Chads Design Build

We had a very hard time working with Chad's Design Build. Chad is very responsive when you first contact him for a quote, and also when he is seeking payment. However, he is not very forthcoming when there are issues with project management. When we first met, we mentioned that we were planning to replace our roof and that we had already signed a contract with another contractor to do that work. Chad wanted us to see if we could break our contract so that his subcontractor could do the work (we did not break the contract). His invoices were very vague, and when we asked for more detail, the details didn't make much sense. For example, he charged a 20% subcontractor fee for work that his own crew did. Also, the project manager was pushy and difficult to work with. After much back and forth, we finally decided to part ways with Chad's Design Build because we felt like we couldn't get a straight answer out of them and we didn't feel comfortable working with them. Our general feeling was that if you are wealthy and you don't need to know what your money is being used for, Chad's is probably just fine. Our experience was that if you start asking billing questions, they will get very annoyed. We had hired Chad's several years back to do some smaller projects, and they did quality work. But with larger projects, they seem very interested in getting as many subcontractors involved as possible.

Chad is a very unprofessional and arrogant business person. He canceled our first meeting only 15 minutes prior to our meeting claiming that he was delayed and not feeling well. I had taken time off of work to meet with him. We rescheduled the meeting but then he called 10 minutes prior and stated that he would be delayed. He was late 30 minutes. After we discussed our remodeling intentions, he informed us that we would need to pay him $500.00 to get an estimate. He stated that the $500.00 was for a design agreement. Never did he state in our entire conversation, that we would need to pay him $500.00 for ANYTHING just to get an estimate. In addition, when I called to make the initial appointment, the woman I spoke with also gave me the understanding that Chad provided FREE estimates. I've never encountered a business person with such inconsideration for their customer.

Chad's is extremely unprofessional. At a minimum, they should have returned my call if only to say that they are too busy or too highbrow to undertake that kind of project.

They did a very nice job. It turned into quite a project. They had to take down some siding on the outside of the house to check and diagnose where water had gotten in around a big picture window. They rebuilt the frame round my good picture window, leaving the window in place. Then they painted it so you can't even tell. The owner came to the house and gave the estimate. The employee he sent out whose name was Scot was on time in the morning, he was friendly, he cleaned up after himself and they did a good job. The work had to be done in stages to let materials dry at different times. They were good about communicating when they needed to be in the house. He was efficient. We used them because he was available and had a business relationship with my husband. I think they were fair.

I never received a call returning my 2 phone messages.

My initial meeting with Chad was good. We talked about the job and he said he could get me on the schedule soon. We were working around other subcontractor's schedules but he said that was not a problem. He told me he would have a written quote to me after his week long vacation- which started the very next day. No problem, he came highly recommended. So we waited... and waited... and waited some more. Long story short... After his vacation, I made at least 4-5 friendly phone calls to his secretary about the status. She assured me that he received my messages. Finally I received an email stating he recently had the flu but would get me a quote the very next day. Guess what? Absolutely no follow up whatsoever! We blew 3 weeks in our remodeling schedule waiting for Chad. If he wasn't interested in the job, that's fine. We would have contacted someone else. But it was VERY unprofessional to leave us hanging- especially when he knew other subcontractors were inconvenienced by his lack of action also.

Terrible. Poor communication, many redo's, could not hold a schedule.

Chad's Carpentry finished our 650 sq ft attic in the spring/ summer of 2013. While this project sounds simple and could have been performed at 1/3 of the cost by others we wanted the best quality and to meet very high performance standards. I am an engineer by profession and I was impressed with the attention to detail and knowledge of the Chad workers in implementing a conceptually simple construction project that in practice required skill and in-depth knowledge of building systems. Our goal was to take an uninsulated attic and covert it to conditioned space with the highest level of energy efficiency and without expanding the home HVAC system. We therefore needed the highest level of insulation and envelope sealing to maintain a comfortable living space with very little demand on the house furnace or air conditioning systems. Our house also had a pre-existing whole house fan that we use to cool the house in the summer months where cool night air is drawn into the house at night that keeps the house cool during warm days and greatly reduces our air conditioner and electric use. The whole house fan previously vented to the unconditioned attic. A design challenge to Chad was to insulate and finish the attic and to maintain the function of the whole house fan. The work involved two-part epoxy foam insulation installed in the rafters and collar ties of the attic trusses. Extensive preparation work was involved to maintain a 1 inch air gap under the roof decking to provide for airflow from the soffit vents to the roof ridge vent. This detail was important to keep the underside of the roof deck vented to manage heat and moisture and to prolong the life of the asphalt roof shingles. Gables on the attic were prepared for insulation by constructing thermal break wall studs to prepare a wall cavity to accept the foam insulation. The portion of the attic floor which was over an uninsulated porch were opened up and foamed between the floor joist to complete the exterior insulation envelope. These were all essential details to get the project right. The function of the whole house fan was maintained by venting the fan to a constructed air plenum in the attic trusses above the existing collar ties. This was a conceptually simple but complex design that required careful separation of conditioned and unconditioned spaces and provide for venting of 1,700 cubic feet per minute (the fan's flow rate, and yes that is a lot of air to move around) through the roof ridge and soffit vents. I am providing some of the details on the project to illustrate that what may seem to be a simple project can actually be a complex undertaking to achieve the project goals. As an engineer I was in a position to be involved in and to evaluate the many design decisions and I was impressed with the knowledge and skill of the Chad team. The air sealing performance of Chad's work was independently verified by a 3rd party energy auditor using a blow door test. All materials used on the project were of the highest quality. Chad was not inexpensive but we are very pleased with our comfortable attic space that in 15 below zero weather; 650 square feet of space can be heated with a small electric heater and for much of the year requires no heat of air conditioning. With any contractor one has to be clear with direction and expectations. Once a contract is approved later change orders will add to cost and the owner has to be careful make sure the charges fit the work. Chad was not the cheapest contractor we could have worked with but we are pleased with the project and if we had to do it again we would definitely hire Chad.

