New England Design & Construction

unknown

They were terrific! They were attentive to detail. They also had good workmanship and a good choice of subcontractors. All of the subcontractors were attentive, clean, and took care of everything they were supposed to. The follow up has also been terrific. I could not have been happier with the service.

The experience was great! We have recommended their service to our friends. They were very good at dealing with little issues that came up throughout the process. If there was an issue, they made sure to resolve it. They also completed the work on time.

Short version:
(a) Charged $300 for estimate, then sent estimate $5K over what we told them was our total max budget (which was $20k for a small bathroom-pretty reasonable), then told us minimum fee for work would be based on that number.
(b) Told us on a Friday night that they needed to know by the following Monday afternoon whether we were choosing them or not in order to hit our deadline, then didn't answer any of our questions posed at that Friday meeting or calls or emails until Monday afternoon (explaining that they and quot;didn't work weekendsand quot;) leaving us no time to deliberate on the decision.
(c) Refused to provide insurance estimate which their competition provided same day we requested because they said it and quot;wasn't worth their time unless we were choosing themand quot; clearly trying to strong arm us into choosing them.
In a nutshell: Not cost-conscious at all, totally lazy and unprofessional and arguably unethical. Do not use this company.

We are so very happy with our new addition. We knew we wanted to hire a design-build company. It was important to us that the team work together to solve issues. It was also important to us to get this project done with the least amount of disruption to our family, specifically our children. When we met with Cory and Dave, we liked their attitude and professionalism. We met with a few other companies, and none of them understood how important the budget was to us. It was clear that Dave and Cory could design something within our budget, and solve our problems. Our biggest problems were that our daughter's room was tiny; our kitchen was tiny and outdated and had a really bad layout. Not only did they solve these problems, within our budget, we also were able to solve a few more problems such as adding a coat closet (which we didn't have), remodeling our linen closet, adding a closet to our son's room, but also suggested how to enlarge and design our new kitchen to have a better flow. Also, Victoria, the designer, came to all the showrooms with us. She was able to tell the vendor our budget and style BEFORE we got to the showroom, so that we could focus our attention on things that fit our budget and style. We really appreciated that aspect of the project, because there were so many things to look at in each store. Then, we broke grown, and Dan, our lead carpenter was wonderful. Not only did he build the addition, but he also helped us move our daughter's bed into our son's room during this project (and back again when the project was over). Dan and Dave kept us updated through phone calls, blog updates and meeting every 14 days. We had a lot of communication with them, and really appreciated that part. We had unexpected discovery asbestos, which they told us about, found a vendor for us, and took care of it professionally. Each subcontractor that came to the site knew the rules, and worked hard in making sure our design became reality. New England Design and Construction finished the project on budget and two days early! I was in my new kitchen for Mother's Day. Every time I step into the kitchen, I am thankful for New England Design and Construction for making my dream become reality. My husband and I can both be in the kitchen, and not be on top of each other! I highly recommend New England Design and Construction, and look forward to hiring them for my next dream project.

I was very disappointed with the project, in terms of project management, communication, and quality of work. I don't feel that the .C. had enough of a presence at the site to understand what was or was not going on and had no control over his sub-contractors. There were many instances where he told me someone would be here to do something and they didn't show up, or he told me something was done and it wasn't. Many times I was the one who identified the issues. For example, a closet was framed too narrow to fit clothes in! It was too much work for me trying to watch him and his guys.Some of his subcontractors guys were slobs and were disrespectful of my belongings from the first to the last day. In one instance, I came home and found that their plasterer had walked on my bed and some clothing, leaving plaster on them. They left demolition debris in the front of my yard for weeks, despite getting tickets from Inspectional Services for doing so and my asking them not to. These types of things happened repeatedly and the G.C. could not control his guys to make it stop even though I repeatedly brought them up. Coordination and communication with the sub-contractors were terrible. There was a cold spell in November when the heating was being replaced and I asked the G.C. when the heat would be finished and his response was that he thought it was completed the week before. Some of the carpentry and finish electrical work was installed in the wrong locations and had to be redone.I found scratches, nicks, and gouges in many cabinets and my bathroom fixtures when work was done.I also learned that there were building code violations made with some of the walls. After work was done, I was wondering why I could hear my neighbors speaking pretty clearly (I can even hear them urinate), and learned by opening up some o the walls that they were not built correctly and not built how he had told me they were. I then found out from the building inspector that they had not scheduled some of their inspections the right way. Noise was a big issue for me with this project and i trusted them to handle it and they failed completely.To the contractor's credit, he tried to correct and make up for his mistakes, but in many instances it just felt like too little, too late and some were not resolved to my satisfaction. I don't feel like he delivered on any of the promises that were made at the beginning of the job. I am still finding little things that were missed or not done (like forgetting to hook hot water up to a basement in the sink). Bottom line is use these guys at your own risk. If you do use them, be prepared to have a second job inspecting work and checking up on them.

Cory Desjardin is the owner of the company. They are very good. They are new and they just changed their name. They charged us between $35000 and $40000. I chose them because they had good references. They were very professional and they did a lot of followup. So they fixed whatever we weren't happy with. They were very good with the followup. Their price was very good too.