THE HOME CONSTRUCTION DOCTOR, LLC

Paid up front. Job not completed after several months. Walked off job and won't refund money for incomplete work. Has never discussed or tried to resolve unfinished work. Was a nice guy in the beginning and I kept "giving him a break" for the delays -- I felt sorry for him because he seemed to fumble a bit and relied a lot on his helpers. In the end, he just walked off the job without completing it, and won't even discuss the money. Dishonest.

Bruno and his crew turned my tiny 1960's kitchen into a little 21st century gem! In fact, he won the award for Excellence in Remodeling for my kitchen at the 2019 home show. I am thrilled with the result. Workmanship, cost and timing were kept to schedule.

Never contacted this provider.

The crew was at all times professional, punctual and easy to work with and they did a great job keeping the area cleaned up. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend The Home Construction Doctor LLC.

I asked for at least 3 references and he was very hesitant and in a roundabout way said he had not done siding in 5 years and had no references to give. I asked him for an estimate and he did not even want to measure my home and told me to call my insurance company for the home measurements and he would give me a quote from that.

We have used Bruno Lindner the Home Construction Doctor for over five years on two houses, on projects large and small. Amkeen eye for detail and creative solutions to construction problems are hallmarks of his work. We felt so comfortable that Lindner gives good value for the time and money that we trusted him do a major kitchen/bathroom remodel when we were living in another state. The tile work was beautiful - artistic even. He and his workers came up with solutions (e.g. window seals and corners) that enhanced the design of both kitchen and the bath. The details he introduced made the rooms shine. Although someone else worked with us on the kitchen cabinetry, as the contractor Lindner won the best remodel prize for our kitchen at the 2013 Santa Fe Home show. Do not choose the Home Construction Doctor if you are looking for a slap-dash, on-the-cheap job. If you do engage him and his workers, you will get meticulous work, honest accounting of time and materials and a construction project you can be proud to live with. We continue to employ him on other jobs large and small because we are so pleased with anything he undertakes.

The workers were pleasant to deal with, punctual, willing to correct errors and make small changes, and diligent about cleaning up each day. However, the sheer number of errors was exhausting. Sloppy workmanship and failure to pay attention to munufacturers' installation instructions were common. The promised water seal over the cement board joints on the floor and wall did not appear – after bragging about how it was an “extra step” they routinely did for quality, it was deemed “not necessary.” They failed to shim my old wall studs and so were forced to apply up to 1 ½ inches of mastic over bowed cement board to get a flat tile installation. The mastic was not given sufficient time to cure and the wall tiles therefore are flawed, with raised edges and corners, and uneven grout lines. Their tile cutting equipment was not capable of smooth cuts on the expensive Italian porcelain tile I chose, so they charged me extra for polishing the small chips out of the cut edges, and made so many bad cuts that they nearly ran out of tile, of which I had purchased 15% extra. They used PEX tubing instead of copper on the shower faucet installation, in direct contradiction to the manufacturer’s directions, which they did not bother to read, so had to return to correct the resultant “shower rise” problem that resulted. The fix then leaked which required tearing out drywall behind the shower for the second time. The unsanded grout they used on my decorative glass tile strip in the shower is cracked, and the tile pieces are uneven and of varying depth into the very thick mastic layer. It took them at least three tries to arrange the sink supply plumbing to fit inside the semi-pedestal they knew from the start must cover the plumbing. My sink and medicine cabinet are offset from the vanity light above by about an inch, which cannot be corrected without ripping out and replacing the expensive wall tile. I have had to spend many hours sanding, puttying, and spackling, to prepare for paint walls and ceiling that were supposed to be made “paint-ready.” In removing my bathroom door to bring in the new tub, they split the door wood on one corner, and didn’t bother to inform me. They used heavy decking screws and an impact driver to apply trim work to the exterior of the new window, leaving large gouged holes in the trim and sill to be filled and sanded – not “paint ready.” Baseboard was installed with a nail gun which split the wood in two places. Overall the workmanship was substandard, and I have just discovered the mess where they dumped their water bucket after grouting and drywall spackling, carefully hidden under one of my juniper bushes. In my view, two local handyman types without proper equipment for the job do not constitute a “German Quality” workforce. I got “handyman” quality for almost $13000., plus I supplied the tub, sink, plumbing fixtures, vanity light, tile, grout, and medicine cabinet, for an additional cost of about $3000. To be fair, I do not believe that Bruno’s workers intentionally produced sloppy work; I believe they did the best job of which they are capable. Perhaps the most unprofessional aspect of the interaction was that exactly seven days after I received via email the invoice for the remodeling (there was still some custom cabinetry to be done), I received another email dunning me for payment and placing the cabinetry work, which I assumed based on our discussions that Bruno was working on, “on hold until payment is received.” The invoice contained an un-itemized charge of almost $700 for “extra material,” which they refused to adequately explain. I paid the invoice under protest, and have cancelled any further work and will hire someone else to come in and fix what can be fixed. I cannot recommend The Home Construction Doctor, LLC. I would not hire them again. They are good at demolition, and probably rough carpentry, and the like. Do not hire them for plumbing, tile work, or for any fine finish work, especially if it requires measuring carefully and adding or subtracting fractions of an inch. If you expect a contractor to bring in qualified subcontractors for important aspects of a remodeling job, this is not the person to hire. If you need a handyman job done, this may be a good choice, although expensive, and beware unexplained late charges. UPDATE 9/18/13: I feel that I must reply to The Home Construction Doctor's response to my initial review. I am disappointed that in an effort to distract attention from the point of my review, namely his poor quality of work, Bruno chose to bring up issues that are irrelevant to the outcome of the job. He says correctly that I had a bad experience in trying to order some fixtures online. But most of the materials came undamaged and in fact the issue was completely resolved before the job started, except for the tub drain, where the manufacturer specified the wrong model, which was easily replaced locally. Also, Bruno is fully aware that the incorrect tile order was the fault of the tile vendor, who was able to supply the correct tile within a week, which delayed the finish of the job slightly. Note that I did not complain about the duration of the job, since that was beyond Bruno's control. His workers were unable to cut my tile not because of brittleness (porcelain tile is of course brittle) but lack of proper equipment. Their tile cutting saw was old and poorly maintained, and not capable (or the workers were not) of straight cuts, as evidenced by the results. Clearly, Bruno's workers had never had to deal with this type of Italian porcelain. The late charges were not "fully itemized" and I was in fact dunned for payment one week after receipt of the invoice. Bruno's citation of his awards does not change the result of my job, where there are many very obvious and visible instances of poor workmanship, including faulty tile installation and misalignment of the sink, mirror, and vanity light. These defects are available for inspection by anyone considering hiring The Home Construction Doctor, by request. I wonder what workforce Bruno was employing when his business was very active and he earned these awards. Presumably they were more qualified and competent than the workers he assigned to my job. I am now in possession of a very expensive bathroom remodel that is very disappointing to me and that cannot be fixed for any reasonable cost. Again, the visible results of the job are evidence that my complaints are valid, and are available for anyone to verify. They will easily see the crooked tile cuts, the raised edges and corners, the sunken and raised tiles, the crooked and uneven grout lines, and the misalignment of the sink, mirror and vanity light.

From the beginning the entire process of consultation, material selection and work, Bruno and his crew were a pleasure to work with. All workers and subs were clean, professional and meticulous in the quality of their workmanship. The project went smoothly in spite of a few little set backs concerning the delivery of some of the materials. We thoroughly enjoyed having this team create a new kitchen that we love and would highly recommend The Home Construction Doctor,LLC. Very fair and competative pricing as well!!