David Johnston Dragon Woodworks and Tile

Very well. Good problem solving and design suggestions. Good craftsmanship and communication.

He did an excellent job and was able to design and construct an artistic and sturdy partition wall that fits in well with my office.

We absolutely love Dave.  He's a real Zen guy.  His prices are very reasonable and his work is outstanding.  He is creative but also very experienced, and not only do I trust having him in my house, he's actually the kind of person I like having around my family, especially my daughters.  He's a good dude.
My wife and I were looking to get custom shelves and a custom desk made for her office/work area.  She's a writer so needed space for that, but also wanted someplace that supports her in sewing projects, as well as various other art projects like painting.
Dave first came over and talked to me and my wife about what we wanted.  He spent a good amount of time with us, talking about function and style and whatnot.  We really went around and around and he had a lot of good ideas to both save us money but also make the project nice.  He listened well we ended up with a design that we were happy with.
He did the work in his shop, brought it over and in installing it, realized he failed to account for the fact that one of the ledges in the room was not level.  He said this was his mistake, he really should have checked this and took the shelves back to his workshop where he fixed them free of charge.  Brought them back two days later and they installed perfectly.  You cannot tell things are not level looking at the shelves, whereas when he installed the the first time you could see that easily.
Next up is the desk which we're very excited about.  
Overall this is the guy we're going to call when we want light-medium work done on our home, and we'll probably consult him on major jobs as well.

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Wow! This was a big job, way bigger than I expected. Mr. Johnston came in with a crew of two other guys. First of all, the gas line needed to be shut off and drained. So, Mr. Johnston informed me about contacting PGE (our electric and gas company) and how to access the proper person for this part of the job. Once this was done, Mr. Johnston hired an expert in dismantling the hot tub furnace which was quite old. That happened. I had busted up the deck myself, but all that stuff needed to go and some of it was still attached to the concrete pad (which also had to go). Mr. Johnston's team came in and got the job done in two days...much faster than I expected. They carried all the concrete to the truck and took it to the dump. They worked with good humor and never complained. It was hot, too. All in all, the job was well done.
In addition to this, Mr. Johnston did this with an eye for future planning for my yard. With Mr. Johnston's help, I have a vision for taking the steps necessary to turning a jungle of a back yard into a pleasurable place to hang out and enjoy my family.

I asked him to do it. I gave him a key to the house because I wasn't sure when I would be back that day. When I got home, the job was done. He had to buy the materials, cut them to size, and fit them into this small closet with a high ceiling. It is a solid shelf and the way that he constructed it, allows for the maximum amount of light. It wasn't a big job, but it mattered a lot to me that it get done and done right. Mr. Johnston did a great job.

Since the house was built in 1952 and the previous owner didn't lay down proper flooring, there were some challenges with the subflooring. Mr. Johnston fixed everything before laying the tile. The tile design he suggested turned out to make a small room look much more spacious. At first, I wasn't sure about the color he suggested (I liked the design idea right away). But, he was patient and let me try a few other ideas. In the end, we went with his first suggestion which turned out to be the perfect color. The product he suggested is durabie and easy to care for. We went through the same process with the colors on the walls. His color sense is really good. I added something (a pale yellow ceiling cap that came part way down the wall) and he agreed that that would add to room. All in all, it was a good working relationship.
I've had Mr. Johnston over to my home for other projects over the years. He is responsible, honest, and reliable. He also explains things very clearly and grounds why some choices are better than others. When he needs to bring in sub-contractors, they are always great people with the same level of integrity.

David worked on an hourly basis for us. The cost of the job shown only includes his labor.

It is rare to find a skilled professional who does not object to the owner being quite involved in the job (my husband and I both were in the construction industry). David was delightful to work with, has a very nice design sense and put up with our requirements very gracefully. We felt comfortable leaving him alone in the house.

As I noticed people were looking for information about his carpentry skills, let me add that David had just completed a very handsome small porch and stair for my neighbor. I decided that anyone with such high standards and skills in one area would undoubtedly perform equally well in his other specialty - ceramic tile, and that turned out to be true.

Maybe he would have been more specific if I re-contacted him, but I didn't do that. He did come over and give me some rough estimates with three different types of wood. I decided not to follow up on that but if I had maybe I would have gotten a more concrete plan from him. He sort of gave me a quote. It was difficult to give an exact quote because he would have had to get under the porch and get a better look at the underpinnings. I believe he said that the options for the wood were redwood, cedar, and some standard wood and he gave me approximate prices. I got an idea about the difference of prices between going those three ways that was difficult to get an overall quote because you only see a part of it. He looked at it, took some measurements and talked about it. He only came out once. The quote might have been $4000.00 or $8000.00 for the basic job with the standard wood. Cedar was a little more expensive and redwood was a little more expensive than cedar. He seemed pleasant enough. I liked him. I was pretty impressed, but I don't know what happened there as far as getting a concrete plan drawn up which he said he was going to do. That was very strange. Maybe we could have gotten together if I hadn't decided to go with the other guy. The guy never got back to me either. I know I was hard to reach but he could have reached me. He was talking about mailing me the plan. If he was having that much trouble reaching me he could have dropped me a line telling me to call him. He came out. There was a bit of a delay in talking to him on the phone and finding out that he was going to send me the plan he had drawn up. But it went wrong and got delayed and there was no plan. He did not follow through. He came right out. He seemed very professional. I was impressed by his assessment and discussion. I never got the details when he indicated he would do it which he didn't. I would give him an A for contact, looking at the job, and so forth, but F for following through and what he said he would do. I was really impressed, but in the end I didn't get that plan. I might have followed up on that plan. He came right out. I talked to him. I decided not to go with him. He was professional. I liked him, but I liked some others better. He seemed pretty professional. There was one thing that bothered me. He told me that he didn't have a license. He told me if the license was important to me, I could contract through a good friend of his with a license and he could do the work. In talking to my neighbor I was advised that it wouldn't a good way for me to get the work done. That was probably a hurdle there, but it didn't seem like that much of a hurdle to me.

We were relocating for a year to the Northeast and needed help in a hurry. David came to estimate tiling a bathroom floor. His price was reasonable and he showed up on time and was satisfactory in every way. The riverstone tiled floor looks great and very professional. David also gave us extra time to finish up some carpentry in the bathroom. We were thrilled with the results from a man we had never met before and appreciated his competency.

David was able to come over promptly for an estimate, offered options to fit my budget, and was able to start the job promptly after that. Everything went to plan.