Aspirations Building Company, Inc.

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It took them about a year and a half, or more, to complete the job. I felt he cut corners with many of the parts he used. He was very un- reliable and always had excuses for why the work was so delayed. He used many subcontractors, and because he did not pay one, they have now put a lien on my home. It was an awful experience.

Signed contract to begin work in March 2013. The project was to be completed 15 may 2015. As of 9 Oct 2014, work is still incomplete. And I am still having to address items that haven't been completed or that are unsatisfactory. There were so many issues that I cannot list them all. However here are list a few: 1. Quoted cost for color changes was changed 2. Poor communication; I had to ask for times and dates when sub contractors would arrive almost daily. 3. Owner rarely showed up to inspect/monitor workers 4. Had to ask painters to use drop clothes to cover kitchen counters 5. Painters spilled cooler of water and ice on living room floor and had to be asked to clean up. 6. Painters would sometimes show up and work 2-3 hours and leave for the day. 6. Bags of trash left in house; had to ask several times to remove. 7. Lumber left in yard for weeks 8. Several times I had someone waiting early morning for workers to arrive 9. Failed to remove carpet in one closet after several reminders 10. Subcontractors complained that they were not being paid. 11. Several things promised and not completed. 12. Conducted walk-through with contractor and pointed out what needed to be corrected, while he documented and never corrected.

We were assigned Aspirations Building as our Contractor by Home Depot after buying cabinets, countertops and installation from them. We were not given any contact information for them, and had no contact from them until well after our kitchen demolition began. After we expressed some concerns about coordinating the various activities (we were also having tiling done, and a gas line and appliances installed on our own) we eventually were given his information by a subcontractor. It became apparent that Aspirations Building was not doing a lot of coordinating. At first we didn't notice this, because the cabinet guy worked with Home Depot replacing the parts we needed changed, and handled the measurements, demolition and eventual installation (he did a great job). As with any renovation there were a few issues (electrical, height issues due to previous home owners installing wood floors around rather than under the cabinets). We assumed that all of these were being communicated to the contractor, Chris, who would ensure that everyone was one the same page. In order to schedule our other services (gas, tiling, etc) we asked Chris for an estimated timeline, and a sort of checklist listing what had to happen before other things could happen, so that we could measure our progress and make our plans. He didn't respond promptly to phone calls or emails. And never provided us with the timeline or checklist of services that we assumed existed somewhere. In retrospect we don't think he had anything like that. Each subsequent contractor appeared on the scene only after either WE contacted them directly having pried the information from Aspirations Building, or spontaneously with no warning, and then with virtually no clue what they were there to do. More than once scheduled services had to be rescheduled to do a lack of communication. There were always various (possibly legitimate) excuses, sick relatives, personal illnesses, etc.. but a business working on timelines should have some mechanism to cope with illness and accidents and such, this one did not. When we did manage to schedule services, more than once the sub-contractors were only informed of the job that day, even if we scheduled a week out or more. Even though Chris was the official "Project Manager" he did little or no managing, instead relying on us to do it. If we didn't call or harass him by email, it wouldn't happen. The last piece came when there needed to be some adjustments made to the bar to accomodate the electrical outlets. There was no coordination or agreement about how that would be managed to accommodate our needs, and little interest in working with us. That was eventually settled, but only after going all the way up the chain of command at Home Depot to Store Manager. It was then we discovered that Aspirations Building is the only contractor Home Depot has, and they had no mechanism to address complaints other than direct those to the Aspirations Building. We hope everything is, as promised up to code and done correctly, but our confidence level is not high. Ultimately. four months from start to finish, the work got done, though it felt like more of a DIY project than we intended or hoped. We felt as though perhaps there were some legal reason why a Home Depot needed a licensed contractor of record, but in name only. He seemed entirely reliant on sub-contractors, which isn't necessarily bad, but if he were getting a cut of the total pay, it wasn't clear what his contribution to the project was. When the project was completed there was zero follow up from Home Depot or Aspirations Building. We shall not use them again, though we might contract his sub-contractors directly.

We interviewed several builders and were most impressed with the personal approach by Chris. We were looking for an attentive relationship with our builder who listened and responded to our specific needs. Chris asked many questions during our initial meeting and took his time to review every project detail. His quote was comparable to the others but seemed to offer more flexibility in upgrades. Once construction began, Chris was onsite often and reporting progress back to us frequently. There seemed to be minimal issues during construction as Chris took great care to prepare before breaking ground. We were impressed with the resolution of project delays and ultimately our home was completed 21 days early!!! We are currently nearing the 60 day punch list which is minimal as anything additional that we requested was resolved at the final walk though, prior to closing. Additionally, Chris has been in touch many times since then to check on how we were settling in. In conclusion, Aspirations Building Company is second to none in the industry and builds and remodels the best homes in the area. Thanks to Chris for giving us the home of our dreams.