Affordable Design Builders and Remodelers

Roger, from Affordable Design, installed a vanity top and faucet. He took out (and hauled away) our old top and sink. He arrived on time, was very, very personable and did an excellent job. He came out the morning after a blizzard where we got 17+ inches of snow and was not phased by the drive at all. It was probably a good hour away from us and I offered him the opportunity to come at a later time, but he had no problem with it he said. Not only that, but the guy had plowed from 10:00 the night before until 4:30 in the morning! Everything was done very professionally and looks great. Made sure the faucet didn't leak, cleaned up the mess and was done in a short amount of time (in my opinion). We are definitely using him again as we have another vanity, sink and faucet we need installed and possibly new granite counter tops in our kitchen We could not have been happier with his service and like I said, great personality. I highly recommend him!

everything about this was a disaster. because roger was hunting at the time there was no contract...good thing no money down. 1st problem, HVAC..his subcontract took over 5 weeks to get anything installed; end result...the HVAC did not install what I wanted, no explainatiion. Xmas eve, I rippled out all the main floor venting that he installed and I put in a lot of venting with tin from Home Depot and duct tape, $800 out the door. Move on from that. The subcontractors that came in for most everything were great. Roger, from Affordable....never again I would even consider working with him. I am generally a flexible person...until dealing with a person like this, when the heels needed to dig in. The estimate was ridiculous...the final bill was ridiculous...off by over $1500 dollars, geez to his advantage. Roger is not a man of detail, or pride in the detail/quality. I if you are content with a contractor who says he'll show up, or his sub contractors will show up on a specific te ( consider you are taking a day off from work and no one shows up...ok).. if he will not speak to you directly but only sends you brief messages ....TEXT messages that have no relevence or make sense severaly days later...than maybe this is the contractor for you. In my opinion, Roger has absolutely no project management, communiciation skills...or ceramic tile installation skills. After working with Roger, I actually went to the State of Minnesota to inform myself of what it takes to be a contractor.....well, it's $150 cost, buying insurance of X amount of money and passing a test of about 120 questions..OPEN BOOK over about 4 hours time....geez, it's no wonder, that Roger Kelly has a contractor license...I would question pretty much any idiot has the ability to obtain a contractors license....I know I hired one, when I hired Roger Kelly. Bad contracting skills, bad project management skills, bad communications......and the absolute worst....the one actual skill that Roger makes claim to is laying ceramic tile. First off no estimate for the fact that he charges more to change a tile (not a re-design of laying tile, simply a different tile. He claimed he stated to...nothing on the estimate. Then after he laid the tile, rather than cutting tile to fit, he left a gap....I could fit a quarter in it, between the top of the tile and my cabinets. Roger said that was acceptable. I took a photo of the tile...and a photo of the tile with the quarter in the gap, and went to Roger's supplier, The tile store (which Roger ripped me off in prices)....and the people at the Tile Store, laughed and sighed...and told me that whoever put this is was either an amature, or a lazy/sloppy ceramist.. I guess that says it all. I have no affiliation (obviously) with Roger other than a list from ANGIES LIST....to which I also have great issues. NEVER WOULD I RECOMMEND ROGER KELLY TO DO MY TILE WORK>>>>OR EVEN MORESO....I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PERSON AS A CONTRACTOR...I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW HE EVER MADE IT ON TO ANGIES LIST....BUYT THEN I HAVE THESE SAME ISSUES WITH ANGIES LIST. !!!

Everything went great and we love the updated bathroom. Roger removed the existing tub, tile surround, toilet, flooring and replaced with all new. We went from a single sink vanity to a double sink vanity. Roger helped me keep costs reasonable - yet provided a very modern up to date look. He didn't cut corners and kept me informed of his and sub contractors schedule. This is the 4th project between several homes that Roger has done for us and his work is top notch.

