Ponce Design Build

I can't say enough good things about our experience with Adapted Living Spaces and the owner, Barbaro Ponce. We renovated our master bathroom. The project was started on the day he said he would start. They came and focused on our project and got it done. Our house was left clean each night and they kept us updated on their progress. The craftsman (I don't use this term loosely) named Gregorio who did most of the work did a fantastic job. His attention to detail was extraordinary. Gregorio worked his butt off on this job and we felt like this was his project (versus something he was hired to do). I really appreciated the work that Gregorio did for us. Barbaro visited the job-site each day and supervised the whole process. He inspected the job and was highly involved with the job. We changed our design several times and Barbaro worked with us through the entire process. As with any major project, we ran into a couple snags during the project. Barbaro anticipated those snags and guided us to an awesome solution. I'm a certified public accountant (CPA) so I think a lot before giving my opinion. These guys are definitely top notch! Barbaro is a man of his word and he delivers what he says he's going to deliver. Hire these guys if you can.

On June 7th, a very nice young man from Adapted Living Spaces showed up exactly on time, took the measurements, listened to what I wanted to accomplish, and offered some excellent advice and suggestions. On June 18th I received an email with the estimate, which needed to be revised because some items were left off. Shortly after, on June 22nd, another email arrived with the new estimate. The final June 22nd estimate was for $13,004.09. This was a very detailed and thorough proposal which included tearing out everything to the studs, insulating the outside wall and ceiling and rewiring, and which covered labor and construction materials, such as cement board and drywall and insulation. There was a $250 allowance included for a bathtub. I would be responsible for providing the ceiling fan, tile and grout for the tub alcove and floor, the cabinets, countertop, mirror, lights, sink, toilet, faucets, grab bars, towel bars, glass shower door or shower rod, and the Toto Washlet. Oh, and the paint for the walls. In other words, I could spend as much as I wanted to buy whatever quality of fixtures I wanted, putting the total cost of the project at about $18,000 or more, which was higher than I had budgeted for. I do like the idea of purchasing my own fixtures with no contractor markup, however. The plan for the complete tear out probably includes the costs for hidden damage, unforeseen problems, and so forth that two other contractors with lower bids made provision for as “extra” costs. I have dealt with other old houses in years past and I am aware that “unforeseen problems” are very likely to pop up, but I still chose to roll the dice with a lower cost and a less than complete tear out. If it turns out that a complete “tear out” becomes necessary after all, I guess I will be the one “tearing out” (my hair). In any case, when I emailed Barbaro Ponce, the owner of Adapted Living Spaces, with my decision to go another way, I also wrote that I hoped I could call upon his company for future improvements to my old house. Adapted Living seems like a great company to work with and I am sure they would have done an elegant job.

The project went poorly. This company may be perfect for a person well versed in bathroom renovation but they were hard to work with as a novice. I was told what choices I needed to make when I had to make them or choices were made for me. A sub-contractor left a mess which prevented me from using the room just in front of the bathroom. When the contractor was called (late on a Friday) I did not get an apology. I was asked, "So what do you want me to do about it?" At the close of the project there were items which could have been done which were not. The cleanup was not acceptable. In the room right outside of the bathroom there was a thin layer of dry wall dust over everything. I know much more than I did before this project started but I will not use them again. The total out of pocket cost of the project was over $10,000. The contractor cost was over $8,000. -

The project overall went as one with a home built in 1930 would except. Lot's of surprises when walls were opened up! Let's start with each. Master bath - The first day, the crew ripped out the old bath only to find a leaky roof, terrible plumbing. wood rot and just a jacked up mess. Barbaro was good in that he kept me from burning down the place. We worked through all the issues, including removing an existing window, installing all new plumbing, electrical, roof (separate contractor), changed the height of the floor, tile and frameless shower. This was a tough job. In the end, it looks fantastic. Downstairs bath - Oh yes more issues. Entire subfloor, framing, electrical, plumbing all were replaced. We kept the original tub and trashed everything else. Changed the existing ugly 1970's style bathroom back to a period look with new tile, sink, toilet, etc. Could not be happier with how it turned out. Kitchen - Complete gut to the studs. This time the subfloor was OK thank god. Installed all new plumbing, electrical, exhaust, laid a very complex stone floor, recessed lighting, under cabinet lighting and a good amount of receptacles. Went from dysfunctional and ugly to a place I now do not mind cooking in! All fixtures such as tile, cabinets, appliances, most lighting, etc., were supplied by me. Barbaro's sub's were excellent! All polite and cleaned up - no issues. His project manager Aristotle was great and we had good banter over the several months of work. Although not the cheapest nor most expensive, I felt good hiring Adapted Living Spaces and would do so in the future. His work comes with a 12 month warranty. I will be using this to remedy some settling issues with the grout and will update on how this was handled in a future update.

