Catalyst Construction & Remodeling LLC

The company closed this time last year, but the owner stepped up and did what needed to be done to assist with closing out the rest of the project. Eric Udelhoven is an honest, stand up person that goes above and beyond. It is super unfortunate that the circumstances happened the way that they did with Catalyst, but Eric Udelhoven pushed go get subs into our job, help us with material procurement, and oversee the project on a high level. Even after the business had closed, he helped my wife and i finish the project and didn't charge us for his time. The way it all went down could have been a lot better with respect to the business closing, but we reached out and made contact shortly after everything had gone sideways for them. Ultimately, the process was obviously super bumpy, but we were able to get our first floor renovation finished to a high level of finish with Eric's assistance. I am SUPER happy that i dont have to do any more home repairs in the near future!!! House looks great, but remodeling is super stressful!

The whole job was a disaster from the start. The owner Eric Udelhoven has filed for bankruptcy and absconded with hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits and payments for work not performed and has started a new company with a friend called Sentinel Waterproofing in LaGrange, IL. He abandoned our project without a phone call and now won't return calls and his hiding behind his attorney, Stay as far away as you can.

We found Catalyst through our neighbors - multiple who gave glowing reviews. We're sad to say that Catalyst is no longer of high quality nor are they good at managing projects. We contracted them in 2016 to rehab a home for us. They said it would take 9 months. It took 13 before it was in a state where we could move in though not everything was done. Through the course of the project we had more than six project managers. Rarely were people on site actually managing, mostly it was me and my newborn baby letting sub-contractors in and out all day. After several frustrated meetings, no replies, and threats they got it mostly done after 18 months. Now, almost a year later there are several things still lingering on the list that they haven't done and they do not respond to our phone calls and emails. I've had to contact their sub-contractors directly and have found out that they are not paying them. We are at the point where we have to file complaints with the BBB and city. Stay far away from this company.

It was great. I worked with the designer for the interior design for our living room. We had an awkward configuration in our living room. She suggested some built-ins and rearranging some things as well as offered color ideas. She was awesome, and we worked with her most recently on our bathroom remodel. She put together some plans of remodeling of each of the spaces, but she also gave us some look books for colors/accents/accessories too.

Preface:
This is my wife's and my first major remodeling project, which spanned several months (and lots of money). The house is a 100-ish year old frame bungalow in Chicago, which we purchased in 2013. The house clearly went a long time without updates, had a really weird layout, and we felt it needed to have some traditional charm re-injected back into it.
We hired an architect outside of Catalyst for the design, which was *probably* worth the cost - we went back-and-forth on this, especially near the end. For our next project, we'll look to just keep that portion with Catalyst if possible, and then we'll know for sure.
The positives:
First off, the most important takeaway is that the finished product is excellent, and feels like we wanted it to. I also think we got lucky with the house in that nothing major was found once we opened the walls up.
Because it turned out so well, it's easy to let go of some of the minor annoyances (see below) that are probably endemic to most remodeling projects.
Since we lived upstairs in the house during the 3-month+ remodel, I had plenty of time to examine the work as it went along. Full disclosure - I'm a new homeowner so I didn't know much about the process, but what I do know is that the materials and methods employed by Catalyst and their subcontractors were high quality. I did not feel as if corners would be cut.
Secondly, I hope they're paying our project superintendent what he's worth.  He was very responsive, candid, highly skilled, and professional. The Internet is not void of remodel horror stories, so having someone like him leading the effort was something to be thankful for.
The crews and subcontractors were also very respectful of the fact that we were living in the house during the project, which from their perspective, I would find pretty annoying - but they never made it seem like they minded and worked around us when needed (which was rare, I think).
The negatives:
- The sales process was probably the most challenging part, and it mostly came down to responsiveness. Things happen, schedules change, but informing the customer of quotation delays before she has to pester you is good policy. I shifted a piece of the add-on work away from Catalyst to another contractor on principle because of this, even though I really didn't want to.
- This may go without saying for the experienced renovators out there, but I felt like we had to stay on top of things and anticipate needs, dependencies, and schedules more than I imagined we'd have to given the expense. Some of that blame falls on the architect, but in the end it also fell onto us, which doesn't seem right regardless.
- When factoring costs, the most important lesson we learned is that Catalyst's costs are only a part of the budget. We definitely underestimated the amount and cost of materials we'd need (tile, etc.). I wish Catalyst would've been a little more of a guide in that respect. I'm not sure if that's realistic or not, but newbie's like us would've appreciated that kind of hand-holding.
Summary:
All said, my wife and I can't stop talking about how fantastic the house looks and feels, and we'll be more educated remodeling consumers on future projects.
We will look to Catalyst again for a major remodel of the second story in a year or two.

