SWOPE EXCAVATION & CONSTRUCTION

Michael answered every time I called him. He came the same day as my first contact to give an estimate. I felt heard and respected and he was informative and flexible. He did the work 2 days after we agreed on the estimate and went up to Everett to get the gravel he thought would be best for my particular needs. He came back the next day (8:30 A.M. on Saturday) to complete the finishing touches of compression. He was a pleasure to do business with!

Mike did a great job for us tearing down our garage, removing old foundations and old driveway and installing underground utilities. He literally ran between different pieces of equipment while he was working on our property. Mike also assisted us in putting in a rock driveway that turned our very nice. I would highly recommend him as a hard-working, fair-minded contractor. I don't say that easily.

Excellent. Michael came out for an estimate soon after I contacted him. His quote was reasonable and he came out again the day before the work to ensure he had the best information. The work went very well.

Mike came out to bid on my demolition/excavation/foundation project for my new addition. I hired him for his reputation and reasonable bid. First he used his mini excavator to demolish my old attached garage foundation and slab which he hauled away to be recycled. Then he excavated for a new 550sq ft addition with a 3ft crawlspace. After the excavation was complete he set forms, installed rebar, and poured the concrete for the foundation. Everything turned out great, check out the pics. Mike is really hard working and is easy to work with. I would recommend him to anyone.

The concrete curbing was holding dirt against the house, causing some flooding inside. Swope knocked out the concrete curbing, dug out the dirt, loaded the works onto his trailer and hauled it off. He reconnected the drain lines and swept up carefully afterwards.

Due to a smaller IRS refund than I had anticipated, the project is on an indefinite hold. Michael asked that if the project is revived to remember his company.

This was a tight squeeze with many obstacles and it was fascinating for the family to watch how he manuevered around things with the large equipment to get the job done. I'll add that the job was done very quickly!

We had a lot of set backs and changes along the way due to the engineers and the City of Mercer Island. Michael was always there to help keep things on track and on budget. He was always punctual and available by phone. We thought his price was amazing for the amount of work he did for us. He will be coming back in the spring to work on our front yard. I would highly recommend this energetic, polite young man to anyone.

I told them what we needed, and he came up with a good bid. He is personable, and he is easy to work with. He had someone to help him and got right to work. He is responsive, and he listens to what we wanted. He listens to what the customer wants instead of dictating what he is going to do.

Michael was always very prompt in returning our phone calls and arrived at our house precisely when he said he would. He gave us a written estimate for the work, which turned out to be very accurate. He worked by himself very quickly over the course of two days, breaking up the cement with his Bobcat and hauling it away in his truck. At our request, he demolished and hauled away a dilapidated shed. We also asked him to return for a third day to remove a foot of gravel and sand underlying one of the concrete pads. Michael was very courteous and amazingly efficient. He cleaned up the area when he was done, and there were no unexpected charges.

Michael showed up on time and did an excellent job on what was almost certainly more work than he expected. He performed the saw-cutting, jack-hammered out the slab, removed the spoils, cleaned up the work area and hauled away the debris all for his minimum charge of $450.00.

Could not have gone better, very happy. Michael was able to advise me on parts of the project that he didn't plan on. He took on an extra duty of running conduit pipe for a 30 Amp breaker. He was on time, came up with a way to move the dirt without tearing up the yard or endangering the septic field.

Overall everything went great. It took quite a bit longer than we anticipated due to Michael having some equipment problems. We understood that, being that he was a one-man show, things would take longer, and we were okay with that. There was a part of our back yard where we had two of our family pets buried, and I was a little worried that Michael might have trouble avoiding the graves while doing excavating and leveling with his Bobcat, but he was very respectful, understanding, and very careful, and left the area in perfect condition. For the second part of the job (the sod and patio), he brought in someone to help. A couple of times we weren't happy with work that Michael's assistant did, and when we brought it to Michael's attention, he fixed it himself immediately. Overall we are thrilled with everything. Our backyard looks great, is kid-friendly, and plenty of room for adults too with the new patio. We are grateful to Michael-he is honest and hardworking and does excellent work.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give them a 5 due to poor attitude and execution and lack of skill.

This job was a nightmare, and never would have been completed without Mike's professionalism and resourcefulness. First, the pool walls were thicker than expected, and so heavier equipment (not to mention longer hours) was required than anticipated. Since access to the backyard is tight, this required some creativity on Mike's part. Second, after punching through the bottom of the pool for drainage, he discovered that a spring was flowing underneath, giving rise to concerns about drainage. Finally, the yard has retaining walls on 2 sides with an aggregate finish that is fragile in spots. It was difficult even to find someone willing to bid on this job, so I'm convinced that a lesser contractor would have walked away from this job at the outset, or quit once all these difficulties came out. But Mike took them all in stride, and always had a solution at hand. He worked with me to make sure our drainage issues were addressed, and was extremely careful not to damage either the house, the retaining walls, or anything in the neighbor's yard. Because these complications expanded the scope of the job, and since his availability was limited at the time, the job took longer than expected and ran over the initial estimate. But, he was more than fair in all of our discussions related to amending the initial bid.

