BLUE SKY BUILDERS INC

Thanks Mike and BLue Sky Builders, they built our awesome garage in 2003. Came out today for some framing and a small siding fix. Maintenance on both garage doors and three new openers. Outstanding !

they did a wonderful job on my garage. highly recommended

I originally got a quote from the garage company whose commercials are on tv all the time. Then I did a quick google search and found their reviews and BBB ratings are horrible! My second quote was from Blue Sky. Their reviews and BBB ratings were GREAT! So they came out and gave me a quote. About $8,000 LESS than the first company!!!!!! (and a bigger garage door opening - 8 foot versus 7 foot). Dave the salesman was great. No pressure at all! It took about 3 weeks to get the permits, then the fun began.... First up was the demo crew. They tore down my old garage in about 2 to 3 hours. Extremely professional and cleaned up after themselves. Less than a week later, the concrete guys came. It took 2 days to frame, then pour the pad and apron for a 22x22 garage. About 3 weeks later the framers came. I think it took them 3 days. Another guy came after them to clean up. Within a week, the garage door and gutter guy came. He was here and gone in the same day. A week after that, the electrician came. Took him 2 days. Overall, every crew was on time and very professional. They were there at 7 am. Worked til noon. Lunch. Then left when finished, or at 5 pm. Finally, the inspector came. He was impressed with the straight lines and how everything was done.

I have such great experiences with blue sky. They made my whole build out process very smooth and well coordinated. Especially thanks to David and Bruce with their professional assistanting throughout the project. I highly recommend this company for garage.

Even though it's been over a year since we had our garage built, Mike came out & replaced our keypad, no charge when it stopped working. Customer service is the number 1 priority! We love our garage & get compliments frequently.

David Krecek was great. Constant contact though the whole process. I feel I was given a great deal.

See above.

They were nice to work with and had decent design experience with a custom build like I wanted. I had the layout/blueprints drafted myself and worked with them to obtain what was reasonable. I believed they were on the same page as me and generally saw my "vision". They obtained the desired siding and roofing shingles (brands) to match the house. Windows and entry door were just stock items from Menard's, which also was fine. The demo was performed in 2 stages over about 2 1/2 days due to the amount of work required. Part of the demo was unexpectedly on a Saturday morning, which was not an issue for us. I do wish that at least some of the materials (e.g. metals, electrical) were recycled, as opposed to the whole thing going to landfill. They explained that it is simply an economic reason for not recycling. The dig for the new foundation was performed well with no issues. I found out later during landscaping that the dig came within 2 inches of buried electrical cable! The foundation was poured acceptably but did not have any blankets or other moisture retainer applied, and I ended up watering the concrete for a day or 2. Same story for the garage apron installed a few days later. Not really a problem. The work crew damaged some adjacent concrete in the demo of the original apron, which was not repaired. The electrical conduit installed in the foundation at time of pour was only 3/4" which is pretty much a minimum size for electrical loading. I did not know it at the time but I actually needed about 1 1/4" conduit for my desired electrical loading. Note that BSB was not contracted to provide the electrical service to the garage. The garage build was medium-high quality, and generally in accordance with their spec and quote. The crews worked efficiently and there were no "show-stopper" issues during the build. I helped the poor guy who drew the short straw and was supposed to clean up everything himself at the end. However, nothing is perfect. I had requested a change in the custom garage door color about 3 weeks before the build, and BSB stated that that change would be fine and doable, they would update the supply order. However, when the door was installed, it was the originally requested color. BSB looked into it, and apologized for originally stating that they could do it, but that the door had actually already been ordered by that time and was unchangeable. Also, I requested a ridge vent be installed for the roof, specifying the intent to finish the upstairs portion of the garage as an insulated space. Ridge vents need soffit vents to work correctly, but the soffits were installed with no ventilation, although the material that was used for the soffit is available with a ventilation option that is a negligible upcharge. This material should have been used for the soffit. BSB designer/owner also "knew a guy" who could perform some desired masonry work at the end of the build but this was not followed up on. Overall, this was a quality build, and if the homeowner knows exactly what they want, stays on top of the contractors, and have reasonable expectations, all should go well. Note also that they expect payment when they say that their work is done, even if you have issues with anything that are still being followed up on.

They did a great job. They worked with me and built it the way I wanted it. They had great ideas. They matched the shingles to my roof.

We chose Blue Sky because of their ratings on Angies List and because of the confidence Rick exuded in the company's abilities.  We wanted a custom garage, nothing fancy but to match our house.  While the garage looks fine, the process of building it was unpleasant and the quality is not great. 