Did not complete job as agreed upon. He did give us a partial refund

It's fine, so far there were a couple of things that couldn't be finished at the time but he will be back. I am very satisfied about the progress and everything else about it. A part needs to be order and that hasn't come in yet and so until that come in and he install that I still don't know if there is time for the big deal. He is very sincere and dependable.

I understand there are limitations to what the guy does. I explained to him right away that I knew a lot about his business and I really did understand the limitations due to the age of our home. He would not listen to what I was saying and he kept on about a type of board that we should use and that was not what we wanted. He said he would put together a couple of sketches and email them. He sent a few sketches and they were not what we had talked about. He sent an email back and he said I should have hired an architect if I was wanting something else. I would not hire him ever for any service based on the email and the experience as he was not professional at all. I did work in an architecture firm in the marketing department at the time and I know that is not what he does but I really do not believe he is qualified to make any assessment based on the experience that I had. He should stick to the contractor side and not the design side. I did think that the price was very good just for an educated opinion, if I would have gotten that. I do remember that he showed up late for the appointment. I did get a call back fairly quickly for the appointment but I did have to email him a few times to get the sketches as it went from what was suppose to be one week to three weeks. He seemed nice and I'm sure he is good at the contractor side but he did not listen to me and he was just not professional with the interaction.

Work was done in 4 hours. Job was done neat, minus the unfinished drywall. Worker left with 2 hours of work remaining and has not returned or been in contact since to complete the job.

Great service. Very professional, did all the work well and quickly! We're putting our house on the market and they made our 'to-do' list so much easier and took care of numerous issues for a very reasonable price. Will definitely use again.

In October we contacted four contractors to finish off our basement after a sump pump was installed. Roger emailed us back almost immediately and came to meet with us soon afterwards.We didn't hear from anyone else for quite some time. He gave us a great estimate and some ideas of how we could get the best bang for our buck (for example installing an electric fireplace instead of gas and no putting a sink in our bar). We really appreciated his honesty and felt he was the right guy for the job. The project started off the week before Thanksgiving and went very smoothly. Some of Roger's guys worked on weekends which was great for us because it meant getting the project done sooner. All of them were great to work with, extremely friendly and inclusive with the exception of the granite company he used (the next time we work with Roger we will want to use a different one if it is necessary). They left garbage in our yard, were not professional and the quality of the product was not great. Along the way Roger had great ideas and fixes for things like creating access to a water valve and covering up concrete at the bottom of the pillars with great looking wood trim. In the middle of the project we had a medical emergency and had to be at the hospital all day when we were supposed to meet with Roger to pick out our tile. We let him know right away and he said it wasn't a problem. He sent photos to us and he picked out the perfect selection on the first try. We appreciated his understanding and help greatly. Roger was great with contacting us about when workers would be coming or there was something to decide on about the project. He even finished ahead of schedule! Overall we were so thrilled and satisfied with the end result. We cannot wait to build up our home improvement budget again to see what Roger can come up with next!

I think they are very good. They were fast and did a h*ll of a sales job. I think the quality is pretty good, they were neat and were in and out in only two days for 10 windows. It was only two people.

It was average. We just couldn't really find a good designer, I felt like maybe some designs and perspectives were quite on the same page. We are moving on for a new design. They did what they said they're gonna do and they were on time.