From beginning to end of job, Michael's work was a cut above the typical contractor. He's one of those rare individuals who knows his craft very well and also understands how to communicate with his customers. Michael worked very hard during the course of the job, was considerate of and communicated well with neighbors, performed tasks above what we expected - for instance: making several dump runs for us, keeping the job site immaculate, spraying to keep the dust down for neighbors, and commenting on potential issues he uncovered during his work that didn't relate directly to what he was contracted for. We'll definitely recommend Michael to anyone we know who needs demo, excavation or a retaining wall built, and we intend to use his services again if'/when the need arises.

I, first checked another website for a concrete guy, and he had worked with Mike before, and I had just read a report on the other website for Mike's company. So, Mike was called, and he promptly, returned the call, and came and gave us a bid. It was only a week between the first call and when the job was started and completed. He did just what he said he would do.

Owner Michael Swope answered the call himself and we made an appointment out in Issaquah. We walked the site and I explained what I wanted done. Michael gave me an estimate after just a short time working up his numbers. I told him I would get back to him in a week and let him know on how I would proceed. Due to timing I selected those items most critical and we agreed on a date when he could do the work which was about 2+ weeks out. We agreed he would get in touch the week before to finalize everything which he did. When he called he said he was getting married at the end of the week we'd agreed on and asked if he could move the date up by several days from a Tuesday to preceding Saturday, which was good for me as I wanted to be home when he did the first task, remove the RV structure. It's not common for contractors to move dates out so having them moved up was refreshing. Michael showed up first thing in the morning on Saturday, just a little later than originally planned but plenty early to start the work. He removed the RV structure that day all by himself. He was to return Sunday with his trencher and bobcat excavator but had a vehicle breakdown so didn't actually arrive until Monday. He again worked very hard and efficiently to cut up and dispose of the RV structure, then complete the work installing the drain lines, doing some excavation and grading for me and hauling off the surplus material as well as hauling in materials. As a one man operation Michael was amazing as he managed the project. We kept in contact and he offered me options as we proceeded. He had to remove my chain link fence section to get his small equipment in the back yard which he did and replaced in good condition at the end of the job. Everything went fairly smoothly except for the Sunday delay and I would wholeheartedly recommend Michael for similar work. The work took him 3 days to complete not counting Sunday. I have a number of other projects I want done around the property and plan to be back in touch later this summer to see if Michael is available to do them. He was quite versatile so I am sure he'll be back to finish more work for me.

Mike and his crew showed up on time and worked very hard. Mike broke up the concrete by hand and his crew had to carry all the pieces down the hill to the dump truck. Mike and his crew were very pleasant, courteous and respectful of the surrounding landscaping. They made sure everything was cleaned up after the job was completed. They did an excellent job and I would hire them again.

Micheal is a "one man show" and thus is very committed to providing quality work. He came out quickly to give us a bid and was very competitive. He immediately understood what I wanted to have done and offered great suggestions. He went out and purchased and installed the pole for the basketball hoop after we were given a nice basketball backboard that did not have a pole. The whole process was very pleasant, he was consistently easy to work with and did a great job. We would definitely use him again.

Very impressed with his work. He showed up on time with the proper equipment and worked by himself on the whole project. He finished on time, cleaned up after himself and was overall pleasant to deal with.

Mike was very thorough, worked quickly and followed-through on everything I asked him to do. He automatically planned to take my concrete to the recycle and included that in the estimate. He offered to take some metal as well, that I knew I had to get rid of but didn't know how.

Michael began on a Saturday morning and worked past dark for three days straight to get the job done. He was at all times professional, courteous, and seems to really enjoy the work. There were (I believe) a couple of mechanical problems on his equipment, but this neither slowed him down, nor prevented the work from being done on time. He came back to do a little clean up later in the week, after working a regular day on another job, and even gave us a spray can and a canister of herbicide for free! All in all, I would gladly hire him again for any sort of excavation or re-grading work. He works very hard, and gives excellent value.

It went great. I could not have asked for a better experience. Michael showed up on time to give me the original estimate. He showed up on time to begin the work and completed it when he said he would. They were very courteous and cleaned up after the job was completed.

Mike did a great job! We weren't sure of the best route to remove an ugly garage overhang that must have been originally designed to accommodate an extra large car. Mike came up with a plan to remove it without damaging the underlying brick. His pricing was very reasonable for this additional work and he also agreed to to take it and a bunch of other junk to the dump. He used green construction recycling practices where possible and did a great job of framing the new garage door opening. He worked very hard and even into the early evening to get the job done.