D&E Construction

The finished project is beautiful and we are happy with it. The quality is excellent and we get numerous compliments on the end result. We found Ergun to be very personable, as well as smart, knowledgeable, and helpful. His team was excellent when they showed up, except for the painter, who had to be let go for a lack of professionalism (which further slowed progress). What made the process difficult was ongoing miscommunication and an inability of the contractor to respond in a timely manner. Construction took nearly a year to complete, with numerous delays and communication problems, apparently due to the company overbooking projects after a difficult winter. We never really knew when workers would show up, and there were long stretches of time when no work was done at all. We understand that sometimes challenges arise, but it appeared to us that those challenges were not managed effectively, at least where our project was concerned. Consistent communication probably would have helped. But again, we are happy with the porch.

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Ergun and his team were very smart, knowledgeable, clean, hard working and punctual. They cleaned up after themselves each day. We hired another contractor in July to waterseal our basement. Ergun and his crew worked around this contractor to install a footing in the basement that was required for the back hallway job. They did this several months before the beginning of their job, and before asking for any payment, so the waterseal on the basement floor could be intact. The renovation is beautiful and we are very pleased with the result. We have already hired them back to replace our front porch.

Provider was patient, smart, flexible.

Update: its been a year and the deck and door are fantastic.  the door has enclosed blinds (worth it) and was larger than the original opening.  they expanded the opening, installed the door and re-plastered and repainted the interior to perfection.  the deck withstood the winter (including all that snow) and is everything we wanted and expected

Ergun's team did an amazing job renovating our basement, and he was very professional from start to finish. He came out to look at the job soon after we first connected and offered thoughtful suggestions on how to protect the basement from future water damage. We weren't able to implement all of his suggestions due to cost considerations, but we settled on a reasonable scope of work and price and set a date. We changed the scope of work twice before the start of the project, and he was flexible every time, providing a new quote and talking through the details with us.
He started the project within a couple of days of the projected start time, and his team did high quality work throughout. Whenever we had questions during the building phase, he was quick to either respond by phone or come out to inspect the work. And the work was truly terrific. Our basement looks much better than before the water damage, and the new flooring in the basement bedroom (which he recommended) is lighter and more durable than the old, smelly carpet. The paint job was carefully completed, and the attention to detail is evident throughout. And his team completed the project almost a week early!
The only piece of constructive feedback for Ergun was with respect to response times prior to the start of the actual work. It sometimes took several phone calls and emails to get a response the summer prior to the start of the project. But when he did respond, he acknowledged and apologized for the delay. And the quality of the work and experience during the project were excellent. I would gladly hire him again.

We started with a scary dungeon basement and now we have a beautiful space that doubles the size of our living area. It's beautiful, our friends described it as a space that could be in a lifestyle magazine.
D&E was great. They did a great job and managed the project and issues independently. We didn't have to manage them. Often with contractors we made the experience that you have to watch every step to make sure things are done as discussed, but that was not the case with D&E. We trusted them so much that they even did a big part of the work while we were out of town for 3 weeks.
When problems came up (you never know what you find when you open a wall, etc) they didn't just cover it up, they made sure issues were resolved properly. The quality of the work was excellent.
D&E was always available for expert advice when we needed an opinion on on planning the space. We will definitely work with them on future projects. I would love to share before and after pictures here to show the new space, but unfortunately there is no picture upload option.

Extraordinarily well built. Great craftsmanship. We gave Ergun a sketch of what we wanted for the railing but otherwise it was just conversations to work out the many details. We talked to three contractors and Ergun was the middle price, but he clearly knew the most about working with ipe and carpentry generally. Example of thoughtful work: the carpenters ripped all the rafters at a taper so we could have a slope to the roof with a flat (level) ceiling. Can't say enough about how meticulous every worker was and how the result exceeded our expectations.
The schedule dragged out a bit; due to bad weather, Ergun started later in the fall than we'd hoped (we signed a contract in late spring 2013), and finishing up the railing and paint had to wait for spring 2014.
Also worth noting is that Ergun was extremely pleasant to work with and very fair with unforseen conditions and changes that came up after we signed the contract.

D&E Construction was contracted to do work on the lower
level of my home, which was being remodeled to accommodate my elderly mother
and physically challenged sister who were relocating to live with us. Upon
signing the contract Ergun the owner of D&E was given $11,000.00

Unfortunately, the City of Boston denied the request for a
permit. Due to the protracted appeal process and needing to get my family in
with me sooner rather than later, we could not proceed with the project as
planned. The architect who was hired to do the plans understood the situation
and refunded my retainer minus an amount for the work done during the permit
application process. Ergun initially did not return numerous calls, emails or
text messages over several weeks. Professional courtesy of returning calls was
lacking. Initial attempts to discuss the situation and how we might reach an
agreement to a refund of some portion of the $11K deposit were left unanswered.

After some deliberation we made the decision to put our home
on the market and seek to purchase one that would come ready made to
accommodate my family. Our home required some work prior to listing it. We
again reached out to Ergun to see if, in lieu of a refund, he would agree to
complete this work on the house. He did respond, we met and agreed on the work
to be done and the time frame in which it would be completed. To make a long
story short it took a couple more weeks of unanswered calls for the work to be
started and another round of calls trying to get the job completed which still has
not happened. The positive, in this situation, is that the work that has been
done to date is of very high quality.

We were very annoyed with Ergun?s unresponsiveness
and ability to follow through in a timely manner, which has made a difficult
situation even more challenging. After a recent conversation with him we hope
for a positive outcome.

