Northern Star Home

We've worked with Gary in the past and have been happy, but the last couple of projects we have issues in timeliness, quality and transparency. We were very disappointed this time. Timeline went from 2 months to a finish time of almost 5 months, despite a significant decrease in the scope of the work due to city permitting (no fault of his). Coordination with subs was poor at best. Final straw as that the scope change should have had a significant impact on the final price. Initially, we were to add a 120 sq ft room addition. Included framing, brickwork, roofing, etc. His fuzzy and unclear math and unwillingness to be transparent on the final bill for SOME of the subs (others he was more than happy to share amounts) was very confusing. We should have demanded a new written contract when the scope of the work changed, and as required in his contract. We worked with him before and trusted him, but ultimately should have been more forceful and not let the work continue until a new price had been determined. He initially was going to start demolition on a brick wall while waiting for the permit. I asked them not, to, and that turned out to be a good decision, as I would have paid to demolish it, then rebuild it for nothing. Doing changes in writing is in his contract, but he failed to do that as well. Several small shortcuts he took, which I'm not happy with, and may have to go back and change. Very disappointed in the direction his quality, transparency, and communication has gone. All in all a very sad and disappointing experience. We won't be using him again. If you do, ALL changes in writing, NO WORK until all permits are pulled, and consider penalties be part of your contract for significant increases to the timeline.

Nothing perfomed yet. Proposal provided was informative.

The company experienced a manning problem that prevented the assumption of our projects within the time frame we desired.

It's been positive. Their communication skills stand out to me. So far, so good.

Gary and his crew were great to work with. They took great care of the house while they were here, and cleaned up very will, considering we were still living in a construction zone. He tolerated our additions and changes very well. When in the planning stages, he made some very good suggestions on how best to get the look we wanted. He worked with our engineer to all the appropriate permits and drawings. Took about 6 weeks, and was estimated at 4. The extra time was due to time the HVAC/drillers needed. to move the AC unit in the attic that kept them from placing the beams. A section of the drive way the drillers had done basically was unuseable (clay, and the vehicle sank into it). He contacted them and made sure they came out with crush and run fill and filled and packed it so that it was useable. We have more projects to do, and will definitely have Gary back to do the work.

Gary's employee did a fantastic job at rebuilding the gate and replacing the fence boards. He reused some of the boards that were in the initial gates to repair the fence and that saved us a few dollars. He also did a superb job at building a new gate. However, he should have made the gate a couple inches higher to allow for the grass and he didn't attach a spring but used a small lock that required a key to open. I called Gary and someone came to attach the spring, but the gate still isn't a completely self-closing gate because of the grass. We always have to give the gate a little shove and then it closes properly. As for the rain barrel, it was unuseable because it didn't sit high enough off the ground, so I couldn't get a hose attached to it. Gary's employee also did not put the screen in place to keep mosquitos out of the barrel. We had to drain the barrel and elevate it, therefore requiring us to cut the downspout a little higher which made another hole in the siding. The hole was easy enough to repair with a little dab of silicone. Gary, himself, does excellent work. We've had Gary do several things for us before and will have Gary out again - if Gary is going to do the work. Don't want his employee back here though.

Gary is thorough, detail oriented, customer driven and fair dealing. He tolerated my never ending list of changes and additions and made me feel like he had time to spare for whatever I wanted. To be honest I'll miss seeing him around. I've already contracted a deck replacement on another property and the buyer of my mother's house has hired him to do additional work.

They were perfectly fine. I know him from the time he did my kitchen. I just haven't made any decisions. I did go to three different people to get quotes. I wasn't real satisfied with any of them and I haven't gotten the work done. I would recommend Northern Star Home. I have recommended him before to a friend of mine and he did some work for a neighbor down the street. He is just very honest and does what he says he is going to do. He is very responsive. I might not use him in the future

Gary Deluca (Northern Star LLC) oversaw the kitchen remodel for our 85-year-old house. He totally gutted the kitchen (down to subfloor and wall studs and oversaw the electrical (complete rewiring, new lights, new GFCI outlets, etc;), moved plumbing, plastered the walls and ceilings, installed completely new trim and oversaw the installation of a new floor. He worked extremely well with our cabinet installer, countertop installers, etc. When the ceiling was removed during the demo., it was obvious the floor joists in the bathroom directly above our kitchen were severely water damaged and would have to be reinforced prior to continuing with the kitchen remodel. Together we decided that installing sister joists was the best solution. To do this, he had to remove the radiator, toilet and vanity from the bathroom and totally demo. the floor, working from above to install the sister joists. He gave us an extremely good price on the bathroom demo. and on the installation of a new ceramic tile floor, wall mounted towel bar/radiator, vanity and toilet. Though we weren't expecting it when we started the project, we ended up with a remodeled bathroom in addition to our new kitchen for not much more than we originally expect to pay for the kitchen. Gary and his subs always showed up on time, every day they were supposed to be at our house. He provides all prices up front and sticks to the quoted price. He is meticulous about cleanup and ensured we had a clean house at the end of each day. He is such a professional and did such a great job that we've decided we will always use him for our remodeling projects. I highly recommend him.

He was always on time. He cleaned after he works and goes out of his way do to a great job. I call him for many things. He once also changed my garage into a room, so I know that I can count on him for almost anything I need around the house.