Rick made many assurances that Blue Sky could do what I wanted.  I didn't want anything fancy, just convenient.  Once construction started, he was MIA and the contractor knew nothing of the items I had discussed with Rick.  Simple things, like the location of the pull-down stairs, were not as Rick has discussed with me.  It was as if Rick didn't really know how the garages were built because what he had promised was not possible to build, according to HIS contractor.  The concrete was poured wrong and no one noticed.  It was not to code and I had to point that out.  We paid to have extra lighting and electrical outlets put in, but when the electrical crew came in, they actually threatened me when I told them what Rick had promised me.  Only when I told them to stop work and leave did they finally agree that what I was asking for was possible. 

To this day, the garage door does not work properly .  Water fills the front of the garage at the slightest rain and freezes to ice that  

remains all winter.  It is not a pleasant garage to be in and certainly not worth the 30k price tag.  I was very disappointed with the work done by Blue Sky.

I had wanted the garage to be finished in time for a charity house walk that we were participating in.  Rick had told me that our garage would be a priority because of this.  It was obviously NOT because often crews were removed from our project to work on something else.  I believe that they were over extended at the time.  Rick was full of promises before I signed the contract, then disappeared after.  I only saw him again when he wanted money.

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They must be heavily overcommitted because there is no customer service. They took months to build a simple garage. The structure is fine. Their responsiveness is horrible. Some subs were very good at their craft, some were very sloppy. For example, the remotes and owner manual were left in the garage at the end. When I found them in a box of paint cans, they looked beat up and old. I thought they were garbage because some garbage was left. They really don't seem to respect the homeowner but maybe that is because I am a woman. Regardless, I prefer a better quality of subs and service. As I write this, I am waiting for repairman from another company to fix the brand new nonfunctional garage door that Blue Sky installed. I have to call 3 other companies to fix the mess they left behind. Blue Sky contract does say that they will not be responsible for any collateral property damage, but I was not ready for the total lack of respect they had for my property. The garage is ok. The cement floor, siding and roofing look very nice. But the electric service to the garage door and lights is nonfunctional at this time. They ignore you after payments are made. Once they are paid, you will never hear from them again. The bottom line is that they do not stand behind their work and are unreliable. For these reasons, I can't recommend them.
Update:
It is the electrical that is faulty, not the garage door opener unit. After calling Blue Sky, someone called me back saying he did not know what I was talking about and asked whether I was a customer. I have a feeling he was a garage door sub. I then called a 24 hour garage door company and an electrician. Together they helped me troubleshoot the problem and suggested a temporary fix until the electrician could come during regular hours. This was a Saturday and, although he would come right away, he gave me the option of a Monday morning service call to save money. Since the burning smell was dissipating and I had to pay extra to correct the faulty wiring by Blue Sky sub, I agreed. It is early Monday morning as I write this, and the electrician is on his way. Still no callback from Blue Sky Builders themselves.

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From start to finish, the job was done professionally.  Old garage was demolished and debris hauled away same day.  Quality of workmanship was excellent, and attention to detail impeccable.  We asked them to match the trim on the garage to the trim on the house...no problem!    When our neighbor accidentally backed into the side of the garage, damaging the siding, they promptly came back out to seamlessly repair it.  Great communication through the entire process.  Another neighbor used Blue Sky when they needed a new garage, too!

My husband and I knew we wanted to go with Blue Sky the moment Rick
said he didn't want to know which other garage companies we'd gotten
quotes from and had no interest in hearing what they were charging.  We
appreciate that he didn't talk poorly about his competition and was
willing to work with us on building a garage that fit our budget.
It took just shy of 2 months from the date we signed the contract to
complete the garage.  Rick and Bruce are both very
nice and easy to work with.  There were very few problems along the way
but when there were, we were taken care of.  Also, All Electric, the
company that Blue Sky contracted to do our garage's electric, were
fantastic. The garage door cable had come off the track after they left but they
returned to try helping me fix it (which wasn't even their job)!
The only negatives we experienced were minute, such as the amount of time
it took to finish building, our flowers were trampled by the cement
company, and the roofing guys didn't clean up the nails very well (I've
found at least half a dozen so far in the driveway).  Despite those
small details, we are very happy with the structural soundness and look
of the final product.  I'd definitely recommend Blue Sky Builders!

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I first met with 4 other contractors before meeting with Rick from Blue Sky.  Before I even got the proposal, I was pretty certain I wanted to work with Rick compared to the experiences I had with the other estimators.  It was a little tricky scheduling my project due to weather issues, but they did a great job with staying in touch with me and communicating with me on where I was in the queue.  Once the project got started, it was clear these guys knew exactly what they were doing and that they've built thousands of garages.  Overall, I couldn't be happier with the process, the people and most importantly my new garage.

