Affordable Basement Finishing Co

I've never written a negative review. If I have a bad experience I usually just write it off as a bad day. That said, I feel like I have to warn people to stay away from these guys. Not only is the work really sloppy - they do *not* stand behind it.  I bought a house about 5 months ago that had the basement recently finished by these guys. The sale almost didn't go through because the permit hadn't been finalized. The seller scrambled to get that done before closing. After we moved in I discovered the following things wrong. Some of which  our inspector should have found but regardless should be covered by the contractor's warranty. 1) Shower hot and cold water reversed 2) Electrical outlets all wired on same 15 amp circuit and tripping with regular use 3) Three doors that don't close sometimes depending on humidity 4) One door that the latch rubs against the wall when closing it removing paint 4) Closet doors with sliding doors - the opening is 47.5 insches, the doors 30 inches, leaving an opening of 17.5 inches which is quite narrow. The guide for the doors isn't centered so would have to be moved and the floor patched to get smaller doors. 5) Paint on light fixtures 6) Quite a bit of grout on the surface of the tile. I'm not sure if the tile was sealed. If it was it is going to be a bear to clean this up. I suspect I have left over 30 messages with their answering service. I have been contacted back a couple times and they sent their subcontractors out eventually to fix item 1 and improve item 2 (I hired my own electrician to improve it further). I have been told they will send someone to look at the doors that won't close but they ignore me when trying to follow up on that.  As far as the ones that only open 17.5 inches - tough luck.

3 stars for the basement we ended up with, 1 star for the horrible experience. All this company does is file the permits then hand it off to one of their subcontractor teams (who have 2 or 3 projects going at once) and you will work entirely with that team; you will only hear from the company to ask for the next check. The problem is they do not vet the teams they hire, nor the work that they perform, and they will not help you when things go bad. Our first team was friendly and meant well, but had no attention to detail and made many mistakes they weren’t able to fix. The windows were framed so badly some couldn’t fully open. Most door frames were out of plumb and they planed the sides of the doors to fit. Many bulging / misshapen walls and soffits. The bathroom tile was awful. There were many more mistakes that are hard to capture in one picture. It was a nightmare checking for mistakes, asking for fixes, checking again, asking again, etc, for weeks on end. Our foreman did not speak English which made things harder. They were also unprofessional. Their notice of when they would come often changed without telling us. No dust control. Many design decisions without asking us. The inspector approved on condition of some extra work which they tried to skip. They broke our countertop for the wet bar. A lot more I’m omitting. When we began raising alarms to the company, they were slow to respond and basically just asked the team to fix it, then never followed up. No employee of Affordable Basements ever once reached out to discuss the situation, how best to resolve it, or ask how things were progressing, nor ever came to our home after the project started, despite raising serious quality concerns multiple times. We know the owner was made aware of our complaints multiple times but never heard from him. Their total lack of oversight and concern left us to manage everything ourselves which was stressful and time-consuming. After three failed fixes on the window framing and tile, and still doing unacceptable new work, we demanded a new team, and the company did allow this. But they never acknowledged that anything bad had happened, let alone apologized, instead telling us how they’ve “had great basements come out of [the first team] with zero complaints”, implying that we were the crazy ones. The new team was shocked at how badly the first team had done and took another 7 work weeks to redo the entire bathroom, replace 3 misframed doors, among other work, and they did a decent job. After 19 work weeks on our “8 week project”, we ended up with a decent basement, though many mistakes remain. The company never showed any empathy for our terrible experience caused by their negligence, let alone any discounts for it (beyond the property damages). To their credit, they let us pause work as long as we needed when our daughter was born. But when we signed the contract, the project was expected to be completed 6 weeks before her birth, and it was disheartening to miss that timeline and still need so much work done after she was born. The company was again apathetic about this and ignored our many pleas to speed things up, both before and after. A basement remodel is a huge investment of time and money and it’s just not worth rolling the dice like this. Please learn from us and the similar stories around and find a more reputable and caring company.

