ALBORN CONSTRUCTION

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My husband and I felt working with Alborn Construction was one of the most positive experiences we have had in a long time. 
We have lived in Anchorage, AK for 33 years.  Our garage had severe water damage from a flat roof and snow melt. When we decided to use some of our savings (we just retired) to get the garage repaired, we didn't even know where to start.  After taking some classes on how to work with choosing and working with a general contractor, we contacted 7 different general contractors to come by and offer a bid.  We were shocked to see how few even bothered to get back to us.  When we called Alborn Construction, we were a little taken back by how patient  they were with all our initial questions.  Adam Alborn (owner) got back to us right away and set up an appointment to come to our home and evaluate the situation. 
He showed up with his Assistant Manager (Pat) and walked the premises with us.  Now I would rather be dragged over hot coals than try to communicate in the male world of construction.  But Adam and Pat were so professional and truly interested in my questions.  Never once did I feel as a woman that  these men were talking down to me.  We later met with Adam at his office at a later date.  Several other general contractors who had offered bids did not even have offices, but not Alborn.  You pull up to a lovely office building, greeted by a friendly front office secretary and a waiting area.  Our meeting with Adam was amazing in that he spent an hour going over the bids in Alaska are so high; he went over in great detail the costs of demolishing the building, incorporating plans from an architect (Ben was extremely talented), permits from the city....the list was overwhelming on that day.  We left understanding why you need a general contractor. Think about it: demolition team, disposing of all concrete and wood; excavation, ground samples, municipality inspectors, electricians, plumbers, concrete team, lights, garage door, water heater, masonry, white boarding, lumber and studs to code, painters, asphalt trucks and teams and teams of people.
My husband was fascinated; all I could think of was all those men using our bathroom!  But Adam and Pat assured us that they had it all in a plan; and yes, they brought the construction workers their own port a potty!  So we signed on with Alborn and have been smiling every day since.  What a great group of people.  
My initial impression on the first day they showed up was they were on time (as they did every day for 2 months).  Secondly, all their trucks were clean, white and clearly stated Alborn Construction.  This may sound silly, but I appreciated the way all the guys on the construction team had shirts that said Alborn on them.  It helped us later determine who was a subcontractor on site. On that first day they literally had someone supervising the traffic lane on our little neighborhood street while they brought in big trucks and very noisy pounding machines.  Again, my husband thought it was all an adventure: I was worried if our neighbors would tar and feather us.  But they were always considerate of the neighbors, school buses, trying not to block mailboxes and here is their greatest asset: Adam insists that his team of construction men never leave without picking up the site so it is not messy.  Can you believe it?  A tidy general contractor!   Sean, the Alborn on-site Supervisor was really a force to be reckoned with.  He was brilliantly skilled in so many areas of work.  He reviewed every bit of construction completed, always polite and made my husband and I feel as though we truly had a say in how our new addition was going to come together.
Our beautiful garage was completed right on time about the end of June.  They did a magnificent job.  Much to our surprise, they got the final inspector (I think there were close to 12 inspector visits required in all) out to review the whole structure; within a few days we had our Certificate of Occupancy.  We just got our property assessment done and the workmanship of Alborn Construction ended up hiking the property value of our home from $272,000 to $308,000.
People don't understand how chaotic our Alaska summers are. Everyone is trying to get their homes repaired and strong for the upcoming seasons.  We were extremely fortunate to have hired Alborn Construction to help us.  It was obvious from the beginning that Adam and his company knew how to get things done in Anchorage.  We will always be grateful that we found this group; the crew, the managers...they all demonstrated experience and organizational skills that pull it all together.  Well done guys.