Artifex Construction Inc

I don’t take any pleasure in this, but I feel obligated to describe my less-than-ideal experience with the small remodelling job I had done by Artifex (Michael). It is only fair to future clients. I asked several companies for bids on a small remodeling job, which consisted of putting in an exterior French door and a window in a stucco house, and finishing two walls with shearwall and drywall. The door and window were salvage, and the door was not prehung, so it was definitely a custom job. However, I have personally, with no prior experience, hung seven not-prehung doors, one of which was French, all by myself with little more than homeowner tools, and they all came out perfectly. So it’s not that hard. The main things I really needed from Michael were a properly installed exterior French door and professional exterior waterproofing (the rest of the job anybody could do.) I talked to several contractors, and I really liked Michael’s attitude. He didn’t “overtalk” the job (oh, this is such a hard job only we can do it but it is really a lot of trouble so it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg), nor did he undertalk the job (doesn’t listen, takes a quick look around, waves his arms like he’s seen this a thousand times before and gives a quick bid without talking through the actual “custom” parts of the job to see what the client really wants). Instead, he was very honest and direct, listened well, talked enough so that I could see that he knew what he was talking about, acknowledged the custom aspects of the job (like fitting a salvage door), but didn’t pretend that they were prohibitively difficult. I stressed over and over to Michael that my major concern (in fact, the ONLY reason I was hiring a licensed contractor) was that I wanted expert installation and waterproofing of the door and window. Michael assured me he had experienced experts that would do this (as well as all the other aspects of the job). I also appreciated that Michael did his best to fit in my small job into his schedule, which had been screwed up by unforeseen problems on another job. And Michael is friendly and helpful. The PROBLEM was that Michael did not send me his “expert.” Instead, he sent a workman who had apparently never installed an exterior French door before—or perhaps any door—which was patently obvious from my overhearing the first minute of their conversation. Nonetheless, Michael assured me that this person knew exactly what he was doing, and asked me not to hover. I have plenty of experience and know that 90% of all workmen require hovering; however, in deference to Michael and his assurances of expertise, I left the workman and his assistant to themselves. Well, two or three days later, they were still at it, and I ended up with a door frame over a half inch out of plumb (fortunately, in the direction that was not visible, and it didn’t affect the door swing), a crooked door with an inch unnecessarily cut off the bottom, and several other problems I don’t have to go into, but which will all take me a number of hours to repair. And, although the window seemed okay, I also do not believe the exterior waterproofing was really done correctly on the door, but decided it was “good enough” for the leeward side of a house in a dry climate. The two workers literally spent TWICE as long to hang those doors as I had spent BY MYSELF, hanging French closet doors (also salvage) for my FIRST TIME! Luckily, I was not paying them by the hour. Generally speaking, the stucco work and the rest of the interior work went okay, except that I ended up with marks all over the ceiling; it took me a day and new paint to fix that, since the color of the ceiling paint had changed from eight years ago. The drywall guy was good; the exterior stucco texture and feathering is quite good. Michael agreed to install my interior door and window trim to make up for the hours I am going to have to spend fixing the door. The guy he sent out to do that is probably the “expert” Michael promised me the first time, because he carefully asked me what I wanted (he spoke English), listened, agreed with me on the best way to do the job, and although he was not quick, he did a very good job. The trim also required custom work because of other mistakes made by the original worker. If Michael had sent me this guy for the critical part of the job, I would probably be giving him rave reviews. Needless to say, after the first guy Michael sent me, I was dubious about the expertise of every worker he sent, and of course I hovered much more than usual, which was good, because some of the workers didn’t take instruction well and I had to head off several more mistakes. One of the major issues, too, is that none of these workmen spoke English, although of course they all pretended to, so I really couldn’t communicate effectively with them. This means one cannot relay the simplest information (hence more hovering) or get answers to the simplest questions. While this is obviously not a problem unique to Artifex, from this experience I have made my mind up to NEVER have any more critical work done on my property by people I cannot communicate with. Period. (I have two homeowner friends who speak Spanish, but even they say that is not very useful because their vocabularies do not relate to construction work.) I never heard Michael speak Spanish, so I don’t know how he communicates with his employees. Finally, if Michael had just apologized to me, and admitted that he had not sent me his “expert,” because he was needed on the other job (or whatever), and acknowledged that that was a terrible blunder, having promised me an expert, and indicated that this would never occur again with another client, I might not be writing this. But instead, his last words on the subject were, “Well, you send the people you have available.” Wrong! You do what you said you would do when you bid the job. End of story.

