Always Building Custom

Bullet points: - Always Building Custom has the knowledge to get any project done right. Even the tough projects the big companies have trouble understanding. - They give you the confidence to know that your project will be done right. - They have very competitive prices. - They stand behind their bids. - The quality of their work is top notch. - If there is something that needs painting, they will paint it. That sounds trivial, but I could not get anyone to both do the work, and leave the job complete. Here's my story: I bought a house in April. It was a great house, just what we wanted. However, there was a little water damage on some of the soffits and facia. Our home inspector told us to not worry about it. After we took ownership and replaced the roof, we had our roofers try to fix that water damaged soffit and facia. They got in there and found that a structural beam that is supported by 4 columns is completely rotten, and was further damaged by carpenter ants. I was obviously upset by this information, as this was totally unexpected. The roofers were panicking. They didn't know how much it would cost to fix. I called in some contractors. I got estimates ranging from $9000 to $20000+. None of the bids had any kind of solidness to them. None of them could tell me exactly how much this would cost to fix. I had one contractor give me a number of $11,000, but after I showed him some pictures of the damage, he withdrew his bid. Now I was really upset. These contractors were actually afraid of this project. Not only that, but if they would fix the soffits and facia, they would replace the wood with wood, but THEY WOULD NOT PAINT IT. Not one of these bids would include painting. I don't want to pay $10k+ for a project then have to find a painter. This is a 2 story soffit, and I couldn't even find a painter who would do it. I was really down in the dumps. Then I called Steve Uselmann from Always Building Custom. We talked on the phone, and right away he put me at ease. He complemented me on how calm I was considering the situation. I explained the problem the best I could and he told me he would take a look at it on his lunch break. That same day at 1:00pm I get a quote, which explains what needs to be done and how much it would exactly cost. Not only that, but it was the most reasonable of all the bids. That wasn't what I was concerned about, I just needed someone to fix my house and do it right. So, I thought perhaps Steve had not fully seen the damage. I sent him some pictures the roofers took which showed the issues. These images caused other contractors to pull their bids. Steve wrote me back that same day thanking me for the pictures but telling me he didn't need to see them. He said he was up on his 24' ladder, he saw the issues, he measured, and he's sticking with his bid. At that point I asked if he could stop by and take a look at the issues with me. We talked it over and he said that we could replace the soffits with wood, but that aluminum would be better. I asked how much more aluminum would cost, and he told me since he wouldn't have to buy wood, and paint wood, the cost would be THE SAME. Obviously I went with Steve. He assured me that everything would be taken care of and there would be no surprises. There weren't. He brought all his gear, set up the scaffolding, and got to work. About a week later the job was done and for the bid price. The work looks FANTASTIC. I could not be happier, or feel better about the quality. My house is saved, and it's all thanks to Steve Uselmann and Always Building Custom. He is worth his weight in GOLD. Do not hesitate to work with him.

Excellent service and professionalism, drawings are great and I can modify the design to fit my needs.

Provider was nice and professional when he arrived - took a while for him to make return contact after several initial attempts. Final product seems fine but it was not very extensive to begin with. Took less than 1 hour for visit, plans emailed to us a day or two later.

I had to call Steve as I thought my on-line submission for the "Big Deal" had not been received. Apparently, I was on his list of people to call. Since I submitted the order ($99) on Nov. 22nd and still had not received any feedback, I personally called on Dec.4th. He was able to come out for the estimate on Dec. 6th and was punctual. He spent a fair amount of time going over and fine tuning suggestions I had for making my basement area look "less basementy" and sent me a bid and 2D drawings the following day. The bid was a little more than I had planned on spending but I thought I could discuss it with him and get an idea or breakdown of what labor costs and time for each job entailed. As with most bids there is a 30 day window. I decided it would be worth my while to get a second estimate, which I did, also with a 2D plan that did not cost $99, and came in at a price range I am more comfortable with. I think I was duped by the "Big Deal" and probably did not need to pay $99 for something another contractor did for free.