Had an appointment set up for 7/30/15 at 1:30. By 2pm no show. When I reached Barbaro he couldn't remember the appt., didn't have his calendar or remember what we had discussed the week before. Wanted me to review it all with him again. I needed an estimate or ball-park price that day to make decisions I had deadlines around. When we originally talked he sounded like a someone who could handle the project and would be good for several of the things I was wanting to do in a sunroom remodel. I took time off from work to be available. This experience was a waste of my time.

The service was performed quickly and professionally.

Barbaro and his crew renovated a small bathroom in a house that was built in 1948. They re-tiled the floor, replaced the subflooring and fixed the issue that had caused the sagging in the first place, by jacking up the floor from under the house. They installed a new sink cabinet unit, tiled around the shower, fixed the sagging ceiling and prepped the walls for painting to cover the years of cracked paint. They also did some other minor repairs around the house to get it ready to sell. Everything was done beautifully. They were professional, efficient and responsive to calls and emails. Barbaro was there daily to insure things went smoothly and handled unexpected issues well. Their worker was the hardest worker I have ever seen, working from morning till evening with out a break. He was amazing. Barbaro was responsive to our needs and worked with us on our time schedule, staying late and even working on a Saturday to accommodate me. I am extremely pleased with the outcome and so glad I chose ALS to do the work.

The process was enjoyable. It was truly a collaborative process which involved design input from myself and Mr. Barbaro the owner. There were specific design elements which presented challenges. For example, creating a high design and unique entry into the newly refinished rooms. The expertise that was assembled to complete the project was first rate (esp. the flooring and dry wall installation). Additionally, the personnel were very focused on delivering a top quality product. This was achieved by not looking at the clock, but staying until each critical component of the project satisfied the technician and myself. An appraiser evaluated my home after the completion of the project. Typically appraisers do not provide noteworthy comments on any aspect of what they are appraising (they maintain an objective demeanor). The appraiser simply loved the refinished basement.

Offered to repair just the threshold instead of a more costly option of replacing the entire base of the shower. Barbaro was very knowledgeable and explained the options. Scheduling the job was quick and easy. The result looks great and so fay (just over a week) no leaks!

Some minor things were not quite as expected. They responded well to issues. Overall, happy with the job.

Work was satisfactory, but job took five months. Contractor closed job down twice, wanting payment in advance.

Our initial desire was to modernize and open up our 1962 "galley-style" kitchen. We selected two contractors to give us ideas and bid. We selected ALS for their design. They showed us how to make our ideas work, We also liked the idea of having new custom cabinets by Gordon Cabinetry versus "factory" cabinets proposed by the other contractor. The cabinetry team's design assistance, recommendations, and craftsmanship were excellent. Demolition was timely, smooth and well done with the crew providing floor protection for our existing hardwoods and a thorough clean up after they completed the work. Overall the project went well and we were constantly made aware of when the next subcontractor would begin. All subcontractors showed up on time and were very professional. Owner/General Contractor, Barbaro Ponce, was on site whenever workers were here, unless he had other commitments. Issues always come up with construction in a 50+ year old house. Barbaro and his work team found ways to solve these issues during the construction process. ALS went beyond expectations by completing the project prior to the Thanksgiving holiday (we had given them a target date of early December.) We are very pleased with the finished product.

Barbaro and his team were outstanding! He communicated very well prior to starting the job, ensuring that everything was clear about the project scope, timeline and expectations. During the project he was there everyday to ensure work was done correctly, answer questions and provide guidance. His worker was EXCELLENT, fast and a pleasure to have working in my home. My overall experience with Barbaro (ALS) was a pleasure, I highly recommend him for any remodeling work and plan on using him for my spare bathroom and other projects soon.

i called Had scheduled for 1pm .. contractor canceled stating family emergency returned around 8pm ( i agreed to meet ) took pics measurements dropped off brochure. this was on a wednesday said he should have quote and estimate by the weekend or latest monday i called monday to see if he had wrong email address, he stated he had gotten behind that he should have quote by end of the day. nothing 9 days later. i would not use them again...thumbs down F!

It was a very difficult project with a difficult tenant, city delays and bad weather . Barbaro, the owner, patiently worked through all the difficulties until everything was resolved. His price was good and he went above and beyond what the contract called for . Tom Worthington Property Manager

Well spoke to the owner who referred me to his associate or partner (Pat) who than set an appointment for Thursday @ 3:00 pm. Thursday 3:00 came and went. No phone call no correspondence at all, I finally called the owner and stated that I was not interested in their services.

Everything went really well. I always had a clear understanding of what they were doing and when the work would be done. They always kept a great line of communication with me, and our bathroom looks beautiful.

