Basement Finishing by Hartel Constr. Grp., Inc.

Hartel Construction Group did a great job finishing my basement. They made numerous design suggestions that worked with our budget. The suggestions were very original and gave us a finished product much better than we hoped for when starting the project. The quality of the work was exceptional. The time to complete the project was in-line with the original estimate. The cost to complete the project was the same as the original estimate. Very positive overall experience.

While building my garage (approx. 850 sq. ft) my install date for the 16 foot door was moved up and I needed to contract someone to drywall my ceiling. I was referred to Mr. Hartel by a local contractor. I had made calls to other drywall contractors in the Harrisburg area and it was at least two days before any called back (one never called back). Mr. Hartel called me back the same day. I explained my situation about needing just the ceiling drywalled and Mr. Hartel was professional and was enthused to offer services. He offered suggestions and worked with me in regards to scheduling and letting me prep some areas of the garage for drywalling. He and his crew hung the drywall in one day. His workmanship is first-rate. After dealing with Mr. Hartel I found him to be very personable, accomplished, and someone I would gladly ask to perform any future construction projects. Please keep in mind, I am a carpenter by trade, I have over 25 years of construction experience myself specializing in custom kitchens and bathrooms. I typically do these kinds of projects on my own. I built most of the garage from ground up. If I wasn't under a time-line to get the ceiling finished before the door installed, I would have never looked for a drywall specialist. Mr. Hartel put me at ease and gave me faith in the fact there is still honest hard working contractors out there who take pride in their work. And are craftsmen, not just someone who is a jack of all trades. I look forward to having Hartel Construction Group come back to finish some more projects in the future and would recommend him to anyone looking for competent and skilled carpenter.

I've used this company multiple times over the past 8 years and they keep getting better. The work is impeccable!!! This group works quickly and efficiently. I found everyone very easy to work with and very nice. There are not many crews that I would trust alone in my home but this is definitely one of them! I highly recommend them!

These people are amazing. I had vague ideas of what I wanted done (finishing my basement, and some specific uses for the room) and they just ran with it. Martin and I looked at the room, he came up with a plan, and he and his team implemented it. They accomplished everything I asked for, plus many nice small touches that I would not have thought of. They were very flexible about finishes and layout that I wanted, were on the job site working within 2 weeks of my contacting them, and finished work very promptly. They finished on budget, cleaned up after themselves, were nice to my dogs (and made sure nobody snuck out an open door)... I just gave them a key and went off to work, and they took care of everything. I've told them that I'm happy to be a reference, because they did an amazing job!

Contacted Martin on 12/3 and work was completed within 2 hours of initial phone call. Very professional and Informative and at a great price. NO COMPLAINTS whatsoever. Would highly recomend these guys.

Mr. Hartel was very responsive/punctual on coming out and discussing our design options. He returned the estimate and plans within a week as promised. Mr. Hartel has a great personality, work ethic and will be our choice of contractor when it time to proceed.

I found Hartel Construction Group on Angie's list and based on previous reviews decided to contact them for an estimate for finishing our basement. From the start, Martin was easy to work with. He was very professional and knowledgable. He stayed in contact with us prior to and during the project. He offered us helpful suggestions in order for us to get our desired result. His team showed up on time each day, kept the work area clean and finished the project within the estimated timeframe. We even added a few other projects along the way, which they happily helped us with. The completed project was right on target with the original estimate we received. Martin and his team were great to work with and I would definitely use Hartel Construction Group again.

I bought a big deal to have a blueprint drawn to "finish" my basement. I got a quote but no plans with it to describe how it will be done.

He's on Angie's List and he gets favorable reviews. He's a good guy. Basically I gave him a shot to give me an estimate. I would tell people to ask him to give an estimate and see if he's interested to do the job. I didn't have any other work done by anybody so I would give Martin a call again.

He was one person and one company who did all the work. They were pretty good. They were very particular with their work. Their price was fair. I’m going to call them for basement remodeling. I would use them in the future.

We can't say enough great things about Martin and his team. They went above and beyond what we had asked them to do. They are very thorough and they work to perfection. Not only do they do great work but they are also cost efficient. I trust them entirely and this is the second home improvement project we have hired them for. We will only use Hartel Construction Group for all of our future projects.

