Van Stein Construction

I liked his plans, but felt like the contractor was making all the decisions about who to use for the flooring, cabinets, plumbing, lighting, etc. I wanted more choices and more control about who to use and materials. He was responsive to my phone calls in a very timely manner. I would recommend Mr. Stein to anyone that wants to have the contractor make the decisions.

It went very well. We are pleased with the work that was done. It looks very nice and we would use this company again.

They were pretty prompt on the phone calls and very polite and professional.

Our bathrooms and kitchen had been in desperate need of remodeling for several years but my wife and I had put off the process mainly due to a "fear of the unknown" and to hearing and reading horror stories of delays, bad workmanship etc. However, our anticipated nightmare turned into a dream and this was all due to Van Stein. I am one of those people who does extensive research by way of sourcing all available on-line reviews for everything from buying a small appliance to finding a contractor for a major remodel. As Van's Angie's List reviews were overwhelmingly positive, he was one of three contractors I contacted for estimates. Van's responsiveness, his timely written estimate and his time spent in sending several emails with cost cutting and design ideas were all factors in the final decision. Along with these objective factors, there was also a subjective gut feeling that Van was a person of integrity with high standards of workmanship. The whole remodeling process was relatively stress free and this was due to an amazing amount of communication (sometimes several times daily if warranted) by Van in the form of emails, texts and/or phone calls. Every step of the process was explained in detail and Van would always email the night before with regard to who would be working and what they would be working on the next morning. I can recall several instances of emailing a question to Van late in the evening or at the weekend and coming back to my computer 15 minutes later to find a reply! Van, who is a master carpenter himself, has high standards and this was evidenced by the quality of workmanship by the plumbers, electricians and tilers. Subcontractors were uniformly professional and courteous, most having worked for Van for many years and there was clearly mutual respect. Van usually had 2 or 3 jobs going at one time but was always there in the morning to start the workers off and was always there at the end of the day to check on progress and to do a final clean up. When I say "final clean up" I am referring to Van's clean-up after the sub contractors had cleaned up. We often half-joked to Van that he left the house cleaner at the end of the day than he found it when he started in the morning! A sense of Van's professionalism and integrity comes from the following anecdotes. The cabinets for one of the bathrooms were a week late being delivered due to a manufacturer backlog. This put the project a week behind and clearly bothered Van who was profusely apologetic even though it was outside his control. The dishwasher was stored in the garage during the kitchen remodel. The garage was a busy staging area for equipment and materials coming in and out and apparently the dishwasher was inadvertently pitched during some junk removal. When my wife happened to notice its absence (several weeks later), Van agreed that it must have been pitched by mistake. He instantly apologized and offered to pay for a new one. We were also pretty clueless as to design, materials etc and found that Van was not just an expert contractor but also a very good designer. Colors, textures, materials etc were all a real challenge to us and Van had many helpful suggestions and ideas. Often, instead of agonizing over a multitude of styles or colors, we would ask Van to narrow down the selection. He made several design suggestions (a floor to ceiling pantry instead of more cabinets, for instance) that really enhanced the look and practicality of our kitchen. He knew our price range and kept this in mind as he helped us get the best quality for the price. A couple of months later, as we gaze at our newly remodeled rooms with beautiful granite countertops, tiled showers with granite detailing and exquisite cabinets, we still pat ourselves on the back for handing over the reins to Van. Three months after the completion of our kitchen, he is still in touch with us making sure that everything is working to his standards. Ok, to wrap up, I am not one to usually gush but in this case I am delighted to make an exception. If there is a better contractor than Van Stein in the Cincinnati area, then the construction industry is in great shape here. Van takes great pride in his work and while, yes, this is a job, his major concern is that the job is done to the highest standards possible and that the homeowner is satisfied. There is no question that if we need any future remodeling, we will be going right back to Van.

Everything went beautiful. I can do nothing but highly recommend him. Van Stein is a skilled professional. His subs are also excellent. He made my kitchen remodel a pleasant experience. Customer satisfaction seems to be Van's motto. I felt his price was very fair and he held to what he estimated.

