Aarow Building

very very fine

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We had no experience with this kind of project and Jake led us through it. We are very satisfied with the finished room. People came to work promptly, worked continuously, and were very professional.

Great estimate just a little higher and then a little lower in either areas.

Jake transformed our (just-purchased-because-of-location) dreary, dated, and dark 1984 house into a place of beauty. He turned the bleak broken-up living/dining/kitchen into a large beautiful open plan room. I will list the highlights of the things he did to accomplish this feat. First off, he formed a lovely radius wall—rounded instead of the usual 90 degree corner—at the entryway/hallway juncture. He installed around 1400 sq ft hickory flooring. Built a platform for corner-installed wood stove in living room, covered it with slate; covered the old fireplace and the brick wall surrounding it with wood; converted the former firebox into an elegant slate-and-wood-lined firewood storage box. Built a pantry and a built-in 9 feet long bookshelf of white oak in kitchen/dining area; built and installed a peninsula countertop of white oak in kitchen/living room area. Ripped out old kitchen cabinets and installed new kitchen ones; tapered trim in such a way as to disguise the fact that the ceiling is uneven. Along the way, he found many plumbing and wiring problems that he repaired and brought up to code. He also dealt with off-plumb walls and slanting floors. Made changes in floor plan of bedrooms/master bedroom/hallway to create a walk-in closet for master bedroom. Remodeled bathroom, installed a large tiled shower with Schulter drain system, made built-in shelves for soap, etc. Tiled two walls of the bathroom floor-to-ceiling with tumbled travertine. Installed travertine tile on floor. Added a window. Built a vanity/shelf unit for sink/countertop of white oak. Replaced standard-size kitchen window with a picture windows; broke through solid walls and added picture windows to east and west ends of house. Replaced all windows in house with energy-efficient ones. Broke through concrete and added large egress windows in each of two basement bedrooms. Installed 2 sun tunnels in basement and 1 on main floor. Rebuilt basement stairs when the old ones were found to be substandard; converted a half-wall to a full wall. Removed basement gas stove and gas line, removed wet bar and plumbing, leaving no trace that either had ever existed. Did a beautifully transformative landscaping / hardscaping job; painted all of interior and exterior. Leveled a deck, which had sunk about 3 inches at the side farthest from the house; built a large extension to the deck; converted a bedroom window to a sliding glass door to open onto the deck addition; installed a hot tub. This was a large and long-lasting job; I have listed only the highlights. Jake also excels at communication skills. He kept us informed every step of the way. He answered all questions in terms we could understand and explained patiently if we still didn’t get it. When we telephoned him, he answered the phone. If he was busy and couldn’t answer, he would return our call within minutes, with an apology for not having answered. If a worker called in sick, he let us know. Jake’s employees are all skilled at what they do. Each of them is easyto be around. When the project was nearing the semi-final stages, Jake requested twice-weekly scheduled meetings with us on-site so he could tell us what would be happening next etc. Jake’s formal education is in art and he has an eye for beauty; he mademany good suggestions. He offered valid opinions when asked. I would hire him again in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t even consider shopping around. When we were considering purchasing this house, we contacted three contractors so we could get ideas of what a remodeling job would cost; the house was incredibly dingy and homely. The first contractor told us that he would give us a real bid for $2000. The second one took some time, looked around, and told us some ballpark numbers. Jake came out on a Friday, looked around, took notes, measured, etc, and said he would have us a written bid within a week. Our real estate agent told Jake we were kind of in a time crunch, and asked if he could do it any quicker. Jake got a fully written bid to us three days later, on Monday morning.

Very professional, answered all my questions. Made a quote and got back to me in just a few days.

I am extremely pleased with the results of my bathroom remodel by Aarow Building. Jake Bruton and his crew are very easy to work with and the communications were outstanding. The remodel in my master bathroom consisted of removing a bathtub/shower, carpet, toilet, vanity tops and light fixtures and rebuilding the bathroom. Some problems were experienced during the demolition because of mold and water damage. These issues were readily handled by the crew. Jake was very helpful with the overall design and selection of tile and fixtures. His suggestions were thoughtful and innovative and the end product was favorably enhanced by his design contributions. Actual installation took a little longer and cost a bit more than the original estimate, but included changes made at my request and the results were spectacular. In particular, the decorative tile used in the shower was labor intensive as well as more expensive (my choice) than that initially bid. In addition to the bathroom remodel, I got an outside spigot at the front of my house, another spigot repaired, a storm door repaired, duct work repaired in my attic, and replacement of a vanity top and faucets in a second bathroom. The “extras” were either at my request or items noticed by Jake and crew that needed to be fixed. Fantastic! Jake and crew worked efficiently and professionally.

He was very personable. The quality of work on some projects he have done that he showed me was very good. He communicates well with the customer. But the price that he charge was very high so I didn't pursue on working with him.

