Collin Remodeling Services INC

Have used them for about thirty years on four different houses for everything from major remodel (moving/removing walls, adding closets, windows, doors, bathrooms, finishing out attic space) to coming to fix an emergency leak. I can always trust that they do it right and do quality work.

Caroline and Collin are a very nice couple. They are responsive and will answer all of your questions. However, there were some issues at the time of the repair. Caroline had surgery and was required to go in and out of the hospital, so it was difficult to contact the company at times. She is the contact person while Collin is away working on other jobs. Sometimes, it was frustrating, but we worked it out at the end. Collin and his team did an excellent paint job, and they worked quickly. We did have issues with the washing machine being placed differently after they worked in the laundry room, but he was happy to come back and fix it. Yet, we just can't seem to get it back to where it was. Regardless of that, the job was done in a timely manner, and the couple was pleasant to work with. I said that I will not use the service again because they do live far away from where we are. Therefore, it is a hassle when we find little problems and have to ask them to come fix it before the final payment was made.

It was excellent. They did a very good job. They were professional. They cleaned up well.

Please see above for details.

This is the second time we have had Collin work on our house and it turned out excellent again. There were delays in receiving windows which were no fault of Collin, but took a bit longer than anticipated. We will continue to use Collin on further interior work and recommend him to others.

I called them once and left a message, but they never returned my call.

I liked the work that was done, the type of work that was done by Collin Remodeling Services. I disliked that length of time it took to complete the job.

In the walk-in tub, the fixtures were installed backwards. The hot was the cold and the cold was the hot. The window A/C unit he installed has stopped working. We discovered the window he put in was not caulked right. I called him twice and he said he would come back and take a look each time, but he never did. I eventually had to hire someone else to do the work.

Both Collin and his wife came out to scope the job. They were very nice and I had a nice feeling about them after talking to them. I asked them to provide a competitive bid. I let them know that I have remodeled several times so I am experienced with the process and my expectations both in length of time and cost are not unreasonable. Since I have remodeled several times, I did provide a clear scope of work. There were some variabilites like finishes, but we agreed that we needed a baseline quote and then we could work out the final details on exactly which finishes would comprise. We also discussed, from a labor and materials perspective, who would provide which materials and who would pay for what - for example: to replace the front door, we agreed that I would find the exact door I wanted, purchase it, and Collins Services would pick it up and install. Collin and his wife let me know that they were very busy and that my timeline may not work (I was trying to get the work in the next month). I agreed that if that was the case, then I could work with them on that. In general, we had a very nice, pleasant meeting (at least I thought it was). Collin's wife wanted a picture of the front of the house so I promptly emailed that to them the next business day. They told me it would be a week or so and they would get back to me with an estimate. I was ok with that. The problem was they NEVER got back to me at all. I gave them a couple of weeks, and I sent a reminder via email first and also called and left a message. They never communicated back in any way so they get an F from me, because that's not a way to run a remodeling business. Maybe they have enough work with their existing customers or they didn't want to work with me or do my job - I would have been fine with any of those responses but to NOT call or email back at all is really a problem. That tells me they don't know how to run their business and just wasted my time, so who wants to go into a remodeling job with someone like that? I gave them a D for responsiveness because they did come out to do an initial assessment.

