Beck Construction Co. Inc.

Description of Work: Ed Beck added a sun room addition onto the back of our second story kitchen on our 200 year old farmhouse. The end results were lovely but the process was snake-bit, not mostly due to Beck, who was always professional and courteous, reasonable and willing to be flexible and creative with the problems that pop up with old houses, but also due to circumstances only partly under his control. The actual construction once started was excellent, the framing solid and drywall perfect. The huge windows were well-chosen and the airtight, energy-efficient structure is absolutely beautiful and comfortable. Beck worked around our unusual requests for under-floor heating and other retrofitted plumbing and gas lines complicating the work with grace and patience. He was always willing to try something new, except try email and texting. |The less positive complications mentioned above included the lack of cooperation and timeliness from the engineer he engaged for me (who took nine months to do a 735 dollar drawing) and the fact that he was not always consistently well served by his sub-contractors. The permits also took four times longer that he estimated so altogether construction started nearly six months later than planned, so late, in fact, that the time scheduled by Beck for his availability passed before demolition even began. The roof came off just in time for fall rains and construction throughout the coldest winter in a century. This resulted in repeated interruption of construction and workers peeled off for emergency work elsewhere. The work of the electrician was uneven, I believe partly due to repeated multiday interruptions. But as I said much of this was not in Beck's control. I mention these things because it reflects the positive and not-so-positive aspects of the old fashioned aspects of Beck construction. The positive comfort with the old houses and subs with the same comfort level with old technology that make his work with them so effective; and the less positive refusal to take advantage of the new communications technology that might have made it easier to compensate for the unexpected setbacks and delays by speeding rescheduling and coordination among subs and services. Who has a fax anymore? Why play phone tag when one simple email or text to multiple parties would save days? |Still being able to simply agree on the phone and have something done on trust is the good part of the old way, and the knowledge of what likely lies behind those old walls is another. I would trust Ed to do what ever he says he will do with great confidence. I would take advantage of his knowledge of the old houses and the experienced subs who know how to work with them, but factor in extra time and a little extra money for the extra labor resulting from the inefficiency. The end product was worth it. |

Description of Work: Actually the dates above are misleading because we have had Beck Co handle several jobs for us since 1994. We have a 200 year old house nad it needed a number of renovations, which were handled very well. The company still has the skills to do old fashioned plastering and work on old wood floors, but also has an up to date ability to handle the latest in everything from plumbing to roofing. Our basement remodel included new bath and kitchen instalations which were very well done. They were on time and on budget and very sensitive to the need to preserve the historic qualities of the house while doing work that meet modern code requirements. The jobs required everything from restoring old brick porches, refinishing heart pine flooring, replacing windows, installing new ones, replacing or restoring old plaster, painting, rewiring, plumbing, hanging cabinetrs, installing appliances, rouging in new plumbing, repairing roofing.