We didn’t get to the point of going ahead on the project so we really never got to the point of getting a hard estimate. His coming out was the first look. He was very professional and he listened to my questions very well. He called me back right away.

excellent job i liked the fact that the owner provided the bid & coordinated the project & he worked on the project. I did not have to deal with a saleperson that sat behind a desk. van was very nice to work with and explained what he was doing as he did the work. the workmen were very nice to work with, they did a great job yes i would hire them again. the project was well worth the money.

Van Stein was incredibly helpful in planning our bathroom remodel. He helped us come up with different options for our bathroom considering our short available time frame and strict budget. He was patient as we came up with what we wanted and his communication with us every step of the way was excellent. We are extremely pleased with the work and are very happy with everything in general. The men working with him were incredibly nice and well-mannered. They all kept the work-site as clean as possible. They even put up with my three dogs being in the home while they worked! :-) A big thanks to Van for everything! We will be happy to use him again in the future if we have any other projects in our home.

Great dealing with.

Van was very professional and clean. He always stayed true to his word and was a pleasure to work with. They were pleased with the quality of his work.

They are an average-type of company. They're reputable and I would possibly use them in the future.

He was here for maybe 10 minutes, it was fine.

The estimate was a little too much and the project was going to take longer than some other bids we got, so we went with another company. We did like them. The company that did the work is just now finishing and it took them exactly two weeks. Van Stein said it would be eight weeks. It's our only bathroom so we needed it done.

I liked Van Stein very much. I thought he gave me a fair estimate. I had confidence in his company. The thing that made me use another provider was that the estimate was a little more professional looking.

He came out to give us an estimate to convert one of our bathtubs into a walk-in shower. After he took measurements and we told him what we wanted done, he said that he was going to take out the dry wall, cabinets, floor tile, etc. Unfortunately, we had recently redecorated the bathroom and his whole remodeling scheme upset us because of what he was planning to do. His estimate was the highest of the three that we received by almost $2000.00.

Did an excellent job on several projects. Always reliable and trustworthy. Cleaned up every day and didn't leave a dumpster in our driveway. Very professional. Took pride in doing a good job. Nice guys.

Van was great to work with. He prepared a very thorough estimate and plan for our kitchen. He was helpful in selecting the cabinets (we wish we'd taken more of his advice there), flooring, and other elements of the remodel. The team was regularly on-time, courteous, and diligent with the work. They did an excellent job preserving what they could of the original kitchen trim, etc. The project took approximately 6 weeks and we were very happy with the results. Van served as a great consultant throughout the process and has made himself or his team members available on the few occasions we needed some touch-up work. We would use Stein again. One small note, the Angie's list 10% coupon is only for the construction work done by Stein and not the work done by sub-contractors. This was a bit of a disappointment for us.

Left a message and they have not replied.

He came out & looked at my project. He was very pleasant & polite. He never called back & it has been 2 weeks. I was very disappointed

VERY EASY TO WORK WITH. KEPT ON JOB. ALWAYS CALLED TO DISCUSS PROBLEMS. TOOK MY SUGGESTIONS VERY WELL. KEPT EXPENSES TO A MINIMUM.

WORK IS JUST STARTING. I'LL UPDATE WHEN WORK COMPLETE.

VAN IS VERY GOOD AT DRIVING THE SUB-CONTRACTORS TO SHOW UP ON-TIME AND DO A GOOD JOB. HE'S VERY HONEST, VERY LOW PRESSURE WHEN DISCUSSING DECISIONS WE NEED TO MAKE. HIS ASSISTANTS ARE COURTEOUS AND PROFESSIONAL. MINOR PROBLEMS WITH PROPORTIONS; NEW TOILET INITIALLY PREVENTED DOOR FROM CLOSING, SOME KITCHEN CABINET DOORS BUMP AGAINST APPLIANCES. EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST GREAT.