They were very polite and easy to work with. The work was done efficiently and the results are beautiful. Very pleased with their work. Will definitely use them again.

The project turned out great and we are very pleased with the quality of the work. I appreciated that the owner, Jake Bruton, came every morning around 7:00, reviewed the work done the day before, explained what would happen next, and listened to any concerns I had. Our remodel was designed with an eye towards aging in place. Unfortunately, my husband, my mother and I lived in the project. We gutted and reconfigured the entire upstairs, including removing walls to create a master suite, removing walls to create an open kitchen/dining room/living room area, adding a walk-in closet, installing an energy-efficient whole-house fan, and removing back stairs into the downstairs utility room to create a guest bath upstairs. We ripped out carpet in the living room and dining room to expose and refinish original hardwood flooring, replaced vinyl flooring in the kitchen with ceramic tile, and replaced floor and wall tile in the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms. A planter had been built into the floor of the living room and we removed it. It had formed the top of a coat closet in the foyer, which we cut off. We moved the closet door downstairs and installed it in the wall facing under-stair storage, making it much more usable space. We replaced the paneling in the foyer and part of the downstairs with drywall and repainted the entire upstairs and downstairs. Both bathrooms had mold damage and had to be totally gutted and rebuilt, and we discovered old termite damage in the kitchen and living room area that they repaired. We replaced all appliances and cabinets in the kitchen, moved our slide-in range to a corner island next to the dining room, installed granite counter tops and converted our pantry to a dumbwaiter shaft that accommodates a dumbwaiter constructed from a vertically-installed garage door opener with a boxed-in tray attached. We retiled the foyer and replaced the double front exterior door with a high-end triple-latch door that has vented sidelights with screens. My frail, elderly mother lives in the lower level. We gutted and rebuilt her bathroom and replaced porcelain tile with ceramic tile. They discovered that there had been a botched remodel years earlier that left the floor unlevel and problematic electrical and plumbing issues. We replaced the old tub with a step-in basin/shower arrangement, installed a handicapped-accessible sink, added grab bars next to the toilet and in the shower, and widened the door to accommodate a wheelchair, should that become necessary. We also replaced tile starting in her bathroom, going down the hall and all the way to the back door in the family room area. We added a mantle above our fireplace and they went on the roof to repair a separation in the chimney crown. My only complaint was that the project took much longer than it was supposed to. Part of the reason is that we lived in the project and had to move our stuff around as they worked in different parts of the house. Jake had underestimated how much stuff we really have. This was quite stressful for my husband, who did most of the moving because I still work full-time. The termite damage and mold delayed the project a few days, as well. The rest of the reason for the delay was that a long-time worker resigned in the middle of the project to take a different type of job and Jake struggled to find someone reliable to replace him. I understood when he had to let someone go because he couldn't show up to work on time, and I tried to be patient. In spite of the delay on the project (it took four months instead of one), I would not hesitate to hire Aarow again. Jake kept in communication daily, explained the problem with his employee openly, replaced a vanity that didn't look right in the space, replaced the sink and counter in our bathroom when a worker scratched it, never hesitated to redo something if it didn't meet his high standards, changed paint color for me when I didn't like the paint I chose for the guest bath, met me at stores when I was having trouble choosing fixtures or lighting, invited me to his house to see his own blinds and paint color, and generally made us feel like his primary focus. I became quite fond of his crew (he doesn't use subcontractors), who treated all of us with respect and never complained when they had to work around something we had to do. When the project ran on until Christmas, they worked with us to accommodate a "normal" Christmas and I even bought everyone in the crew a beer sampler! Aarow is a great company, and they do what it takes to make a customer happy. Their goal is to build their business with repeat customers and word of mouth, and I expect them to be in business for a long time.

While Jake from Aarow Building did not give the lowest price (it was second lowest) we gave them the job because of his honesty and confidence. Some contractors either had no clue or had estimates up to $10,000. The bathroom needed re-tiled and water damage repaired. Other contractors stated we needed to remove the tub and even replace the window. Aarow knew our neighborhood and the houses and confidently estimated what would and would not need to be replaced. The work was done efficiently in about 1 day, with them showing us the status along the way. The people were friendly and trustworthy, IMO, and we left the house for them to work. Would easily hire them again.

