Volkert Remodeling Inc

In the end, we were very pleased with the work that Don Volkert and his team performed. Don was flexible and willing to make changes in the project as it progressed. His team was respectful and considerate. Don impressed us as being straightforward and honest. After the job had been completed, we experienced a partial power outage on Memorial Day which seemed to be related to the electrical work that they had done. Don responded to our call within 30 minutes on Memorial Day and came out to our house to resolve the problem. He determined that the power line from PECO into the house had broken which was unrelated to his work.

Don and his team did a great job remodeling our hall bathroom. Don always returned our calls promptly, answered our questions, and offered design options. He and his team are professional, courteous, conscientious, detailed-oriented, and a pleasure to work with. We are extremely happy with our remodeled bathroom.

Our house had many issues; outdated everything, poor electrical wiring, old corroded plumbing and poorly installed duct work. We did a complete remodel of our master bathroom and kitchen. This involved changing the layouts, including moving or removing walls, new drywall, floors, windows and doors for those rooms. I'm so happy that we selected Volkert Remodeling. Don and his crew were excellent. They were professional, knowledgeable and courteous. They showed up promptly every morning and got right to work. They put down tarp and cleaned up at the end of the day. We knew there were some existing plumbing and electrical issues. Don kept us well informed as they spotted and fixed the problems. He truly believes in doing the job right and not taking shortcuts. Using his recommended suppliers made the remodel flow smoothly from kitchen and bath design to the finishing touches. We love our new kitchen and bathroom. We highly recommend Volkert Remodeling for any remodeling needs. We are having them back in about 5 months to do our hall bath, powder room and laundry room.

Working with Don was great from start to finish. Very responsive and always follows up and does what he says his is going to do. Got an estimate quickly and scheduled a date for the construction. Never had any serious delays. Always stayed in touch and kept me informed. Good price, good workers, and high quality work. Don and his crew remodeled my basement half bath into a fully accessible bathroom for my handicapped tenant, including a shower that is wheelchair accessible. Don went above and beyond on the job. There were a number of difficulties that arose in making everything work, as there is limited space in the basement and a lot of obstacles, including ductwork and pipes buried under the concrete foundation. Was very impressed by how he worked around these things and got the job done. He also worked well with my tenants and addressed their concerns along the way. Overall, I am very happy and I would not hesitate to use his company again and recommend him to others.

We hired Don to renovate our existing bathroom from the 1950's. From the initial quote, we knew Don was the right person for our project. He had great recommendations for the design, anticipated any potential surprises that could arise (being that our house is 60 years old), and gave us a very fair price. During the renovation (which involved striping the bathroom down completed to the studs), Don & his crew were friendly, efficient (they finished the project in about 4 days), and the finished product was exactly what we envisioned. I will definitely use Volkert in the future!

Don and his 2 man crew showed up promptly every morning as promised. They took care to lay down tarps to keep the carpets clean. We were kept updated on the progress daily. When the granite contractor we had hired let us down, Don was able to arrange for us to meet another one and they quickly stepped in. All of the work was done by Don and his team except for the glass for the shower. The work was completed within the time frame promised. Don even offered some suggestions on how to redesign the bathroom which ended up giving us a better result than we thought possible. We are very pleased with the work, would hire them again and would highly recommend Volkert Remodeling.

The multiple jobs we have hired him for have all gone well. Would happily hire again...and plan to.

Don did a fantastic job on our hall bathroom remodel. It is exactly what we wanted! We live in a 90 year old house so there were lots of surprises. Don and is crew dealt with all of these issues easily. He also gave us great suggestions on improvements that we hadn't thought about. His workmanship ( and the crews') is great! He is very pleasant to deal with from start to finish. I am looking forward to working on another project with Volkert Remodeling in the future. I highly recommend them.