Steve was prompt and responsive to all of our questions and requests from day #1. He made multiple trips to our home to ensure that we were all on the same page with what the project would exactly entail before starting. He helped us find the new railing design we liked the most. They completely removed our old stairway and railing and replaced it with new stairs that had much better support than what we'd had before. They installed and finished the new railing and it's beautiful. This all occurred over a couple weeks and they were very easy to work with the entire time. They did a great job of making our home still live-able during the work - cleaning up dust after working every day, installing a temporary railing for our safety, etc. Our stairway is open and the old version had open space between each step, but we wanted to close the steps in the new version, which he did and installed drywall on the lower aspect of the stairway. All of the drywall, trip, railings, finish, etc looks great. We absolutely love our new stairs!

Nothing has been done. I want my $99 back!

Steve did a great job and was very pleasant to work with. He patched minor and major cracks in three different rooms in our house.

This was a just a scam for Always Building Custom to get more business.

he provided excellent enthusiasm from start to finish for not only contracted job but any subsidiaries .i'm very satisfy and will have a business again.

I've worked with contractors before. None of them would I invite back into the house. They were consistently messy, left lots of wall repairs and damaged trim for us to deal with, used poor quality materials, and did not honor their contract. Uck. I'm so thankful for Angie's List! By using contractors recommended here, things went very differently with our kitchen remodel! Working with Always Building Custom was a night-and-day contrast from our previous experiences. First, we contracted Steve only for the windows, as a "test drive," to see if we would be satisfied with his workmanship. We didn't have a car big enough to bring one of our windows home, so Steve brought them both home for us! He gave his estimate, told us the time frame it would take to complete the job, and followed through on both. Each time he came, he cleaned up after himself, and went beyond the minimum in terms of material and workmanship. His quote was very reasonable, in the lower range of the three quotes we obtained, for the same work. So we invited Steve to give us a quote to drywall the kitchen and dining rooms, in which we had contracted a plumber and electrician to do some work. Again, he stuck to his quote, did the work in a timely fashion, and minimized the mess with his tools and plastic sheets. It took multiple trips and "layers" to get the drywall done seamlessly, but they didn't cut any corners on it. And every day, they cleaned up the place before they left. Then, since my father-in-law decided he didn't have time to install the kitchen cabinets in a timely fashion, we asked Steve if he would do that also. We didn't even ask someone else for a quote. He came through with a quote that was a bit lower than the quote from the company we bought the cabinets from. As we came to expect from Steve, his company performed excellent work, in a timely fashion. His eye for detail was awesome! He made sure to level the cabinet doors, made sure the hardware was consistently installed in alignment, and even touched up the paint that was scuffed during installation. What a treat! Again, our previous experience with contractors was very different....lots of "touch up" and repair work to do after they left. Not this time! At the very beginning and all through the process, Steve walked me through how to be a general contractor for the whole job of remodeling the kitchen at no extra cost. He called from time to time to see how things were progressing, and made sure I knew what the "next step" was. Before we had the rough inspection done, he pointed out a couple of things that were not yet up to code (which the electrician and plumber were responsible to complete), and told us to be sure these things happened. We hope to put a "guest suite" addition on our house a couple of years from now. We'll be calling Steve for the job. Obviously, we're confident of his workmanship, his pricing, and his dependability.

ABC did a great job. They were very honest -- may be too honest for their bottom line. They felt like our proposed project was well planned and they would not add value. To be clear, ABC would have been a general contractor for us if we wanted. However, ABC told us we could go directly to their subcontractors if we chose to save money. We really appreciated the honesty and referrals.

Work we prepaid for (drywall repair) went well.

Everything went really well. The company was pleasant to work with and timely.

We got two estimates for this job. The other guy came and crawled around in our attic to get a good look at the repair. That made a huge impression on me. The guy from Always Building Custom didn't bother to look and said he would need a structural engineer to look at it. He also said it would take two to three days and cost at least $3,500. The other guy quoted us a time/price that was considerably less.

Bought the coupon from Angieslist. Nice enough guy, but he builds cabinets and we were looking for an update of existing. I should have read the coupon better, but I didn't learn anything I wouldn't have learned by talking to the guy at Lowe's for free. Update: After reading the providers response, I want to clarify that the provider was professional. I just think it was a bad fit for what we were looking for. We were looking to update existing candidates. Therefore I updated the quality. Thanks.