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We live in Northern New Jersey and we hired Artifex because of Michael Miller's experience working with remote clients. We were upgraded a home we own in Oak He exceeded the wonderful references we heard about him ahead of the work.
Below are a couple of comments from property managers who visited the house to assess readiness for rental:

I just went by the house and it looks like your team did a great job.

I visited the house.  Looks great and you have done some great work in updates and improvements.

Michael, we want to thank you for working with us. We really enjoyed our working relationship with you and we feel we achieved great value from the work your team did. Effecting a remodel of a 90 year old house from 2500 miles away is difficult at best but your candor, solid recommendations, accessibility and strong understanding of our objectives made it much easier to pull off. You went above and beyond being a contractor and we greatly appreciate the way you looked out for our interests and helped us achieve our goal of making the property viable for renting.

Called on two consecutive days, 6/17 and 6/18, during business hours, to request an appointment for an estimate for a kitchen remodeling project.  Neither time did anyone pick up the phone.  On each occasion, I left voice mail with numerous contact numbers, requesting a call back to schedule an estimate.  I received no return calls or messages.  
This lack of professionalism exhibits a clear lack of respect and I recommend looking elsewhere for your project.
However, if Artifex Construction wishes to address this review in further discussion, I'm certainly willing to listen.

The net is: if Michael/Artifex can fit you into his schedule, hire him.

We hired Michael to completely remodel our 1961 contemporary in Piedmont. New kitchen, 4 new bathrooms, all new HVAC, plumbing, electrical, drywall, floors and finish work. The job was done on time and on budget. His pricing was very reasonable (which is a deal in this market).

Our real estate person and neighbors practically fall over when we tell them that we accomplished the entire remodel in two and half months. We were really lucky, but the sheer fact that Michael had the subcontractors and employees who were able to scramble and make things happen on that aggressive timeline is pretty much unheard of. I am an ex-contractor and Michael and his team are amazing at what they do.

The team are really pros when it comes to finish work ... beautiful work and amazing attention to detail. At the same time, they are superb framing carpenters ... many times I had to talk them out of additional framing support. I would much rather have a contractor over build structural components rather than skimp on framing ... particularly when you live in an earthquake zone.

The electrical, plumbing and tiling subs were amazing craftsmen in addition to wonderfully kind and fun people. Towards the end of the project, my wife and three kids lived through the construction, and I never had a concern about poor behavior or language. In addition, my wife moved from Boston and considers many of the folks on Michael's team her first friends in California. 

The only criticism I can make of Michael is that his personal design tastes are more traditional and mine are more modern, but it was never a problem. He suggested options and never complained if we didn't go with his smart suggestions ... although much of the time we did.

It was really a wonderful experience working with Michael and Artifex. I remember calling his references before our project, and the references were so overwhelmingly positive that I was suspicious that the references were relatives of Michael (which they were not). How often do you find anyone who says that they went through a huge remodel and says that they love their contractor? Not many is my guess. I am half considering buying another fixer-upper just to do another project with Michael.

 If he has time to squeeze you into his busy schedule, sign him up ASAP.

It went great. There was minor miscommunication on a couple issues that he immediately corrected without additional charge or argument. I live out of state and was not in a hurry so that benefited both of us as he had a couple other jobs going....so it ended up taking longer than we originally thought...but as I said I did add extras as the job progressed. His foreman Luis was extremely nice and responsive . Michael has a good eye for design and was helpful when asked his opinion. The kitchen is absolutely gorgeous. His tile and wood floor subs did a great job.