The salesman was very good. No high-pressure sales, no greasy salesman techniques and no apparent overselling or overpromising. We received three quotes on this build and the Blue Sky salesman called back to touch base but didn't hound us. Their price was right in the middle of the three quotes but we felt more comfortable with them than the other companies and they seem to be more serious about craftsmanship.
Blue Sky has a project manager who oversees all of their builds. He helps schedule with subcontractors and gives recommendations on the build, such as cosmetics and where your money would be best appropriated. This was a nice touch. 
Blue Sky's carpenters are very good. From a pile of uncut lumber, they erected the garage in 1.5 days. The roof, siding, trim, everything was done in this time. The crew is very polite and efficient. 
As with any builder, Blue Sky uses subcontractors for demo, concrete, doors and electrical work. For the most part, the subs were quite good. The demo, concrete and doors went without a hitch. They met their time commitments and the work appears to be high-quality. 
There were a few items we weren't totally pleased with:

• Some of the lumber wasn't great. The lumber was straight but some of it was very "barky" and looked pretty bad. There was also a cross-tie that was miscut, then cobbled together with another piece and some nails. I brought this to the attention of the project manager and he did send the builders back to sister new boards to the old ones. 

The electricians were prompt and knowledgeable but the quality of their work was spotty. Some of the conduit bends were done haphazardly (bent improperly so as they torqued on the conduit to get it to fit, it bent the top of the electrical box) and because they use screw guns for EVERYTHING some of the box cover screws are stripped out. One of the lights had the hot wire pinched between the fixture and the box, just not enough to trip the breaker. I fixed all of these issues myself so I wouldn't have to deal with this disgruntled bunch again. The electrician's basically complained, fought with each other and seemed to be in a general state of malaise throughout the entire process. I got the feeling they were over-committed and just wanted to move on to the next job. 
Our biggest concern during the project was that the concrete on the water ledge where the electrical stub came in was broken at some point during the electrical install, and the electrician's "forgot" to mention it before they left. A 1' long by 1" deep piece of concrete was busted off the outside of the water ledge. I would guess it would have happened when the electricians were torquing on the pipe for their connection. Blue Sky did send someone out to patch it with hydraulic cement. I am hoping it holds up well. 
While it may appear that we have a few unsatisfactory outcomes, the important part is that we are quite happy overall. We got the garage built on-time, within budget, and it looks great. We are discerning customers and demand a high level of work and, for the most part, that was what we received. In the end, the outcome of your garage project somewhat falls on you as the customer. If you oversee the job and hold the contractors to a high quality of work and to their commitments, you will have a higher probability of being satisfied with the end result. 

If you're LQQking for the best. I could honestly say, forget all the rest.  Mike and his team with over 30 years experience, will make sure that the service he provides will be A+. Experts and very nice professional craftsman to deal with.

We had an old cement driveway that needed replaced.  The garage was placed in the yard in a location that divided the yard into to halves.  We decided to demolish the old garage and move it to the side yard where the new driveway would run to it.  We decided to use Blue Sy for the garage but a separate company for the concrete driveway.  The concrete guy and the project manager communicated pretty well and the timing of removal of the old driveway and garage slab, pouring of the new garage slab, and finally pouring of new driveway went pretty well.  They also worked on getting permits pulled as needed. Blue sky used a small company of a few guys to demo the old garage and haul it away.  They were strictly demo and did not take the time to be careful to remove 2 large old windows that I wanted to save.  I got 1 window saved but missing half the frame.  
Once new slab was poured for garage Blue Sky put it up in about 3 days.  They worked with us on the design of the garage, including a small dormer on the front to match the house. They used same shingles as we have on our home.  We used wood siding on 2 of the walls that are routinely seen and vinyl on the other two.  We worked with them to get windows that echoed those on the house but probably should have discussed this issue a little longer and planned more carefully the size of a couple windows and the height of the others off the ground.  They also took the time to create open wooden eaves on the underside of the overhang of roof to again echo the open eaves on the house.  Lastly, they gave us some websites and companies to look at for garage doors which we picked out ourselves and they installed.  We upgraded to wifi garage door opener using a coupon Blue Sky was offering.
The biggest negative of the project was not Blue Sky, but the electrician company that they use to power the garage.  Because we moved the garage we needed new lines run from house under the soon to be poured driveway, and into the garage.  We also wanted a single 240 volt outlet for an electric car as well a reconnection some outdoor outlets that had been in the yard but were disconnected during removal of old garage.  In summary, the electricians were a couple days late to the job and came when the forms for the concrete were being set in place.  We had to wait for the drive to be poured and set, about 2 weeks, before they came back out.  There had been poor communication with Blue Sky apparently and the bid did not reflect the need to trench for new lines.  Because of their tardiness in laying the lines I had to cut out a section of fence to get the trench machine into the backyard.  Then, they asked some technical questions about how many amps I would need in the garage for the 240 volt line and that I may need an additional box which would be $1500.  No one had brought this up to me before this day so I could not give an answer.  We eventually decided not to go with the box and told them that all of this should have been figured out or asked weeks ago.  Project manager for them was not real understanding of the frustration that had been building on our side and kept saying he was just following orders on the bid and to call Blue Sky with my issues.  To top that off he wanted an addition $300 to run new wires out to the outlets in the yard.  Eventually Blue Sky project manager came out and settled some of the issues and ate the cost on the lines to the yard and hooking up the lights to a switch in the house.  Eventually we had about 6 electricians in the yard completing the various projects.  It got done in 1 day but was way more stressful and irritating than it needed to be because the bid did not state all that was needed for the electricians.
Overall, Blue Sky did a very nice job on the garage structure itself.  I think their communication with the electricians could have been much better and the 3 week delay from the time the garage finished to the time we could park in it and use it was way too long.  Overall, the project took a lot longer than I thought but concrete played a role in this as well.  I would use them again but would make sure all the design aspects were well thought out and planned on your own because they do not do a lot with that aspect of things.  

