K E WEAR LLC GENERAL CONTRACTOR

Ken is a perfectionist, which means things took a little longer than I thought they would, but the result was outstanding.

My in-city lot is very tight and difficult to work around. Ken extended and expanded an existing deck on my 1909 house. Much of the existing deck had dry rot and had to be removed. But he was able to save much of the existing framing. The way the existing framing had been bolted into the house it would've caused great damage to remove them. Because we used the existing framing to expand upon the new extended joists were uneven - especially on the 'outside' end. Ken had to individually measure and cut a board for each joist across all 13 feet. Some joists needed barely 1/4 at one end to over an inch on the other end - the variance for each joist was different. This was a tedious process. The result was the deck is level! I appreciated Ken's exacting eye for detail. He took the time to make sure the end result would feel sturdy and look beautiful. I am very pleased with the job.

Ken helped us work through architectural decisions and then did what we wanted. He has great subcontractors and does a fine job of managing them. I've worked with Ken before and look forward to working with him again.

I liked working with Ken and he did a great job. I had lots of little projects to complete around the house, improving the duct-work, renovating a bathroom completely, removing old rugs, refinishing floors, paint etc. Ken takes pride in maintaining great communication. I always knew when contractors would be in the house and what they would be doing. There were no surprises. We discussed every detail, and all the design decisions. I felt like I got exactly what I wanted. Ken did most of the demolition and carpentry. He hired subs for drywall, plumbing, paint, electrical etc. The quality of the work has been excellent. Finished work looks professional and beautiful. I love the way my house has improved. I'd hire Ken any time for any job small or large. He is a pleasure to work with.

The quality of Ken's work is not the reason for my negative feedback. The finished work he did for me is beautiful. However, he is not organized and his communication is TERRIBLE. For example: He never gave us a business contract to sign for the work. We never really knew what was going on or when. I asked if the work could be completed while my husband was taking some time off work. He never contacted us to set up a time for the installation. When we called to ask him about it, he informed us that he scheduled our work to start on a date that was after my husband returned to work. He never even told us. He was just going to show up. We had to postpone the work a few weeks, but agreed to a Monday start date. The Sunday before that date, we still hadn't heard from him as to what time he would show up, so my husband called him. That is when he told us he would be coming on Wednesday! When Wednesday came around, he did show up, but didn't do any work. He just took a look and evaluated what he would need for the next day. In addition to his poor communication, he kept insisting we use his painter to prep/paint/finish the garage door. But he wanted to charge us $900. We said we wanted to paint the door ourselves, but he bought his painter to our house to try and convince us to let him paint it. We had to keep saying no. We even had to ask several times for the invoice to find out how much the labor was adding up to. After the job was completed, I had to contact him to request that he return our gargage door key.

Ken was able to take my general idea and make a variety of suggestions that helped to make the shed blend with the rest of our house. His attention to detail makes the final project look like it has always been part of our house. He was able to fit us in between his larger projects and finished eveything and cleaned up before he went on to his next project.

Ken Wear is quite skilled and attentive to the detailed work needed in remodeling classic Seattle homes. He has a great sense of design. We used an architect for some of the project before hiring Ken, but he is capable of design work and designed a beautiful and functional deck. We contracted on time and materials basis, which made budgeting a bit complicated given the surprises of an old house. But, Ken worked hard to keep things within our budget.

Ken was a pleasure to work with, clear concise and happy. I will use him again when we remodel the rest of the house.

The process overall went very smoothly and seemed to progress at a reasonable pace. The holiday snowstorm slowed things down a bit (something not within anybody's control.) Ken was very adept at outlining the timeline for this process and giving us an outline of the decision-making process. We were novice remodelers before starting this project. We changed our minds alot along the way, adding things, and amending the original contract. Ken was always patient and willing to listen to our ideas and concerns, offering ample guidance and expertise. We chose K E Wear, LLC because Ken had remodeled and restored several other craftsman homes in our neighborhood. These houses were a testament to the quality of his work. Finishing touches for our remodel are still in the works. Pictures and our final thoughts will be added to this review at a later date. We have been extremely pleased with Ken's work and the work of all of his subcontractors.

Contractor started out great with a lot of enthusiasm for project. Price and design agreed on. No discussion was ever had initially regarding fixtures, hardware, countertop, etc. We quickly became irritated with him as initial design selections were perceived as "change orders" and extraordinary requests. He referred to us as "high maintenance" to subs and employee. He became more disagreeable and argumentative. He walked off the job several times in a temper tantrum over minor issues that could have been resolved had he had any ability to communicate. He made several errors that cost us money- including a failure to give us page two of bid for countertops he received by fax- page #1 was $3000., page #2 he overlooked cost us an additional $2000., putting us over budget. He agreed we would purchase appliances, then purchased one w/o our consent for the same price we were getting, then marked it up 20%. He is unprofessional, poor communicator and inexperienced with remodel clients.