Exterior Specialist

unknown

excellent.

Beautiful craftsmanship and attention to detail to install this durable metal roof on our house. Exterior Specialist also working against the clock as we wanted the work completed before winter weather set in. We very much appreciate willingness to work over Thanksgiving weekend to get that done. Going in, we had no idea how many variables were involved in selecting this type of roof - but Chris Freeman explained all the pros and cons of the features and which would look especially well on our house. Great work and a roof that should stand the test of time!

Chris Freeman of Exterior Specialists was as determined and professional as anyone could be facing this challenge. We have an old, old farmhouse in a remote area of Wisconsin. Over the years, we noticed a significant drop in the level of the floor under the kitchen addition (25 y/o), as well as rotted, bug eaten sections of the siding on that end of the house. Chris was good enough to drive up to access the situation for us - and also willing to take on this job. Chris basically brought everything he needed to do the job site, acquainted himself with resources for supplies and got busy. Challenges and surprises were many - probably too many to list - but he was able to get the job done - including having to re-route some plumbing underneath the kitchen in order to run supports underneath that side of the house, had to drop and remove a few trees, built cement pilings to support the new deck the right way, used some of the existing old limestones as well as new ones to rebuild foundation wall that had collapsed. With the house built into a hill, there's really not a bit of level ground to work on. Chris got this work done single-handedly and done right.

This was the summer we planned to address painting the outside of our and quot;newerand quot; home. We purchased in 2009 and the house is approx. 8 years old - cedar sided with wrap-around covered porches, columns, railings and balconies. We knew we had some dry rot issues on the west and north exposures of the house - but we were not expecting the level of repairs we'd be needing. Since the repair work was beyond his scope, our painter highly recommended Chris Freeman (owner of Exterior Specialist) to us - as he had seen his work. Once we met with Chris, it was obvious he was the craftsman for the job - as well as other jobs he could take care of for us this year. He was not on Angie's List and has no website for now - so we did research by contacting the references he provided us with. All reviews were positive including invitations to come see the work for myself or drive by. He provided us with a certificate of insurance.

Chris went over all the challenges here - most importantly - that the original builder had cut corners during construction. He explained in detail what needed to be done immediately, what could wait. The windows, porch columns, newels and railings were all done in pine - then painted. Bottom trim of the windows was done in such a way that the water did not run off but rather sat on the wood. Time, elements and exposure took their toll. Chris also pointed out the flaws in the design of our columns and attention to details of all our covered porches, educated us on how they should be done, etc. Making all the changes would have been a much more extensive project - even though we have no doubt it would have enhanced the look of our home. For this time around, we really had to stick with fixing and replacing only the things that were 'broken' - and then we will proceed with our paint job before the summer is over.

Chris takes great pride in his work and wants to have a job done right. He is an artist and a craftsman and delivers what he promises. He's been working thru these hot days - and remains positive, courteous and professional. The job site is neat. The work on the exterior of the house is about nearly done, gutters and driveway will follow.

Note: Chris also took the time to arrange for a rental generator during our recent lengthy power failure. He didn't say - call so-and-so... he made the call, picked it up, had an electrician come by to hook it up and had a full tank of gas to refill generator as needed. We call that going the extra mile. We will continue to call Chris Freeman at Exterior Specialist for any job or renovation we consider at our home.