dBAtlanta

It went great, it was a great process, they offered the most competitive price and they have the best value, they are very fair, very neat, they clean up after themselves and kept us inform on every process. They are best company that I ever dealt with.

It was great. They did what I wanted them to be done. Pretty much everybody was working everyday. They were a pre-skilled workers.

unknown

Direct-Build has fantastic salesmanship within its ranks, especially with the owner's son Andre.  We were excited to combine two adjoining condos and had developed detailed & city approved plans to do so.  Andre was great to work with, but only initially.  After soliciting bids from 3 companies, we chose Direct-Build.  Once the work begins, don't expect to be in contact with Andre anymore, regardless of what he tells/sells you.  This is especially fun when there is a conflict between what he says, what he emails, and the price the company quotes.
The project started off great, full of hard work, great attitude, and lots of enthusiasm.  We tried to nail things down with a signed legal document for services provided, offered by Direct-Build, but were convinced of its needless burden and loss of flexibility, also by the savvy minds at Direct-Build.  So we didn't sign a formal document, just the bid packet.  First mistake.
As the project progressed, typical contractor drama began to ensue:

-not showing up "because he's at another job"

-not following the drawings accurately (as required under commercial code)

-improvised solutions to questions instead of simply picking up a phone and asking us

-emotional and irrational defensiveness on the part of Bill, the assigned contractor, when conflicts were pointed out between the work and drawings.  Some work was later corrected, some work was refused to be corrected.

-requiring payments at points not defined in the draw schedule, or before work was complete for that point in the draw schedule.

-a month long delay in the name of "waiting for the city to approve the most recent rough-in inspection."  What BS.  It had been approved the day after the inspection, as discovered on the city's website later.  Lying to us so they could do other jobs while our home is uninhabitable is never acceptable.

Remember that this is a General Contractor, with most of the work being subbed out.  Much expense will go to their "expertise and management," which leaves much to be desired.  Yes, they are experienced, but it is with of shoddy work, cutting corners, and just plug-and-play applications to specific tasks.  Despite the great detail in our city-approved, already-bid-on architectural drawings, Bill couldn't put some walls in the right places, build a low wall that was perfectly square or even level, build a new door frame for a door to swing the correct direction, or make things neat and straight so that they didn't require his favorite band-aid ever: caulking.
Both the kitchen and bathroom tile installation took 3 tries to finally match what had been on the drawings for the previous 9 months.  Our new sink was damaged during one of the tile removal processes.  No responsibility taken for that one.
Subfloor installation requirements were specifically laid out in the drawings that they bid on, yet resulted in one of us getting cussed out when we pointed out that there were being installed incorrectly, and without the correct adhesive.  He was almost fired on the spot for that one, but the quickest path to having a home again dictated our continued patience and tongue-biting.
Attention to detail is severely lacking at Direct-Build.  If you would like them to "Build me a room, I don't care what it looks like," than this is the company for you.  If you would like to be an architect and design something a little unconventional (that had to be approved by the condo HOA and by the city) and prefer it to be built to specifications that were provided before the first swing of a hammer, then choose someone else to build it for you.  We elected to remove much of the tasks from the scope of the job and just do them ourselves: painting, baseboard treatments, installation of most light fixtures, & installation of all bathroom hardware.
Everything finished with a bang when going through the final punch-list of unfinished tasks.  Despite the $3,000 or so of remaining work to be completed, we never saw Bill again.  We did, however, receive one final email a month later from Robert, the owner, offering $1,000 off for our disappointment with some of the quality of work.  That left only $2,000 remaining to pay them!  We responded that as soon as the remaining work was complete we would write the check.  We never hear from them again and ended up doing all the speaker wiring in two rooms and other low voltage relocation work ourselves.
Direct-Build only wants one thing: your money and your deluded belief that they care about your project.  What could have been such a great experience turned out to be a frustration in time and money.  Direct-Build does not deserve anyone's business.

Andre Hamm is the owner Robert Hamm's son. Andre is wonderful to work with, having an ability to conceptualize any design one might come up with, and to build it in reality. He also can work with you on the budget, work within the budget and knows where costs can be saved and where the money is best spent..  He is diligent, personable and professional and a true pleasure to work with.  After the sale one is handed over to a project manager.  Our first project manager was let go after a few months. Our first PM seemed inexperienced in general contracting, was slow to respond to permitting and septic issues that needed to be addressed before construction could begin.  The second project manager was with us, took our addition to completion but was also a good craftsman but not the best manager.  Our second project manager was not able to delegate effectively, he couldn't use the website that we were instructed to use to communicate with him and to guide the project.  He seemed to have too many irons in the fire with other projects coming ahead of ours, delays in timing of workers and materials created a longer than expected time frame to completion.  On the other hand the actual bones of the building were hand made by two master carpenters Noel & Geo Garcia (brothers) who were exceptional in their craft, completely professional, arrived timely, worked long and tirelessly, and cleaned up the site each and every day.  They went the extra mile to build a solid foundation, framing, with insight and extras that I had not anticipated, such as adding an attic, massive solid beams for the roof and doors, and boxing up exposed pipes underneath the addition.  Between the Garcia brothers workmanship, and Andre Hamm's vision I would hire this company again. The work is solid, and well worth the money, since it will last several lifetimes.  We had a third project manager during the last week of our construction. It was good to see the company taking a serious look at how the project manager impacts the timeline, and future references. I feel the improvements in staffing should allow for reduced timeline to completion, and increased and more productive communications with the client.

Connected at 2013 Gwinnett home show. Andre Hames measured our home and developed detailed scooes and budgets over 3 separate occasions because my spouse and I could not agree on our approach to accommodate aging mom. Consistently professional he was able to offer structural, and quality of life, designs keeping budget and esthetics in mind. He has experience but also listens to the homeowners wants. His concept drawing is exceptionally functional and beautifully maximizes the space available. His idea to match the existing roofline will make the addition fit as if it were original. We asked him to work within our $60K budget which is all we have to include all labor and materials. We will be using a heat pump in the addition to eliminate overburdening existing HVAC. He will move existing HVAC for function and serviceability. We were handed off to Matt Smyth our project manager who has been in touch often either via text or in person as we move thru permitting stages.

We met with Andre Hames (owner's son) and was very pleased with his approach to our project and they came in with a reasonable quote.  We felt fairly confident using them as they had completed work for acquaintances of our and they were very happy with their project.  Evidently something fell apart between their job and ours, as we did not have a good experience, and Andre never showed up again on our project - although his father did come by after we had submitted numerous complaints.  The project took over 4 times longer than they projected and the work was not high quality.  While the owner and project manager both seemed very knowledgable, they had significant problems with their sub-contractors - they didn't show up when they were supposed to, and when they did, they oftentimes had to re-do work because of errors or poor quality.  The paint crew was especially bad, but despite my repeated complaints, and their repeated painting of the same spaces, the paint job still looks bad.