RISLAND CONTRACTING

Mr. Risland was hired initially to build a oak staircase in our Mission styled Farmhouse. This home is new construction from the ground up. His rate of pay is higher than most but the the quality of work is beautiful as he takes much consideration to detail. This is why we asked him to stay on to finish more of our construction. The start of our relationship was fine. Midway through the relationship and during crucial area's of construction he started not showing up for work and was unavailable to phone calls so my husband had to finish jobs he started, (floor, ceiling etc.). Soon after he just stopped coming and we found he took on other jobs after ours and let them come a priority. He finally walked off the job with some of our materials and the key to our home. Yet to be returned. Very, very unhappy with his poor behavior toward us.

Started out with desire to update existing bathroom which served as both master bath and the guest bath (two doors). Eliminating a door to this bath gave need to add new guest bath on main floor. I figured while I had contractors here I would have them update my kitchen cabinets to make room for a new fridge as existing fridge smaller and older (but still functioning- now in basement). This morphed - at my request - into completely redoing kitchen. Got a few quotes for this work and decided on Risland Contracting. Very happy I did! Andy Risland first impressed me by bringing a plumber with him when coming to do the estimate. He continued to impress me with his work and his choice of subcontractors. The professionalism of this group of workers was fabulous. The demolition stage was hard- I did not move out (although dogs did for for weekdays). But Risland made the process easier by thoughful acts. For instance after 2-3 weeks of living in a total mess, I was delighted when the plumber, Greg Claypool, temporarily fashioned an old laundry sink in my kitchen so I would have running water there rather than having to go down basement bathroom to wash my hands or rinse a cup. Another day, during the rebuild, the kitchen cabinets were delivered early (yes early). They were stacked in my livingroom from floor to ceiling with only a small path around. When Andy called me at work to update me I asked if he had left a clear view of the television as there was a game I really wanted to watch that night, and due to electrical work watching television in another area of home was not then possible. He made another trip out to the house (25 miles one way) just to clear this path, at the end of his workday. The cabinet subcontractor was Mark Adams from North Country Custom Cabinets and he was also a delight to work with.After I chose cabinets for bathrooms, he drove me to the granite warehouse 100 miles away to pick out granite for kitchen, and then over to company that makes the countertops from slabs. There we went out in snow and looked at remnants for the bathroom countertops as I wanted different looks in different rooms. At this point I was still somewhat hopeful that exisitng kitchen cabinets could be salvaged with the renovations, but it became clear that they would not survive well. And as I had selected a gorgeous granite for the kitchen I decided to finish the project properly by replacing the cabinets. I was not pressured into this decision, both Andy and Mark were still willing to try to make old cabinets work.. Time was of the essence, as the work had already begun and contractors had timeline for everything. Mark showed me hundreds of samples, and then mock ups on his computer to show finished project....this all in my own home when I got back from work. Andy had stayed also to discuss change in project, timelines, and cost this new plan would entail. I chose rustic hickory cabinets and they are absolutely beautiful. Other folks involved were Jeff Van D*** who did all the ceramic tile work in bathroom and kitchen, Floor to Ceiling in Bemidji (Linda) who designed bathroom ceramic work after I picked out tiles/accent, and Besslers Electric. Final note: people were shocked when I said I liked my contractor and had no problems. Not having had a lot of previous experience with contractors I was surpised to hear so many horror stories from others. No compaints from me. Everything turned out fabuous and I have nothing but praise for all involved. Thank you Risland Contracting for making my home so beautiful and for making the renovation process as painless as possible.