It started off really well. The owner called me the day after I purchased the Big Deal (June 18th) and told me someone would call me about scheduling a time to come out and measure. And he did call and wanted to come when he would be in the area on a Saturday despite my repeatedly saying that I would be out of town that day. We set up a time the following Tuesday and I stayed home from work, but he missed the appointment. I called the owner back and shortly thereafter the person who was to come out called me and explained they had an emergency on another job. After a lot of back and forth, they finally came out and measured my simple countertops and I selected the sample I liked. It took about 5 minutes. He then said he would call me again to set up the installation. I asked for confirmation that I would be getting a written estimate before that happened. I heard nothing for some time. I finally emailed the owner asking about my estimate. I never heard from him; instead the installer called me back telling me that my countertop had been fabricated and after they polished it they could come out and install it. I said I never got an estimate, how much would it cost? $500. This seemed reasonable, so I agreed. I asked about the free faucet that was included in the Big Deal. He said that I was supposed to be only if you did a full kitchen. But the Big Deal did not say that. He contacted the owner and got back to me. He said he could bring it out with him. If I wanted installed the owner (a plumber) would need to do it and would charge me $200. I said we could install ourselves. They wanted to come install at 9:30 PM one night. This did not work for me. I said I could be home by 5:30 another day and he agreed. I got home and it was already installed and they were gone. They showed up an hour early and fortunately someone was home. The countertop looks fine, although it is slightly off-center. This process took about 7 weeks. Apparently the owner offering the Big Deal is a plumber who outsources the countertops to another contractor and after the initial measuring felt my job was too small and included no plumbing, so he just turned it all over to the subcontractor, who was very nice, but quite disorganized and not very business-like.

I purchased a Big Deal involving a consultation and plan for basement remodelling. It was very challenging to get an appointment set up. After the appointment took place, I never heard further from the firm. No plans and no call.

Our kitchen tiled back splash turned out beautifully. It was a very time consuming project because I had inadvertently picked out single tiles rather than tiles on a mesh backing. Roger worked hard to get the project done in a reasonable time period, working extra late to finish. The installation of our flooring was excellent. We had over 1600 square feet installed and it is beautiful. We are extremely satisfied. I also had a few odd projects that he was very reasonable with the fees and helped us get completed.

Roger did a nice job with our kitchen renovation project. He was very upfront with the work that was needed and the timeline that was presented. We were very happy with the quality of the cabinetry from Keith at Ultimate Cabinetry (Roger's subcontractor) and tile work, flooring and backsplash, that was done by Roger. Additionally, the contractors who came to our house were very responsible and friendly. The only issue that we had with Roger is that he isn't necessarily the most detailed oriented person at times, probably due to his busy schedule. Hence, any discussions you have with him should be documented clearly. Overall, Roger was able to deliver the kitchen that we had envisioned and designed. Finally, we would definitely call Roger again for any future projects we have at our house.

Affordable Design came out at the best quote out of six other contractors. The project is scheduled to be completed by 8 weeks. The work scope includes 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 home theater and the rest of the common areas. The project started out quite good. . When come to around the midpoint of the project, things slowed down due to scheduling issues with other subcontractors, which are understandable or project management issues we were not sure. However, in the end, Roger was able to meet the deadline with a few minor corrections required. Roger subcontracted out most of the work including painting, flooring, frame, drywall, bathroom, electric and HVAC. We had a few key hiccups in this project as expected, some resolved nicely and others are not. - Overall basement layout meets our expectation. The basement looks like what we have in mind. Work quality is good, nothing fancy but good enough. For the quoted price we think the quality of materials are decent and justified. - Roger acted as project manager. His communication of when and what were to be done was sufficient. Sometimes he just text us who and when the subcontractors arrived the night before. Someday some subcontractor showed up and we had no ideas. He could have laid out week-to-week activity, who are the contractors, when they will start and finish. From a customer point of view it seemed sporadic and not well organized. - The home theater platform was framed not high enough. We found out after frame already up and asked Roger to make corrections. This is avoidable if more effective communications taken place. Roger accepted to make corrections at his cost. - Restroom and flooring allowance is bit low, but I guess that is the price was quoted for. We paid a few hundreds extra. - We made the final payment on the project deadline. There were still a few items needed to be fixed. We thought we trusted him to complete soon, so we paid him, but after 4 months, these items are still not corrected. Rogers promised to correct them but did not happen. I reminded him the incompletion over text and email and he showed aggressiveness toward to me. It is now the 5th month after the deadline these items still have not fixed. Specifically - (i) three doors creak and difficult to open/close (ii) fitting between the fridge to counter top (iii) wood counter needs fillers over the screw area - Throughout the project Roger continued to complain how much things cost him that made us not comfortable. We did not feel easy to communicate with him our desires. - Roger helped us with bringing theater seats from St. Louis Park to Cottage Grove. Overall: The project went OK. For the cost I thought it went quite decent. Most of the works were subcontracted out more than quoted. We feel that the subcontractor's work were quite good. However we would NOT recommend him for major projects because working with Roger has been difficult and his customer service and project management were below expectation. Price is very good. Quality is good and that reflect the price being quoted. Responsiveness was decent during the project. Punctuality and professionalism were bad as we reflected in our above comments. We are relatively new to hiring a contractor for major work like the basement. This project is a major learning curve for us help us know what to look out for when send out for project bidding. New or not very experienced home owners should be cautious if you are considering Affordable Design Builders and Remodellers.