Don and his team are amazing! They are skilled, hardworking, conscientious, have incredible integrity, and are just "good guys." By the time our bathroom was finished, we felt like we had new friends. Our bathroom needed to be demoed back to the studs after we had a plumbing leak beneath the floor. From the time Don gave us the estimate, we knew that he was the right contractor for us. His price was fair and I could tell that it was very important to him to do the job "right"--that he had tremendous pride in his work and that having satisfied customers was paramount. My husband is in the construction business and had full faith in his abilities. I am not in the construction business, but am perfectionistic and was nervous about this remodel. We both had complete confidence in Don and that confidence was correct. He was incredibly patient, perfectionistic, and technically skilled. Not only did everything he said he was going to do, and he did it well, but he went out of his way to do more. Our master bathroom is small, but it is now my dream bathroom. It came out beautifully and we couldn't be happier. The workmanship is excellent and the process was smooth (even pleasant!), and we attribute both to Don's professionalism and the skill of him and his team. He is extremely smart, a great problem solver, and wonderful person to have around. Thank you so much, Don, for making this process such a good one and for giving us such a beautiful master bathroom. We are so grateful!

Don and his crew did a great job from start to finish. His knowledge and level of professional are by far the best that I have found when working with contractors. He is very knowledgeable about all aspects of the project and provided a realistic timeline that was met. Don stated at the outset that if there were issues uncovered during the project he would notify me and address them. He made it clear that he would not ignore problems, but if they did arise he would find the most economical way to address them. During my bathroom renovations there were two issues, a tub drain that was not connected and ceiling wallboard that needed to be secured to the rafters. In both instances the fixes were completed with the least amount of intrusion and cost. When it came to finding fixtures and tile, Don pointed me to suppliers that he uses regularly. Using his regular suppliers helped with a smooth transition when securing the necessary equipment yet having the ability to select the fixtures that best suited my tastes. I have dealt with many contractors over the years, but Don is the first one that I felt comfortable with to leave my home in the morning and not have to worry about what was getting done at my house while I was gone. His crew did a great job cleaning up daily. The end result is that I have two very beautiful stunning bathrooms. Even with the two issues, the additional cost was minimal. His estimate was what I paid. I would strongly recommend anyone wanting to have work done in their home to contact Don. The only drawback with Don, is waiting for his availability. It is a small price to pay to get a contractor who knows what to do and keeps to his budget. Lea Anne

Everything Don was involved with could not have gone smoother...from the estimate, to us adding in the door and window request. Our master bath and hall bath shared a wall...which needed to be moved. In addition we took space out of a closet in the master bedroom to enlarge what had been a really really tiny shower to make it the luxurious shower it is now. Both baths have heated flooring which I am in love with already! Can't wait to have that under our feet this winter! Plumbing needed to be moved, everything was tiled expertly. We could not be happier with Don and his crew. They were always here on time and tidied up each day.

Don Volkert is a really good contractor, a fair price for an excellent job. Professional and detailed. Don was great at being flexible to create what we wanted and offered suggestions along the way to create a really nice finished project.

Don was absolutely wonderful to work with. He provided a very detailed and clear breakdown of the work to be done upfront as well as a fairly accurate start time despite the ETA being months away. He communicated clearly and quickly and was easily accessible by phone and text. He provided a well curated list of suppliers and jumped in immediately when there was an issue. His team was professional and extremely focused on getting the work done. He identified issues when they came up and made helpful suggestions and recommendations. All incremental costs were discussed up front and agreed to so the final bill contained no surprises. We are absolutely happy with our master bath and basement and would not hesitate to use Volkert Remodeling again or recommend them to anyone else.

Don and his crew are terrific! Don helped me revise our plans to get the price down to what we could handle, and then kept me fully informed throughout the process. He and his guys do terrific work, are very thorough, and are just terrific to work with.

The work went very well. Don was great to work with. He guided us through the process and advised us well. He was very responsive and completed the work timely at a high level of quality. If you are considering a renovation I would highly recommend Don. We are currently planning to use him for our next renovation project.

