Blaker Restorations & Remodeling INC

The team was knowledgeable and quick, but not at the expense of missing something. A very good team to work with.

Alex showed up as agreed with his roofer. He promptly assessed the damages to my shingles, provided photos and gave me a competitive price for the job. The work was completed within a couple of hours, at which time he once again sent me photos of the roof repairs to review. I was satisfied with the work and then mailed him a check to cover material and labor. His trust in me showed me that he was both honest and confident in the work to be performs.

The two best things I liked about this company and the service Alex gave me was that they were prepared to quote and fix the leak right away. There was no need to wait and have to re-schedule another visit. The second was that Alex gave me an guarantee that went beyond 1 years should the leak happen again. A big thank you to Alex and the other gentleman that was with him. You got the job done.

Alex and team showed up when they said they would and promptly put in a temporary fix, with full fix completed on a later date.

Update/resolved: Mr Blaker has acknowledged his lack in completing our contract. He contacted us immediately after receiving notifications from BBB and Angie’s List. Mr Blaker apologized and went to work immediately and finished out our contract within a week. Wait, there’s more. My husband is a 100% disabled veteran and cannot walk. We have this awesome deck in our backyard and we have not used it in years, due to my husband’s lack of mobility. Mr Blaker had a crew out the next day to build a ramp, for free, and it was such a nice night last evening, we sat out on the deck and played ball with our dogs. After having the new baseboards installed, he repaired some holes in our sheet rock AND painted our entire living room, dining room and hallway, from top to bottom, for free. So, thank you Mr Blaker.

I'm very satisfied with the work performed in my home. The team arrived on time, worked efficiently and left the place clean- which is a miracle considering all the dust from the tile removal process. I would use them again for future projects.

Alex was very professional and assessed the leak in the window. He gave me excellent instructions to test for the location of the lead and recommendations for future work. He did not charge me for this visit! That was greatly appreciated!

Super polite and professional, and not just the owner. My job involved replacing a run of damaged fascia, with outside trim paint to match, as well as wall repair, texturing, interior water-based and interior oil-based painting, to match. Every facet is perfect. Lots of protective preparation work and spotless clean-up. Attitudes exceeded business polite, really going to friendly. No mouthy flippancy, toward me or each other, and no cursing--not to be taken for granted. I highly recommend Blaker Restoration & Remodeling!

We were very pleased with Alex and his crews - the work was done quickly and professionally. Alex convinced us to do a more thorough job than other contractors who bid, in that he stripped the existing wallpaper from the bathroom, rather than texturing and painting over it.

This was our 3rd project with Blaker Restorations. Alex came through for us again on this one! Project was completed in less than 1 week. New walls, door, electrical work, and paint. Alex is professional and cares about getting the job done right most importantly, but he is also timely. His crew is top notch. Dario is an excellent foreman and makes sure everything is done how the customer wants it done. Could not be happier with how this project went. A++++

This was an unusual project and I had lot of ambiguity on how to get it done. Contacted about 10 general contractors from Angieslist and only Alex responded. When he came to my house, gave me couple of options and I wasn't convinced. He realized that and gave an option to bring in an designer. The designer came within 30 minutes, explained everything and built really good sketches and structural plans. That was the best part as it removed all the ambiguity and helped me visualize things better. Alex is professional, thorough and nice guy to work with.

100%. No complaints. Rrsponded quickly to my call, prompt estimate, arrived on time to do the work, professional and quick. Definitely hire again.

The project came out great! Just like the 1st remodel we hired Alex for, the work looks like the home was built this way. Alex is professional and cares about getting the job done. Even when things come up and changes to schedule are made, he shows that he cares. That's all I ask for as a customer. Solid work and professionalism. We are about to hire Alex for our 3rd job in the next month!

It went well! Alex came out and when he looked at our deck, noticed that a major reason for its degradation was a failing gutter that was leaking a large amount of water on the deck. Alex then recommended that if we wanted to get a new deck, we would probably be repairing it sooner than later if we also did not fix the gutters. He did a good job explaining why that was the case and it never felt like he was trying to push an additional job on us. He also worked with us to ensure we got a fair price package by combining it with our deck. The final product, both deck and gutter, look great and most impressive was the speed it was all done. From first quote to all done was one week! Would work with them again.

Prompt initial response for estimate and scheduling. Alex very professional. Workers arrived as scheduled and worked until finished. Clean up and finish up excellent. Alex followed up afterward. We plan to use for future remodeling projects.

