Ben Carnes Construction

Ben is a truly fine craftsman and a perfectionist in his work. He's also one of the most reliable and honest contractors I've ever hired to do work on our home.  We definitely plan to use him again on some bigger projects!!

We have not proceeded with the room addition at this time, but will next year.  We will definitely have Mr. Carnes do the work.

I was referred to Carnes Construction through a good friend after meeting with several General Contractors. After we met with Ben Carnes we knew that he was going to be our preferred provider. Ben and his assistant do all of the work and planning. The service provided was more than expected, and he dealt with all of the challenges we had exceptionally well. I highly recommend using him to anyone who has a home remodel or room addition.

We got references from friends who had had similar work done and ended up meeting with four contractors after we had plans in hand. We had pretty much finalized what we wanted done - having worked ahead of time with a designer as well as an engineer - but there were plenty of aspects to the job that could be done different ways and we discussed with each. The plans had been approved by the city but we hadn't tried to pull permits. We got bids from all four contractors but felt we communicated the best with Ben. We loved how relaxed he was about any potential and quot;problem areasand quot; and yet he wasn't lackadaisical towards these areas either. His was the lowest bid - and wasn't the most detailed one either - but since his bid included him building our cabinets (two of the others were much more expensive and didn't include cabinets); since he showed us his house (that he built himself); and since we saw his work at a friend's house (who were still close friends with Ben after having him do a major remodel ten years earlier), we felt good about going with him. FYI, we chose to buy most of the materials ourselves (flooring, countertop granite, appliances, etc.) and Ben would install it.
He was fantastic! He wasn't quite perfect in everything but he was great in all areas that we were especially concerned about. He was honest to a fault, trustworthy, conscientious, courteous, discussed the order of the job so we'd know what to expect and did great work! He'd told us ahead of time that he does most of the work himself so the job would take longer than a company with a bunch of subs. We liked that as we'd be living in part of our (very small) house and didn't want a bunch of strangers around. He planned things so we'd have the use of our old kitchen for as long as possible. He was always calm and cheerful and got along great with our inspector. He set up payments in advance and warned us when especially expensive things were coming up. He sealed off the part of the house we lived in as much as possible so there'd be as little dust as possible. He left things neat at the end of each day. He readily gave advice about where to place things; which way to hinge doors, etc. but was never pushy. He was GREAT to brainstorm and solve problems with! He was concientious about trying not to have any and quot;deadand quot; space in our kitchen design and gave us choices and recommendations about potential changes to make and we did make some.
He'd let us know how long we had to make decisions. There were a few delays but Ben kept on top of everything. One big delay was because the company supplying our front door couldn't get it right. They had a communication problem among themselves since we made a simple change to the door style.
Our job took months but that was because we took too long making decisions and we didn't much care how long it was taking. Ben didn't pressure us and we fell into a pretty mellow pattern. We didn't get upset if he needed to take a few hours off here and there for personal business. It didn't happen a lot. Once in awhile, when there was nothing for him to do for several days in a row he wouldn't always get back to me right away if a question came up while we were shopping or whatever. He was ninety percent good with that, however - either email or phone. We were his big job and he'd squeeze in some small ones here and there. We were fine with it and it didn't seem to delay our job.
His subs did a great job and for the most part were courteous and neat. Great plumber and drywall people! The stucco guys trampled our plants somewhat and were generally more messy but they did a really nice job. Ben was NOT there when subs were working. He's make sure the foreman knew what the job was and he'd leave. If I had any concerns that any area wasn't covered that was supposed to be, I'd call Ben and he'd make sure it was taken care of.
The only part of the job we weren't 100 percent satisfied with was the paint job. He mostly had a sub do it. The walls were flat paint and in the light the paint strokes in places look a little messy or didn't cover as well as we think they should. (This was one area of miscommunication, too. We THOUGHT we'd specified eggshell finish but he was sure we'd decided on flat and that's what he bought. Since we couldn't prove otherwise, we let it go). Our cabinet doors also have some blue-ish color that bleeds through the off-white in certain lights but not enough to bug us. In the year and a half since this was done, a few places at the pulls in the cabinets have started to wear a little bit - especially the drawer where we have our trash. It's used a lot and we didn't choose to have finger guards (or whatever they're called) behind the pulls. We didn't notice any of this when the final check-off list was done. However, we LOVE our cabinets and everything he built is beautiful.

Overall, this was an incredibly smooth, enjoyable job with none of the nightmares we'd heard about! Things even went smoothly with our inspector! Part of this was because we'd spent a year researching and preparing but also because Ben took pride in his work. Ben became a friend and we still see him regularly. We hired him a year ago to redo a small bathroom (separate report, I guess) and we'd hire him again. In addition, he gave us a credit at the end of the job because we had come in under price on what he's budgeted for flooring. We never would have known by that point.

I am very impressed with Ben Carnes' overall efficiency and proficiency. He explains ahead of time what he plans to do next and how it will work. I had requested from the beginning that I needed to have (in addition to the foundation and the gate) the steps put in a safe, usable state. And I wished to have them look like the other, original 1947 brick steps. I specifically did not want "new-looking" steps up to the front door. I have to use an orthotic on each leg/ankle and also a cane to nevigate safely these days. All of my wishes were more than carried out. I feel 100% safer going up and down the stairs now. And the re-built steps look nice and old like the non re-built steps. The old steps had developed dips and loose bricks and other problems to walking up or down. Now I feel a giant step safer!!

He is honest, reliable, knowledgeable, skilled, contentious and easy going. He has very reasonable rates.