David T Zimbauer Construction

I got Dave Zimbauer's name as a referral from an electrician whose recent work on my house was impeccable. I needed a special contractor who knew how to suss out and repair the cause of ongoing roof leaks; my husband and the other homeowners had a new common roof installed soon after he bought the house in 1997, so we're weren't sure if the leaks were introduced at that installation or had always been there. The leaks were only on the south-facing wall of the living room, which had three large (nearly floor-to-ceiling) windows that also leaked during heavy rainfall. In 2004, we had the windows replaced and some roof patchwork done, thinking the problem was fixed. I can't even remember how many tradesmen I've paid to fix the leaks in the intervening years. By 2011, one of the wood planks in the ceiling was so soft I punctured it when I vacuumed, revealing ugly black mold that I feared might be inside the entire ceiling and wall. There was also mold near the area where our chimney was (we had removed the acorn stove years before). This is the situation that Dave walked into. And was he ever the right man for the job! He has previously worked with insurance companies so he knows how to be dogged in finding answers and where to look for problems. The first thing he did was to climb up on the roof, where he discovered that there was no flashing in place at the seam of the roof and the stucco. (In fact, he said there was a wasp nest in the open space, which explains why we had so many wasps every year.) Funny how none of the roofers had thought this might be a problem. Dave thoroughly investigated the source of the other leaks (there were multiple problems) and was very communicative about the problems he encountered and the level of repair that would be required. He suspected we would have to replace the exterior stucco because of the extensive water damage over the years, but the timing wasn't right for that repair, so in the end, I had him and Keith (I think that was his name) install the missing flashing and remove the moldy drywall down to the studs after they carefully removed and labeled the three sets of plantation shutters. I think they also did some repair work around the windows where the paper wasn't put in place properly when the new windows were installed. Dave also arranged for a painter to paint the flashing in a timely manner, knowing that our house had HOA rules to abide by. All the work was done well before Christmas so that I had time to decorate for our annual family dinner and gift-giving (I stapled kraft paper to the studs; one of my friends thought I had just painted the wall an accent color!). Dave, Keith and the painter and his crew were incredibly thorough in their work while being polite, considerate and helpful. They covered my furniture and wood floor and cleaned up each day. It was messy work but they did an excellent job of containing the dust. Dave was a genuine pleasure to work with, and I would definitely hire his company again.

They have done several projects for us and are very, very good. At every step of the remodeling they would give us accurate estimates of the costs and how changes would affect the overall project. Everything was done very professionally and the quality was great. The people who worked for him were all very polite and worked well with us. The design was pretty elaborate. The work was more than we had anticipated, and the price was fair for what we got.