Phil Coggeshall

Seems like a simple enough project, but there were multiple issues with the construction of our room that Phil had to overcome: out-of-square walls, base molding in the way, studs not where they would normally be expected to be, etc, etc.  Phil's experience and high level of craftsmanship was evident as he breezed through every issue he encountered.  Phil even made an on the fly repair to one of the cabinets that arrived damaged, otherwise, we would have had to wait weeks for a replacement.   From beginning to end, Phil was extremely courteous and a pleasure to work with, and we're looking forward to having him to do additional work at our house.

I will begin by saying that, overall, we love our new kitchen.  Also, we will never use C & L again.
    We asked C & L to our house about 2 years ago to investigate the possibility of remodeling our home.  Having decided to begin with the kitchen, we had C & L out again to provide us with an estimate.  I had purchased some floor plan design software and had worked on a home/kitchen design.  I showed Megan my ideas and she requested copies of my drawings.  We explained what we were interested in accomplishing with the renovation.  Megan's initial design was far from what we were looking for. After she worked up another unsatisfactory design, we asked her what she was trying to accomplish, as she was not addressing our needs.  Her response was that she was trying to minimize some of the labor/material costs to keep our expenses down.  While I commend her for her good intentions, we were most interested in getting our dream kitchen and were willing to pay to get it.  Finally, we had a design we approved of.  The start date was to be the end of June.  We began ripping out the kitchen and dining area; setting up a makeshift kitchen in the living room.  The start date was moved to July, then August and finally mid-September.  All the time, we were confined to the living room, having dismantled most of the kitchen and all of the dining area in preparation for the June start.  Meanwhile, we went about the business of finalizing cabinets, countertop, flooring, etc.  Our time is very limited, so we ended up working with a designer in Lancaster (Swartz Kitchen & Bath) one day when Megan was unavailable, to finalize the cabinet color and countertop.  This designer, Jeanette Gallagher, was GREAT and we wished we had used them from the beginning.  Surprisingly, our estimate did not include appliances, so we bought the stove, hood and ovens from ADU.  We had the refrigerator from our pervious home in storage and were installing our recently purchsed dishwasher.  Todd Roman and everyone, with the exception of North Hills Flooring, did a great job on the kitchen.  Todd worked with us to figure out how to treat the window and floor trim to make everything aesthetically pleasing.  Unfortunately, when the windows were laid out, they were placed 1/2 inch lower than they should have been and, as the countertop butts up against the window frame, the window cranks are too low to be easily rotated on the casement window.  The issues we have had with North Hills involve the installation of the floor (which was recitfied to our satisfaction) and the backsplash (which was not).  Megan did not accompany us when we selected the laminate floor and the backsplash.  We made several trips to North Hills and sweated the color and texture coordination more than any other aspect of the kitchen.  The salesman was tolerant of our need to "get it right".  Once the predominant tile was selected, the salesman helped us to find a coordinating tile to use as a transition from the countertop to the mail tile field.  Unfortunately, he either did not know or failed to mention that the thicknesses of the transitional tile and the main field were different.  Our next problem involved the installation of the backsplash.  The installer did not take measures to ensure all the tiles were set to the same depth in the adhesive.  This gives the surface a wavy and uneven appearance.  In addition, North Hills did not order sufficient tile to complete the installation in 1 day, so 1 week was lost waiting for the delivery of the tile.  In the end, the appearance of the backsplash is very annoying.  The spacing between the tiles is uneven in the focall area above the cooktop and areas that should have been filled with small pieces of tile were filled with grout and the recepticals were installed unevenly when the tiles were installed behind them.  All-in-all, we were and continue to be very angry over the installation of the backsplash.  Despite several meetings between C & L and North Hills (there was LOTS of finger pointing), no resolution was to be achieved.  C & L said that they would negotiate on our behalf but I do not believe that either C & L or North Hills were interested in repairing / replacing all or part of the backsplash.  In the end, we were refunded a token portion of our cost for the overall renovation.  
    Suggestions:  Have C&L draw up a real contract identifying what they will and will not do.  BE SPECIFIC.  When it comes to costs, ask them to prepare a VERY detailed budget.  Costs will change and it may be difficult to know what drives the changes with out a highly defined budget.  Know what they expect you to purchase yourself.  You may not be satisfied with what the default selections are when C & L builds the budget.  You will more-than-likely want to purhase some items and be reimbursed for the default costs included in the budget.  You can trust the carpenter and all of the sub-contractors C & L used, with the exception of North Hills  Take C & L with you everywhere when you expect to finalize a decision on a component of your project.  In that way, C & L can take responsibility for all decisions.  In my opinion, the lead carpenter, Todd Roman, and all of the sub-contractors used for our job did excellent work and were very professional, with the exception of North Hills Flooring.  We will NEVER use North Hills again, and, by extension, C & L.  This is unfortunate as we are planning a 1000 sq. ft. addition as our next project.