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Michael Miller contacted me immediately and viewed the property for an estimate with only a couple of hours notice. His comments and feedback showed his experience in the work involved an dealing with the city of oakland. I was extremely impressed

They were fabulous. It was a major, major job and they were really, really good. The work was massive and they did a really good job. I was pleased with them. They were here about 6 weeks and there were 4 guys working every day. They did what I wanted them to do; however, we never found out how the rats got in. It's now January and they haven't been hearing rats in the walls but we didn't find out for sure and they just blocked off the areas they were inhabiting. I had all kinds of companies in for it and it was a nightmare but my experience with them was excellent.Their price was good. They saved by butt.

We did not end up using them because their schedule did not work out. They were unavailable. Our experience with them was special. Michael was interesting and extremely engaged. He answered some questions. I would have no concern hiring him, and I would have actually enjoyed working with him, but he was booked through March, and we started before that. He is absolutely a first-rate contractor. I think he has a credit through his craft. I would hope that I would work with him in the future. I think his price was fair, but with the other contractors we got, he was within $5,000. He was a touch on the higher side, but given the size and the scope, it was pretty competitive. When I asked him to give me something, he responded in two days. That was wonderful.

I give him a major thumbs up. We spent about $7,000 because had to get permits and all that stuff from the city and it added to the cost. My experience was good. He was very straightforward and honest about what he’s got to do. He said he was gonna do whatever he could not to spend money in that span. He will just do what had to be done which is basically just to meet the code of the city. He built the handrails differently so that it would go according to the code. I have no complaints. The man is very good. The guys who work for him are very good and very polite. I would highly recommend them. I really like these guys.

The deck and sunroom were about $30,000 and redoing the whole stairs and landing was about another $25,000. They were great. The communication and timing were great. The pricing was reasonable in terms of other bids I got. I would definitely use them again.

Michael and his crew at Artifex Contstruction were very responsive and professional. We feel the quality of work was high and the price competitive. We had a very quick schedule and needed a Contractor to come in and out rapidly -- due to their schedule and being in between some bigger jobs, Artifex was able to do exactly that. From initially contacting Michael, most of the work was complete within about 10 days. We are satisfied with the work, would recommend them, and would use Artifex again. Thanks guys!

I did not use them but spoke extensively on the phone with them and they were very helpful. I liked them quite a bit; on the phone they were very responsive. The gentleman I spoke with was very flexible and tried to help me get the work done within a budget I could afford. I changed the scope of the project.

When we started the home renovation process we heard so many horror stories that I was incredibly worried that we had a rough few months in front of us.  But I couldn't have been more wrong. 
We hired Mike and his team to completely gut and redo our kitchen, master bath and master bedroom. In addition we asked for a face lift on the guest bath and new hardwoods throughout the house.  There literally wasn't a room in the house that we didn't touch.
We originally got 4 quotes on the job and Mike's quote was in the middle range. But it was the most complete quote, and he also spent a lot of time even before we signed the contract answering our questions and walking us through each line item.  For two people who had never gone through a renovation before this was incredibly helpful.
He originally told us it would take 3 - 4 months to complete the job and everyone who we talked to, who had been through a renovation, told us to expect at least double that.  True to his word Mike and his team completed the work in under 4 months and this was after we were delayed by two weeks when they had to fix shotty work that had been done before we moved in. 
In addition Mike was very conscious of our budget. He helped us pick cost efficient products and often helped us located less expensive alternatives when he knew of a good option.  On the other hand he and his team are very committed to high quality work and would also let us know if it was worth it to spend the extra money on certain items. If there were places where we could save money by doing the work ourselves Mike worked with us to let us do that.  Which was a huge plus for us.
Throughout the process Mike and his head carpenter Luis were responsive, and did a great job of keeping the whole team on task. In addition either Mike or Luis were on-site monitoring the work almost every day.  This is not a company where you never see the general contractor.  I also have to say they were both incredibly responsive to our calls and emails.  We are both extremely detail oriented people and Mike took the time to answer all of our questions and he responded in a timely manner.
The final product couldn't have turned out better. We have had people tell us that our house looks like it came out of a magazine.  And, they are right, it turned out amazingly well, all in time and with in budget!!
I would recommend Mike and Luis and the rest of the team to anyone.   We will definitely use them again when we redo our basement.

