RJ & E - Remodeling Services Hamilton Co

This is the second time we have hired RJ&E. In 2013, we had Eric and his team finish our basement - it has been 5 years and we are still extremely happy with their work. So when we decided to update our house (now 20 years old), selecting RJ&E was an easy decision. Scope of work: We updated our kitchen cabinets, added a backsplash, we replaced the floors on the first level with luxury vinyl tile (except the living room), we added lighting under our cabinets, we added trim around windows, updated our stair railing (stained and metal rods) and updated our 1/2 bath. With the upstairs, we updated our bathrooms (master and second) with vanities, luxury vinyl tile floors, tile walls, plumbing fixtures, lighting and replaced the carpet throughout. The rooms on the 1st and 2nd floors were painted. Results: We are extremely happy with the results. Eric (and team) delivered great quality, they have the attention to detail, provide ideas on style, design, structure (while being mindful of budget) and make the house livable along the way. Each day we would come home excited on what improvements were completed while we were at work. They clean along the way and put things back so we could keep using the house (e.g. our coffee pot was back in its place and plugged in every night). Their drive for perfection is probably higher than ours -- which makes the process much less stressful and gives us confidence that the end product will be acceptable. We should be done updating this house....but it a need arises, I would definitely hire them again.

Very detailed oriented; clean, efficient, precise, creative and capable of accomplishing the request. I highly recommend this Company for all kind of jobs. We spent from $1,000 to almost $18,000 in very different requests

Not good. The quality of work was subpar. Price was good so you get what you pay for.

Started off great, Eric and his team were awesome. By the end, they didn't fulfill their contract, left the project without completing, left the house not to code. We have had issue after issue with the quality of work they performed. Damages caused by poor craftsmanship, causing us to pay new contractors to clean up their mess.

I can't say enough about how impressed I am with RJ&E. On my rental property repairs, Eric worked me into his schedule within a week and completed everything in one day. When the buyer cracked a drywall patch, Eric came out the next day and repaired it without question. At the same time, my sump pump died in my personal residence. Eric was there in 24 hours to assess and came out the day after that to install a new one. Eric provided me estimates for both projects before any work was started. And when the work was completed, both projects actually came in BELOW his estimates. I have nothing but praise for RJ&E. I know I have been a demanding customer, but Eric handled everything in a very timely and professional manner. I recommend RJ&E to everyone who asks me about home improvement/repair companies.

This company is fantastic. Eric and Justin were very easy to work with. From the first time at the intital walk thru with the estimate, Eric was very professional and walked through every step of construction and what to expect. Always showed up in time, provided great ideas and cost saving ideas. Easy to work with, all employees were very professional and courteous. The work they performed was absolutely high end construction and paid very close attention to detail. RJ & E a re by far the most professional and trustworthy contractors we have ever worked with. Eric will be the only contractor I call for any work we need done going forward.

I called them and they indicated that they were a minimum of 2 months out - which was to long for us to wait so we had to reach out to someone else for the project

Eric was very helpful with each phase of our basement remodel. We gave him rough ideas of our plans and budget at the initial visit. When we met again, he came back with the proposal using our ideas and then suggested designs that we hadn't considered, which was very much appreciated. Eric always stayed within our budget. We couldn't be happier with the outcome and will use RJ & E for future projects for our home. You will not be disappointed in the quality of his work, his professionalism, or his design ideas!