Our finished off basement was the victim of flooding from the Fall 2011 storms. Martin was not only out quickly to do the estimate, but he had prepared a portfolio photo CD of his projects. We still needed to work out financing, and out of good faith he dropped off his trailer for us to finish the demo portion while we figured out financing. We decided to go with him. Martin was excellent at communicating, through text messages, email, and phone. We were not sure about specific designs, but he gave us great ideas that we decided to move forward with. Our house was built in the 1940's. Just about everything was non-standard including a wavy basement floor, but Martin's guys worked through all of it. Martin and his guys updated the electrical wiring and plumbing. He found some issues due to the old house and corrected them as well. Martin installed new framing, drywall, new window and back door. Every day, they were on time and worked the whole day. At the end of every day, he would touch base to go over everything they had done for the day. My only complaint was that I wish they would do work other than basements, because their work was AMAZING! It's a disappointment that he is focusing more on basement work. I would recommend this company to anyone!

Like many people in the Pennsylvana area, our home was in need of attention after Hurricane Lee's tour through our fair state. I came across the glowing reviews for the Hartel Construction Group on Angie's list and I decided to give them a call. Although I was a little out of the area for this company Martin, the hard working perfectionist who heads this group, agreed to come out and give me an estimate the same day! He arrived within 45 minutes and had a reasonable work contract within hours. Despite being a little construction weary from replacing our roof the week before, we agreed that they would begin the next day. We desperately needed the water damaged ceiling in the master bedroom repaired (as it was actually falling in on us) so we braced ourselves for what we assumed would be delays and issues and weeks of mess, hauled our bed into the living room and prayed for a belated holiday miracle. Our prayers were answered in the form of the hardest working crew of artist that ever donned a tool belt! Waking the sun on their way in , The Hartel Construction Group were at the door at 8 a.m and chomping at the bit. The very first day the water soaked ceiling was down and the debri completely removed; as if it had simply vanished. I was amazed. With the ceiling naked to the rafters, the crew wrapped up at 5 pm leaving my husband and I to marvel at the shear magnitude of work they were able to accomplish in a single day. A ray of hope crept in...would they really finish remodeling our master bedroom in a scant 8 days as promised? Like children wanting to believe in Father Christmas (but a little to old for such things) we went to bed with visions; not of sugar plums but of straight walls, ample lighting and a closet that would house all of my shoes. For the next six days we watched in wonderment as the room we found ugly and awkward was transformed into a space that was not just functional but magical. Not only had the ceiling and new walls gone up perfectly straight and smooth, as if wrapped in fondant, but the canister lighting glittered above us like ornaments in a tree. Our very own St. Nick had not only done everything in the contract but had peppered the project with unexpected extras, and had not charged us! Our new room now had two outlets on every wall, yes...he rewired the room and put it on its own breaker to give us more outlets! He hard wired a smoke detector ("to keep you safe" he said). He found a home for an antique window in the new bathroom wall and then arched the kitchen doorway to match it...something that was not in the estimate but that made the rest of the house cohesive with the new space. The wider arched doorway made our galley kitchen appear more spacious! Two remodels for the price of one! And the shoes you ask...did he house the shoes? My mini walk in closet is so well designed that my shoes all have a space( only 35 pair), not to mention more hanger space than I could have dreamed of! The new half wall that leads into the master bedroom is not only an interesting architectural feature but also does something very magical...the light coming over the half wall illuminates tthe hallway as if there were a sky light above it! It is stunning On the 8th day ( as promised ), we couldn't help but stare, they were done and an entirely new space now was there. They cleaned the windows and swept up the floor, and picky as I am I could not have asked for more.

He arrived on time, did excellent work, and the finished job surpassed our expectations!

Martin and his team did a fantastic job with all aspects of our remodeling/renovation. Their professional demeanor and attention to detail were top notch; I felt completely comfortable with them working on the house. Martin himself kept me well informed of their progress throughout the whole process and often went above and beyond to make sure that things stayed on track. He was always willing to take the time to answer any questions this mechanically challenged guy had and I couldn't ask for a better experience.

Martin Hartel came to my household and walked through the project (finished basement) with myself and discussed in great detail the services that his company could provide. This project consisted of rough framing, drywall, electrical, plumbing, lighting, and painting. He then came back after estimating the project and discussed scope/cost with my wife and I. The price of his estimate far exceed the other quotes that we received by $1500. They had completed a complete finish basement of 800 square feet with half bath in their four week time frame. His crew was friendly and kept the work area clean and well maintained. Martin was constantly available and willing to make suggestions on the project and to listen to any questions or concerns.