We had several estimates to finish our basement, the estimate provided by Affordable was the least expensive. I was a bit hesitant because of it, we didn't want crappy work done. It fit our budget so we went with it. They were here every day on time, the work was done in a timely manner and went very smoothly. If we ever had a concern, I would call or email and get a response right away. The inspections all went without a hitch and we now have the basement we have been waiting for forever! We were so pleased with their work that we will be redoing our kitchen with them come January!

Crew was courteous and flexible, able to accomplish ad-ons without complaint. I felt they could have been done a little bit faster, but it didn't put me out at all. Contractor was flexible when I wanted to purchase some of my own supplies. I have found some slight errors in tile work, so I don't know if I would use them for that again, but over all I am very happy and feel I got a great deal.

Overall a sufficient job in the end. Getting to that point was a little frustrating. The main project manager was only on-site at the beginning until the contract was signed and then was not there to manage any of the work. During the project they made assumptions about things like paint colors and windows without checking with us ahead of time before completing the painting/window installations. They did redo what we disliked after we told them about it. Language barriers made this a little difficult since our main contact was not there at all for the duration of the work. Price was probably high for what was done.

Below is how the last several months transpired.In late August 2013, we signed a contract with Affordable Basement Finishing (ABF), based out of Broomfield, CO, to finish our basement. The owner of ABF is Pete Enzinna, who was supposed to act as the General Contractor. ABF is top of the list on Angie?s List and the BBB for basement remodel contractors in our area. We received bids from other contracting companies as well, however ABF?s top rating on consumer review websites made us decide to go with them over other less expensive bids. My husband is in construction and would normally do the job himself. However, he had an injury and had several restorative surgeries and was on painkillers, therefore unable to do the work himself. I was newly pregnant with our second child, and wanted to have the basement finished before our daughter arrived. So we decided to hire a reputed General Contractor who would have our backs and leave my husband out of the remodel work. We were willing to pay a premium for someone to do this work and do a good job, as all the reviews for ABF had suggested. The final bill with ABF was $25,705.15, not including several items we purchased ourselves, such as lighting, fans, and bathroom bidet sprayer.In September 2013, ABF began work on our remodel using the basement egress window as an entrance to the house, which would keep my husband, who is a stay-at-home dad, from having to deal with the construction. As construction was ongoing, there were several things that I wasn?t particularly happy with which met with resistance when I asked them to fix it. During construction, one evening I went down to check on how they were doing and found that they had changed the design that was approved in the contract, and built a platform for the washer and dryer in the laundry room, over the existing sump pit. They told me that it was the best way to do it, and I believed them. I told my husband about it, and he got really upset, and said that if they didn?t have an engineer design it, it would never be structurally sound. Then my husband went down and looked at it, and blew a gasket at me. He was so frustrated with the work, and still recovering from his surgeries, that he decided to stay out of it, which is what we had arranged with Pete in the first place. At that time, we had no proof it wasn?t an engineered solution, and I believed that Pete was doing an honest job. The next time I met with Pete?s crew, I asked them what it would take to move the laundry back to the original design over the concrete floor instead of over the sump pit. They said it would take some plumbing, but since the tile and drywall were not up yet, it was easier to do then than later. The crew said the plumbing could be moved for around $500. I asked Pete to help do this, and he gave me a verbal amount of $3000, which even though I felt was outrageous, I was willing to pay it to make my husband happy, and more importantly, because I was beginning to understand that my husband was absolutely correct in noting that our top-load laundry would be un-functional on a platform.Even with the inflated price that I was willing to pay, Pete refused to switch the laundry back to its originally designed location, because he said it would take an additional 3-4 