Roger was awesome. He showed up when scheduled and was ready to listen to what I needed. He worked very hard at getting me my bid within 2 days. He personally delivered my bid which I felt was above and beyond. Ultimately, another bid was accepted. I would/will contact Roger again if I need anything.

We made an appointment at a time so that both me and my wife be home from work to discuss the project with Roger. He never came or called with a reason for missing the appointment. It was very disappointing and a waste of our time.

The representative was friendly and did some nice designs. After he delivered the drawings, he wanted me to go work with someone else at the cabinet shop, which was quite far from my home. I ended up using salvaged cabinets in my 100+ year old house, so I didn't use the designs. I feel the service would have been fine if I hadn't been looking for a historic look for my kitchen.

This was the first time we hired an outside contractor for a remodeling project. We had heard horror stories about project gone awry, but that was not the case for us. Roger is very approachable, very accessible and clearly knows his craft. He is in high demand, but his subcontractors are equally skilled and personable. An example of Roger's commitment to his clients -- the project began when we were on vacation. A few days in, Roger noticed a leak from the toilet our bedroom bath (not the bathroom he was working on) that was dripping in to the downstairs bathroom. After a few texts and a phone call, Roger called in a plumber and replaced the toilet. The matter was resolved before we got home.

The software he used was some kind of Mickey Mouse software that anyone could have done with an ap on their cell phone. It didn't show anyhting that we had told him we wanted included, andit wasn't even done to scale. I had to call him several times to get the plans, so you can see how dissappointed I was when I finally got it.

Covered somewhat in previous paragraph...bottom line...I paid $75.00 for a PLAN. I got nothing relative to the $75.00 spent here, wasn't comp'ed for it in any manner. This doesn't work for me personally...but it fits the manner of how Roger worked with me.. I'm exhausted from the experience...it's worth it for me to walk away from this $75.00 to have this whole experience out of my life. As I started a small kitchen remodel in November, and I'm still dealing with fixing the shoddy work.

Roger and everybody he works with did a great job. Roger was extremely helpful and patient. I took forever (months) to get back to him after he came out for the initial estimate. He would patiently contact me every once in a while to see if he should keep me on the list. The job got bigger than initially planned after finding the surprise of back mold on my wall. He is taking pity on me a giving me a great deal to re-tile the walls around the tub and shower. I completely trust him in my home when I'm not there. He is helpful and a really nice guy. He is perfectly happy to take any size job, fitting the small jobs in between the larger ones. He will do his best to make suggestions to keep costs down. Though, I didn't listen and picked out more expensive tile. My kitchen looks great with granite counter tops, under cabinet lighting and glass tile back splash! I recommended him to a friend and will definitely hire him again.

They kept saying they were going to come, but kept putting us off. The granite work in my kitchen was excellent at first, but then I noticed some issues. They told me they could have fixed the chips in the granite if I had let them know earlier. The sink was installed incorrectly. Due to the sink being installed incorrectly, I had to hire a plumber to fix the leakage that cost an additional 305.00. I have attempted to reach the provider to have them fix the countertop but the provider is refusing to do so.

They said they couldn't do anything because the basement ceiling was too low. They were polite and professional and we appreciated that they were upfront with us about it. We got a refund through Angie's List for this deal.