Thomas Custom Builders Inc

While I am sure that Thomas Custom Builders (TCB) will get plenty of reviews about the quality of their work (which is excellent), I wanted to take the time to complement them on their professionalism, attention to customer service, and overall impression. Our project was a fairly major addition, with all the steps of building the whole house. The project (from initial concept to completion took about 8 months). About 4 months of that was the planning/permitting phase and about 4 months of actual construction. Rick Thomas spent the first months with us planning and working with their architect to meet our vision on paper. He was always prompt to meetings, attentive to phone calls, spent as much time as needed answering questions, and wrote a fair, complete and thorough proposal that included a detailed description of work, what the expected outcome was, start and end dates, costs. He spent a lot of time with us without charging us to come up with a ball park figure. His estimates came very close to the 'end' cost that was in the statement of work. Also detailed were total cost and payment schedules. Payments were broken down very reasonably and we only paid for work that was already completed or in process. Once work was started, we had a 'core' group of TCB people. There was always at least one TCB person here to supervise sub-contractors and TCB uses many of the same subs for their jobs. They TCB people were extremely friendly and courteous and made sure that the house was left in as livable a state as was reasonably expected at the end of each work day. Subcontractors were also polite and did their best to not disturb people. If a problem arose or a TCB person would not be there one day because they didn't have work that day (that only happened a few times), they would let us know the day before or that morning. Work was kept on schedule and if the schedule would fall behind, David would knock some heads together and get things moving again. The biggest thing is that on a project of our scale, several unexpected things or problems arose along the way and TCB did their best to resolve the situations without adding time or cost to the schedule. This was a big deal as I have worked with some contractors that if anything went wrong would not cover costs etc. TCB stayed to their original cost quotation, with the only increase coming from our change requests and the increase in cost was quoted in writing, an additional statement of work was written, and cost agreed upon before work was started. The extensive work on the statement of work, creation of and meeting the schedule, and management of costs and personnel are all things that made TCB an outstanding group to work with.

Friendly, professional, courteous. Competitive priced product. Elected to use someone else given their contract language was less legalistic and user friendly.

Brian and Mike arrived on time, helped me decide on the exact design of the interior wall. I explained what I wanted, a wall to make my dining room look more like a separate room, but not totally close it in. Their suggestions and expertise made the wall turn out exactly the way I hoped it would. Their work was excellent, and they were very careful about cleaning the area after they were finished. I was very pleased with the results and would hire them again.

We have been incredibly impressed with the work and professionalism of ALL of the folks from TCB. Several things are important to us beyond a good price: Responsiveness, professionalism, attention to detail, and schedule. TCB exceeded our expectations on all of these points. As with all projects we requested some change requests, these were tracked and priced by TCB with good detail and attention to the schedule. I can't say enough about the quality of their folks. The team that worked on our project were the same folks over the 2+ mos of our project. They were like clockwork at our house every morning, with a smile...and cleaned up everyday. I'll relay one story that really impressed us and speaks to TCB's customer focus....They had hired a sub to replace our garage doors. This was an all day project that unexpectedly lasted until about 8:30 pm. Most contractors would have just left us to look after the contractor, however TCB has a policy that there will always be one of their folks on-site, when a sub-contractor is present. Even though TCB had to pay his guy OT on a Friday, they stayed without being asked. I travel a good deal for my job, having peace of mind that I could have TCB's folks in my house everyday with my family was huge....these are really great guys. Finally, TCB knew that quality and attention to detail are important to us. They never cut corners and never hit us with price escalations and finished on-time. TCB has my highest recommendation. Please feel free to contact me as a reference.

When my husband and I decided that it was time for a kitchen renovation, we didn't know what we wanted but we definitely knew who we wanted to do the project - Thomas Custom Builders. Both of my husband's brothers had used this company for major projects and recommended them highly. Plus we could see their amazing results for ourselves and we wanted our home to look that beautiful too. Rick Thomas came to our small Arlington colonial to discuss the renovation. We wanted to expand our inadequate kitchen. Rick told us that the only way to do that was to knock down a wall. Since we didn't want to change the exterior footprint, we opted to combine the kitchen with the dining room. Of course, that was only step one. Rick recommended a wonderful kitchen designer who listened to our concerns and wishes and came up with a brilliant design. She drew up a plan and revised it when we changed our minds. Then she helped us select cabinets and hardware. This was only one of the sub-contractors and/or suppliers that Rick suggested and we were happy with all of these professionals. The contract carefully spelled out what work would be done, the time required for each phase of the project and the cost of each element. We took things off the table and then put some of them back on the table and then added stuff that was never part of the original plan. Renovations take on a life of their own and evolve after the work begins. Thomas Custom Builders and their wonderful employees (Rick, Dave Holmes and our project foreman, Kenny Holmes) never lost patience as we stumbled through the process to our finished project. No matter what we asked for, the response was always "No problem. We can do that". If the change was substantial, Rick would send us an amendment to the contract showing the additional cost and additional time involved. Work would not commence until we agreed to the revision. The quality of the workmanship of Thomas Custom Builders was first rate and they held all of their sub-contractors to the same high standards. Plus, Kenny was always on site when a sub-contractor was in our home. It gave us a real feeling of security to know that he was observing their work and bringing any problems to our attention. Kenny and his crew always left the work area as neat as possible when they left for the day. So, in conclusion, Thomas Custom Builders gave us the house of our dreams. They treated us and our home with concern and respect. Thomas Custom Builders earned our gratitude with their dependability, flexibility, availability, accountability, reliability, quality workmanship and excellent communication. My husband and I would not hesitate to use them again for future renovations and we recommend Thomas Custom Builders to anyone considering a home improvement project.