The work went  very well.  It took five days to complete work, including waiting for cement to dry. There were at least five workers that came out. They were very prompt. They cleaned up everything before they left. They matched the shingles to our house shingles.

Entire job was as close to perfect as you can get, crews arrived when they said they would, tear down and removal completed with a few days, cement poring and garage build completed not long after, also in only a few days. Had to replace a faulty external motion sensing floodlight twice, but that was under accessories. I was told these guys were the best, and it seems they are. Surprised they don't have more reviews. They did an entirely custom designed garage a few thousand dollars cheaper than a quote from another well known but mass produced garage builder.

I contacted 5 garage builders based upon a search of Angie's List.  I had a general idea of what I was looking for but I wasn't sure about local codes and requirements.  Speaking with the 5 contractors I was able to refine my specifications and identify the preferred builder.  I found Rick from Blue Sky to be extremely professional.  He was patient with all my questions, was highly knowledgeable, and listened to what I was looking for.  This was very refreshing compared to the high pressure sales approach I encountered with other builders.  Rick did not waste time speaking negatively about his competitors but rather focused on my project and what he could do for me.

After receiving 3 written quotes and 1 verbal quote (1 contractor never replied) I selected Blue Sky to build my garage even though they had the highest price.  The primary reasons for this selection were the quality of the custom work they had done in the past, the comfort level I had with Rick in managing the project, and the drawings they produced as part of their quote were exactly what I was looking for giving me a high confidence that they would build what I wanted.  We went through several iterations to get to the final design since I wanted the garage to match my bungalow style house but still allow for a high ceiling in order to fit in a car lift.  Rick worked with me closely to get to the final design and was very transparent about costs and options. 

Since my original garage had transite asbestos siding requiring proper removal and disposal prior to demolition, Blue Sky worked with me to get the proper permitting from Cook County and even assisted in identifying potential asbestos contractors.  Other garage builders I spoke to either wouldn't get involved with the asbestos aspect of the project or used it as part of their sales approach saying that it was a "hot zone" and they were the ONLY contractors that could help me. 

Between the Cook country permit and the village permits it took about 4 weeks before the asbestos could be removed and the garage demolished.  Once the garage was demolished, the construction of the garage proceeded quickly but was dependent on weather conditions.  Rick and his Project Manager Bruce communicated with me on a regular basis and would let me know what to expect ahead of time.  Total construction time including foundation, framing, roofing, siding, electrical, doors and trim took about 5 weeks.  Most of the framing and roofing was done in 4 days by a team of highly skilled carpenters that work directly from Blue Sky.  It was a pleasure to watch these guys work cutting complicated angles and making it look easy.  They were very friendly, hard working, and the did a good job cleaning up the job site upon completion.  Either Rick or Bruce visited the job site at least once a day when work was underway.  Otherwise, anytime I had a question or concern Rick and Bruce were just a phone call away. 

I was extremely pleased with the final product.  Blue Sky met the deadline we discussed to get the job done which was great since I was able to host a party for my son's first birthday with 40 people in the garage the weekend after they finished.  Overall, I can't thank Blue Sky enough for a job well done.  I think you get what you pay for and I'm looking forward to many years of use out of my new garage.

Yes, we used Blue Sky Builders, Inc. They came out and they serviced my garage door. It was kind of binding up. They greased it and they reset the tracks. They made sure that it worked smooth and freely. They were very professional. It didn't take them very long at all to fix and service my garage door. Their pricing was good. The quality of work was 'A' definitely. The responsiveness was very good. They came when they said they were going to come.