When I was using Angies's List to find basement contractors, I very much appreciated reviews that went into great detail. As such, I'm going to do just that with this review. I apologize for the length, but I really don't want to leave any details out. I don't take large decisions lightly. It took me ~2 months to research and decide on which television to purchase. When I decided to finally take the plunge and have my basement finished, it was at least that amount of time to comb through all of the reviews I could find of local remodelers before creating a "short" list of those I wanted to talk to directly. Luckily for my wife and I, RJ&E was on that initial list. It was another month before making a final decision. I reached out to 5 local contractors to try to find the best fit for my project, each of which have stellar reviews on Angie's List. Of the five, one was already booked through the end of the year (so we didn't meet with them) and two others had terrible first impressions (one with an estimate ~3 weeks late and the other has yet to show me their estimate). This left two contenders: RJ&E and another similar-but-moderately-larger company. The major difference between the two, and the reason that I went the RJ&E, was the feel of our interaction. With the larger company, we initially talked to an interior designer that didn't have answers to quite a few technical questions. Likewise, our second meeting with that company (which had to happen in their office--a 45 minute drive for us) was sullied by the fact that the person we originally met with had some details wrong (like our budget for the project, for example). This led to the foundation of our second meeting being entirely off-base and us having to wait an extra week to get accurate estimate details. All in all, this company seemed fine, but I mention these points because they were clear downfalls of going with a larger company and the main reason we opted away from them. It should be noted that their price was also slightly above RJ&E's, but this didn't play into our decision. With RJ&E, on the other hand, we met with Eric, the main foreman (and owner of the company?), to take a look at our basement and give his estimate. That estimate arrived in 3 days, 3 days earlier than he told us it could possibly take. He was quite clear that he would personally be on-site for the entirety of the project. Likewise, every single interaction I had with RJ&E after that first meeting was directly with him. As you can imagine, he also had all the answers to every question I had for him. More than that, during that initial meeting, he had a slew of questions and ideas that I hadn't yet considered. Did I want to add another water spigot to the back yard or a gas line to the back deck before we finished the area? Yes, actually--but I would have never thought of it on my own. This is one example of many. Long story short: Our interaction with Eric was quite different than with the other companies we talked to. He wasn't reading from a checklist when he talked to us. Instead, he already knew every aspect of what the project would entail and simply drew on his past experience to get all relevant info from us. After we made our final decision and signed the contract, RJ&E was able to start work about 2.5 weeks later (again ahead of schedule, by around 1.5 weeks this time). After Day 1, Eric had a lengthy walkthrough with me to show me the framing progress and break down the next week of work they were going to perform. He explained things in great detail, listened patiently while I described my exact vision for the media room (multiple screens including a 150" projector, 7.1.4 atmos setup, etc), and gave his 2 cents for how he would suggest things be set up to maximize goals for the space. I had been researching the exact theater setup for 4-5 months, but Eric's experience was exactly what I needed to be able to perfectly visualize how my ideas would fit into my finished basement area. After that Friday walkthrough, I raved to my wife and family how happy I was that we had selected RJ&E. That sentiment didn't change throughout the project. One other tidbit: I work from home and was in the house for nearly all of the time Eric's crew completed the work. Of course, finishing a basement is not quiet work, but his crew actually used