AWESOME JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They went above and beyond!!!!

Thomas Custom Builders was recommended to us by two people: a close relative and a neighbor. We saw first-hand the high quality work TCB did on those two projects, so we didn?t shop around for a contractor, we hired Rick after our first meeting with him. From the start, Rick understood the kind of end result we wanted. We felt comfortable with him, his designers, and his workmen throughout the entire process. Our crew was headed up by Brian Smith, who arrived every day on time---and Brian skillfully, thoughtfully, and cheerfully oversaw our entire project. Dave came over nearly every day to make sure Brian had all the needed resources. Brian and the crew cleaned up the work site every day. TCB removed every bit of debris from the demo of the kitchen and the shower. We added several items to the initial scope of work---and those add-ons were handled professionally. We?d make a request, Rick would send us a change order showing the additional cost, and the work would be completed after we approved the order. Everything we added made sense to add right then---while skilled experts were on hand to see that everything was done properly. Our project stayed on track and finished exactly when Rick had initially scheduled it to finish. It took only about 4 weeks to complete our entire job. TCB has a cool on-line calendar, so we could keep track of what would be happening throughout the process. The calendar even included pictures of our project! Every single day we would take note of something, large or small, that made us know we had the right people handling our project. We are very pleased with the results, and would highly recommend Thomas Custom Builders to anyone who?d like quality work done. We feel like we have a new house!!

They would not give me a final price on estimate. They gave me their hourly rate but didn't know how long it would take & the suggested repair sounded too extensive for the problem. That made me a little nervous so I went another route.

Rick, Dave, and the guys did a fabulous job. They were always on time, professional, and meticulous in their attention to detail. It's only taken me this long to write a review because back in 2006 I didn't even know about Angie's List. Thomas Custom Builders is truly a professional organization who will give you quality. They aren't the cheapest, but if you want a home renovation or remodel that stands the test of time, they are your men!

The experience was just fine overall. We just decided to go with another company for the project.

Initially he didn’t give us the correct estimate, then wasn’t very responsive, so we went with a different company. He was a nice guy, but he was inaccurate with his estimate and non-responsive.

We were amazed with Rick's professionalism, attention to detail, and awesome communication. He showed up at our initial meeting with huge blueprint sized drawings of our plans (we sent him PDFs of our plans prior to the meeting), and invited 4 of his subcontractors to meet us at that time as well in order to get a more accurate estimate. His subs were great and gave us many ideas that we hadn't thought of before. Rick's estimate was extremely fair, and he even recommended a few tweaks from the beginning in order to help us save money. We ended up going in another direction, but we wouldn't hesitate to contact Rick and TCB again in the future, especially based on the glowing recommendations we heard from his references.

This was as painless as any remodeling could be. Thomas was always on time, responsive to questions, very clean, and always asked me if a choice was necessary before proceeding. I have absolutely no reservations about recommending this company.

Everything went great and in the end, the bathroom is both functional and beautiful. Rick, Dave and the all the workers were very professional, courteous, and always on time. The remodel went quicker than I expected. The problems I encountered were with the tilers and Ferguson, where I purchased the bath fixtures. The tiles look great and the job was done to my satisfaction but that was after I had them order the correct tile as opposed to the one they were putting up and had to take down and they had to be supervised while they were cutting the tile as it was chipping while being cut and they were going to install it that way. As for the bath fixtures, Ferguson sold me the rough-ins for the plumber and it turned out to be the wrong one so the plumber had to go back and get the correct piece after installing the other one and it not working. Then when one of the towel bars was being installed, I noticed it was rusted. I called Ferguson and they would not give me another one I had to buy it. I was very disappointed with their customer service and product. Rick was very apologetic. None of my problems were the result of TCB. The only complaint with TCB is price. They were expensive, but I would use them again and probably will for my next project(when I have more money!!).

