on those before something as major as a kitchen. On the smaller projects he did OK, I guess. I mean he did remove the wood paneling in one room, and he did remove the wall paper in two small bathrooms, prep drywall for painting. The concern became that he left one room uncompleted with door trim and a complete mess in the bathrooms where the wall paper was removed. He seemed to not be in any hurry to complete the small projects, as he kept asking about the major kitchen project. It got to the point where he was asked to try and complete one of the projects! He is a nice guy, but i now have been told that the work he as done, like removing wall paper, has to be re-Prepped because the glue was not removed enough to paint. Now, in all fairness, I was so tired of not one total job being completed that (other than the wood paneling torn down) that i became leary of having him start/continue the projects. So this may have been my fault. The one thing I learned from my first real contractor experience is to get multiple quotes for the work to be done. Fred's estimates were easily three times as much as all the other estimates. I began getting quotes once i felt the work was not being completed in a timely manner. Please get multiple quotes.. One other sore point was that the removed materials were put in a green removal containor by Fred and placed in my driveway. Now after two weeks I had to pay a company $300 to have it removed. Now maybe it was my misuderstanding as i thought that was Something as Fred was to take care of due to all the money I had paid. I can only go on the other contractors telling me what was not done correctly. And I paid a lot of money.

We have worked with Fred in the past and once again he did an absolutely terrific job ? exceeding our expectations. Fred has a great eye for detail and was very collaborative in working through the design process. The quality of the finished work is top notch. He really thought through details and made suggestions on some of the smaller aspects that in the end have added a real custom touch to the kitchen and adjoining areas. Throughout the process Fred was just a real pleasure to work with - couldn't ask for a better contractor. I have no doubt that when we get ready for our next house project we'll be calling Fred.

Fred, himself came out to perform the actual quote. He was professional, friendly, and explained exactly what he could do with my rather unorthodox situation as one of the walls had the brick fireplace chimney behind only a portion of it. He had furnished a quote via email within a few days. His personnel that actually performed the job were equally professional, punctual, and definitely capable. Overall, the result was a well above average for an average price.

I trusted him even when I wasn't home and his price was reasonable. He is conscientious and very thorough. He was willing to work with my schedule and I trusted the work he performed. I would use him again if I needed to.

Fred was on-time and very professional. We discussed the work we wanted done and Fred provided feedback with his recommendations on materials and installation methods. We had previously received three other quotes and Fred's quote was on the high end of the quotes we had received. I am convinced that Fred would have done an excellent?job if we?hired him. Unfortunately, we were working on a tight time schedule and he could not meet our timing requirements. We would seriously consider him for?future work that we may do.

I was disappointed by this experience. The contractor demanded $75.00 after walking through my house 5 minutes only to tell me he couldn't estimate the job. The contractor lives five minutes from my house and he stopped by at the end of his day. If he wanted any new business, he sure didn't act like it. He should have apologized for not being able to do the work and walked away with his dignity intact. Instead he demanded $75.00 for doing nothing. The contractor got $75.00 for doing nothing and is permanently crossed off my list of contractors. I suggest you do the same.

Horrible, didn't get past the initial call.

I had a small job to do but was concerned about getting it done right. The tiles I selected for my kitchen are handmade irregulars in a wide range of sizes, dimensions, and thicknesses. I wanted to find someone who, not only had the skills to get the job done well, but would enjoy the creativity of the work. Fred fit the bill perfectly! When I didn't know how to finish the other two walls Fred suggested stainless steel and it was a perfect contrast/compliment to the more rustic tiles. They also trimmed out one kitchen window with beautifully stained maple boards. They worked cleanly, quickly and professionally. It was a pleasure to have them around. They were trust worthy and personable in addition. Fred and I have already started making plans for my bathroom remodel!

Fred was a pleasure to work with, from beginning to end.?? His pricing was straightforward, and he had very helpful suggestions along the way.?? I had been afraid to start my master bath remodel, for fear that I would not find someone to do quality work.? Fred did such a great job, we also had him work on my husband's bathroom.?? All work was done neatly, in a timely fashion, and at a price I found to be reasonable.?? Any issues we ran into along the way were addressed immediately.?? Fred was extremely communicative - setting up times to do the work, and checking to see how we liked things as they were done. Based upon his work, I would definitely hire him again.

To say Fred is a handyman is an injustice. He is a true craftsman who knows his trade and cares about the finished product. I had asked Fred to do a fairly simple job of repairing a water damaged ceiling and moving a light fixture over a couple of feet so it would be centered over the dining room table. I knew Fred was a good contractor from the start when he first set up his dust containment barrier to keep the fine plaster dust from drifting all over the house. The thickness of the plaster ceiling was an odd dimension and Fred carefully installed the replacement drywall flush then skim coated the repair. The level of finish was superb and the repair was invisible. Fred was punctual, worked diligently and efficiently, had all the necessary tools and materials, and always left the job site clean at the end of the day. I will definitely use Fred again.

We contacted Fred a week ago to discuss remodeling our kitchen. One week later, he still has not contacted us. If he can't even call us back, I wonder about his work ethics.

Fred worked by the hour, which worked out great; they always showed up as promised and were punctual; always worked out the inevitable problems quickly; did high quality work; had great ideas as work progressed; overall a great experience!

Called and spoke with Fred about installing a new storm door. It was apparent from the beginning that he didn't want to do the job. He guessed that it would take approximately 6 hours to install the door at $65 per hour plus $20 per hour for his assistant. Absolutely outrageous. He also said that he couldn't make it out to the house for about 2 weeks. Fred stated that since the house was a rental property (I am the landlord) he would rather not do the work because he finds most people want the job done as cheaply as possible. I informed him that I wanted the job done right at the right price. This is a house that I own and I want the job to be done correctly. Based on his estimate and his attitude, I will hire someone else.

Overall Fred did a great job on all 3 projects and really exceeded our expectations. He is honest, creative, and really easy to work with.

I contacted Fred due to excellent recommendations. He came out to look at the rooms, was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and had some great suggestions on style, materials, etc. He spent quite a bit of time listening to what we needed and seems to have a good eye for design and utility. We received an estimate for our projects in about a week, and the estimates were extremely thorough, and very reasonable in gauging the likely-costs in remodeling 60-year-old bathrooms. We would likely have gone with Mr. Sons but he was booked until winter 2012, and we'd like to have our projects done this fall.

Fred came out to do an estimate of some handyman work around my new home. He gave me an estimate of the cost of labor and materials for each repair and actually got started on several of them. He repaired the lock on my sliding door, repair mirrored folding door, repaired door jams in bedrooms, repaired and caulked storm door. He also took the screen doors with him to get measurments for replacement. He was able to find prices lower than what he quoted and let me know. Fred was really helpful in letting me know which projects I should focus on and which ones I should not invest in for now. Everything that he repaired is working very well. I was a little hesitant about calling him for such minor repairs since I felt he was way over qualified for the work I needed. However, Fred made me feel very comfortable and assured me that he sincerely enjoyed the work and was happy to work on whatever needed attention in my home, within his expertise (he was also very straight-forward about areas he did not specialize in and offered suggestions for another contractor).