Overall, we are very pleased with final bathroom look and the quality of the work.  While the quote did take some time to get worked up (since the hurricane rolled through between our original visit and when we received the quote, so I expect that they were overwhelmed with people asking for hurricane repair quotes), it was very reasonable and detailed.  I had few questions, which Megan Coggeshall was able to quickly answer.  After we signed off on the quote, it took about a week for them to schedule the lead carpenter for the job.  They scheduled a meeting between us and the carpenter, and they were able to start the next day.  Overall, they had estimated that the job would take about 6 weeks, and it actually took about 8 weeks.  However, that timeframe did include Thanksgiving, and actually the final delay was getting the cabinets to install.  The rest of the work happened pretty quickly, and the majority of the work was done in 6 weeks (the floor, the plumbing, etc) except for the cabinet install. Since we had another bathroom to use, the slight delay was not that much of an issue for us.  I was actually surprised that we didn't find anything in the bathroom that was a larger delay, since this was the first full remodel of the bathroom since our house was built in 1958, as all the other changes were just new layers over old layers.

They were very good about keeping our budget in mind, and keeping us informed of the progress of various items.  We worked with one primary carpenter, Todd, who was very good about trying to save what he could in the bathroom (by making sure to not damage the plaster ceiling when he removed the walls, or damage the walls when he removed the old tile, etc).  He was also really great about protecting our hardwood floors with drop cloths and such during the demolition and when any work was occurring that might generate a lot of dust or traffic.  Also, since my husband works 3rd shift and sleeps during the day, he was good about letting us know what days would be noisier than others.  He was very good about informing us about any issues that he encountered, and was able to provide us with some ideas on the closet design to make sure we maximized our space.  He also got us some new covers for our hot water baseboard heat in the bathroom, which look so much nicer than the old covers.  He was also very responsive when we had issues, like when the drywall guys skim coated the bottom of the walls that were staying plaster where the tile was, but not above that area.  Due to the drastic difference in texture, it didn't look nice, and he was able to schedule the guys to skim coat those sections of the walls in a day or two, and they look really good now.

Megan Coggeshall was very helpful in helping us pick out our finishes, and was able to help us find a great deal on our flooring, which helped offset some of the other items that had to over budget because you always find something that needs to be fixed when you open up some of the walls and rip up the flooring in an older house (like the rotting floor, or the need to install shut off valves so that the water in the 2nd bathroom was actually separated from the main bathroom).  She also recommended a very nice grade of cabinetry, and was very good about making sure we would be pleased with the items.  When she went to order the medicine cabinet that matched the cabinets I picked out, she immediately called when she found out that the mirrors would be very small (8" x 10"), we had discussed replacing it with a single larger cabinet.  I wasn't entirely happy with how I thought that would look, but Megan was able to work with the cabinet supplier, and we were able to get 2 larger cabinets that were customized to have larger mirrors.  They look great in the bathroom. 

We would definitely work with this contractor again.  This was our first experience with remodeling with a contractor, and we thought that it went pretty smoothly.

They started right away after we signed the contract and the framing was done very quickly. Then the hurricane hit and everything slowed down because they were inundated with clean-up work. I was fine with that but it did push out our end time by a few weeks. Our lead carpenter dealt with all of the sub-contractors. With the exception of picking out flooring in a showroom we did not have to deal with any sub-contractors. As with any job and any contractor you sitll have to keep in constant communication with your carpenter to make sure everything is exactly the way you want it. The second half of the job went slower than expected. We were told it would just be a few more days and those few more days kept being extended, but that did not affect the quality of the work. Just a minor annoyance. Typical with any job of this size. The lead carpenter had many good suggestions and I trusted him. We did have to stay on top of him to do a few minor things like the molding on top of the column. It was in the contract but he ran out of material and tried to convince us we didn't need but I insisted and he did it without any trouble. That would probably be my biggest complaint which is nothing at all considering they finished 1000 sqft of space exactly the way we wanted it. The subs they brought in were top notch, although I could complain about one of the light switches not turning on the set of lights I had expected but that is also minor. 

We did not run into any major issues with the project or the contractor. People think we now have the most wonderful basement in the neighborhood. I would recommend C&L.

Phil measured the space, found out what we wanted in the project and together we a drew up several plans to fit the space. They were able to take our ideas a from magazines and catelogues and develop a tailored plan. We gave access to the crew and never worried about them in our home. The finished Jproject is a source foe pride for us.

It went fairly well. The job fell very closely to the proposed estimated time. They have a great team who were very helpful when it came to problem solving and design.. Very happy overall and would definitely use them again for any other projects.

Very well. By far the most professional - clearest plans for what they would do. Great contact with a "project carpenter" (foreman) that coordinated all our work - we always had his cell phone to call him and he was very pleasant, professional and dedicated to our satisfaction. Due to some problems with ordering cabinets and escape window - several mis-orders or wrong sizes - the project took a little longer than we had hoped, but overall we were very pleased and would recommend them without reservation and use them again.