RDS DEVELOPMENT

They restored my faith in contractors after several past bad experiences. They completed their work promptly, very professionally, at a reasonable price and the results were great. I would recommend them to everyone and plan on using them again for future projects.

Great experience, they were on time came out within a couple of days.

Overall, the work is structurally sound and I have a much nicer home than when I started and people comment how nice it all looks - especially my and quot;spa bathroomand quot;. RDS did the work they were contracted to do. If you are detail oriented like me, you will notice imperfections in aesthetics and workmanship, but they are not noticeable to the casual observer. I had to press sometimes, but my experience was that if you press, they'll try to make it better (short of rework). The contractor guaranteed the work for a year and he honored his guarantee. Some small items needed attention (motor on a fan was faulty, cracks in grout joints, glass shower door settled and needed adjustment (it's an upstairs bath, so not unusual) - it took a number of weeks to get the individuals back, but they did come out.

Below are my reflections in no particular order:

There were some aesthetic issues and mistakes with the tile installation and they tried to make it right without rip/replace (and I didn't want to hassle with rip/replace and buying new tile, so I just left it). Unfortunately, each time they did a new area of tile installation I was traveling and so couldn't inspect until after large areas had already been installed (e.g., I had some expensive, decorative weathered-looking tiles with dark recesses that they grouted over changing the contrast. They tried to remove the grout but couldn't and in the end they tried to stain the recessed to get back the contrast. It's not what it was supposed to be, but there was no correcting short of removal which I wasn't up for). The tile in the guest bath was installed in the wrong place (the counter backsplash was supposed to be the trim atop the tub tile - I was traveling at the time so couldn't catch it before it was all grouted in).

The back panel of the cabinet in the master toilet was cracked and they installed anyway (they said it was damaged in shipping). I discovered it on walkthrough. I opted not to hassle with re-order since it's not visible unless opened and the cabinet is empty, but this was not the way to find out - they should have told me when the noticed it so we could have re-ordered it.

It took three trips for them to locate a can light correctly. I had to press, but they came back until it was right.

The painter didn't prep the the new wetbar skin with sanding and tack cloth before he stained it and it is very blotchy but because it was one of the very last tasks on the last day I just wanted my house back at that point so I didn't complain as it's something I can fix myself.

The stairway installation coordination seemed like it could have been more efficient, as a result, the painters had to paint multiple times and the paint is very lumpy on the hand rail. And, rather than a separate return piece glued on the end of each tread (treads were installed a few weeks after the risers), they could have installed solid plank treads as they installed the risers. Plus, The maple trim pieces that finished off the floor boards around the landing were not installed level and had a gap underneath (visible from below) they tried to fix it by sanding them down. (The flooring and stair subcontractor was Finishing Touch.)

The carpenter who installed the stair skirt used bondo on the seams and it left raised areas that couldn't be sanded down, so from the wrong angle it looks very lumpy. The stair skirt return at the lower landing had issues - I have rounded corners and the trim was done with a sharp corner so a and quot;noseand quot; stuck way out and they caulked the gap. They bevelled it later by sawing it off, but the angle wasn't precise and so the molding trim is off a bit, but at least it doesn't look awkward now. It's a tough spot with multiple angles going on and not straightforward for someone who's not a stair expert. Again, one of those things that others don't usually notice, but I do.

They normally did prep to reduce dirt/debris and cleaned up at the end of the day. However, one time a young guy forgot to put up curtains when he sanded the stair rail and the dust went everywhere. The foreman tried to clean it up, but it still settled over the next few days and was a mess - they offered me a credit for a maid to come clean, which I accepted. The foreman, when he was on the job, would clean up at the end of each day. There was supposed to be a final clean up per the contract, but the contractor said declined and I just wanted them gone by that point to get my house back so didn't push.

They didn't take care to protect the new wood floor after it was installed and while there was still work going on (stair rail and trim painting and other finish work), and as a result the general contractor had to pay for some repairs which could have been avoided. Just be sure you have workers put down proper drop cloths, paper paths, etc. to protect your home. The floor installers left a lot of adhesive and quot;dripsand quot; which I am still finding and removing including some glue footprints on my dining room carpet (I plan to replace that carpet so it didn't matter that much). They also damaged my leather couch, but they paid for the repairs.

The work took 4 months (a month longer than estimated but not bad) and I noticed that work progressed faster when the foreman was on the job than when he wasn't. The contractor appeared to have a hard time arranging subs for some of the work and difficulty getting subs to show up consistently. Plus, some of his subs were not full-time in the specialty that they were hired in for my job (e.g., the painters weren't painting contractors)

There was an issue with the master bath cabinets. Most of this was due to poor instructions from the design company - Kitchen and Bath Solutions - which was referred to me by RDS and they met together with me at my home in a pre-sales scenario. The designer ordered a bunch of parts for RDS to build the cabinet. When time came to build it out, Kand B and RDS communication broke down and I was in the middle trying to explain what the cabinets were supposed to look like with a copy of the drawing from the designer and feeling pressure to keep the job on schedule (there were no detailed build-out instructions from Kand B). The cabinets ended up with many visible and quot;seamsand quot; and didn't look professional. In an attempt to rectify, Kand B came back out to re-stain them darker and added some trim to help hide some of the gaps. It helped, but in the end I paid a lot for custom cabinets and didn't get what I wanted. In retrospect, I should have made them wait until the designer was available to guide the build out with the carpenter.

They were recommended to me by somebody else, and when I checked Angie's List, they were there. They charged me around $3500 to $4000. They are licensed contractors. I think he gave me a very fair and accurate price with what he could, before he could really get in and see what the problem was. He did everything in a very timely manner. I think he was fairly priced and did extraordinary work. He went above and beyond I think in a lot of things, which he really didn't have to do. It was nice to get someone like that. I would highly recommend him. He was actually recommended to me by a termite guy. But before I hired him I did look on Angie's list. I think for myself I wouldn't have any idea if I was going out to look for a contractor on hire. I like to ask for recommendations. So when the termite guy was here and he pointed out the dry rot problem, I asked him to fix that but he refused. He said that I will have to go to a licensed contractor. So I told him that I don't really know one and would check out Angie's list. Then he said he knows someone that he would recommend and he recommended this guy to me. That gave me a place to start. I never know and if I check Angie's list, I may get ten and I wouldn't know how to pick from the ten. So I like it when I get a personal recommendation like that. It helps me. So if I can help by giving someone else a personal recommendation for RDS since they did such a good job for me, then I think that would be terrific. But if I had any other work that I needed done here like contracting work and any repair in my home, I would call them. I will use them again in a minute. He was excellent. I haven't had anyone work for me. He showed up when he said he would. He pretty much stayed within his price. It was excellent, clean, neat and tidy. I would hire them again in the future. Their price is probably less than fair because he stayed within the price range as much as he could, but once he got everything torn apart there were things he discovered that he didn't know about before. It was a big job and it was not something that is a fun thing; it's not something we go out and choose to do. It is basically repairing stuff. They also did my gutters; they will last me another season. That is also one of the things that were above and beyond that they were not hired to do, but they just did it while they were here. That saves me another six months maybe. I won't have to do it for another six months or so.

IT WAS EXCELLENT. THEY WERE ON TIME. THEY WERE ON BUDGET. THERE WERE NO HASSLES. THE QUALITY OF THE WORK THAT THEY DID WAS EXCELLENT. THEY WERE FACED WITH THE CHALLANGED TO MATCH OLD, EXISTING FLOORING AND YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL THE DIFFERENCE.