Ryan came out to our house to evaluate a project and give a rough estimate of building cost.  He was professional and helpful and  gave us some good things to think about before proceeding with the project.  He gave us some cost estimates and talked us through the process and even gave us some good references for architects to talk to as well.  We have decided to put off the project for a year and start later (due to financing and timing the project around our busy lives :) 
We will likely be bidding our project to Catalyst next year when we finish all of our planning and working with our architect.  The information we received from Ryan was very helpful. 

As a first-time home owner, I was generally clueless about remodeling and interior design, so when I decided to finally have my kitchen remodeled, I asked a friend of mine to recommend the company that recently did her bathrooms.  I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for recommending Catalyst Construction.  The owner, Eric Udelhoven, and his project manager, Sarah, sat down with me and went over every detail to ensure that my expectations were met beforehand.  This much I was expecting going into things. What I didn?t anticipate was having my expectations vastly exceeded in every aspect of the project?including planning and design, project management, and, of course, the finished product.  And I?d be remiss if I didn?t also mention Brian and his crew for their impeccable work and the professional manner in which they conducted themselves.  Needless to say, I couldn?t be happier with my new kitchen (and Kohler hardware!), and I highly recommend Catalyst Construction for any remodeling project you can think of. 

This is our second and entirely revised review of Catalyst; we agreed to remove our first review after Catalyst agreed to mediate our claims against them.  As Catalyst has now refused to settle our claims on a reasonable timetable, we are posting a new review so prospective customers will be aware of what our experience was like.
We contracted with Catalyst to perform the above work in addition to finish carpentry, electric, bathroom remodeling, kitchen installation and tiling. The value of the original contract with Catalyst was approximately $72,000, of which we paid them nearly $40,000.  We experienced a number of significant problems with Catalyst and when the project fell 4 months behind schedule and Catalyst refused to meet performance deadlines, we finally decided to terminate our relationship with them and had to hire other contractors to correct and complete the project which ended up costing us over $100,000 for the work originally agreed by Catalyst.
We provided Catalyst with architectural drawings for the work and they did not comply with these, resulting in, amongst other issues, structural steel posts and beams that were not installed properly and will now need to be relocated and refinished at an additional cost to us of over $15,000.  We had a structural engineer out to the property to document these problems.
Catalyst was contracted to build a new staircase using hardwood but when I arrived at the property on the day of the build, I discovered that they had used cheaper pine.  When I brought this to the attention of the project manager, he actually admitted that he had not read the contract with addendums!  This error alone, required us to spend thousands of additional dollars to finish the stairs.
Throughout the project, it was difficult to get Catalyst to schedule work crews on a timely basis and several workers told us they had just been hired or didn?t fully understand what they were supposed to do.  Their demolition crew threw out bathroom fixtures that were supposed to remain and chimney duct that had to be replaced at our expense.  One worker even damaged our new exterior siding which we will also have to pay to replace because Catalyst has refused any responsibility for their errors and mishaps.
In all, our experience with Catalyst was one of the most expensive, disruptive, and emotionally distressing experiences of our lives.  We have suffered or will suffer remedial expenses on our home totaling tens of thousands of dollars and at least 4 months of lost rental income on our previous home due to the project delays and need to hire new contractors to finish the job.  Based on our experience, our recommendation would be to avoid this company.

UPDATE 9/17/2014:

