Don Kelly Construction

I hired Don Kelly to remodel a master bedroom and bathroom. Don was above and beyond any contractor I’d hired in the past. He was on the job daily checking on completed work. Daily communication about schedules and materials kept me informed every step of the way. Don’s crews were extremely hard working, friendly and courteous, respectful and punctual. There was never a day of down time. The job was completed ahead of schedule. I will definitely hire Don for future projects!

We had high hopes for this remodel when it started but were very disappointed in how the remodel ended. The first day, they completely demolished the kitchen and then sent us to the cabinet company to pick out cabinets. Since they had already removed all of our cabinets we were now on a schedule so they told us we had to choose from a specific set of cabinets, colors and granite to stay on schedule. If not, it would be an additional 6-8 weeks without our kitchen. We only had 4 or 5 cabinet styles to choose from and only 4 colors of cabinets to choose from. We had about 10 colors of granite to choose from. We felt like we were boxed in and didn’t really get to choose the style we wanted. We didn’t get the color we were really looking for and had to settle for one that was close. Once the cabinets arrived, there were additional issues right away. First, the granite top for the island was to have a 12” overhang and it only had a 1” overhang. They sent someone out twice to measure and still got it wrong. They came out the next day at 6:30 am without calling or notifying us they were coming to replace the top. We were glad they were replacing it quickly but we were not expecting them that early and they woke up our youngest. A phone call would have been nice. While the installers were working, we noticed the opening for the refrigerator looked too small. When I measured the opening, it was too small for the refrigerator. They had to relocate the cabinets they already installed to allow the refrigerator to fit. Had we not been there, our refrigerator would not have fit when we were ready to put it back in place. Once the install was complete, we started noticing more issues with the install. One of the drawers was crooked and would not open or close correctly. There were several doors and drawers with major scratches in them. Doors were crooked and not aligned properly. There were more but we’re limited on the length of the review. When they sent someone out to correct the doors, drawers and toe kick, the individual kept telling my wife the painter would take care of the toe kick instead of installing a new one. Finally, after my wife kept telling them it had to be replaced, they took off the old one and turned it around and re-installed it. When they started to repair the drawer, they took it out and set it on the newly refinished wood floor and were about to hit it with a hammer before my wife stopped them and told them not to scratch the floor. They told my wife that instead of replacing a drawer front that was damaged they were going to take the face off and turn it over so it wouldn’t be visible but it would still be there. After they left, we noticed they did not replace one of the scratched doors they said they were going to replace and one of the crooked door that was not aligned also had not been fixed. We also noticed a few more additional damage issues. We continued to find issues at time went on. Since the contractor had to clean things up himself because he said his regular cleaning crew was busy, we had to go back and clean everything. Normally, a contractor will have a cleaning crew come in and clean everything. While doing the cleaning ourselves wiping down the dust on the insides of the doors and the frames of the cabinets, we noticed the inside of the doors are not sanded smooth. It is a “B” grade plywood and it was not sanded smooth prior to being stained. We’ve also noticed other areas that were obviously damaged when the cabinets were built in the shop. They sanded and re-stained but it was poorly done and is still visible on the front of the door. We’ve decided to live with it rather than go through a 4th visit from the cabinet company to make repairs. We had custom built cabinets originally and now have builder’s grade cabinets and did not have the option to get better quality cabinets. Also, had we not been home during most of the work to correct issues as they arose, there would have been many more problems. Unfortunately, the base cabinets are about 1 – 1 ½” shorter than the cabinets we had originally. This revealed itself in two ways. First, our dish washer has the controls on top of the door. When we went to run the dishwasher the first time, we couldn’t even get a small finger between the top of the door and the bottom of the granite top to reach the controls. I had to disconnect the dishwasher, lower the legs all the way down and re-install. The other way we noticed it and probably the one that will bother us from now on is the drawers are much shallower than our previous cabinets. You can’t leave a spatula turned up or it will catch and not allow the drawer to close. Also in our silverware drawer, we have to limit how high we stack our forks or they will catch. The drawers are extremely shallow. We never had this issue with our old cabinets. When lowering the dishwasher, i found the outlet under the sink loose inside the cabinet, not installed in the wall. Also, the first weekend we used the oven we found out it wasn't secured in the cabinet. Don didn't find these after the install, we found them on our own. After the cabinets were installed, the wood floor was stripped, sanded and refinished. The first time this happened, we left the house for a few days and then left for spring break. The floor was the last major item. We expected to come home to a completed kitchen remodel. When we came home, we were amazed at the poor quality of the work and the fact that nothing happened the entire week we were gone. There was damage to the toe kick on the cabinets as previously mentioned. There was damaged to the base shoe on the existing built in credenza. There was damage on several of our vertical trim pieces around cased openings into the dining and living rooms which have never been repaired, just painted over. We had new stacked stone placed on our fireplace in the sitting area just off the kitchen and they got stain all over the new white stone. There was stain on every piece of vertical trim, door casing, cased openings, etc. It was on the walls in multiple locations. This can all be painted over but is an example of the poor quality of work. We’ve had three floors refinished over the years and never did we have stain all over walls and trim. The stain was also very inconsistent in the finish. You could see one place where they spilled the stain but did not wipe up the spills and smooth out the stain before the final seal coat. Once we saw all of the issues listed above, we started looking at the finish of the floor itself. It had all kinds of pimples and debris in it. Overall it was the worst flooring refinish I’ve seen and to make it worse, we were gone an entire week which would have allowed Don to see the problems and have them corrected before we came home so we would not have had to be displaced again. Instead, we came home to a disaster and had to call Don to complain. After discussing the issues, he did agree to have the floor redone and address the other issues with the walls and trim. However, the second re-finish is only marginally better than the first and we were displaced again for 4 days. They didn’t get stain all over the walls or trim but there are still pimples and debris all through the finish. There is a big gouge in the kitchen floor that wasn’t there before the second refinish that we are just going to live with because we don’t want to be out of our home for 3-4 days for a third time. We had an existing base cabinet we called the credenza. We asked that it get a new granite top to match the new granite in the kitchen, that the bottom be painted black and that a new top be made with adjustable shelving and crown molding that would sit on top of the new granite making a book case like addition to the existing base cabinet. Don priced this work at $4,400. For that we expected a professional grade custom cabinet made in a shop. It looks like a DIY project completed in a garage over the weekend. We’ve had to ask them to repaint it multiple times and the quality is still not what we paid for: the quality of the wood used was poor, the finish was poor and they painted it in our garage instead of a profession cabinet shop. The last item I’ll mention relates to the painter. We had a smooth finish on our walls in the kitchen. The painter came in and used a very thick nap roller that left a very visible texture in the paint that we did not want. Through all of this, we never got the feeling that Don ever thought any of this was really wrong and we got the feeling that everyone we dealt with felt we were just being difficult. We paid over $44,000 for the remodel and for that amount of money, we should have gotten a much higher quality finished product We know there will always be a few mistakes because we're human but the amount of mistakes and poor quality control on this project seemed to be more of a pattern than just an occasional error. We knew we would have to be out of the house for a few days when the floor was refinished the first time but having to be out of the house an additional 4 days without any acknowledgement that is was an inconvenience for us was surprising. Also after all of these issues, there was never any offer of any credit or apology for all of the issues. We were asked to pay full price and were told these issues were normal. Don is a very nice person but this remodel did not meet the quality of our expectations or the price we paid and unfortunately we’re going to have to learn to live with several issues, especially the cabinets being shorter which were a major reason for the remodel in the first place. Very disappointed.