The builder got the 2450.00 prior to our knowledge that he was not licensed for our kind of project. Making it impossible for him to do the project. His answer when questioned about licensing..." He has a friend that has one" what ALS has done is take my money and waste my valuable time. I am in a wheelchair, can not take a shower reach the microwave....with a life expectancy of only a couple of years...3 months of wasted time is huge. after almost three months I still do not know if the project can be done....if I can move the plumbing...the drawings are not sufficient to get pricing or pull permits....I drew the basic layout for architect, gave him a list of fixtures and appliances explained carefully the needs as far as space when getting around in a wheelchair. To think he had the master bedroom at 10x9'7" ...the master shower was 9foot by 4 foot...I could go on and on. I would guess the architect has no more than 1/2 hour of computer work invested....the address on the blueprints is not even mine. ALS is either completely incompetent or Don't give this guy any money up front. as I'm beginning the legal process to get mine back. I'm so disappointed in him...and in Angie's list

Overall a good experience. We needed to update the kitchen and bathroom in our older home on a shoestring budget. Adapted Living Spaces listened to our needs and offered great suggestions to fit the remodel into our budget. We truly appreciate their patience and professionalism with us. We will use this company again in the future.

Ivan did most of the work himself, with assistance from a subcontracted HVAC guy. Barbaro (the owner) and Ivan work very well together, and were very good to deal with. Since this was a one-person crew, the construction took several weeks, but we weren't in a hurry. The result was not a fancy job, but it was done cleanly, sturdily, and looks quite nice. Ivan made several adjustments during the project, and we were not nickel-and-dimed with fees or increased costs along the way. Barbaro and Ivan do a lot of retrofitting for disabled customers. While this job was not in that vein, I would trust them implicitly to do things right, at a fair price, including where the health and lifestyle of my family was at stake.

We had a rotten beam under the bathtub. We needed to remove the bathtub to get to the beam and since this step needed to be taken, we decided to renovate the entire bathroom (original bathroom in our 1948 house, cheaply updated sometime in the 1970s). Barbaro and his team came in and gutted our bathroom, removing everything, including the floor. They replaced the rotten beam, installed a tile floor, new tub, toilet, sink, light fixtures, grab bar, shower head, and tiled the shower area. We opted to do the painting and installation of bathroom accessories ourselves. The bathroom looks great. The other part of the project we hired Adapted Living Spaces for was to repair two walls in our guest bedroom. We'd had water damage to the lathe and plaster walls and that caused the walls to actually split. Based on Barbaro's suggestion, we decided to replace the walls with drywall. The Adapted crew patched the large water damaged area and installed new drywall over the two walls. The baseboards could not be saved, so they replaced the baseboards on all four walls. Again, we opted to do the painting. The bedroom now looks great too. We would definitely consider using Adapted Living Spaces for future home renovation projects. We found their prices to be fair, they are prompt answering questions, are on time, and did the best they could to minimize the drywall dust in our house.

Barbaro and his team did an excellent job on the room conversion for us. Everyone we worked with was professional, attentive, and conscientious of the budget and timeline. All planned work was estimated and line-itemed for us before the construction began, and additional requests were estimated in writing for us as well. There were no hidden/unexpected costs thrown at us and the team made sure to get our approval on various steps as work progressed. The sunroom was basically wall to wall single paned glass with a sliding door and two entrances from inside the house. The room was gutted, new exterior walls and drywall installed along with energy efficient windows and a glass exterior door. Electrical outlets were also installed along the new walls both inside and outside. The attention to detail was obvious throughout the project and the finished room - with new baseboards, outlet covers, and paint - looks fantastic! The room conversion was needed in order for us to reclaim a bedroom for a nursery. Not only did Adapted Living Spaces do an excellent job, they did so with us completely preoccupied by the early arrival of a baby. We plan to hire them again in the near future to renovate our master bathroom as well.

I was contacted in a timely manner and would give him a A+ for response time. Mr. Ponce was very professional and courteous. We did decide to go with a local contractor to support the market in our area.

My overall experience with them was very nice. They completely re-did the bathroom, took out the tub and put in a big, handicap, wheelchair shower. Repaired the ceiling and roof and poured new concrete. He did a fantastic job and even helped me pick out things that were within the overall price. I liked all of the workers. He came back and built a wheelchair ramp.

We had a pipe burst in our house and flooded several rooms. In their Angie's List description, as well as on their website, ALS says they specialize in "water damage restoration". I spoke to them on the phone and explained our situation. I was told they mainly worked on additions and that we would be better off going with someone else. The person I spoke with was polite and responsive, so I don't have anything negative to say about them. However, I think their information on Angie's List (and their website) is misleading. If you don't actually work on water damage restoration projects, then you probably shouldn't advertise yourself as an expert in that area.