As the owner of Catalyst Eric Udelhoven has anticipated below, we are posting a reply to his response because he has accused us of being untruthful when in fact, our account of the project is completely accurate while his is loaded with falsehoods and omissions.
In the interest of full disclosure, prospective clients should know that following our original review of Catalyst on Angie's List last year, Catalyst first threatened and then filed a lawsuit against us for ?defamation? in an effort to intimidate and coerce us into
removing the review. That review, like our current review, was completely accurate and only submitted after Catalyst refused to take responsibility for their obvious errors and mismanagement of the project. 
Incidentally, Angie?s List makes it very clear on their website that it is unacceptable for service providers to harass or threaten members for writing negative reviews and they specifically ask members to report the same.  When we indicated to Catalyst that we were going to inform Angie?s List of their lawsuit against us, they threatened us with ANOTHER lawsuit.  This should give prospective clients a sense of the type of people they will be dealing with should they decide to do business with Catalyst and not ?fall in line? with the owner?s expectations.
In his response to our review, Mr. Udelhoven basically admits that there is a large variance between where the structural steel posts and beams were intended to go and where Catalyst actually placed them.  The installation of this steel cost us several thousand dollars and is absolutely critical in terms of safety, structural support for the home, and living space to provide adequate clearance for people and furniture.  Catalyst did NOT follow the architectural drawings which are explicit and again, instead of taking responsibility for their errors, Mr. Udelhoven attempts to besmirch the assessment of a licensed structural engineer and shift responsibility for the error to the architect or to us, the homeowners.
Mr. Udelhoven then attempts to rationalize the project delays by stating that when the walls were demolished, Catalyst discovered that the electrical and plumbing would need to be reworked to pass inspection.  What he doesn?t say is that the walls were demolished and open in August of 2012 and it wasn?t until THREE MONTHS LATER in November that he first informed us that the
plumbing would need to be reworked at an additional cost to us of nearly $6,000.  By that time, we had begun to lose confidence in Catalyst and of course, we insisted that we be able to invite bids from other contractors.
Catalyst only agreed to mediate our claims against them when they realized they were not going to prevail in their frivolous ?defamation? lawsuit and their legal costs would probably bankrupt them.  During mediation, they asked us to prove up our claims, which we did, but after nearly two months of negotiations (mediation usually takes 2 DAYS) for a sum of money representing
less than half of the tens of thousands of dollars we are out of pocket due to their incompetence, Catalyst wanted another 2 YEARS to pay compensation.  We said ?no thanks? and will now likely take them to arbitration for a sum closer to what we are owed.
If any prospective Catalyst customers have doubts about the veracity of our review here, we will be happy to speak with them personally and provide complete documentation evidencing what we have written.  As well, if you carefully read the other negative reviews about Catalyst, you?ll see common criticisms of their poor project management, failure to communicate, and mishaps associated with their use of sub-contractors. We may have suffered disproportionately from these problems but we are
not alone.  One can only wonder how many additional negative reviews Catalyst has warded off via the threat of litigation.

We wanted to use a fancy aluminum decking material, which Catalyst had no experience with.  But they were more than willing to work with it, when other contractors we contacted didn't want to.
The Catalyst staff were extremely helpful throughout the initial process, helping us obtain a city permit, getting architectural drawings, and suggesting tweaks to the design.  Construction took several weeks. Throughout the tear-out and construction phases, the workers were always professional, polite, and punctual.  They answered any questions we had and informed us of any issues that came up.  They were efficient and creative in finding solutions when unexpected obstacles did arise. We are very pleased with the final results and highly recommend them.

They came in and looked at the project and gave a very professional opinion on what Catalyst felt needed to be done.  The high price resulted probably from the fact that they felt much more needed to be done to accomplish the renovation.  (ie tear out the complete bathroom rather than renovate the existing one.  While the end quality might have been better, it was a lot more than we wanted to put into a basement guestroom/bathroom renovation.

My only concern was that they might be overpricing  because the job was too small to fit into their busy schedule

We worked with Catalyst Remodeling in 2011/2012 for a gut rehab of an old Victorian home that was over 100 years old. Eric, the owner and his Catalyst crew were the heroes in a challenging situation where our original contractor left us before the work was done. Catalyst helped to assess the progress, identify inferior workmanship that the original contractor had done and spent the next 2 months ensuring that our home was finished to meet occupancy requirements, pass all city inspections and be ready for us to move into with our young family.
After a nightmare experience with our original "licensed contractor" (we have since learned that pretty much ANYONE can get be a licensed GC in Chicago), we sought out additional accreditation in our next contractor. Eric is licensed with NARI (National Association of the Remodelling Industry) and demonstrated his professionalism with setting clear expectations, scopes of work, billing, punctual, etc. which gave us confidence to work with him and his team. 
We often get compliments about our home and we credit the Catalyst crew for taking a very outdated 1970's home and all the issues that they inherited and turning it into a modern home that works for our family. Our gut rehab included opening up the main floor, adding 2 1/2 bathrooms, all new infrastructure with plumbing and electrical, new kitchen, etc. One of the the things that was really important to us in the process was to maintain the character of the old home and Catalyst understood our desire and helped to maintain the look by reusing as much of the original trim as a possible and building to match where not. Catalyst stands behind their work with a significant guarantee (5 years) and they proved to us that they deliver against this guarantee when we had a cracked tile in our master shower a year later and they came to fix it, no questions asked.
Finally, three years after the job was done, we took legal action against our original contractor and Eric, as the subsequent contractor was a key witness, demonstrating his remodeling expertise in testimony to ultimately help us win our case. Even three years after our project was over, Catalyst remembered our family and our case and helped to hopefully take one of the terrible GCs off Chicago streets. 
Catalyst has continuously proven their high quality standard of work and professionalism in Chicago's construction industry. From our own experience as well as all the stories we have heard from our friends, city inspectors, lawyers, etc., these standards are unfortunately hard to come by. As a result, Catalyst stands out as a contractor and remodeling partner and worth every penny! We would highly recommend working with them if you're considering remodeling or construction on your home...we wouldn't hesitate to use them again!

