Asrow Building Consultants, Inc.

Everything went great! Bret was professional, showed up on time (and respecting all the COVID requirements), and laid out a clear picture for the Board. I'd hire him again in a heartbeat.

Bret was thorough and his explanation of what was needed was very clear and easy to understand.

I called Bret Asrow to give me his educated opinion on the reason for a sagging floor in my dining room and whether or not this is something for active concern or something that is stable and should just be monitored for now. He came out, inspected the support columns in the basement, looked at how the joists were being supported and made recommendations for monitoring the situation and for ways to improve the stability of the support. He also noticed some issues with the gas piping in the basement and suggested some approaches to lessening dampness in the basement. Overall, I'm satisfied. One thing to note is that, rather than him writing down recommendations for me, I had to take the initiative to take notes myself and then email them to him to see if I got his recommendations right. He did respond same-day to the email and correct my misunderstandings, so it worked out fine and now I'm pretty sure I know what's what. I would hire him again.

Bret and Asrow were exactly what we needed. We're first time home buyers, and bought an older (1920's) home that needed some work. Over the course of getting contractors and inspection, we kept hearing different things about the masonry and foundation. Some said it was totally fine, other said it would cost 50k to fix and had to be done immediately. Most had a reason to say one or another (masons who wanted to start tuckpointing, contractors and foundation experts who wanted the work), and so we couldn't tell who to trust. Because we were unsure, we didn't want to hire an engineer who would charge us $1000 for a report, we just needed an unbiased, expert opinion. Enter Bret Asrow. Bret was the perfect solution for us. He came to our house and spent time with us looking at the foundation, the windows and everything else and helped us come up with a plan and to prioritize the work. His prices were reasonable and fit our budget. Also, he is full of interesting historical information about Chicago development and buildings, so we learned a lot about the area and the homes history. We ended up deciding we didn't have a foundation issue and he consulted with our mason to help make sure the job they did was done right. Really happy we went with Asrow building. Can't recommend highly enough.

Bret was very thorough. He looked at our house in its entirety. He was patient with all of our questions and concerns. He took the time to educate us about various things related to the structure of the house. He made excellent recommendations. We had another company come out prior to give us an estimate on repairs and by his assessments, we realized that the company was trying to pull a fast one. Would hire again.

Bret was professional, knowledgeable and responsive.

Bret provided a thorough appraisal of the foundation, along with an analysis of other building infrastructure to holistically understand how we should proceed with the work. He also provided an interface into several contractors and consulted as we reviewed bids for the work.

Great! Bret is very professional and extremely knowledgable about all things construction oriented. He looked at all aspects of our building and then opened up our ceiling to provide consultation on our roof structure. He followed up with a very thorough report upon completion. We would definitely hire Bret again to consult on an major construction project.

Bret gave us very reasonably price advice. He was honest, kind, and extremely knowledgeable. I highly recommend his services.

I received the information I needed, very professional

It was a good process and result.

I messaged to hopefully set up a time to get an estimate - received a very quick response. I ended up not needing their help after all, but was pleasantly surprised by their responsiveness.

Very knowledgable and thorough. Allocated significant time to help me understand a couple items at my home. Provided an assessment that allowed for me to avoid unnecessary and costly repairs.

I used Bret as a consultant on a project to install steel posts and beams in my home. He inspected the house and found that the beams were not really necessary, saving me money.

I submitted their report to the insurance company and within two weeks we had a check from them that more than covered the cost of the corrective work and the consultant's fees, including their follow-on construction phase services. I can highly recommend them and will use them on all our future projects.

ABCI’s services meshed well with our team in completing our contract well under budget and ahead of schedule allowing us to claim a performance bonus. We plan to retain ABCI on similar projects, particularly those of high complexity. I recommende ABCI to other several owners and non-competing contractors and the feedback has been excellent. With ABCI nothing was left to chance and all options presented to us had merit resulting in a rapid completion and profits greater than we had anticipated.