Alex responded quickly and was on-site the next day to provide an estimate. As we went through the project, he discussed how he worked and specifically mentioned that he was not like Statewide, which he said used high-pressure tactics. That turned out to be ironic, as that's exactly how Alex behaved. It started when he said that he needed detailed drawings in order to accurately provide an estimate, which seemed to make sense. He immediately called his designer/architect and asked him to come by that afternoon. While we waited, he showed me 3D examples, which allowed you to pan around the rooms - pretty cool. Just before the designer arrived, Alex started putting a contract together, telling me that the drawings would cost $6k, but would be applied to the project. If I didn't use him, I would have a detailed set of drawings including all measurements. I informed him that I wasn't ready to commit to that kind of payment, as he was the first of 3 contractors that I planned to meet with. Alex convinced me that the drawings were needed regardless of who I chose, dropped the price to $4k, and pushed for a decision because the guy would arrive soon and we needed to button up the contract. Like an idiot, I paid him. The drawing guy spent several hours taking detailed measurements using a laser device. He said it would be about a week before he finished with the drawings, as he was going on vacation. Alex came by the next morning with a contract that was 2x my budget. I asked him how he was able to provide an estimate without the plans, at which point he indicated he didn't need them for the estimate- exact opposite of what he originally told me. After dropping his price by more than $20k, he really pressured for a contract signature. As I told him from the start, I was getting other bids. We ended up with another contractor and are thrilled with the results. I had to constantly ask for the detailed plans that I paid $4k to Alex for. I finally received drawings, but no measurements- no specs at all. It was a horribly disappointing experience. I can't speak to Alex's remodeling work, only his tactics and ethics. I am writing this review to make you aware in the event you ask for an estimate from him. Do not fall for the same scam I did.

Excellent. All of the work was completed in a timely fashion and the work is impeccable. From the framing to the finishing, each step of the process went smoothly and I am very happy with the end result.

It took him several months to do the work was one thing I did not like. It was an insurance claim so the cost was covered.He is unreliable and was supposed to work with the insurance company but we had to do that. He was good at first but after that it was not the case.

In any home remodeling and renovation project, it's important to keep your patience, expectations, and sense of humor intact. Alex does these things, which is very helpful, and my advice to any client (working with any contractor) is to do the same. These projects always have a few surprising twists and turns and little delays and you roll with them. Set aside a little extra cash and be prepared to spend it to get what you want. I first hired Blaker Restorations when I had serious flooding in my guesthouse, due to a serious oversight by a previous contractor who left huge holes around the foundation. Repairing it was a challenging project that required a creative solution. Alex and his team came through. He tells me they have since done several other jobs using the same approach. They also had to replace the water damaged floors and wood, and he went the extra mile (unsuccessfully) to get my insurance company or the prior contractor to help pay for the damages. Soon thereafter, the roof on the guesthouse was damaged (in another huge storm) and had to be replaced. Alex got his crew out there right away. They put a new roof on very fast, beating the next rain storm. After both jobs, Alex called me several times to be sure the guesthouse had remained water tight (it did) which I appreciated. Blaker Remodeling is a great small company to use if you need a number of different things done around the house, because Alex brings in professionals who can do it all. His pricing is not the cheapest in town, but it's reasonable for the benefit of having an experienced contractor who will oversee all the work, and he works with you to meet your budget. As a single woman I appreciated that everything was clearly explained and fulfilled as advertised, and as a person with high standards for quality, I've been relieved at how well the jobs have gone. Recommended!

Alex's crew came out on a Saturday, removed the old siding and 1X4 cedar trim boards, taped and flashed the windows, installed a vapor barrier, and reinstalled the siding with new T111 wood siding and trimboards. All in one day. Alex was able to match the barn red paint and his painter came out and caulked and painted in a professional manner. Alex himself then finished up the work with some grout touchup on the bottom floor masonry to complete the job. I am the Building Official for the City of Pflugerville and perform residential and commercial building inspections everyday. I was impressed with the quality of work performed by Alex and his crews and plan on using him again.