The carpenter was very meticulous and easy to work with. The end result was, therefore, quite good. The insulator was pretty good, but left some messes behind for someone else to deal with. The drywaller was OK but left a lot of mess which he didn't want to take care of himself. The carpenter lost interest toward the end to some extent, and it took forever for him to finish the last details. It was over 6 months for the job to be completely done, and Chad had promised the job would be done in a month. In retrospect, this was clearly unrealistic, but 6 months was rather a long time to wait for completion. Chad only seemed interested during the money discussions. I expected him to be more hands-on. I rarely saw him except when he was trying to get the business at the beginning (and he was always late to our meetings) and at the end when he wanted to be paid. Bills came before the work was finished, which didn't seem right to me.

Chad was excellent to work with on the estimate. He explained things very well. He estimated a few things for us that we didn't end up doing. Scheduling the actual work took some effort. There were a number of very long waits in the process. But to his credit Chad acknowledged this. We agreed on a flat fee. Eric came over and did an excellent job in just two hours. I do not mind that this made the per-hour rate very high. That's the chance you take for the security of a flat fee, and the finished product is well-worth it to me. So an A on Price. By the way, I appreciate that Chad's Carpentry is a sponsor of Wisconsin Public Radio.

Chad is very user-friendly, explains things well, his workers are professional, neat and punctual and everything came out fine. The only hitch was the subcontractor forgot to do the basement wall insulation after finishing the attic (cost of removing zeolite was substantial--had to subcontract that to certified asbestos removers). I called Chad and they returned and finished the basement insulation the next day. I was on a budget (city low interest home rehab loan) and the cost of the electrical (rewiring to remove knob and tube--required before any wall insulation could be done--ended up not doing because money ran out) and attic insulation removal prevented me from doing everything I'd hoped to. Chad respected that, although I think his advice (e.g. get the Corian countertops instead of formica, undermount sink) was generally good in terms of resale value. He used to have some great radio commercials, too.

I went through them and I just got an estimate from them. I liked, the were very professional, they showed up on time and they showed up with a printed estimate and went over it with me. Really nice and told me everything I needed and they would do. Gave me some options and the bad part wasn't, it was all good.

He(Chad) was suppose to come at 8am, called at 8:10 and would be here in 10 more min. arrived and sat in his car and quot;on the phoneand quot; in front of the house for 10 more min.. After we talked about the job he said he would be back early next week. he never came back or Called again!

Chad was very professional, but too expensive in my situation.

This project started on time and went smoothly from start to finish. There were several subcontractors involved, and Chad's crew did a great job coordinating these folks and keeping them on schedule. I was always kept in the loop on scheduling. Workers showed up when they said they'd show up, were responsive to any questions I had (responding via phone and email), and kept the house clean and orderly. All the carpenters and subs were also really nice to my dogs and made sure doors and gates were closed at all times. Overall, I really appreciate their professional and friendly approach to the job. Finally and most importantly, I am completely pleased with the quality of the work- my bathrooms look great and the house is in much better shape.

Chad and his estimator/project manager Dave made several visits to our condo to make sure they understood our concept. They recommended several sub-contractors (for flooring, cabinets, plumbing, etc.) and we were very impressed with all of their recommendations. We worked with the subs to select materials and fixtures. Chad and Dave assembled the estimate and Chad presented it to us, fully explaining all of the details of the estimate. We loved the plan and really didn't want to remove any scope items. Unfortunately the total cost of the project had the potential to be over 20% of the current value of our condo! Since we're not planning on being in the condo for more that a couple more years, we didn't feel that we could justify the remodeling expenditure.