We liked Rick from the start as he was very up front regarding the scope of the project, the challenges, costs etc. which was helpful as this was our first kitchen remodel and we were naive about the level of effort. We had sticker shock with the initial quote, but it was very realistic, and included allowances for appliances, plumbing, electric, etc. which held pretty close to the initial proposal. There was only one additional unforseen cost after we started the project, where we needed to install a support beam in the basement, but it was not a huge additional cost, and Rick's team quickly did the installation and the delay to the project was only a couple of days. Before the project started Rick/Dave published a calendar of what work would occur each day throughout the extent of the project, and it was updated quickly after the one short delay, and they stuck to the calendar. Jay was here every morning and was pleasant to have around and did excellent work. The kitchen is truly professional-grade, and we are extremely pleased with the work that Rick, Dave and his team performed and would absolutely use them again.

This was our second significant project by Thomas Custom Builders. The first was building a sunroom for us which they completed in January 2009. As with the first project, the quality and professionalism were excellent and the price was very competitive. Rick Thomas gave us a no-nonsense quote and applied no pressure to sell us materials and services we did not need. We did receive other quotes. One contractor's estimate would have cost over twice that of Thomas Custom Builders. The new roof was completed on the same day and well supervised. We felt very comfortable having them do the work since they had done such a great job the first time. If we have another project, we will call on them again. Randy and Cherry Exley

My overall experience with Thomas Custom Builders was great. From the beginning I felt they were the right choice. Rick was helpful with suggestions on who to use for purchasing the cabinets, countertop, and flooring but would have worked with others had I wanted. I chose to go with his recommendations because I thought it would make for a smoother project since they already had relationships established with these companies and he vouched for the quality of their work. All the guys were extremely nice and I felt very comfortable having them work in my home. They were on time and for the most part kept the work area very clean. The job was completed within the time frame I was given. Any questions or concerns I had were handled promptly and courteously. I had obtained some lower estimates before deciding to go with TCB but felt theirs took everything I needed into consideration so I wouldn't be surprised with unexpected charges. I am very happy with my new kitchen and would use Thomas Custom Builders again.

Things went extremely well. Our major concerns with any proposed design were the connection of the sewer for the addition to the existing sewer. This was accomplished without incident. The other major concern was the intersection of the existing roof and the new addition. This did present problems, but eventually a leak free connection was accomplished. TCB recognized there was a problem and undertook the additional effort needed to fix it without any "prodding" by us. Additional costs at contract completion were less than 4% with all of the charges except $350 related to upgrades and additional efforts like premium windows, special oak door, upgraded vanity, wood floor vs carpet, hi-end bathroom tile, that were requested by us. The' biggest surprise was at final county inspection there were absolutely no open punch list items.We are very impressed with the quality of both materials and workmanship and especially the flexibility of TCB to adjust the design but stay in scope as construction progressed.

Great experience overall. Although the price was high you do get what you pay for. I know several people who have used this company and all say the same thing. They do an outstanding job, they show up on time, all the time, they are there everyday until the job is complete. They covered my furniture and carpet, cleaned up every day, removed all garbage, and did an outstanding job! I love my new bathroom!

They just did awesome work. They were detailed. We wanted a top notch builder, and they certainly were that. We found out we liked them. We had them upgrade all three bathrooms. We had them put in a washer and dryer, and a master bedroom. They converted a closet into a washer and dryer. So, they had to run all of the plumbing. Their attention to detail was phenomenal when we went through the house. They were expensive. They stripped it to the sheet floor, and put in the ceramic tile. The work is spot on. They took a lot of time, which is why they're expensive.

They gave me a very good estimate. My friend had her kitchen remodeled by another company so I went with the other company, and he gave me a very good price. When I saw here kitchen and how great it came out, I decided that they were the ones I should use.

It turned out pretty good. They guys working on site were pretty great. The kitchen planner did a good job. It was a pleasure working with Rick.

The estimate was for a quarter of a million dollars. They did a fine job, but they were too high for what I wanted.

Richard's visit was very nice. He was informative and congenial. If we went ahead with the project I have would have confidence in using his company.

This has been a smooth and easy project for work involving 2 floors. Thomas Custom Builders has a project manager on sight and responded to our questions and provided us with daily updates. All the men were very clean and a potentially messy job was kept to minimum disruption of our house and lives. Also, if we had a question after work hours, we could always reach one of the partners or project manager. All the work has been very well done, from carpenters to painters to electricians to plumbers. We have been very happy with each step in this process of renovating and feel like we are in a new house. Amazingly enough, we have absolutely no complaints!