Rise Construction

I had never done a remodel before and I had heard horror stories of huge budget over runs, time line issues and disappearing contractors. Consequently, I interviewed 4 contractors, talked to references, did site visits and bid comparisons. My experience with O D&C has been excellent and 100% consistent with my original research. My remodel was completed on time, on budget and the work is excellent. Steve(OD&C owner)kept me in the loop of with respect to the project plan and how/when things would be done. There seemed to be zero downtime from what I could see and the coordination of the subcontractors was seamless. I expected to be out of my house for three months and I got back in two weeks early(and that included Thanksgiving and Xmas holidays). If I were to do another remodel I obviously would be lining up OD&C again.

I picked the fixtures, tiles, paint, etc., and Steve made suggestions in some places, but most of the stuff he left up to me. I didn't think that I was taking advantage of his design expertise, but in retrospect I realize he made a bunch of judgment calls on his own (fortunately they were good ones). We went out of town for the remodel. When we came back the bathroom was nearing completion and looked great. Now that it is fully complete we are extremely happy with the work in the bathroom. I have gotten compliments and even gasps from everyone who goes in there (A+). The speaker and Ethernet work was not so glitch-free. We told him we planned to install Ethernet and speakers eventually and he said he had expertise in doing that kind of work, so we decided to let him do that too. I didn't notice that this work wasn't listed in the contract, however, and when we returned a lot of it was not done or was done improperly. We were going to mount speakers on our walls, but Steve convinced us it would look better to do in-walls. We bought some nice speakers for $2000, but then Steve discovered that our walls were problematic, didn't know how much it would cost to install them, and basically didn't want to bother (he was getting very busy with other projects at that point). I had to go elsewhere to get the job done. Steve did install one set of speakers, and even one that had a problem; one of the speakers was almost inaudible. They returned to fix that and now it is fine. Finally, despite our leaving diagrams showing exactly where we wanted Ethernet ports, and our insistence that we wanted CAT6 wiring, we came home to find an electrician installing only one CAT5 line, and that in the wrong place. Again, he was doing the job as it was described in the contract, not as we had later discussed, and again I take responsibility for not checking fully. In any case, I'd give the speaker and Ethernet work a C, and that might be overly generous. This is reflected in my grade for quality and responsiveness, which would have been an A if I graded only on the bathroom portion of the job. In the end we got everything the way we wanted it, so I'm happy. I will definitely use Steve again for his core competency, creating fabulous bathrooms, but I would find a specialist for wiring for Ethernet and speakers.

Went well.

I would recommend Steve, not just because he and his team did a great job, but because he offers both design and construction work. I have lived through a few house remodels over the years and have worked with architects, designers and contractors and I have to say that having one person handling both aspects really simplified the process for me and seemed to prevent a lot of mis-communication.

Steve was excellent: very professional and incredibly focused on both the big picture and the small details. His crew was highly skilled and they were on time, every day. Steve scheduled the job so well that in three months of work, there was only one day when there wasn't someone on the job. He also has a creative eye for design, which made my project turn out even better than I had hoped. Even with my 99-year-old house and the mysteries behind the walls, the final tally came in very close to his original budget. I lived in the house during construction, and every day the crew cleaned up to make it as livable as possible. Steve's original bid was higher than the others I received, but I feel pretty sure the others would have ended up costing as much through change orders. Compared to friends' experiences with contractors who stuck them with huge cost overruns and months of delays, I am thrilled with my results and will recommend Steve to anyone who asks me for a reference.

Steve s design process was very helpful - he started out by showing me several layout options, followed by photos of material options and, once we had made each of those decisions, he created a list, complete with photos, to keep a record of everything prior to ordering anything. I had heard so many awful stories about remodeling contractors not staying on schedule but Steve really seems to be committed to finishing on time and making sure that the client is happy. I was also rather surprised about the level of cleanliness throughout the project. We did have a few surprises/cost changes and I m sure that must happen with most house projects of this size. But, in these situations, Steve gave me several options and I always felt as though I was making an educated decision. I have to say that we had a great experience with Steve and his crew - they did their best to make our remodel as pleasant as possible and the quality of their work far exceeded my expectations.