DO NOT USE can not show up for a simple estimate

These guys did very well on our bathroom remodel. We particularly liked how they listened and made suggestions on how we could meet our objectives. We felt at all times during the planning phase and while the work was going on that they had our best interest in mind. Overall, everyone of their teammembers who worked in our house was professional, polite and responded to any comments that we made or changes that we asked for in a positive manner. We were also particularly impressed with their ability to complete the project on a short notice and on time, accomodating our travel schedule and our need to have the bathroom back up and running on a certain date. I would recommend them for this type of work, as well as kitchen remodels etc to anybody. Our kids bathroom used to have 2 rooms, one with a double vanity, one with a tub/shower curtain and commode, seperated with a wall and door. With our growing family, this was not meeting our needs anymore, it was always crammed, everytime the kids took a shower, one of us had to go and check for water puddles, there was always danger of someone falling in the tub or while getting out etc. The double vanity made now sense, only one sink was in use anyway. We didn't really know what to do to remdey this, except that we knew we wanted to lose the tub, have a maintenance free, easy to handle shower enclosure and wanted overall more space. After some email exchange during which I had sent some pictures, they came to our house one morning and during 2 hours we discussed options and concerns that we had about removing a wall, moving the commode with the required plumbing work, fragility of shower enclosures we had seen at homedepot etc. We had a good idea about what would be possible and practical after this meeting. We received a detailed, typed quote, within 1 week or so of that meeting and followed up with some additional emails to clarify some of it. I liked that the quote excluded cost for tiles, faucets, vanity and commode, as we were still going to chose those and didn't know how much we wanted to spend. From their first visit to our house to completion of the project, it took 8 weeks. They completed the bulk of the work in 3 weeks after we gave the go ahead. When we came back from vacation, there were about 2 days of work left to finish the details. Dirt and trash were nicely removed and contained to the work area. We never had to chase them, we had their full attention the entire time. I particularly appreciated the ability to communicate by email, when I couldn't be at the house during business hours and saw something I had questions about when I came home at night. They helped me pick the right faucets and valves online one Sunday afternoon, as I was a little overwhelmed with finding the best set-up for the behind the wall installations and stay within my budget. One day when I came home I saw that I didn't like where the mosaic deco strips were placed in the tiles, and it was no problem for them to peel them back off and redo the tiles on the wall the next day. When the drywall came off behind our old vanity, we saw that there was a slow leak from our AC drain in the attic and they suggested a way to replumb that better so this wall would stay dry. We paid with several checks while the project was going on, they ticked off what had been completed on work plan and told us what the next check was to cover. There were no financial suprises. Our next door neighbor asked them to install some outdoor lighting and they did that for 50 $ one afternoon as well, saving her the hassle of calling someone out to do it. Overall, we are very pleased with the whole experience and happy with our new bathroom - it looks great and is much more userfriendly, as intended for a family with several boys of varying ages.

Nothing in particular really stood out to me but they were responsive.

We contacted Collin Services just before the holidays in 2010 to work on a complete master bathroom renovation. They were polite and enjoyable, came up with some very nice ideas. We received a detailed, typed up itemized bid from them. Their estimate was within 100$ of a competing bid. We selected Collin Services mainly because of 1-their rating with Angies List and BBB 2-ideas they gave us, which other bids lacked and 3-how well they interacted together and with us. While working out some of the details on the bid, we were a little worried about communication, as it took some phone tag and delays in getting everything worked out to an agreed contract. Mostly the communication issue was due to the holidays. After work began, communication was great. Caroline and Collin followed up with us regularly to see what our thoughts were and to let us know what to expect regarding project planning. They visited us again prior to the job start to reiterate what and how the project would be handled. This put us at ease and we started on exactly the day we were told, Feb 7, 2011. Collin’s team includes his brother, nephew, tile guy and assistant, and a painter. They were all courteous, polite, paid attention to detail, and I never noticed any of them smoke. (We’ve had other contractors leave cigarette butts in our lawn before). Demolition took less than a day. We had our bathtub, carpet, commode, vanity, and tile removed. They protected our nearby furniture and did their best to cover our carpet on the pathway to the bathroom. There was still a lot of dust in our bedroom, but it’s hard to think of any way of preventing that. They put hardiboard down as a subfloor for tiling. They did a good job at screwing it down to correct squeaking we had on the second floor. We converted our tub to a large shower, so they redirected some plumbing, poured a slightly sloping shower pan, and added insulation. We added a pony wall (small half wall). Collin was great; he contemplated the height of the wall and worried about it more than we did. The tile floor and tiled shower look great. We are so pleased with it. Gustavo and his assistant were perfectionists at it. Lines are straight, tiles are level, grout lines are thin, and the layout is really nice. We had our windows replaced and two of them were smaller than the original size, so Collin reframed them. On the exterior of the house, you can’t even tell anything happened. They replaced whole segments of our hardisiding, and exactly matched our house paint color. Collin and Caroline took us to a granite yard to select our vanity top and matching shower seat. They helped guide us on selection, while helping us avoid a large expense of cutting from a whole slab. The granite company installed it, while doing some of the cutting and grinding on site. Caroline helped pick out a color for the walls. Once again, they worried about it more than we did. Their painter did a nice job. I don’t notice any spills, drips, smudges etc. Some electrical was redirected. Collin, again, worried about placement of new outlets and light fixtures more than we did. He added an outlet inside our new medicine cabinet/tower, which they suggested to add more storage space and a convenient tucked away place to recharge devices. We had a frameless glass door installed for our shower. The glass installers did a nice job and it looks great. They also took our existing 80’s style huge mirror, cut it in two and added a beveled frame around it. It looks great and was fairly inexpensive. Overall, we were very pleased with Collin, Caroline and their crew. We are already in discussions for more rooms to be renovated. They have good ideas and come up with things we never would have thought were possible. Our bathroom is beautiful and perfect.