days to move the plumbing and he wanted to get the job done quickly and just would not make the change. He also assured me that this platform was going to work, and I was placated.The tile work started. In the bathroom, the tile was horrendous by any standards, because even I noticed it and brought it up to the tile guy, who corrected only what I saw and pointed out. We had family visiting us over Thanksgiving. When my husband went to show his brother the work in progress in the basement, he was thoroughly embarrassed at the appalling tile job in the bathroom. I brought it up to Pete after the holiday, who said on the phone it was just fine. Then my husband encouraged Pete to come to the house, to show him in person that the tile job was unacceptable. Even at that point, Pete refused to re-do the entire tile work, and marked off 6 tiles to replace. However, Pete?s crew, after we pointed out the flaws to them, agreed that the work was terrible and replaced the tile with their own labor and out of their own pocket on the weekend. However, this meant that we did not get any travertine tile in the bathroom since the crew paid for it themselves, but we were happy to just have it look decent.In early January, Pete wanted to finish up the basement and get his final payment. I had been paying him regularly and on time per his schedule throughout the project. There were a few things we asked him to take care of, such as a falling heat register in one of the bedrooms, and a leaky bidet sprayer that had to be warrantied with the manufacturer and reinstalled. When removing the bidet, we found that the plumbing was not installed correctly, and that had to be corrected as well. Since Pete wanted his final payment before going to his mother?s funeral in Florida, and we wanted to be done with the project as well, we agreed to have his crew come back for the bidet work, and we made his final payment on Friday, January 10th. I was 9 months pregnant by this point, and we were excited to finally have laundry in the house again.On Saturday, January 11th, after digging the washer and dryer out from behind 6 months of accumulation in our garage, my husband took the appliances downstairs to get them hooked up. The dryer needed to be hooked up first. He somehow got the dryer onto the platform by himself, as I was unable to help due to my advanced stage of pregnancy. At that point, we realized that the dryer did not fit on the platform. The front of the dryer extended out 4 inches past the platform ledge. We had not even tried to get the washer up yet.I left a voicemail for Pete, and given that it was Saturday night, we didn?t expect a return call until Monday. That night, on January 12th at 2am, I went into labor. My husband rushed me to the hospital and we had our beautiful baby girl at 2:23am. We also have a 2-year old little boy. On Tuesday, January 14th after I had come home with my baby, we gave Pete a call as we had still not heard from him. He said he was in Florida and there was nothing he could do until the following week. We said we knew, but we just wanted to get on the schedule for when he got back. He promised to come to our house on Wednesday, January 22nd.During that week, we had friends stop by our house to see the baby. As we were describing our laundry situation, some of them suggested that we get a structural engineer to confirm whether the platform that?s supposed to hold the laundry appliances would be strong enough and structurally sound or not, and possibly get a solution. While we were waiting for Pete to come by the next week, we hired a structural engineer to review the work. He stated that the platform is absolutely not structurally sound, and has given us a letter to that effect.On Wednesday, January 22nd, we waited for Pete to come by. However, he did not come, and instead sent a plumber from his crew to fix the previous bidet issue, and asked his plumber to look at our issue with the laundry platform. We were of course disappointed that Pete did not come in person even though he had promised that he would, and we had waited over a week. His plumber went back and told him that the platform was not going to work, the appliances don?t fit, the platform would never hold up to a running washer and dryer, and that the laundry room would need to be re-worked so the laundry was on concrete, not on a raised platform.The next day, January 23rd, we contacted Pete about the platform again and asked him to please come by the house to look at the problem, so that we could discuss a solution. We had a two-year warranty for all labor on his contract, and we really need to have a working washer and dryer in the house, especially with two children still in diapers, a toddler and a newborn infant. During that phone conversation with Pete, he was being extremely unreasonable, and accused us of trying to get free labor from h

