Keil Construction

In 2017, we engaged Keil Construction to develop our basement crawl space into usable living space. This was a very challenging job considering the low ceilings, duct work from our AC machines, and the lack of window openings. After a lot of hard work, Keil Construction underpinned the entire perimeter and excavated, and the results are exceptional. Mr. Keil met with us regularly, and he was always able to come up with a clever solution for anything problem that came up. We have a beautiful bedroom, bathroom now and a very sunny family room that includes a wet bar. We added a whole third to our home, and I know It has increased the value of our home tenfold. Mr. Keil has a wonderful design aesthetic. We love his use of old wood and architectural elements from other buildings to add charm to ours. We have an exposed brick wall and old wood built in cabinets that are all beautiful and unique. The basement took awhile to complete. There were permit delays and water challenges. We were able to successfully work through these obstacles, and we love the end result. It was well worth the wait. Like any contractor, there were times I wished the communication had been better. But I know firsthand that Mr. Keil has been working to improve and expand his team to make the communication and project management at Keil Construction top notch. Thank you Keil Construction!

They did a great job and I loved working with them. I would highly recommend them.

We fired Keil Construction, eventually settling out of court with damages paid, under threat of a lawsuit after they botched 2 of the 3 structural beams. The cut corners on materials and grossly modified the installs on site, ignoring the permitted drawings submitted by our structural engineer. This resulted in structural damage to our home. Overall, their workers were inexperienced and their work largely unsupervised. Owner Jeff Keil himself proved to be abusive and dishonest, consistently showing questionable integrity and business practices. He insisted as part of our settlement on a gag order, a request I was unwilling to grant him.

We have used Keil Construction for two major renovations and a handful of smaller projects over the past ten years. We have been thrilled with the outcome. In fact, Jeff Keil's increased dramatically the value of our Capitol Hill home. We've recommended him to friends over the year, and they have all had a positive experience. Our first renovation entailed gutting our first floor to expand the kitchen, move the half bath, and add a mudroom and an entrance from the garage. The results were stunning, and the cost was very reasonable. Jeff was very involved throughout the process, and his recommendations and attention to detail made a huge difference. It's also worth noting that working with his team was a pleasure. The second renovation was even more significant. This time around we gutted the second floor (moved two bathrooms), which allowed us to add a staircase to the previously dingy, dark attic. Each of the new bathrooms was gorgeous, and the reconfiguration of the three bedrooms on the second floor made much more sense than the previous layout. Jeff Keil figured out a plan that allowed us much more closet space. Finally, he turned our attic into a third floor with a family room, bedroom, and full bath. We loved the placement of the windows and the dormers with cozy window seats. I recommend Keil Construction with zero reservations!

Jeff and his team at KC have an unparalleled understanding of restoring and remodeling historic row homes. While many contractors bid our job, some with competitive offers to KC, only Jeff had the vision that respected the history and uniqueness of these old homes and how they fit into the Capitol Hill neighborhood. As an example, Jeff maintains a warehouse of historic home parts that he applies to his various projects to make sure the homes he renovates retain their character. For our project, at every step along the way, Jeff used his vision to make sure we didn’t take a shortcut to get the job done that would compromise the character of the house. Jeff’s is supported by a core construction team are both professional and skilled. His plumber, electrician, painter, and carpenters all did high quality work, were respectful of our family while we lived in the home that was under renovation, and always greeted us with a smile. KC’s work quality and craftsmanship really shines on fine carpentry. We had KC install a banquette as part of the kitchen remodel that was not part of the original architect’s plans, and the end result both fit the space perfectly and added to the character of the house. All renovations have their challenges, and our project was no exception. While we had positive experience with Jeff’s core construction team, we had a less positive experience with some of his second string subcontractors. Our biggest challenges however were with the office staff, and the day-to-day management of our project. Jeff, while he tries, is simply too busy to be the manager of each project. This is understandable, and Jeff like any owner needs a strong office team to back him up. Unfortunately during our construction the office staff changed numerous times. We never had a project manager who could provide to us the level of communication we desired, and as our job progressed, we were often left wondering about the status of work on any particular day or when we could expect the job to complete. We know that since our remodel, Jeff has brought back some of his old trusted office staff, and added some new support to his team. We suggest talking with him about project management expectations prior to signing the contract, and consider augmenting Jeff’s team with some of your own project management if you don’t want to be burdened with that responsibility. As for KC’s financial management of the job, we were very happy. We never at any time felt that Jeff was trying to be anything but fair in his billing or change orders. Jeff respects the work, and stuck to our agreed costs except for where there were true changes in scope. That said, there was rarely formal change orders processed prior to the work being performed, so if that is important to you for managing your project, your should make sure your contract with KC reflects your desired agreement. We’ve lived in our remodeled space for over a year now. As Jeff predicted, we’ve been very happy with both the final design of the remodel and the quality of the work by KC. KC has stood by their work, performing a few minor warranty repairs without any issue. Since we completed the remodel, we have since hired KC for a few other construction jobs, and have been similarly happy with the results.

When we decided to renovate our home on Capitol Hill to include a finished basement, a second full bath, installation of central air (which the house did not have), replacing all windows in the back of the house, and renovation of the original upstairs bath, we solicited bids from several contractors. We found Keil Construction to be the only one that included everything on our request for bids and his estimate was the most competitive. Throughout the project, several unforeseen complications arose, given the age of the house. In every case, Jeff Keil came up with a solution to deal with the problem and ensured the house was brought up to code, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of the house's original design. In the end, we had a finished basement with a family room, bedroom, new bath, laundry space, and an upstairs with central air, refinished floors, new windows and exterior doors, and new siding in the back, making the house much more functional and comfortable. For our backyard, which was in terrible condition, Keil installed a brick patio, new fencing, and poured concrete for off-street parking. This has greatly enhanced the usefulness and value of our house. All in all, we were very pleased with Keil Construction. Jeff's teams' work was high quality throughout the process. We would recommend them to anyone considering major projects on a Capitol Hill home.