HENNESSEY HOMES INC

Mr. Hennessey was pleasant enough when we met to discuss the project, and he was available to meet with the insurance adjuster. When it came time to install the roof, though, he went AWOL. Despite contacting his company multiple times, we never heard from him again, and he never replaced the roof. He left our entire family in the lurch and caused a huge mess with our insurance company. We only lost $50, so I consider us lucky. Stay away from this company if you want your project completed.

Don was excellent. We first met him at a showing of his model home in the neighborhood in which we wanted to build. When we met with him, he apologized for being dirty (he was covered in drywall dust), as he just came from another job. I could tell he felt bad for not being dressed up, but it was a huge plus for my wife and I. We would much rather have a general contractor that is involved and working, than sitting in an office and inspecting the project once a day. You could immediately tell the quality in his model (spec) home, which impressed my wife and I. We then started working with another builder, as our Realtor had recommend them(Cypress Homes), as they had turn key construction, and would provided a place to stay while building our house. Big mistake, as we should have started working with Don first. After working with Cypress on our plans, of which my wife and I designed ourselves, we bid it out just to guarantee we were getting a good price. We had three builders bid on our plan. Don and Cypress were close in price, with a few different offering here and there. More on the price at the end though. We eventually settled on building with Don, mainly because he owned the lot we wanted to build on. We were appalled that Cypress wanted to charge us $2,000.00 initially for our home plans. This was an outrageous sum for house plans. We wanted to to buy them from Cypress to be fair, and compensate them for the time they had spent with us. We were thinking the typical $700.00 plus a little more for some extra time, but the 2K was excessive. Then, when Don went to pay them, they upped it to $2500.00. Bottom line, we should have started with Hennessey Homes. When we originally talked with Don, I asked him how he felt about us performing work ourselves on the house, and how he felt about us using some of our own subcontractors. He said however we want to do it, he'll work with us, and he did. He was completely open to us doing as much or as little of the work as we wanted to. He was straight forward on what our own work would save us as well. You could tell he was honest about it to and not just telling us what we wanted to hear. Once we got underway, everything went exceptionally well. This was our first home building experience, so we weren't sure what to expect. We really got the impression that we where building a house with Don, and that he wasn't building the house for us. He was always available and promptly returned messages. Plus, your are talking and working directly with him, not with his "office". Granted, we were around more than most people are when building, as we did the cabinetry, fixtures, closets, etc ourselves. All of his subcontractors were very nice and honest hard working people. In talking with the subs, they all spoke highly of Don, and respected him for running a tight ship, and paying all his subcontractors quickly. The subs said a lot of the other contractors would go with the lowest bidder and lean on the price. They said he is very fair on price, and on our end, it showed in the quality of construction. Don was also one of the hardest workers we saw on the job site. In addition to our house, he was building two others in the neighborhood. I would get emails from him at 6:00 am, and then see him putting in the yard at his spec home at 7pm. He also did all the staining and painting for our home himself, and did and great job. He talked us into an upgraded trim package as well, and we are glad he did. It looks great, and goes with the style we were shooting for. He is also very accommodating with questions and changes that arise during the construction process. As far as value and price go, I though Don was as high as a value as one could get. He's very upfront and honest with all the pricing, and doesn't "pad" the bills that come in from the subcontractors, as some larger firms do. If you had any questions on cost or bills, he was very upfront, often showing us the actual invoices from his subcontractors. Once we finished the project, I went back and compared our original bids to the final product, and we came out by far ahead of what the other bids where. Many things that were "options" on the Cypress bid were included in Don's price. Plus, he doesn't cut corners on the small stuff. For example, where Cypress had a corrugated steel basement window well, Don has a nice decorative composite well with a built in ladder. We also had our house Energy Star Certified, and it tests 150% better than what was required to be certified. A testament to the craftsmanship. My wife and I would highly recommend Hennessey Homes, Inc. As he is a smaller operation, you work directly with him, and not voice mails to his secretary or office. With his background in finish carpentry, he has an eye for quality and detail, and also is one of that hardest working people I have ever met. He built us a wonderful home.