Black Forest Craftsmen Inc

Description of Work: no comment

Description of Work: I hired Carsten Cramer of Black Forest Craftsmen, Inc. on 2 different occasions over the past decade, have been extremely impressed with the quality of his work, find him very personable / flexible / super easy to work with, would have no hesitation to hire him for a future project, and would highly recommend him to others. Carsten managed two separate mid-sized, high-end home-renovation projects for me that were each approximately $100k, which were both amazingly successful and transformed my Los-Feliz hills home. The first project was about 8 years ago and involved the following work: ripping out an existing marble staircase and replacing it with a custom-designed modern, slatted, free-floating one; major renovation of a downstairs office/bathroom suite; and constuction of a brand-new media room downstairs that represented additional square footage to my property. The work was stunning, opening up and transforming my living space and turning a dismal, dated downstairs space into a highlight of the home. The second project completed several years ago and involved a major repair to my home as well as a huge enhancement to my upstairs living space. My property is a 60's modern post-and-beam property; unfortunately, the outside portion of my beams had begun to dry rot and crumble forcing me into a major repair (the beams hang about 3 stories above the ground, requiring major scaffolding). I chose to renovate as well as repair and worked with Carsten on this project, combining a beam repair with a major renovation to my outdoor deck. We replaced on old wood railing on my deck with an architech-designed new custom stainless steel & glass railing, as well as new flooring, a new glass sliding door (opening the full width of the space, rather than only half the width); ripped out half-height single-pane windows in my living room and replaced them with floor-to-ceiling double-paned windows; and replaced the other 20 or so single-pane windows in my house with new modern double-paned windows. Once again, the repair and renovation work was seemless (making it appear as if my house had always been this way) and transformative, adding drama and major s**-appeal to the house and enhancing my already-amazing views. Both projects came in on budget as well. Beyond my 2 projects, I had previously seen a major home project (a new wing) that Carsten had built for a client in the Pacific Pallisades and was truly impressed with the quality of the worksmanship. Anyone considering a project with Carsten is welcome to contact me for further discussion. --------------------------------------- Some general advice on renovation projects: One should always keep in mind that on major renovations, there are always a few unexpected things that come up and add to the price and one should budget for this. Fortunately for me, these unexpected issues were very minor on my projects. Also, plan your design carefully upfront (as I did); if you make major changes in the middle, you will add unnecessary cost to any project.

Description of Work: Carsten installed 2 skylights and 2 windows as well as repair work on our roof and a number of other remodeling items.

Description of Work: Refurnbished pie deck, demolished old and installed new housing for outdoor grill, painted interior, various electrical, plastering, various small jobs.