We had a bad experience with this company. We dealt directly with the owner. I think his first name was Martin. There were two main problems, 1)Lack of communication and 2) Poor quality workmanship. When I first spoke to Martin, I told him that we needed to have railings, steps, and a landing added to our existing deck. I explained that we had replaced several of the joicts and the decking ourselves, and had been plannng to complete the work, but decided to have a professional finish the job. I also told him that we had most of the materials on hand, and would only need to know what additional materials were needed. Martin agreed to take a look at the deck and give us an estimate for the work. We scheduled a time for him to stop by, but he never showed up. I called him and he apologized, saying he had gotten busy and forgotten, so we rescheduled. He arrived at the appointed time and I showed him the deck and explained what we needed to have done. I provided him with a diagram showing the type of steps and landing we had in mind. It was not an exact drawing of our site, just a diagram I had gotten on-line to give him a general idea of what we were looking for. Our deck was about 20 years old, so we also discussed the possibility of using lag bolts or some other means of reinforcing and strengthening the deck. Martin had the opportunity to thoroughly examine the deck, and he knew that because it was not a new deck, there would be inperfections he would have to work around. At that time, he did not express any concerns about being able to do what we were asking, but he did not take any notes. After our meeting, I followed up by emailing him a list of the materials we had, and he responded by sending us a written estimate, via US mail. We also requested references, so he sent them and a CD with pictures of jobs his company had done, along with the estimate. I called his reference, who spoke very highly of his work and the CD seemed to show a good attention to detail. His estimate was half that of the others we had received, and we felt it was more in line with what we had expected to pay, so we decided to go with Hartel Construction. We had hoped to have the work done by the end of August, but Martin had mentioned that he had vacation scheduled that last two weeks in August. He said he might be able to do the job over the Labor Day weekend, but he made no promises. It had taken us longer than expected to make a decision, so I called and left a voice message for him, asking him to call us when he got back from vacation so we could schedule a date for the work to be done. We did not hear from Martin prior to Labor Day or the week after, but we attributed that to heavy rain and flooding at the end of August and into the beginning of Sepember, which we thought may have impacted his office, so we waited for another week or so before we called again. When I spoke to him, he acted as though it had been he who had been waiting for our call. When I asked him when he would be able to do our deck, he made some comments that lead me to think he didn't really want to take the job, after all. I told him that if he didn't want to do the work, he should say so and we would find someone else, even though I did not want to have to do that. He said he would do the job and we scheduled it for Saturday, September 24th, with Monday the 26th set as the 2nd day, if it was needed. I asked Martin to come out to the site again before the 24th so we could review what needed to be done, so he stopped by after work one evening. He began pointing out inperfections in the deck and saying how difficult it was going to be to work around them. I reminded him that he was aware of the imperfections before he accepted the job. Again, I told him that if he did not want to do the job, he needed to say so. He did not decline the job, so we continued discussing what needed to be done. He still had not provided us with sketches or designs of the steps and landing. We had discussed the general location and size of the landing, but he said he would work out the details as he went along. He said he preferred to custom cut the stair stringers rather than using the pre-cut ones we had purchased. I said that would be fine, since he felt it would be easier to fit the steps to the landing rather than the other way around. At this meeting I also asked him if the same people who did the work we saw on the CD would be working on our job. He said that he had a small crew that worked independently on different jobs, but that he would be working on our job personally. It rained again the week of the 24th and Martin called on Friday evening wanting to reschedule, because he had another indoor job he could work on if it rained on Saturday. There was no rain in the forcast for Saturday, so I said I would rather not reschedule, but we agreed to wait until the morning to decide. The weather turned out to be fine, so he can on Saturday, as scheduled. He had one other helper with him when he arrived. The railing kit was in our garage, and we had parked a van containing the lumber on the street along side the house next to the deck. We asked if he wanted us to unload the materials and he said he would get them when he needed them. At this point, I had some concerns because we still did not know exactly how he was going to handle several items. I wanted to know what he was going to do, before he did it, so we could be sure we were all on the same page with how things were going to be done. When I tried to ask questions, he wouldn?t give me a straight answer. There was one part of the deck that we had discussed several different ways of addressing, and when I asked what he was going to do, he said, "Don't worry, you'll love it." I told him that I didn't like suprises. I didn't want to press too hard, but wasn't getting a good feeling about it. He seemed really anal about some aspects of the job, spending a lot of time "fixing" things that I did not ask him to fix, but then being really sloppy with important details, like making sure the railing spindles were straight. At no point did he ever discuss anything he was doing with me. Around 3 o'clock he told me that he was going to leave by 4 o'clock because he had a family function to go to. He said he would be back Monday morning. He was putting together the frame for the landing and said he would finish it before he left. I noticed that he had used a 4"x4" post that he had brought with him that morning, even though the posts we had purchased were in the van. When I asked him why he had not used the materials we had supplied, he said, "because it's my show!" He aslo said that the van was locked, but he never asked us to unlock it for him. It had locked itself after he got some of the materials out. I told him that we were not going to pay for materials that we didn't need. He finished an hour later and before he left he asked for half the money, based upon his estimate. We gave him a check for that amount and he left. He had cut the deck boards for the landing, but had not yet secured them to the frame. I had not looked at the landing closely before he left, but after he left, I walked around to look at the work he had done so far. I noticed that the landing was dug into the hill side 8? below grade. We knew that it couldn?t stay that way because all the rain and dirt would run down the hill and onto the landing. There were also other issues that we were not comfortable with, such as screws countersunk half way through the deck boards, crooked railings, missing deck screws, etc. I decided to go in to work late on Monday morning so we could speak with Martin about our concerns. When he arrived, my husband and I discussed some of the concerns we had, such as the crooked railing spindles and the position of the landing. He said that we had told him to do it that way. I told him that I certainly did not instruct him to do it that way and that common sense should tell him that. He said that he was not used to people asking him questions like that and that most people gave him their keys and let him do it the way he wanted to. We said that we could not just trust him to do what we wanted without having a more specific idea of what he was planning. At that point he said the he could just leave and not finish the job. We told him, "no", he would need to redo the landing to bring it above grade and then finish the job. We also asked him to fix the railing spindles and to replace the missing deck screws. My husband and I had to go to work and couldn?t supervise his work that day. I told him to call me at work if had any problems doing what we asked, but he never called. He did not fix the railing, nor did he replace the missing screws. He fixed the landing, but he didn?t use galvanize nails when he put the frame together the second time and the nail heads are already rusting. He used only 6 deck screws to attach the steps to the deck, which is not sufficient and would probably not pass code. It looks like he did the very least he had to do and then left. He never charged us anything extra for materials. He was very unprofessional and we would not recommend this company to anyone.