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I contacted Catalyst, and spoke with Dave, about a simple job of replacing an exterior door. I'm an out-of-town landlord, so I put then in touch with my tenants to coordinate an estimate. I had to call back twice in order to remind them to get in contact with my tenants after our original conversation. After the estimate, they told my tenants that they would email me a quote, and be in contact. I received no quote. They have not been answering their phone, nor have they been returning my phone calls. So far, they have exhibited very little professionalism. It is extremely annoying having to start over again with another company. If you value good communication with the contractors you work with, I would strongly recommend you look elsewhere.

Catalyst does a nice job of keeping in touch, scheduling, etc. Their project team is really open to helping you with choices, etc., and were accommodating to schedules (this just happened to be over a holiday weekend and they were open to delaying moving appliances and such so that my kitchen would stay functional).  I love that they stick to the schedule and communicate regularly throughout.  
Our condo building and individual owners have used them for a few things now and they've pretty much been spot-on. 

It went great! The master bath was stripped down to the studs and rebuilt,it looks amazing. The real peace of mind came from their extensive  knowledge with the product line being used. I went with Kohler's DTV system ,which basically a computer ,that with a waterproof installed touch pad , replaced the use of valves. The  craftsmen ship was on point , marble tile looks amazing , the whole room is a show stopper!

I met the owner Eric for our initial meeting. Among the five contractors I met, he was probably slightly below average on assessing and communicating how to execute my project and the potential problems they may face with the renovation.  Among the estimates I received, Catalyst was by far the most expensive.  In our initial meeting, I told Eric that our budget was 20-25k total (labor and materials).  His estimate (which did not include all materials) came in just over 25k.  I wrote back to Eric that this was over our budget and that I wanted to work with him to find ways to lower the total cost of the project to 20k since we were not going to place hardwood down in the foyer and kitchen and only in the bedroom and living room.  I never heard back from Eric.  Up until that last email, Eric was very responsive to me.  I'm assuming the reason he didn't get back to me is because no matter what renovations I am requesting, Catalyst probably has minimum price in order to take on the job.  Just like the other reviews, my impression is that Catalyst on higher on the price spectrum and it doesn't seem like they want to negotiate.  I was upfront about my budget, and I wished he would have communicated why they didn't want to take on my project.  Among the positive things about Catalyst is that Eric was professional, friendly and prompt in our initial meeting.  However, it sounds like Eric does not work on the projects, so I can't speak for his workers on the project.

She and the scheduling were fine; it just did not meet our needs.

We went under contract in early October and were shooting for completion of work by Thanksgiving.  The final punch list items / payment were exchanged in late January.  My one caveat here is that we did make a few changes to the original plan and agreed for the work to be completed by Christmas. 
 
In a similar vein to the review by the real-estate agent, the quality of work that Catalyst did was largely outstanding.  However the communication, project management, trash removal and respect of personal space were all sub-par.
 
As an example of poor communication, I was asked to not txt communication to the development team...instead call or e-mail, which I was happy to do.  Funny enough, while traveling overseas on business, they were in need of a payment from me and I received two text messages.
 
At each phase of the job, having no material experience with major contracting work, I did a simple eye inspection and found small things that weren't caught by the project manager or construction team (installed doors had no insulation / caulking around them, shims still left under the door base, etc.).  All of these were remedied during the punch-list process.  There was a lingering sewerage smell that intermittedly came from the bathroom.  After explaining this to the team, they opened up the wall and found a small leak in the bathroom sewer pipe.  I was delighted when this was resolved!  Broadly, I would have guessed the Catalyst team would have found these issues themselves.
 
Few of the subcontractors cleaned up their trash - things left behind after work was completed included: large pieces of insulation board, soda cans, gum wrappers, cigarettes, several paint cans, all cardboard boxes from lighting/fixtures/etc.  My bathroom was used and left in poor condition (you can use your imagination there) and several soiled hand towels were thrown away.
 
On the topic of paint, I did ask for the names / brand of paint used and was told to look at the paint cans in my basement; not the best response.  Ultimately, they did provide this detail in an e-mail...a simple answer to what I felt was a fairly easy request.
 