the basement windows to travel to-and-from the project site. I only saw his team when they were carrying items into the basement that wouldn't fit through the windows. It really was incredible the lengths they went to ensure they weren't "bothering" me. It was also extremely appreciated. Originally, our timeline was estimated at 4-6 weeks. The project did end up taking 6 weeks nearly to the day. During the entire process, Eric was available for a chat however and whenever I preferred. I'm mostly an email guy and have quite a few back-and-forth conversations archived with him, but we did also have quite a few texts and many face-to-face conversations along the way. He was very proactive about letting me know when big decisions were coming up so my wife and I could have them made in advance. All-in-all, things went incredibly smoothly. As would be expected with an undertaking of this size, the project was not perfect, though. I really did put a LOT of thought into trying to come up with some negatives I could outline in this review to ensure it's not just me gushing about RJ&E. I have three. 1.) The initial estimate that Eric provided us was a bit confusing. Some items were listed as "Optional" and weren't included in the final dollar amount. These were items that we originally stated we wanted so we expected the final dollar amount to include them. This led to us initially misunderstanding what the actual price would be for the basement. Eric was quick to clear this up for us, but it did delay things by 1-2 days. 2 / 3.) Eric and his team handle nearly everything from A to Z, but there are exceptions. RJ&E outsourced both drywall and carpet. I believe every contractor we talked to does this for these two items, but, for our purposes, these were the only two items that added "major" delays to the project. That is no coincidence. The Drywall team that was used kicked a** when they were here, but there were a few instances of miscommunication between them and Eric (and, incidentally, Eric and I). I believe the drywall process ended up taking ~3-4 days longer than it probably needed to because of some of this miscommunication (or just because of that team not showing up at various times). Similarly, the carpet folks we worked with (through Eric's recommendation) didn't initially get all of the information needed from us during our meeting with them. This meant a delay in ordering carpet. When Eric's team was handling work, they were here literally every weekday from 8a to at least 4p (but sometimes closer to 5 or even 5:30). I can only say extremely positive things about their work ethic. Simply put: They rock. That fantastic work ethic made it pretty clear when things weren't going to schedule with outside companies, though. In short, with very few exceptions: If nobody was working in the basement, it meant there was an outside delay. This happened for a few days while we waited for carpet to arrive and, of course, while we waited for the drywall folks to finish up. Even still, Eric was very proactive about keeping me in the loop with these delays. His personal frustration showed a bit when outside companies held up work and he had to let me know the specifics of what we were waiting on. He was transparent about the entire process, though, and, as mentioned above, the project was still completed within the original estimate. All-in-all, if I had things to do over again knowing what I know now, I would save myself some time and only talk to RJ&E. I was initially turned off by the lack of project photos on their website and that they are a smaller company, but one chat with Eric put those reservations to rest. I know RJ&E does all sorts of remodeling work and plan on using them for a deck restoration next summer. I have a feeling that will go as well as the basement project. Nonetheless, I can't vouch for that service yet. I can say without hesitation, though, that RJ&E is a fantastic company for basement finishing. If you're in the beginning stages of planning the finishing of your basement, do yourself a favor and talk to Eric. At worst, he'll give you ideas that you probably haven't considered. If you're lucky, though, you'll choose RJ&E for the job and soon thereafter find yourself in my position right now--sitting in your beautiful basement raving about the work they did.