My mother has used Aarow Building for years and loved the work and the fact that she can trust the owner (Jake) and his crew to be fair in quality of work, pricing, etc. So when I bought my first home I called Jake to get a bid and found him to be competitively priced and very easy to work with. He was always prompt and helped point out stuff I hadn't thought about. For example, he helped design a custom shower with tiling that looks way better (and will look better for longer) than the pre-fab fiberglass kit I was originally thinking about (and the tiled shower was in the same price range as the cheaper looking shower kit). I liked that the owner worked alongside his crew for most of the project, although his crew seemed very knowledgeable as well. At any point they could explain why they were doing a particular part of the project a certain way and I got the sense that this is not a business that cuts corners. My mother is always able to trust that things were done the right way, and this was my experience as well. It's been a few months since they completed work and everything still looks great....I've seen no flaws in how anything was done at my home. Jake and the crew are very polite and professional and really seem to know what they're doing. And they worked hard to get the jobs done in a few days and with minimal disruption to my family. I will continue to hire Aarow building for all my remodeling and repair projects- this seems to be one of the rare companies that you can trust will do the job right and be fair in their pricing!

Jake was very prompt and professional. He had helpful design ideas when we weren't exactly sure what we wanted. He was great about keeping us informed. Like most remodeling projects there were some unforeseen complications--he had excellent, budget-conscious solutions for these challenges. His crew was friendly and respectful of our property and privacy. The quality of work was outstanding. We will use this company again.

They were on time, on budget, and great to work with. The mess was contained and clean every evening and we joked that we almost didn't know they were here working.

I had a great experience with Aarow Building - the owner and his crew were very professional and courteous and the job was done very well and very quickly.

We were very happy with the process of building our new deck it only took a couple of days. Mr. Bruton even took the time to custom make us some lattice work for our heavy plants. We are also very happy with our new back door, the old door was falling apart but our new door works great. We will be bringing these guys back for our kitchen next year.

The guys arrived right on time and completed the job just as promised. Very qualified and courteous workers. Just a perfect experience. Will be calling them again with any future work requirements.

The day that jake and the guys with Aarow Building completed my bathroom remodel he mentioned to me that Aarow building was on Angie's list and I new that I would be giving them a review. We could not have been more happy with the entire process of remodeling our master bathroom. When we first started looking for a contractor we asked friends and family for recommendations and one of our neighbors gave us jakes card. We got three bids and knew from the start that jake was out the top of our list before we received any bids, he was on time, polite, and seemed very interested in our needs. Upon receiving the bids Aarow was neither the cheapest or most expensive and let me tell you with a marble tile shower and our old plumbing some were very expensive. Our choice seemed simple. Once scheduled our jobs time frame did fall a full day behind, but on the up side we never saw a bill for this overage. Our bathroom went from completely gutted to finished in 7 days and it was worth our inconvenience. We actually made changes to our original idea based on jake's suggestions (leaving the toilet in the same place is cost effective, if the shower is this size we can get a stock size shower door, let's refinish the linen cabinet rather than replace) which all made sense and helped with our budget. Also I was impressed the first morning before work started the guys showed up at the door with that stick down floor protection in hand and ran from the front door to the job site. I guess what I am trying to say, we had no bumps of mentionable size, they couldn't have been easier to work with, and we will have them back for our kitchen in the next year.Job cost $15,400Work completed may 10th

Job was completed and done in a professional manner. I was very pleased with the work. the appointment was made and the personnel showed up on time ready to go to work. I will be hiring this crew and company again.

Excellent and professional.

The original general contractor who agreed to install our new front entry door decided on the Friday morning of the install that he couldn't wait for one hour for the door to be delivered and had accepted another job, leaving me and the door with very little options. With the new door laying on our front porch at approx. 9:00 am, I called the rep who sold us the door and he was able to contact Jacob Bruton, Owner of Aarow Building. Once Jake called me to confirm what was needed he was on the job in 30 minutes. Jake was able to install the new entry door into an existing 1940's entryway with his crewman Jackson on a Friday at the smallest notice and he stayed until the install was completed. The original measurements of the door jamb width from the previous contractor had been wrong. Jake was able to spot the oversight and overcome this mistake with his wide knowledge base. Jacob Bruton and his crew have integrity, they have pride in their work, and they also have a great work ethic. He does what he says and he stands by his work. He and crewman Jackson answered my questions and concerns. He returned my calls promptly and he has the correct tools for the job that made the work go faster. When we get ready to install new windows, 12 to be exact, plus a bay window, I will definitely call Jacob Bruton. We have a pretty close neighborhood so if any of us have a good experience with plumbers, electricians, or contractors we share the info. People who care about their work and care about their customers are hard to find. Believe me I have already shared Jake's business card with my neighbors. Thanks for the great work! We enjoy the door everyday! Sincerely, Angie Boyle

Jake was on-time and completed the job as promised. There were no cost over-runs and minimal extra wood (which we kept). Jake and his assistant acted VERY professionally. The finished product was better than we expected and our porch is our favorite part of our home. The job went so well that a back yard neighbor hired Jake for his porch too. Copy cat! We have used Jake since then to build a custom entertainment center and for some touch up painting. I am extremely happy with Jake and Aarow Building.