ARTISAN RENOVATIONS

The entire engagement was absolutely wonderful. From the first point of contact, based on a personal reference, this project was fantastic, and well worth the money we spent. Our home is about 24 years old, and we wanted to upgrade the kitchen. After doing a bit of research and having a pretty good understanding of what we wanted to do (this, by the way, is a very important step in taking on any renovation) we started conversations with Kathryn in April 2014 and explained our desires. Kathryn has a wonderful sense of design and is an excellent listener. She was able to take our desires and transform them into a set of options that we might consider. This dialogue was extremely helpful because of her knowledge of materials and resulted in nailing down a possible direction. We had some scheduling constraints, and so did Artisan, so Kathryn put together a project plan that we felt was agreeable to both parties. She and Howard both visited our home and did some measurements to start narrowing down the options we were pursuing, and most importantly, continuing to dialogue about the pros and cons of various options. We also were starting to develop a budget and identify a preliminary cost goal. After detailed conversations, they provided us with a very detailed project specification and formal agreement that we signed in August, 2015, Again, this is a very critical aspect of doing a renovation, which solidified the work to be done, roles and responsibilities, costs, and the timeline. Based on this, there were very few minor variants to delivery, that we both agreed to. This aspect of the engagement is what made it so successful. Next, the work started. We had been directed to a local Eastbank Contractor Appliances outlet made our selection of new appliances, which was also fantastic (they will also get an excellent review independently of this one). Our order was delivered on schedule to easily fit in with the overall project plan. Howard started the demolition on September 23 to remove the old tile countertops and appliances. Their subcontractor made a template for the new countertops. His attention to minute detail was fantastic. At this point, there was a planned time-break in the schedule while the new granite was being fabricated. During the demolition, every effort was made to keep our home clean and dust-free. We had planned to be without appliances for a couple of weeks, so having the work done during nice weather allowed us to do some outdoor grilling. The new refrigerator was installed and the microwave was installed and available after the electrical subcontractor completed some new wiring. The new granite arrived on schedule and was installed followed by the new Silgranit sink, garbage disposal, and hot-water dispenser. The new backsplash was installed as well as the new undercounted LED lights. Finally, the new downdraft and stovetop were installed. Finally, Howard did the finishing touches on the cabinet (we kept the original cabinetry) and we were finished. The project was exactly on budget, completed on October 12, only a few (agreed upon) days after the original scheduled completion date, and we are wonderfully satisfied with the end result. They worked hard to complete on time with minimum disruption to our lifestyle. Howard and Kathryn are a great team. They both are innovative and pay great attention to detail and are very direct about what will and won't work. They both have excellent communication skills and work hard at keeping clients informed on a daily (even hourly) basis. We highly recommend them for any interior renovation work, and are extremely pleased (beyond expectation) with their work. They have great skills in project planning and management, pay extreme attention to detail, have an unequaled work ethic. They make a project like this not only pleasing, but fun. We love our new kitchen.

They were recommended by someone. They were thorough and they explained everything that they wanted to do. I trusted them. I was very happy with the work.

Excellent fast service, working nights and weekends to finish on time

Had too many screws up for my liking. Plumber installed the wrong valve for the shower so we have to change all our master bath fixtures to match the value that was installed. Tile grout was the wrong color. They had to rout out the grout and replace it so it was fixed but the installed should have seen the problem before grouting the entire room (we saw it when we got home). One wall was "wavy" and the owner keep insisting it was a reflection from a window. Finally got them to redo the drywall so that it was straight and therefor eliminating the waves. Their painting crew, Rock and Roll painting, did everything free hand - without taping. I had to provide the owners feedback about how unhappy I was with their painters. The price was high and I had to keep on them to ensure everything was correct. They did address most of the problems but there were items that would have gone unnoticed if I hadn't keep on top of them. Their foreman was their skilled carpenter and left relocted right after our job was finished. Since this job, we've used another contractor for another bath remodeling. Much easier to work with and much more reasonably priced.

We were pleased with the speed and professionalism of this company, they worked weekends and long hours to get the properties ready for rental in time for move in of our tenant.

We had a number of problems during the process of the work. Our house is older and the work took longer than we had anticipated. We had a problem with the description of the sliding door because the manufacturer was not clear on the specs and we were surprised by it when it arrived. Howard worked with the company to get us the door we agreed upon and we are satisfied.