Did not hire. Took about 4 weeks to get estimate after initial call. Finally decided to go with another contractor as I did not want to wait anymore. When I did get the estimate finally I had already started work with another contractor. I must say that estimate was thorough and well priced. They were quite professional and courteous in all communications. No regrets and wish them well and thank them for their estimate.

We hired them too late in the fall to have it completed by spring. Book early.

Eric and his team provided great service! They got started on the project a little later than expected, but built a beautiful screen porch and deck for us. He and the team were very hard workers, professional, and respectful of our home. I was really cold some of the time they were working and they still did a great job!!

These guys are professional, prompt, and polite. They were on budget and responsive to even the littlest detail. The basement looks fantastic. They have our highest recommendation.

It was a seamless operation. They showed up each day on time. Cleaned up the job site each day. Started and completed the project on time.

Work was done on time and without mistakes. No complaints.

They do a lot of in house remodeling. Everything went well with all of our projects. He is very reasonable.

Amazing job! Eric is extremely responsive and runs things very effectively. He had great ideas and is very easy to work with. His team is very professional and courteous. We will be using them in the near future for an addition to our house. Would highly recommend.

We are going to start this off by stating that we are not much of review writers and have only written a few reviews for people. All were positive. We have been dealing with wood floor issue from the RJ&E install and we felt we needed to address this on Angie?s list. At the end of August, 2012 RJ&E corp installed around 1,000 square feet of 5? width maple wood flooring that we bought at Blakely?s. This was installed in our kitchen, laundry room, entry area, hall, office, and bathroom. RJ&E had built our deck, painted our kitchen cabinets and had done some other odds and ends around the house. They seemed nice and punctual at first and did an ok job on the deck and cabinets. It seems as though they can do ok with some projects, but not installing hardwood floors. This is something that should be done by a hardwood installer. We had to learn this the very hard way. First, I would like to state that RJ&E picked up our wood from Blakely?s on Aug. 29th and sent us an e-mail that they were finished installing it on Sept. 1st. This allowed no time for the wood to acclimate in the house. The wood instructions state that the wood should acclimate for at least five days prior to the install. We didn?t know a ton about wood floors going into this project, but Eric (RJ&E owner) said they had installed wood floors before and they could do it. We know a lot more now. We are pretty sure they never took the proper temperature readings of the wood floor and subfloor to insure they were at the correct humidity levels since they didn?t even acclimate the wood. Due to the lack of acclimation and poor instillation we had several large gaps between boards and at the end seems. We also had several boards that were very loose. We could even pull up and remove a few end boards by hand (no nails had hit subfloor). Another contractor had looked at the nails in the floor and thought RJ&E had used trim nails and not wood floor nails. After having RJ&E out several times to look at these issues, they finally agreed to take up the existing wood floor and relay the same wood floor back down more securely and with the correct nails. We were hesitant for them to do this as we had Blakely?s come out as well and they said the floor would need to be replaced with new wood. The original pieces would not all fit back together correctly. We were also told the same thing from another contractor. We told Eric about all of our concerns, but he was not going to give us money for Blakely?s to install a new wood floor. He said that if they relay the floor and there are still issues that they would work with us and made it sound like they would pay for a new floor. RJ&E relayed the floor in June 2013, so 10 months after the initial install. Keep in mind we have been going in circles with Eric for a year and four months about this floor. After the relay, some of the boards did seem more secure and some of the gaps seemed smaller, but we had new issues. RJ&E bought two boxes of wood from a vender that they chose (not Blakely?s). They bought only these two boxes to replace any that they broke pulling up. They thought Blakely?s was charging too much so they used some other vendor. They first ordered the wrong wood and had to reorder. The wood that they got was still a bit lighter than what we had and did not have the grains our wood had. Eric insisted that this was due to a different wood lot. RJ&E proceeded to tear up the wood floor. They broke or cracked several pieces and had to lay the new lot wood down. These lighter pieces do not match our original wood floor and do not look good. There are some cracks still on pieces installed in our floor. There are also large gaps that were filled with putty and many places that were topped nailed. RJ&E somehow also discolored a piece of wood during the relay and it has white splotches on it that won?t come off. They also did not stagger the pieces properly. Now we have boards popping up that were not secured to the subfloor. I would expect to see this from wood that has been in a house for 30 years, but not a year and four months. Please see photos if Angie's list allows me to post them. In October of this year, Eric agreed to hire and pay for a third party inspector. There is a list of certified Johnson hard wood inspectors. Eric chose David Powell. We know nothing about him and do not know if he and Eric already knew each other. David and Eric came to our house for the inspection. It was uncomfortable and David asked Eric if he had let the wood acclimate and taken temperature readings and Eric was dishonest and said he did. David, the inspector, didn?t even look at our entire floor. He sent a report to Eric in word format and Eric sent it to us. I thought this should have been a PDF document so it could not be tampered with. David made it seem like since under 20% of the floor met his inspection that it was fine. We spoke with another inspector and he totally disagreed. We e-mailed David with questions and concerns about the floor and his inspection and he never responded. We spoke with Eric and his wife after we received the report and told him we were still not happy with the floor. We asked Eric if he would at least pay to have someone else make the repairs that was a qualified wood installer. Eric told us he has done all he can and he cannot help us anymore. We have had a few other contractors over for various things and they have noticed a lot of these issues in the floor that we were second guessing our selves about and not planning to keep pushing the issue with RJ&E. We just had a contractor over a week or so ago to look at the floor and see if he can make some repairs. He was not 100% sure that if he tried to fix some issues it would work. He didn?t want us to have to pay him and then still have problems. He said the installation of the floor was unacceptable and that we needed to take action to get it right. We are working on our next step in this process. If we decided to pay for a whole new floor and install we are out at least $27,000 for 1,000 square ft of wood floor between what we paid RJ&E and Blakley?s initially and what we would have to pay again to have the floor taken up, redone, and buy new materials.

They built a awesome tree house for our grandson and does a lot of home remodeling. He has done some of that remodeling work for us as well. He also has screened in my deck for me. The deck was around $1500.