The whole experience was horrible. We talked with Alex and let him know that we weren't in a hurry to start thejob but wanted to make sure his teams were ready to complete the job so if hecouldn't get started straight away then that was fine. But let us know when they could start the demo and we would be ready. At that point on a Thursday he said "His boys are ready" and we scheduled the demo for the Monday April 23rd and we were hopeful that the 6-8 wk timeline we discussed was kicking off. Today is 9/8 and I wrote the final check. to give an idea here, we are not new to the remodel process and redid our entire kitchen and living areas in the same amount of time. The week of the demo his team noticed that there was some rot in the walls which is normal for a house built in 1969 with no updates in the bathrooms, so we paid additional money for the beams to be replaced. He schedueld that for May the 2nd and his team came out on May19th so for 2 weeks there was no momentum...On May 2nd he also mentioned that once that was done the cabinet maker would be out to measure and we followed up on May 16th to find out when that would happen along with the removal of the tub and the rebuilding of the structural work. On May 23rd we followed up again to find out what the plan was for the week and what we could expect so that we could plan our lives around this. We were told to pick out all hardware and toilets, which we did that same day. May 30th we followed up again to find out the plan and he let us know that he was trying to connect with his "people" to have the plumber reinstall the tub. June 1, I followed up to find out if the plumber would be coming just to be told that he had to come the following day after 4pm. We then asked for a meeting with Alex in person to discuss the momentum of the project or the "lack there of" and wanted that inperson. He saidhe wasn't available until for a few days. On June 2nds we had a conversation and was told that the walls were going to be installed starting the following week and that the plumber would be at the house after 4pm. Forward that monday was told that the plumber would be there to finish and he never showed up. The 6th was teh same story and I had to constantly follow up an dorganize Alex by asking every week what the plan was. On June9th I asked if our job was something that he couldn't fit in his schedule because we were still waiting on plumber and wall finish out,etc. June 12th a follow up on the cabinet maker and when we could schedule that for basic measurements......June 21 another follow up on the electric work and when that would be started...weeks were going by with no movement and just text message communication. July 1....we are still following up on finishing out the walls and starting the tile...I could keep going on and on, but the picture is very clear. It is 100% evident that Alex was fitting our job inbetween other jobs and not prioratizing anything and we had to micro manage him every day. He even told me that I looked like a good typer so could I just type up all the notes from a meeting and email them to him. That really got under my skin, but figured I should put all my notes together so that he has everythign to complete the job. Forward 3 months he lost the email and had to have me resend it all. We were expecting a 8wk at MAX small bathroom remodel with a single floating cabinet. It took over 4months with many weeks with no work. While I understand building a custom cabinet takes time (we had over 25 built in less time for our kitchen), one cabinet shouldn't take over a month to schedule a measurement and 3 months to build. We were diligent in getting him everything he asked for within 24-48 hours just for work to not be completed for months. There were multiple times where he would let us know that they would work on a specific day to not show up at all and then text to see what the plan was...soI would just reforward his text. What is most disappointing is that before we started the job we told him that we had a master bath job and a back porch and garage remodel planned and if this went well then we would love to consider him for any of those projects. I would never work with him again. The guys that he sent out to do the work were great, clean, and respectful. They did great work, but will never work with Alex again and on more than one occassion have told friends that have been asking who did the work for us if we would recommend him and I said NO. I don't. UPDATE: while the job did last extremely long,I fee that Alex understood our frustration at the end and did offer a few credits to try to make up for the inconvience that we dealt with.

Above expectations. His solutions to our needs were terrific and turned out great!

Kitchen went well. Took several weeks to complete details after granite was installed. Dishwasher had been reinstalled incorrectly and was unusable for several weeks until Dario, his good carpenter, came and fixed it. The major bathroom remodel was supposed to be a 30 day job. It required closing off the guest suite and moving enough into the garage to lose one parking space. I assumed it might take 45-60 days from my own assessment of the work to be done. after 23 weeks it was about 2/3 finished. Frustrated and inconvenienced by the unreasonable delay, we terminated the contract. The small bathroom was not attempted because the guest bath was out of commission and five people live in our home, requiring a minimum of two working bathrooms. We paid half the contract in advance, and were scheduled to pay 40% on completion and ten per cent 31 days after completion. However, Alex asked for an additional payment a month before we terminated the contract and we paid him. We paid 65% of the total contract price by termination for perhaps that much work or a bit less. We were in agreement that no one was hurt financially on either side of the arrangement. The inconvenience for 23 weeks was a true PITA. We lost confidence in his ability to manage and organize the completion of the work. To Alex's credit, his key subs do good work. Obviously they were doing it somewhere else for most of the 23 weeks we were actively engaged.

The most time-consuming part of the project was getting the plans and design done for submittal to the HOA. It took much long than I expected, but Alex finally got it done. He was persistent and prepared a very professional presentation. Once we received approval from the HOA, the project itself went very quickly. I was impressed with the electrician and the three groups of men that worked on the project. Ramon and his concrete guys were great. Drainage is a big concern in our community, and I felt that Ramon really knew what he was doing. The patio looks great! Dario and his carpenter guys were very good, as well. They were very neat and cleaned up after themselves. The day there were cutting a hole in the house to install the door, it poured down rain, but they put up a tarp and continued working. The opening was cut and the door was installed all in one day. They did a great job! Tomas was the painter and he was awesome! He came by and we discussed the paint colors. I had originally thought of how I wanted the outside door painted, but he suggested something else, and it made much more sense than my plan. He took great care in matching the paint on the interior and exterior of the house. If you didn't know I had had work done, you wouldn't know it! He was really good! Lastly, Larry the electrician did a great job as well. He had to run electrical lines through the outside wall of the house which was no easy task. He did a good job and I'm very happy with my lights and with having an outdoor outlet. I would definitely hire Alex again!

Horrible. He never ever gave me a written proposal to turn in to the insurance company to see what they would pay in addition to the original check. Alex wanted to start a couple weeks later but i said NO, not with out a detailed estimate on writing. Just over 6 weeks later, i gave up and asked him to just end this nightmare and return my money. To his credit, my money was returned in full within a couple of days of me asking. I do need to say more but was encouraged by a friend to get something written here to save others from the hassle. The worst part was that until the main room affected by the fire was repaired, we could not move from ourc rented duplex. With the yearly rent increase and added month to month fee for not signing a mew lease, we were out 3 more mouths of rent at 945 a month directly due to Alex not doing anything. Do yourself a favor, google his name. I did, just qeeks after he was holding my money and delaying my life.