These guys are AWESOME! I called the owner, Pete, on a Friday afternoon. Pete sent Tom over on Saturday morning to take measurements and give us a rundown on the company. Tom had us plans and a tentative quote in under a week.Affordable Basements wasn't the absolute lowest quote we could've gotten. But they're easily in the bottom 25% of contractors for cost. We got quotes pushing upwards of 35k from others. We got a complete and professional job for almost 10k under that!Pros: This company keeps you in the loop every step of they way. The project manager, John, was absolutely wonderful to deal with, as was our foreman, George. They matched the construction of the rest of out house. The paint, drywall, windowsills, baseboards, door handles, etc all match what we already had upstairs.They also use all metal framing, which was a great plus for us in a basement (more prone to flooding).Workers respected our space and schedule. They came when they said they would, and 90% of the time, supplies and workers came through the egress windows while they worked. They told us which days would be the loudest (jackhammers on the concrete mainly) so we could send our kid over to the grandparents' for nap time.Little touches were added to the project, such as drywall shelving and a little bookcase under the stairs. We'd throw ideas out and they quickly provided helpful feedback and gave fair prices for these little items.Cons: This company takes a bit longer to finish the project. It took about 8-9 weeks in total and we had quotes from others who guaranteed 4-5 weeks. A small price to pay for the attention to detail (and cost savings)!Tom was really great about getting us our quote, but because he didn't have a construction background, we eventually found out that making all communication through the project manager, John, was the way to go. I'd like it if the company would move 95% of the contact to the project manager after signing the contract instead of having to go through the sales guy. However, this was quickly remedied by a quick call to the owner, Pete.We'd gladly use these guys again. Thanks for the great basement, we look forward to using it a lot in the years to come.A+

Both jobs went very quickly, and every stage of the projects was handled with professionalism and care.
The crews systematically showed up early, stayed as late as they needed to; were neat and picked up after themselves and didn't even make much noise!
I would definitely use Affordable Basements (Pete) in any future project and would recommend them wholeheartedly. The are prompt, courteous, professional, and fair.

Pete and his team finished 1,000 sq ft of our basement in early 2013. Not knowing reliable contractors (one was very expensive, another didn't have the experience, another guy that was experienced but by himself the work would have dragged out for a long time) and hearing stories of poor quality jobs and contractors that don't show up, we delayed our decision to finished our basement for years. But with kids toys overtaking the house and need for more space, we interviewed a number of contractors we found on BBB. All the quotes we received came in around $5K of each other, with Pete's being the lowest and the one that seemed to have most references and experience. After touring a couple of the jobs Pete had going and finished before, our decision was made. We couldn't have made a better decision with Affordable Basements!

Here are our top reasons that we would recommend Pete and his crew to anyone looking for great work:

1) Quality of work: The quality of work and finishes are great. The work looks not only professional, I would say even better in the details than the rest of our house. Any minor things that we found (missing or uneven paint spots - that is how minor) were addressed before the job was finished.

2) Reliable Team: The team that works with Pete have been with him and each other for decades. They are not only trustworthy and great people, they were reliable in showing up and keeping our job on schedule. They worked on Saturdays and even in the worst snow days. They helped us make better decisions in how to layout the basement based on their vast experience.

3) Cost: Pete's quote included enough detail in the main sections (construction, lighting, fixtures, flooring, etc), but didn't going into so much detail that we would feel like we are being nickeled and dimed for each little extra item. We decided on a few changes that impacted the final cost, but they were reasonable and expected cost changes.

Affordable Basements are the only contractors we would use for any future jobs. I can't wait to update our master bathroom!!

They did a very good job. It was probably the best price quoted to us. Since I don't have to use them again, I would refer them.