Eric Michael (company owner) was extremely quality and detail oriented. He came to our house and provided an estimate for the scope of work. He was very flexibility in working out a plan which met our budget. We discussed adding/subtracting many options in order to get the best outcome for our budget. The project started slightly ahead of plan and ended on time. The construction included basement wall, ceilings. electrical, HVAC, bathroom plumbing (the majority was roughed in already), tiling and wetbar design. His company uses its own employees for most of the work and they are very quality focused. To my knowledge, the only outsourced portion was drywall installation. Eric met with us most everyday to discuss progress for the day and what was needed for the next day. His approach is systematic, somewhat as design/build as he makes decisions on what is the best plan for the next day's construction -- confirms with us and then buys what he needs for it. He minimizes the impact of changes that way and you don't have a lot of extra stuff laying around. We were also impressed that everyday they would clean the area before leaving. Similar to other reviews, Eric has a eye for the detail. He provides ideas for room colors, wall shapes, layout/people flow, electrical requirements, even down to the color and shape of bathroom fixtures. He designed a make-shift bar for us so we could see how things would look before we went forth. He also added the small touches on the walls and ceilings to make it all look more appealing. He and his team are easy to work with, dependable and respective of your house. We are very pleased with the outcome and have continued to use his company for other work in our house.

RJ&E gave us an estimate on our basement remodel. They were on time, courteous and professional. Their bid was very competitive with the other 7 companies we received estimates from. Their estimate was sent to us very quickly after their visit to our home and the estimate was very detailed, which we greatly appreciated. We will use their company again for future home improvement projects.

First stage of framing, electrical and plumbing was completed in under 2 weeks. Eric and his crew where very professional. Clean up was done each day at the end of the day. Eric does not hesitate to reach out and ask questions about what the customer wants or needs. We made several small changes during the initial process with no problems at all. One of our larger concerns was protecting our privacy, this was quickly relieved by the outstanding professionalism that the crew demonstrated during the initial process. One of the more unexpected benefits of hiring RJE has been the suggestions made during the process. We built our home and only wished that we had the attention to detail that has been paid to our initial vision. There have been A couple of instances when we have actually saved money through suggestions by this contractor;a true rarity. After drywall, the crew moved moved quickly for finishing. The bar area tile, bathroom fixtures and trim where all completed in less than 2 weeks. Some of the finer details are still ongoing, these include many upgrades that we have asked for above and beyond the original contract. Each request has been quickly met with professionalism. Small items of concern where promptly remedied. To be clear; the major part of the basement including frame, drywall, plumbing and electric where 25,000. The bar itself is still an ongoing project and cost is still being summed up. We had budgeted 8,000 for the bar. This includes granite, bar skirting, plumbing, electrical, and appliances. In my opinion this bar about rivals anything I have seen in those morse or Geist home. The value for the money has been outstanding. I will break down bar costs after finish for those of you who would like to know. Basement is finally done and is top notch.

Comprehensive estimate provided while offering ideas, things to watch out for and recommendations. We have now contracted with the company to complete the project. Definitely recommend including this company if you are considering a remodel.

The project was completed on budget and on time, and the finished work and process was excellent. RJ&E was very accommodating in the quotation process and willing to change the approach, materials, and level of finish to meet our exact targets and balance budget and quality of work. Other contractors were far less cooperative and competitive in this phase, and this made RJ&E the clear winner for the best plan and budget. The work was conducted mostly by the highly skilled and detail oriented primary ?partners? of RJ&E. They only sub-contracted the drywall, deliver, and minor support functions, while doing the critical work with the main crew that demonstrated excellent work and professionalism. There were never periods with the worksite was in great disarray or where any unnecessary damage or inconvenience occurred as we were living in the house during the basement finishing. The desired level of finish was requested to be "above average" using higher end building materials like mold resistance 5/8 drywall, and other building materials and methods upgrades. The quality of work and finishing was very good, and RJ&E made every effort to correct any issues we communicated without argument or delay. RJ&S was willing to split the quotation between flat cost projects and a time and material approach to best meet our requests, and there were no surprises or hidden costs revealed by RJ&E through the project. The final expense was only slightly higher than original estimates primarily due to our request to upgrade some of the materials and finish levels as the project proceeded. RJ&E is highly recommended for value, quality of work, and flexibility in the working with specific requests at the onset of the project and throughout the progress. I would not hesitate to launch a small or large home improvement project with RJ&E and suggest that they are an outstanding option when seeking the best combination of quality work and reasonable price.

He's our go to guy for any home projects. We were very happy with all the work he did. We've even referred him to other people. They've even had work done with him too and have been very satisfied.