First, I can't recommend Don Kelly Constructions highly enough for any level of remodeling or renovation. We recently used Don Kelly Construction to Refinish hardwood floors and Resurface our Kitchen Cabinets. Our home was on the market for 9 months and the main complaint from potential buyers was our hardwood floors needed to be refinished. We contacted Don Kelly Construction and they finished the work within one week. The quality of the work was absolutely perfect. Within two weeks after the work was completed we received an offer on our home! We will definitely use Don Kelly Construction in the future for any remodeling or renovation needs. .

The previous owner had horrible drainage problems at the front of the home resulting in runoff water to erode the dirt around our concrete front steps. This caused the steps to begin to sink severely. I wanted to rip out the concrete, about 5 feet deep, and built a nice wood staircase up to the front porch. I called several companies to estimate the cost of ripping out the concrete?.the estimates were between $2000 and $4500. After hearing these estimates, I elected to rent a jack hammer and do the work myself. (tons of hard work but worth the big savings) I found Don Kelly on a Google search engine. I called him up to get a quote and he was at my home the next day, on time. The proposal he gave me was great?..$1100 to rip out the concrete and $1800 to build the deck/stairs. This was much more competitive than other bids. He provided many referrals and really came up with some great ideas, including adding an outlet nearby for integrated LED lighting. I waited about three months before hiring Don to begin the job. He required a standard work contract and half down payment. It took me about three or four grueling days to rip out the existing concrete. I was on a dead-line for his start date. I got it all removed in time and Don began bright and early on the day promised. His team was very courteous, very neat and very professional. The time line of the finished deck was about three days. He initially proposed only two days but the job took a bit longer than expected and he didn?t want to rush it. Much appreciated! In the end, I?m very happy with the deck. I will wait some time before staining but all of my neighbors are admiring the work as is. I will be hiring Don again for future home projects!