Overall, it was a pleasure working with Pete, his crew lead and the subcontractors.  His crew was respectful in our house where we have 2 young kids, a dog and 2 of us working at home!  We are thrilled with the new basement living space.  We interviewed 3 contractors and chose Affordable Basement Finishing Co because of the integrity of the owner (Pete),  how he stood behind his quote and that he was going to get a permit with the City.  Because of the age and construction of our house, Pete warned us of a couple areas that might increase the original quote, one of which was needing to upgrade the electrical sub-panel.  He gave us a ballpark figure for that potential add-on.  When the electrician came to take a look at our house and basement finish plans, we ended up needing to install the sub-panel and it was under the quoted price.   It took about 8 weeks for the basement completion, but the project was interrupted because we had visitors towards the end of the project.  It took a couple days longer than expected for the crew to come back to our project, but I understood because our schedule essentially stopped the momentum.   Pete uses metal framing, which increases the head-room by a couple inches, which made for a more spacious basement feel and MUCH less mess while under construction (no sawdust creeping into the main floor!).  Every visitor to our house compliments the finish work and craftsmanship of our basement.

They showed up when they said they would and got it done very quickly.  They gave me a good bid what was there.  I actually asked them about some additional work and they suggested I not do it because it wasn't structural; it was really cosmetic and that I wait to do something different at a later date, when it was more needed.  It was good for them to be upfront with that.

Pete and his crew were great. They had done two other basement finishes on our street in the recent past and we went and checked out the work they did to our neighbor's homes. Pete came out, sketched out a design for us that incorporated the things we told him we wanted, then he came back with a fair bid.  His employees were very courteous and professional. They did a great job. There were no surprises and we were very happy with the work they performed.

It was a very pleasant experience working with Pete and Eleir their many years of doing these jobs shine though.

They did a great job, and were very easy to work with; prompt, thorough and professional. Pete regularly kept me informed with all the details during the job.

The job was finished to our complete satisfaction and is very beautiful.

The project went very well. Albie stopped by and gave me an estimate, which I thought was fair and reasonable. I accepted, and we set up a start date and time. Albie and his team showed up on time, every day, until the work was completed. They were respectful of my family while they were working in the house, and were extremely careful to cover or move all belongings with great care, to ensure we didn't have any damage, drips or dust.

The work was meticulous, with Albie inspecting each part of it, before they could consider it complete.

60 days after the work was completed, we had some minor cracks show up in one of the great room walls, and I called and left Albie a message. He returned my call promptly, set up an appointment, and came out to see the crack. I don't think he had any obligation to cover the work under warranty, but he did. He carved time out of most of his Sunday to come in and do the work on the wall - and while he was here, found a couple of things I had missed earlier, and fixed those too.

Affordable Basement Finishing Co. finished the work on time, within budget, and entirely as promised. Albie and his colleagues are professional, courteous, decent - and highly competent.  I have no hesitation in recommending Affordable Basement Finishing Company for remodeling work.

Overall, the project went very well from start to finish, even though the job site was at least 40 miles from their location. Work began in late April after the County permit was obtained - ABF did all of the legwork on getting the permit and arranging inspections. This project involved a lot of initial and subsequent design work, as I changed a number of things before work began. I was in the process of selling a house and moving to the Denver area, so was in and out while the work was actually being performed. The framing work was excellent, as was the initial electrical and plumbing rough-in. Fortunately, I was in town for the electrical work, as there were some lines missing and others placed in the wrong location. This was corrected immediately, with the electrician returning that night to work directly with me in getting everything I needed installed.
Insulation and drywall phases went well. A small problem arose when drywall dust entered the HVAC system while I was away and I needed to get an emergency house cleaning, as my family was arriving the next week with people allergic to drywall dust. ABF agreed to cover the cost of the house cleaning, and they did. They also worked around the movers, when the moving truck arrived and a number of items needed to be stored in the basement, though away from the work being performed by ABF.
Texturing, painting, flooring and final electrical and plumbing occurred in a timely manner, with all work being completed professionally. There were minor bumps in the road that occur in all construction projects: some cable remained buried in the drywall, several speakers did not fit perfectly in the spaces allocated, some plumbing corrections needed to be made. In each instance, ABF worked with me to correct as many issues as they could. Where they couldn't fix the problem, they offered other solutions.
Overall, the workers were professional and maintained contact with me throughout the project. They were obviously skilled and experienced at their craft, which led to them completing the job on time and they took the time to reproduce the look and feel of the rest of the house in the basement. The entire job took about 9 weeks, and I am quite pleased with the overall results of the project.