Never got a call back. Hartel Construction may do great work so I can not comment on that.

I liked everything about them, their personality, work, professionalism, the price etc.

Hartel Construction provided the highest level of customer service we ever experienced. The attention to detail of their workmanship was superb. The drywall was replaced without any noticeable seams, the wood trim was hung without gaps, and the wall and trim paint blended perfectly. They worked around our schedule and showed up on time (one day when traffic was extremely heavy, they called before the scheduled time to let us know they would be delayed). Rather than provide less than a perfect job, Martin Hartel told us he terminated the relationship with his old flooring contractor who did not provide the quality he or his customers expected, and he gave us several recommendation for carpet installers. Except for the carpet which will be installed shortly by another company, you would never know there was a flooding problem. The quality of workmanship Hartel Construction provided is that good. We cannot complement them or recommend them enough.

A++++ as mentioned above the team worked diligently and neatly and possessed a real talent for their craft. You will not be disappointed by the end result performed by Hartel construction group.

The quality of their work is good. Their price is reasonable and they are honest. I will use this provider in the future.

Excellent and Superior Job!!!!!! We could not be happier with our basement remodel! Hartel Construction is very professional, timely, friendly, and exceeded our expectations!!! From beginning to end, we were nothing but happy and had no worries. We will definitely use Hartel Construction in the future for any remodeling projects, and HIGHLY recommend their company!!!! Wish we could post pictures on Angies List!!! They are amazing!!

As previously stated, received no call back for better than a week.

I had previously contacted Martin for a quote in 2008. I had to delay the project. He honored the same quote 3 years later. His prices are very reasonable. His team is very prompt. They will arrive at the crack of dawn if you're available. Martin is a perfectionist and that is much appreciated. The team is professional and efficient. He strives to do work to code and will not cut corners. I have a few other projects I look forward to him completing.