We would highly recommend Don and his staff. He is very organized . He and his staff are always on time He worked with us throughout the project. Because of his organizational skills and a team that worked well together they finished quickly. He has an attention to detail and with that did beautiful work. Highly recommend., If you are reading this, you have found your contractor. You need to look no further. You won't be disappointed.

Don and his crew did a great job tiling our basement. They removed the old carpet , leaving no mess. The wood- look tile looks great They were careful with placement and pattern. It looks like a wood floor. We Highly recommend Don.

I bought a wonderful nearly 90 year old house which needed almost everything done to it to turn it into the space I imagined living in. I'm an artist & designer so I had very specific ideas about what I wanted & I knew it would be costly & time consuming to make all of the changes I had in mind, but I had no idea the peculiar resistance I'd come up against as a woman dealing with male contractors. It was almost laughable how difficult some of the contractors were to communicate with. Fortunately I had a fantastic project manager who understood the vision I had for the house & had exactly the people skills needed for the work to get done in spite of the hurdles. After meeting with contractors who said everything I wanted was impossible or who would not answer my questions- addressing everything to my (male) project manager, I knew as soon as I met Don that he was the person I wanted to do the work on my house & I was thrilled that he had an opening in his busy schedule. He was completely open minded about executing my designs, and didn't try to impose his taste. He was great about discussing the pros & cons of my choices & suggesting how I find the things I was looking for. He's extremely knowledgeable & great about sharing information, and he's a pleasure to work with. He and his assistant (also Don) came and gutted the space (getting the cast iron tub out & stripping everything down to the studs). They had to reconfigure the plumbing to maximize the space, enlarge a window and wire the place for all of the lighting I wanted. A great deal of work was going on simultaneously in the rest of the house & I was very grateful to have Don's input on everything else I was having done. Finally the bathroom is an elegant, luxurious space where everything functions as beautifully as it looks. I'm thrilled every time I go in there !

Don was very professional and accommodating, He was very upfront about the estimate , and as the job was going on was very communicative about what was going on and provided options as things came up. He finished on time and on budget. I really liked that they only work on one job at a time so we had him and his crews focus until the job was completed. Highly recommend

This could not have gone smoother and Don and his crew were the reason why. We had a very very tight budget and Don was able to make it work. He came in thousands of dollars less than even the next closest bid. He is not your typical contractor either. Very friendly, patient, responsive, and does things right. Don is heavily involved in the work and actually cares how things turn out. If something is wrong, he takes the time to fix it even if it delays him a little bit. If anything comes up or he has questions of what you want done, he will call or text you. He is also so fast to get back to you by phone, text, or email. They were on time every morning, took great care not to damage walls, floors, carpet, get dirty or drywall dust everywhere, etc. Project finished in just under 3 weeks. We have had bad experiences with contractors in the past trying to inflate the bill, poor quality of work, etc and Don is NOT that kind of contractor. There was a rather large issue he discovered under the kitchen sink when he was installing the new faucet and he took the time to contact me, explain the issue (texted me pics too), explained how he would fix it with PVC pipes the right way (unlike previous apparent repairs), and the extra cost was minimal. After he corrected this, it actually resolved the musty smell and mildew issue in the basement. The finished product in the bathrooms was perfect. We didn't use the best tile and materials due to the budget but everything was done so professionally it looks amazing! The tile is level, grout work is perfect, the drywall was seamless so it looks great now that it is painted, the woodwork was great, the doors throughout the house were perfectly level and he made sure they all opened and closed smoothly without any awkwardness. Not easy to do in an old house! I remember them testing out the track doors for the closets and taking them downstairs for the 3rd or 4th time to adjust whatever because they "weren't quite right yet". It is so hard to find people who care about their quality of work like this. After seeing the results, a friend of mine wanted to use him so we referred her to him and they are going to proceed with her bathrooms. I highly recommend his services.

This was a great experience. Don was responsive and communicative, as were his crew. Two notable things were how punctual they were each day and how clean they were. They left barely a trace of dirt around! The work was great and we look forward to continuing to work with him.