Michael applied for the necessary permit(s) from the City.  Pending their issuance, he ordered two sets of new Marvin double-hung windows, each 5? H x 8? W, and two Marvin retro fit windows, each 52? x 48?.  All the windows are double paned and match the original style, with ten lights in the upper panes.   

Once the windows were delivered and the permits secured, Michael and his crew undertook the following repairs:  

EXTERIOR 

• Removed the stucco across half of the south wall, and roughly 20? of the east wall 
• Removed dry rotted framing in the entire exposed area 
• Reframed the walls to the exact specifications of the new windows 
• Installed plywood and shear nailing wherever stucco had been removed 
• Applied 30# felt and chicken wire over the plywood to prep for new stucco 
• Installed new windows with brick mold for stucco 
• Rebuilt front staircase: nine steps built level, with the proper 1? nosing over the tread 
• Applied three layers of stucco to all open areas
• Over-sprayed stucco across the remaining south and east walls to create a uniform texture.  

INTERIOR

• Removed old lath and plaster around the old 5? x 8? windows 
• After the installation of the new windows, added insulation, (2) layers of 3/8? sheetrock, and (3) layers of mud in the same areas 
• Installed new trim, new windowsills, and new crown moldings to match the windows in the rest of the house   

As with the two previous projects Michael did for me, his work on this one is impressive and the results, remarkable.   The interior of the home has always had a lot of redeeming qualities.  With Michael?s work, plus the new roof I added two weeks ago, and a good coat of paint in the spring, the exterior will be every bit as appealing.

Michael had the demolition and the repair work engineered; submitted the drawings to the City; and got the permits.  Because the north wall of the garage butts up against my neighbor?s front yard and a sewer line, the demolition and the excavation for drainage had to be done with some precision.  Both came off without a hitch.   
 
The repairs consisted of::      
*  Framing and pouring three waterproof retaining walls (8? thick with 5/8? steel rod), stepping up in height from 4? to 7?  
*  Framing and pouring a new slab floor (4? thick with ½ ? steel rod) around the section that had been preserved  
*  Installing a new rock and pipe drainage system
*  Rebuilding 2x4 walls to a height of 8?
*  Rebuilding the roof at the same pitch as the old structure, and applying new felt and shingles  
*  Adding siding and trim around the entire structure, with a 7'x9' opening, making it "garage-door ready."  

My contract with Artifex also included replacing and extending a concrete patio that had been a casualty of the demo, and straightening a granite block retaining wall, roughly 4? high and 30? long, that had been pushed significantly out of plumb by roots and earth movement.   

Throughout the course of the construction, I complained bitterly that I would never recoup the expenses associated with this particular job when I sell the house next spring.  Since its completion, I?ve been busily eating my words.  Michael did a magnificent job; and the garage, together with the extras included in the contract, has added so much to the exterior appearance of the house.

In short, the old bathroom was a mess!  Despite two large windows, it was dark and oppressive. There was major damage to the floor and the underlying support structure due to a longstanding leak behind the old tile. Sometime during its life, the walls had been textured, presumably to hide their many imperfections, but the effect had only added to the overall creepiness of the space.  And although the room is generous for its age, it had become crowded by a series of poorly planned and dreadfully executed ?updates? over the years.  

Michael and his crew tore it all out, right down to the studs, then completely rewired, re-plumbed and rebuilt it from the ground up, starting with the beams and joists in the basement.  Obscure glass in both the upper and lower panes of the windows eliminated the need for window coverings and made the new room bright and inviting.   

Replacing the old vanity with a pedestal sink gave it an open, airy feeling. The floor is 12? tile, set on the diagonal, with a 3? border around the perimeter that beautifully echoes the inlays in the oak floors throughout the rest of the home.  The shower is also set in 12? tiles.  With the inclusion of a pre-fabricated niche, set in glass tiles, the result is beautiful and looks much richer than the cost of the tiles would have suggested it would.  

During the course of the construction, Michael did many things that were invaluable to me.  But the thing that impressed me the most was his commitment to give me a working toilet at the end of every workday.  Though I had to shower elsewhere, this consideration allowed me to sleep in the home, which, with a dog, was worth its weight in gold.  

Overall, I couldn't have been happier with the level of service and the quality of workmanship Michael provided, and I would recommend him without hesitation.