We selected Affordable Basements for several things. They were familiar with the city inspectors. They had their subcontractors already lined up. They offered an innovative solution to an HVAC problem left by the builder. They provided more details in their bid, such as a proposed floor plan, than other bidders. Unfortunately, there was an error in their measurements by 2 feet that we did not catch prior to the bid, which required rework of the floor plan after the fact and the loss of enough room for a ping pong table. What Affordable Basements does routinely, they did extremely well. The HVAC, plumbing, framing, and dry wall all went well, and are of good quality. They were very responsive on small issues that showed up in closet doors and insulation. That said, we had two significant problems. The first was that the schedule and responsiveness dropped dramatically once the owner left the country. The job was bid at 6-8 weeks and was supposed to finish before the holidays. It took 10 weeks and finished in early January. During the delays, we were unable to get reliable information from the foreman on when work would occur. On two occasions, workers did not show up when promised. This is why the responsiveness and punctuality ratings above are a C. Before the owner left they were an A. The second problem is that Affordable Basements consistently failed to perform on customizations, despite multiple discussions on what we required. Minor customizations like carpet pad thickness and shelving in the shower were incorrectly executed. The bid included conduit to the outside for a future hot tub. When it became clear that conduit wouldn?t work, I agreed to run wire. Affordable Basements then argued that hot tub wire had been outside of the bid which is correct but also means they misunderstood the point of the conduit. The bid also included running speaker wire to the house sound system. Despite more than one conversation on this with the owner and foreman, this wire was not installed and the electrician said he?d never been informed of the requirement. The major mishap was a customized hinged bookcase door. I had proposed a vendor and Affordable Basements persuaded me to let them build it instead. We had multiple conversations about what I wanted with both the owner and foreman. In fact, the owner came by on a Saturday for his sole stated reason of confirming how we wanted the bookcase to swing. This bookcase door was delivered late (after Christmas, and on the fourth of four promised delivery dates) and was not hinged per our agreement. It was clear that the bookcase designer had either not gotten the requirements or had completely blown them off. This destroyed its usefulness. Since we had no faith that the bookcase subcontractor could correctly fix the job, we negotiated a reduced payment so that we could end the project. In summary, right up until the owner left the country, I would have raved about Affordable Basements. I am particularly happy with how they dealt with the HVAC and insulation issues. They performed at an A+ level during that part of the project. The schedule issues and delays after the owner left, right before the holidays, were irritating but ultimately acceptable. They performed at a B level during this period. However, the screw ups on the bookcase door and stereo wire earn them F?s for that part of the project. Hence the overall rating of a C.

They were able to start within weeks of the completing the agreement to do the work. Pete came to my work to sign the papers since it was hard for me to make appointments in the day. The estimate was very competitive and his was the only group that provided all the services. (others might do all but electrical etc.) They initially suggested I act as my own 'contractor' to get the proper Denver county paperwork etc. but I did not have the time, so they quickly arranged to be in charge of that part too which worked out well. The thing I would do differently is keep my own detailed notes of what we planned to do on the first walk through for ease of communication since I work in the day- a few things were missed on first pass and most, but not all, were addressed without a fuss. However there were a couple of smaller details which were not completed as I expected. It is possible that all details would have been addressed if I was available in the day for walk-through but of course I can't say for sure. There were some pieces of furniture which ended up with some paint and wall texturing on them- so I would advise protecting your own furniture.

The work was done ahead of schedule with courteous workers. Despite unforeseen problems that were no fault of the contractor, he worked with us to correct them for reasonable extra charges. His workers are top notch and the end result is really nice.