They came out and looked at the work that needed to be done (fix ice maker, stove vent hood/exhaust). They were very nice and professional. Said they would send a quote and then I never heard back from them. Tried calling several times and never got a response.

They started on time. And finished what would have been on time if we had not added additional scope. Helped us select cabinets, bathroom fixtures, tile, granite countertops for kitchen and baths. Their subcontractors for the tile, plumbing and electrical work were wonderful; polite, responsive, and very professional. Caroline and Collin are fun people to work with. We were directed to them by Angie's list, and I encourage others to try them. We are using them in January 2011 to put in new wood flooring and windows.

I will definitely use them again. They are both very personable and make great suggestions. It was obvious to me after talking to them for only 5 minutes they really knew their business. I also thought the price they charged to correct another contractor's screw-up was more than fair. In fact, it was less than I paid the original installer - who turned out to be totally incompetent. Since this is a family run business it was sometimes a little challenging to reach them and get a quick response. At first I thought they had blown me off about the install, but it turned out they had just gone out of town for a few weeks. Other reviewers mentioned what a pleasure they are to work with and I agree with that assessment. Collin is very detail oriented in his work, and the tile installers they brought in did a super job. I also talked to them about a rather unorthodox powder room remodel I had started by myself. They made some great suggestions and had really open minds about some things I was considering. I may have them finish the powder room instead of trying to do it myself.

I was very pleased with the 2 finished bathrooms. One bathroom was gutted and the other bathroom had the vanity and toilet replaced, completely retextured/painted all walls and added crown molding. As we went along, both Collin and Caroline made great suggestions and were able to incorporate those suggestions in the final product. If I wanted to make changes along the way, they easily adapted. I would certainly use them again.

I was satisfied and they are reliable and professional. They have great social skills.

It all went very, very well. They provided the right level of suggestions (we were asking for suggestions), and made sure they understood exactly what we wanted, before doing it. Even if it sounded silly to me, they were willing to ask to make sure of what I wanted -- and the result is that there were no surprises, nothing that leaves a little feeling of "boy I wish we'd talked about that" or anything else like that. We're very happy with the result -- it looks like it belongs there, which is good. The quality was excellent, and they were more than willing to adjust or re-do something when it wasn't quite what I wanted after all. They were very prompt, the work was done in the stated time, and communication was good -- there's not much more that can be asked, but it's always a surprise when it works that well. And it did work well.

They were nice people, very honest and helpful. If you haven't asked all of the right questions they will help you along. They were competitively priced, they weren't the cheapest but not the most expensive either. We were impressed with their knowledge. They do very good work and we thought they were a good vendor. We are very pleased with the work they did.

Very unprofessional. I called in order to get an estimate for a cabinet to be built and installed. I was told to submit the dimensions the following day so she could give me a price quote. I called and informed them of the size. I was then told they would give me a price. Noone has ever called back to give me a qoute. I've left three messages asking for someone to return my call and even stated that if they were unable to do the project just let me know. It has been two weeks and no call.

Hurricane Ike left one ceiling intact in one bedroom intact in our home. Everything else in our home was badly damaged. Collin and Caroline and the crew were professional and really rebuilt our home. Caroline is wonderful with interior design and paint choices while Collin's kitchen cabinet making skills are just awesome. Their specialty is kitchen and bathrooms and ours are beautifully updated and redone with custom granite countertops and slate flooring. They've never installed bamboo flooring before, but used a subcontractor who did a beautiful job. They've worked in many homes and have much experience and will share their opinions about the things you absolutely need and the things you might not. Caroline and Collin are hands on and showed up every day, not just for occasional check ins. It was a pleasure to work with them. Also, they were really willing to help me deal with my Insurance company and worked with me with getting the Insurance company to adjust the initial estimate to reflect the true cost of repairs.

They were very nice and personable. They made a point of getting here quickly the first time, however when they were supposed to come the second time for the lock installation it them quite a while. They were very good at first and gave me estimates on all of the work, but the responsiveness was lacking in the end. I called and emailed trying to get ahold of someone to get an appointment set and it was very difficult to get anyone to respond and do the second part of the job. I eventually had to call someone else all together to come out and finish the work.

Never return phone call so didn't go well.

Phone call was fine. Talked to Mrs. Collins and set up the appointment, then Mon night there was a message saying that they would have to reschedule due to an emergency and they hoped that I got the message. I called them back to let them know I got the message and I'd reschedule later. Just a normal phone call. Might use them in the future depending on their quote.