Almost on schedule and well within budget.

The carpenters missed several appointments -- I waited a number of mornings for them to come and they would call late with excuses. The insulator they contracted was a nightmare! Our house was full of dust -- the holes he drilled in the side of the house have never been adequately taken care of; he filled one of the air chutes in the wall with insulation. We have asked Chad's a number of times to repair the damage done to the wood and it has never been done adequately. We will have to reside eventually. the owner was glacially slow at responding to our concerns. We would never use this company again

We contacted Chad's Carpentry for an estimate on our small kitchen remodel (rearranging one wall, moving a door) at the beginning of March, 2012. He told us that our remodel was much smaller than they usually take on, but agreed to draw up plans. On March 15th we wrote a check for $500 for the design and plans, and were told that we would hear back in about two to three weeks. They cashed that check on March 19th. We did not see or hear from them for three months. This week we finally got tired of waiting and emailed owner Chad Speight asking for a refund of our design fee. He responded the next day and apologized that we "fell off his radar" (citing both personal and business reasons) and agreed to refund our money.

The interior finish work on the door and windows was first class. The exterior work left much to be desired. I am left wondering if the crew ever worked with cedar siding before. The caulking used cracked and pulled away from the joints on the exterior. I had to recaulk many of the joints this spring. Some of the cedar boards cracked on installation and were left in place. I had to drive several nails in deeper as they protruded well above the boards. The primer used on the cedar boards did not seal the natural stain in the wood, requiring me to use two finish coats to cover. The work commenced much later than we invisioned. The contract was signed in August, work never got finished in the fall as weather turned cold by Thanksgiving. .

Bathroom vent fan: They did a good job. It took a while, but now I don't have to worry about mildew on the walls and ceiling, which had been a problem for quite a while. The price was kind of high, but it was worth it. Garage back door: They did a good job on that, too, but couldn't get something we wanted on the door, so the job was incomplete for a week or more (I don't remember exactly). It was also pricey, but well done. I have peace of mind that we won't need to fix it again soon.

Our home sustained substantial damage due to an early fall hail storm. A wood bow window that we knew had water-issues was severely damaged in the storm and needed to be replaced. I had heard of Chad's Carpentry before and choose them due to their reputation for quality and professionalism. Chad, the owner, worked with us throughout the project and suggested that one possible, lower-cost option would be to keep the frame of the existing bow window and simply replace the 5 window sashes. He assured us that the frame of the existing bow window was undamaged by the water issues we knew existed, so we chose this lower-cost option. When the sashes of the existing window were removed it was obvious that the frame had extensive water damage and could not be salvaged. At this point Chad suggested that he use the 5-replacement sashes that had already been purchased and delivered to our home to build a custom, bow-window. Although Chad indicated that the final product's quality would match that of a window coming out of the factory, I was skeptical and insisted that a new, factory-built bow window be ordered. To Chad's credit, he absorbed the cost (~$2,000) of the five previously ordered replacement window sashes and, at the end of the day, we had a factory-built bow window installed. My disappointment with our experience is two-fold. First, had Chad taken a little extra time to diagnose the health of the existing window, he could have easily determined that the frame could not be re-used. Secondly, once the frame was discovered to be damaged, Chad's solution would have resulted (in my opinion) in an inferior final product that we would have regretted installing. At the end of the day, Chad did hold up his end of our relationship, so I would use him again...but the experience is not one that I would describe as having, and quot;...gone smoothly.and quot;

We found Chad on Angie's list and invited him over to discuss a renovation project. We ultimately did not use him for the project, but did engage him for several miscellaneous repairs to the 85+ year old house we bought last spring. He sent a carpenter/handyman who completed the work over several days. The work was excellent quality and the carpenter was very personable, flexible and easy to work with.

In the spring of this year, we discovered some and quot;soft spotsand quot; in the oak trim surrounding some of the windows in our sunroom. I attempted to make a repair, but as I got into the project, I quickly realized that it was going to be more involved that I first thought. I contacted Chad's (through Angie's List) for a quote. Chad showed up at the appointed time and spent almost an hour looking over the situation with me. He provided an estimate with a range of costs because of the uncertainty of the cause of the water infiltration. He guaranteed that the project would not exceed the upper number and that we would otherwise only be charged for the actual work and materials. He also did a good job of helping me understand that the situation was not as dire as I was imagining it to be. The project went very well. It took some time to find where the water was coming from - we had to wait for rain with wind from a particular direction in order to find the leak. Other than that, the work proceeded quickly and looks great! We're very happy with the final results and look forward to working with Chad's in the future.

Chad's team of coordinator, general crew, and carpenter worked well together and the project went smoothly from start to finish. They were a joy to work with and I am pleased as punch with the results.