Don is great to work with-especially when you've got a big project with lots of moving parts. We met with him a few times while we were formulating a plan. Don is a great asset when you need someone who's done it before to provide their take on design decisions. This was our first major remodeling project. Couldn't imagine where we would've ended up without Don. Once we settled on a design, Don was able to schedule our job for a time period that worked best for our family. Don provided suggestions for suppliers and personal contacts to use for materials including cabinets, flooring, countertops, siding etc. Every supplier had nothing but good things to say about working with Don. Don stepped in any time we needed help with any supplier-related issue. Don has some attributes that we really valued in a contractor-especially with putting as much as we did into the job. Don is a very honest person. He didn't change prices or anything like that. He did exactly what he said he would do-and then some for what he said it would cost. Don has integrity. When issues came up, Don didn't disappear. When Don said he would handle something, he handled it. When a pipe cap failed and led to flooding at 4:30 am, Don responded immediately to my text for advice. He even offered to come over with a wet-vac to help with the clean-up. Don was there at 7:30am taking care of the issue so it wouldn't happen again. When family room work uncovered some prior structural damage, Don made sure to push his next job back in order to get our job done right. Don has attention to detail. I tend to focus on the little things and Don does too. It mattered to him that everything on our job was done just right. Not off by a little. Not good enough. Don really seems to put your job on the same level as if he were doing it in his own home. Don is extremely responsive. I can't tell you how many times I texted Don a question or emailed him and got a response within minutes-sometimes even during off-hours. Phone calls were the same way. Ultimately the kitchen and family room turned out looking better than we could've imagined-as did our experience with our contractor. No horror stories from us. Quite the opposite.

Don promptly returned my phone calls and presented me with a proposal. Even when I changed my mind about the scope of the job, he sent a new proposal promptly. Of the three contractors I contacted, Don was the first to respond and seemed to understand what I wanted better than the other contractors. Don was helpful in recommending floor finishes, as well as the plumbing fixtures and explained each step of the project with me. When he came upon some unique issues with our old house, he always found a way to fix the problem and always made sure I was aware of any changes he needed to make to accommodate prior repairs or construction issues. Don and his crew were courteous and easy to work with and always took care to clean up at the end of each day and let me know when they were leaving for the day. Don was able to enlarge my tiny powder room, which was a terrific bonus and we now have a beautiful kitchen floor and powder room that I am truly proud of.

