Community Building & Restoration

I can't recommend Thoughtful Craftsmen/CBR enough. We bought a home that needed a lot of work and the window tuning and painting was the first thing we did. We weren't living in the home at the time, so relied on Erik and his crew to let us know how much work each window needed. We trusted their judgement after discussing the scope of work we envisioned and could not be happier with the work that was done. This was a very large project and when we finally moved in, the difference was stunning. We also had a new porch roof and copper gutters installed. We get so many compliments on the copper! If you own an older home you want to hire a company who knows what they are doing and isn't going to do more than what you want done. CBR's work is top notch and I can't give enough stars to the whole crew.

Work was done well and at reasonable cost. Great communication re: scheduling and job status.

Everything was done efficiently and well.

They do them correctly. They make things to the way the rest of the structure is. They made a couple of decisions without asking.

They were professional, knowledgeable and practical. They researched what it would take to add on to our home and provided a rough estimate of the costs. We ultimately decided that the project was too expensive, but I would definitely call this contractor again if we decide to pursue other building projects.

I called and left a message requesting service and they never bothered to call me back.

They were great. They were good communicators and did what they said they were going to do in the time they said they were going to do it. We would highly recommend them. It was all lead-safe which was important to us.

They do extremely high quality work, communicate effectively in the course of the job, and are highly professional. It was a pleasure to work with them, and we will be welcoming them back to do more work on our house. They are great!

It was very good. I had some more work to do, quite a few projects and he'll be the first person I'll call to see if he can take the project.

It was fine. They did a high quality job and were very personalized. They did a specific job and excellent service.

I was very impressed with the quality of the man, Todd, who came out to give me a bid on the job. He was extremely punctual, showed up right at the specified time, and was very professional. I would have used him but realized that I really need a new garage, not just my door rehung.

Very high quality workmanship and a high livel of professionalism. Expensive but worth it. They really understand how to maintain older (pre 1049's) houses.

Great ? CBR is serious about the quality of their work. Real craftsmen and artisans. Pricey per hour, but well worth it and the overall experience is excellent ? good communication, great interaction with people on the team, and outstanding quality work.

The crew was highly professional and given the size of my small urban lot, quite considerate of the neighbors. Later contractors, including the electrician and overhead door installer, commented very positively on the quality of the work.

Community Building & Restoration's solution maintained the architectural style and function of our 1900-era home. Owner was honest about price, timeline and about all of our options. Job was done in a timely manner, looks great, and everything was cleaned up properly. We would definitely call them again.

In the fall I noticed some insulation under the bump out on the front of my house. Turns out the under side of the bump out was rotting and needed to be replaced. Erik Lindberg came out to determine what needed to be done and gave me an estimate about a week later. The work took about 2 days. While the work was in process, the carpenter left a "Status of Work" card at the end of the day. Since I wasn't home while the work was being done, I liked having the update. I have used CBR for several projects over the last 5 yrs - replaced siding, structural roof repairs, and finished the bathroom remodel. The deciding factor on the first job was their willingness to replace the existing vinyl siding with wood siding. Other contractors biding the job were less that enthusiastic. CBR is typically my first choice for carpentry, handyman and remodeling projects. While not the cheapest in town, I've not been disappointed with the outcome.

We have a 1905 Quee Ann home in Wauwatosa. We recently rebuilt both of our chimneys which then needed copper flashing. I called Eric and he was great as usual. We set up a time for him to come over to do and estimate and the process was excellent. His estimate was very competitive with the other estimates we obtained. Community Building and Restoration had done some other work on our home that was great and so we went with them again. Eric coordinated the work with the Masonry Restoration, Inc. team and completed an outstanding job as expected in the timeframe we agreed on. Eric and his team of craftsmen at Community Building and Restoration are great to work with. If you want high quality work using traditional building materials, there is no one better.

On time on budget and did a nice job with the work.

I had ordered the doors on my own, from a local hardware store, and the person who was initially going to install them was unavailable. Community Builders picked up the doors from the store and installed them all on the same day. They did a nice job of fitting the doors into an old house (1927) and made sure the seals are tight so I get the advantage of the insulating features. The workers were professional and cleaned up after themselves. The price was as quoted. It was more than the estimate I'd had from someone else, but Community did a great job and I consider it money well spent.

Community Building & Restoration Community Building & Restoration, trust their work, they do rough and finish carpentry and they have a lot of different craftsman on call and to do work for them.

Rep came out to discuss our options for replacing screens and stripping/sanding/refinishing our existing French casement windows, rather than replace. Got a lot of good information, and the rep made us feel very comfortable.

Terrific, a pleasure to work with. They are professionals through and through.

All of the work was done very expertly, the repaired window trip fits perfectly in to the rest of the historical detail of the house. The crew was friendly, very professional and did great work. They kept me apprised of additional hours as we increased the scope of the job several times.

Community Building and Restoration were recommended to us by our home ispector when we bought our house in 2005. The following spring we noticed that the birds were very loud every morning. Walking around our house one day, we found out why: one of our bay window roofs was rotten and birds had set up shop in there. We called Eric and he promptly came out to inspect it and provide an estimate. He provided 2 estimates- one to replace it exactly as it was with cedar shakes and one to replace it with a standing seam copper roof. We decided on the copper option, more expensive but longer lasting and less maintenance needed. Eric and his crew did the work promptly, on time and within the estimated cost. They know old houses and the right way to take care of them. For those of us interested in restoring our homes with old world materials and tools, Community Building and Restoration is the first call we make.

The majority of this process occurred while I was out of the country which made it more difficult sometimes to communicate. The painting colors closely match what would have been seen in the 1920's. The painting was done by John Grove of Palette Painting-excellent!.