I did feel a little nickel-and-dimed on small changes...for example, I was asked to choose paint colors (at an inconvenient time of day) with their painting subcontractor Adrian.  There wasn't great lighting in the house, and one color I admittedly selected was way off.  When I asked that they simply paint over it using another color selected for the lion share of the home, I was told the cost would be an additional $495.00 and this was to paint over roughly 40sq ft.  I was then offered a $495 credit if I signed up for the kitchen / basement project.  They ultimately waived this upcharge, which I very much appreciated.
 
That said, during demolition...their team accidently threw away all the interior doors while painting was taking place.  In good faith, Catalyst replaced all of them (at their cost) which was greatly appreciated.
 
Overall...high marks for the quality of work, but their communication and respect for the homeowner?s space needs to be improved.  I would consider using Catalyst again, but will also consider other GCs.
Andrew, who did a good bit of work on the bathroom, was fantastic!'s

They worked very well with the design company used and managed to complete the work earlier than even expected.  We are happy with the results.  I live in a condo and had no complaints during this entire process.

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Well, my first experience was pretty good. My second experience, not so much. 
You pay more for Catalyst- I do think their prices are high. I'm a real estate agent, and it is worth it to me to pay more to have contractors show up on time, have phone calls returned, have the jobs finished on time and to specification, etc. So, I was willing to use them on a couple of recommendations to complete work. 
They first retiled a fireplace for me. The workmanship was excellent (A+). The response of the project manager was so-so. My complaints were: that the tiling guy stayed here all day (totally ok as he was waiting for grout to dry), but then stood out on my balcony talking on the phone at a volume of 11 while I was working at the kitchen table. After the job was completed, he told me it "wasn't his job" to haul away the old tile (sitting in a stack in my living room and very heavy) or any of the drop cloths, etc. I though this was really weird considering you are paying extra for this project manager and this great timeline and service. I made him do it anyway, and then I let the project manager know- who was apologetic.
 Second job was to trim some windows, paint, wallpaper. I also had them bid recessing the lighting throughout my living room, but it was outrageous so I just had my electrician do it before. Again, I would give the workmanship high ratings (a little lower than before but still an A-). But, there were a lot of other things that did not go well this time. In the middle of the project, Adrian the painter just stopped showing up (he was missing for two days and Catalyst could not reach him). After the job was finished, they left my old metal blinds in pieces stacked on my deck for me to deal with. My deck was covered in sawdust and there was sawdust all inside my grill from nothing being covered there while they were cutting. They left off outlet covers-I couldn't ever find them so I had to go buy some new ones. They used my ladder (fine), but put it back and broke two wine glasses that were in that closet in a box. They used my dishtowels to wipe up paint (ruined). They got paint on my brand new side table. They shoved water bottles in the wallpaper box with the leftover wallpaper and got some of it wet. 
When i let Ryan know, it took him many days to get back to me and then, it never really was resolved. He did leave a gift a few weeks later in apology. 
Overall, I *might* use them again, but i don't think I could recommend them to clients without a caveat. I don't think the customer service warrants the pricing.

Catalyst steamed the walls to remove old wallpaper, sanded/patched, and prepared them for painting.  Removed all old fixtures (sink, toilet, etc) and floor tile and old sub-floor.  Then they put in a new sub-floor to accommodate two different thicknesses of glass floor tile.  Also installed new toilet, cabinet, marble counter top, stone vessel sink, faucet, mirror, and  light fixture.
All work was done in a total of 7 business days.  
The contractor was immaculate--long tarps were placed from the front door to the work area and the work area was sealed off with plastic to minimize all dust, noise, etc.
In all the nearly 30 years we've been home owners we have never worked with a more professional contractor.

Same day reply, on weekend, to Angie's List message.

I can't speak highly enough of Catalyst. Eric and his team of contractors and workers are top notch. These are the people you can trust in your home, and often, my husband and I asked them questions well beyond the scope of work they were contracted to complete. As new homeowners, we felt we were really in the best hands for a long lasting, solid investment in remodeling. While definitely not the cheapest provider out there, you're paying for quality workmanship and a professional attitude that goes beyond the blue prints. We've used them for another bathroom in our previous home, and have referred them for work on remodeling a condo. Both times, the value of our home was substantially increased.
Also, it's notable that our home was left in excellent condition. The work is minimally invasive and always completed within the time frame quoted.

I have been around the block a few times with different remodeling companies and I think I found the last company I will ever use.  My kitchen/dining room remodel turned out beautiful.  Actually the whole experience was great.  The fine carpentry work was the best I have ever seen.  The job site was always clean.  They took great care to keep the rest of the house clean as well.  The president, Eric Udelhoven, takes great care to make sure that the homeowner is more than satisfied with the end product.  If you want it done right you must hire Catalyst.