Concerning the Selection of the Contractor: Several Contractors were contacted after providing the scope of work and pictures of the existing bathroom . Some Contractors were from Angie's and several were not. A great number of the potential Contractors did not even show up to look at the job even after indicating they would. Three Contractors actually looked at the job and two provided bids. One of the Contractors was considered unacceptable by us since he clearly had very little expertise in the key skill areas required for the bathroom remodel (essentially most of the things would be subcontracted). Volkert Remodeling (Don Volkert) provided the most detailed estimate with the most competitive pricing. In addition when Don came to look at the job he made some great suggestions that we incorporated into the final bathroom remodel. We were also impressed that he and his workers could handle most of the skills involved without the need for subcontracting. Don was clearly the most knowledgable of the Contractors contacted and appeared to be someone as a person that was reasonable and not difficult to work with. After getting Don's bid we went back to him with several questions and clarifications. He was able to resolve all our questions and concerns quite easily. We provided him a small non-refundable deposit to hold our position (Don was quite busy-this was another indication that his work is good). Another aspect important in our selection was that we would be able to purchase many of our own materials as indicated in the scope of work above. In our own mind selecting our own materials allowed us to better understand what we were getting and allowed sufficient time for making these selections with some "change of mind". In most cases all materials purchased by Owner was internet purchases that hopefully were competitive with most Contractor discounts. Don allowed us the discount he would get on the granite and tile. Prior to Starting the Job: Don was very helpful when we had questions concerning purchasing materials and final planning for the remodel. He promptly answered e-mails or returned our telephone calls. He was also very good at updating us from time to time on the status of his other work and when he might start our job. Prior to starting the job (one week), Don actually came to our house to help us finalize the tile requirements. Overall communications were excellent. Work at Site: Don and his crew showed up promptly at the time he indicated. We again went over the details of the job and information on the things purchased by the Owner. They laid drop-clothes to minimize damage and in an attempt to keep the rest of home as clean as possible. Demo was essentially complete the first day. Don was very well organized in what they needed to complete everyday. Again communications were excellent in that he would ask questions or express concern where appropriate. He always reviewed any changes prior to proceeding and got clarifications on any uncertainties. Work proceeded very smoothly. As indicated in the Contractor Selection write-up, Don and his crew were able to accomplish most of the skills required without subcontract. The only areas subcontracted were the granite, frameless shower glass, and shower membrane. Don and his crew did all the demo, electrical, plumbing, tile work, carpentry, and installed the heated floors. This minimized any delays. Even the sub-contract work was well planned without delays on their part. For me I was impressed with how quickly Don understand the requirements for installation of materials purchased by the Owner (i,e, -free standing tub, standing filler, Toto toilets, German shower fixtures, heated towel rack, lighted mirror and etc.) With a job this complex one can always expect some issues-this one is no exception. Probably the largest issue was with our granite selection. We chose a granite piece fairly early after signing the Contract. The actual slab that was used for the vanity top and back splash was quite different than the initial selection, in our opinion. We also used the granite to curb the half shower wall and shower doorway (a suggestion we liked from Don). Don helped in resolving the issue with the Vendor- allowing us to make another selection that was more suitable. This caused some delays, but Don was able to work around it. When the granite was finally being installed some questions came up about the shower pieces and how to handle their installation. After finishing for the day, Don had to return to our home and worked with installer to complete the job-stayed to ~ 8:00 pm. The finished job looked really great. There were a couple of more minor issues. One for example had to do with the vanity (the plan was to reuse the existing vanity). The existing vanity had to be removed and in the process the bottom board was damaged because of the tile demo. Don suggested using tile bullnose (same as used around the floor) to cover it. This was a great idea-it blends very well with the floor bullnose and actually looked better in our opinion. Another minor example- the make-up mirror was actually quite heavy and wall anchor was questionable. Don fabricated a wooden base to provide more structure and resolve any concern. All tile work was very good with minimum grout lines and very level on both floors and walls. Overall we are very pleased with the job that Volkert Remodeling did on our bathroom and recommend them highly. Series photos have been added to review

We contracted for the job in October placing a small deposit. Don said that he had a backlog of approximately 5 months. Construction began in mid-March and took 4 1/2 weeks. One of the reasons that we selected Don was the comments by reviewers of his ability to deal with unforeseen problems. He found that during the demolition when he discovered that the soil line for the toilet was lead and completely deteriorated. The entire house, including this bathroom, is on a slab with radiant heat in the floor. Don had to remove several cubic feet of concrete with constant care to not cutting any existing heat pipes in the floor. He did that and installed all new soil plumbing as well as improved supply piping with easy access shut-offs. In addition to moving the linen closet, Don moved the bathroom door converting a small vestibule in the dressing room into active space in the bath. The number of square feet (inches!) gained was small, but the sense of space was great. He did this using existing door frames and trim, perfectly matching the stained wood finish of the dressing room. Don and his fellow worker (also named Don) arrived every morning at 7:30 and left between 4-5. Floor covering was put down every day and removed every night. There was dust - to be expected. They did as much as could be done to contain this, making extensive use of portable exhaust fans and their wet/dry vacuum. All demolition debris was promptly removed. Don uses a large trailer which was on site during the construction and was positioned to be out of the way. As much work as possible (cutting tile !!) was done outside to limit dust. Don worked closely with the granite vendor to produce a beautiful result with vanity top, shower accents, thresholds and window sill all in a granite that was a perfect complement to the tile that we provided. The total job cost includes about $10,000 worth of materials that we acquired ourselves, some locally and some on-line. All at a fraction of "list price". We would both recommend Don and use his services again.