Billy shatters the negative stereotype given to many general contractors. He's honest, on time, and works with you to ensure your satisfaction at every step of the way.
I am a single person with a full-time job, and just didn't have much time to spend on this project. Billy was respectful of my time, and has my implicit trust in decision making. He has attention to detail, and knows the trade very well. He speaks up to subcontractors when things aren't right, apologizes even when he's not at fault, and always has a cheerful, can-do attitude.
I purchased a townhouse in Southwood with an unfinished, 20ft x 20ft carriage house apartment (studio apartment) over the garage. The structure was framed out when I purchased it, with utility lines coming into the unit, but no actual service lines run along the walls inside the apartment. The people who sold me the house gave me an architect's rendering of what the build-out would look like. We used this as a starting point, and Billy was very flexible in making changes to it.
I called four general contractors to come out and bid on the apartment job. All were within the same price range. What set Billy apart was that his vendors were all close to Southwood, and he has a small crew of his own to do framing and finish work. He prepared the estimate with "buckets" of money allocated for each finish (the flooring allowance was $2,200, bath/kitchen fixtures were $1,700, etc.) Anytime I saved money in one area, we were able to apply the extra money to another.
Overall, the construction went very smoothly. All of the subcontractors were personable, knowledgeable and professional. All work was done between 8-5, the construction site was cleaned up daily, and trash was hauled off site. There was minimal
impact/disruption to my day-to-day life. We had a 60-day timeframe and went over it by a few weeks, because we had some delays we couldn't have anticipated. I am still thrilled with the overall quality and level of service.
Originally, the flooring in the apartment was laid without a level subfloor. It looked lumpy and bumpy, because the subcontractor had cut corners in an honest attempt to save me money. I was not happy with it. Billy insisted that it be corrected and negotiated a fair price for the additional subflooring materials (the subcontractor replaced the surface material for free.) Billy apologized to me and agreed to share the cost of the extra materials.
There were a few instances where I didn't understand the way things were done. When I called Billy to ask about them, he talked me through his rationale, and my questions disappeared. Quite often, I was not familiar with the applicable building code that applied to that type of work.
All in all, Billy is an A+ provider. At the conclusion of my project, I only had two last questions for Billy: 1. How busy do you want to be? and 2. Can I have a stack of your business cards to share with everyone I know?