STEVE IS AWESOME!!! This experience could not have been better. The quality of work is excellent. Everything that was discussed prior to our signing the contract was included in the contract and completed as promised. Steve is extremely professional, skilled, concerned and GREAT to work with. We had several companies bid on our project. Steve is the only contractor who actually listened to what we wanted. He asked questions and made suggestions, but he listened and returned a bid that exactly matched what we were looking for. He is always on time, does a great job of keeping you informed as to what is going on, what has been completed, what to expect next and how the schedule is going. He cleaned up the area after each day's work. When he says he will be there, he is. When he says something will be done, it is. At the start of the project Steve told us not to worry, he would take care of all the details. He did exactly that. All permits, inspections, plumbing sub and electrical sub were handled by him. ( Lane, his plumber and Dave, his electrician, were excellent and had the same work ethic that Steve has). From our first meeting to project completion we had no issues. Steve is a pleasure to work with. When you can find an honest, qualified, professional, and easy to work with contractor, your project is a breeze. We highly recommend Steve and Always Building Custom. You will absolutely be happy that you called Steve.

Was contacted by Always Building Custom via email and was informed that the work for these deals was only being done on the weekends. Whether that was stated in the deal or not at the time of purchase I'm not sure. During the summer my weekends were always booked so it was not convenient for me to use the coupon. To be fair I didn't try to negoiate a time outside of the weekend. And while it is also not fair to say that I would not hire him again, since the work wasn't done I can't say that I would.

When I ordered countertops it to a month longer than I expected and Steve was very patient with me. Once they came in he was here in 2 days and did a beautiful job.

Steve was very professional and completed the job in a timely manner.

Company did a great job. Not only punctual but finished job on time and did a professional job--took care of all the little details.

Rain delayed the project on several occasions. Steve tried to start in May, but weather did not cooperate. Steve and his crew worked when possible. The project went smoothly after the weather cleared up.

We previously had Steve repair drywall caused by ice dam leakage. I was so impressed by his work that I obtained an estimate for repainting the kitchen, living room, dining room, dinette, bathroom and hallways, both walls and ceilings. He and his crew were prompt, did an excellent job, and cleaned everything up when they left.

Everything went really well. Steve is very good at what he does. There was some responsibility on my part to provide the floor and trim and the cost of those items were extra. We did it that way so we could pick out exactly what we wanted with no surprises. If there was one thing I would say in a negative light is that it took longer than what was estimated. I really can't complain though. I know that the longer something takes above and beyond what was estimated it equates directly to lower profits. Steve never showed to be any less the professional even though his profit margin was shrinking. Bottom line, Steve is friendly, trustworthy, professional, and skilled. Thanks Steve.

Steve sent me an email asking for job description so we communicated via email back and forth until we came to an understanding of what we would expect for the job. I was concerned that he may not complete the job within 4 hours so I had to go for it and see what happens. He came in on time and we went to review the job to make sure that we are clear about what to expect from the job being done. Then he did the work beautifully as expected within 4 hours! I was relief and I thought that I had a really good deal! He is an honest worker and I really appreciated his quality of work!

Too often quality people who do quality work are not properly recognized by their customers. Those of us who deal with the public on a daily basis, know how important it is to give credit where credit is due. I'd like to recommend Mr. Steve Uselmann with whom I have recently contracted for work in my home. Having dealt with a number of contractors over the years, Steve stands head and shoulders above the rest. He quickly responded to my request for dry wall repair, and regularly touched base with me through email and phone calls to set up a time that was convenient for me. He was prompt in his arrival, was professional in every respect, and made sure that when he left there wasn?t a shred of evidence that he was even there! On top of his exemplary work, he also spent close to three hours (on his own dime) assisting my wife and me with a variety of concerns we had ranging from ice damming, gutter issues, and other construction concerns around our home. He could have simply finished his job and moved on to the next. But Steve took a personal interest in our questions and offered low-cost, minimal expense alternatives. As a member of Angie?s List, I wish to say that Steve is a consummate professional whom I have no problem recommending to you. My wife and I hope to utilize his skills and talents again?.and very soon at that!