Update: I am happy to report that the work was finally completed in Nov 2014. There are no complaints about the quality of the work performed. However, once again we did encounter poor response to calls and emails regarding getting the work completed in a timely manner. It took from July 2014 (the date of the original review) until Nov. 2014 to complete installation of a glass shower, finish tile work on a floor and wall (70% had already been completed by another contractor), install a bathroom door frame unit,   paint four rooms and sheet rock a small area of ceiling in a basement stairwell. 

Ergun and his team built us a beautiful deck. We spoke with several contractors that were all highly rated on Angie?s list and Ergun stood out in his expertise, design sense, organization, quality of materials, and customer orientation. His estimate was higher than the others but he was happy to work with us to find ways to cut cost out of the design. Together we found ways to reduce the cost without compromising on quality.

From the time the work began, through the end of the project, we were very impressed with the craftsmanship and attention to detail. Ergun did not settle for ?good enough? on the site preparation, or on any of the structural or finishing details. More than once during the project he took care of small issues of the sort that many other contractors would have let go. He was also very responsive to any issue we raised.

He managed the electrician (that installed outlets and lighting) and the plumber (who moved heating to make space for a new sliding door). He managed all the permitting and inspections. He also worked effectively with the contractor that installed the spiral stairs. We were very pleased with Ergun?s ability to handle innovative materials and designs (e.g., sustainably harvested maintenance free hardwood decking, cable railing, steel spiral stairs, drainage and screen system).

We highly recommend Ergun and would work with him again without any hesitation.

From start to finish, everything went perfectly.  Ergun was very responsive and at the initial call I knew that he was not your typical contractor.  I made several inquiries to contractors for my deck replacement and Ergun was the only one that explained all of my options, followed-through on providing the estimate, and was able to answer all of my questions.  (I had the unfortunate experience of asking a contractor a question to which he told me to "not worry about it" and "we'll take care of it.")  The crew started the project as on time and since the weather cooperated, it was completed sooner than expected.  I would hire Ergun and his team again in a heartbeat.

Ergun is fabulous to work with! He wrote very professional and reasonable
estimates, worked on time and budget, was flexible and friendly, and managed the
project independently. When issues came up, he resolved them with care. With
other contractors we felt that we had to manage and oversee the project to
ensure they were done properly, but not with Ergun, he was always on top of
everything and executed the project as expected. We can recommend Ergun with
with confidence and plan on working with him on other upcoming projects.

I recently purchased a house, and needed to remodel the basement as a home theater space. I write about consumer electronics professionally, so this is not just a hobby room, but is necessary for my career. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that I have a huge budget. I have to pay for all expenses out of pocket, right after having just bought the house.

The house had a finished room in the basement, but it was completed in the 1940s or '50s and was unsuitable for my needs. I was able to strip the old walls and ceiling myself, but needed a real contractor with crew to build them back up again, complete with heavy insulation and soundproofing. It is essential that I isolate the room from all sounds coming from upstairs, and that I don't disturb my wife or neighbors when watching loud movies.

As an added complication, the basement has a low ceiling and had a heavy support beam in front of the entrance door that hung so low I had to duck just to get into the room. This would have haunted me forever if I couldn't address it.

I met with several contractors to discuss the project, a few of whom seemed pretty good. However, almost all of them told me that the support beam was going to be a major and expensive problem. They advised that I should focus my money elsewhere and learn to deal with ducking at the entrance. I wasn't happy about this.  

Ergun Merdin not only gave me an estimate on the low end of what others had quoted me, but he had a sound plan for carving out and raising a section of the support beam, then moving the location of the entrance so that I'd have free access to the room without ducking.

I cannot praise Ergun enough. He and his crew were terrific. They did a great job, and they came in very close to the original estimate. Ergun is very good about setting reasonable expectations for what things really need to be done or don't need to be done in order to keep on budget. He's also extremely helpful, knowledgeable, friendly and professional.  

Although he is not a specialist in soundproofing, Ergun did research on the subject, and poured through seemingly endless documentation that I received from a consultant. As I learned, soundproofing is very complicated. You can't just staple egg-crate foam to the walls and expect that to have an effect on anything. Real soundproofing starts at construction. The walls and ceiling have to be decoupled from the studs and joists to prevent vibration from carrying through the house. You need extra layers of drywall with damping compound in between, a heavy door (preferably two with a lobby space in between), and essentially need to seal up every "hole" in the room to prevent sound from leaking out. Ergun successfully absorbed all this information and combined it with his own extensive knowledge of engineering and construction. 

I am very happy with the finished room, which looks great and meets all of my needs. I don't believe I would have been as satisfied with any of the other contractors I met with.

The only aspect that I have any qualms about is the painting. Although his painter did an adequate job, I've had issues with paint chipping and flaking that I needed to have another painter come in to correct. The second painter informed me that the room was painted too soon after construction, before the plaster had fully cured, and that I should have waited a few weeks. Ergun's painter never said anything about this to me. If I had to do it over again, the only thing I'd do differently is hire my own painter.

In the midst of the basement remodel, my wife and I also discovered termite damage in a bedroom elsewhere in the house. Investigating this led to the discovery that the bedroom (an extension added some time after original construction) had been very poorly built, with far-too-thin drywall and all of the insulation installed incorrectly. Ergun advised that the best course of action would be to tear down the walls, then put in new insulation and put up new walls. However, knowing that we were running low on funds, he also proposed some compromises that would have been less expensive (though also less effective). Since this was to be our master bedroom,  we ultimately decided to do it right. Ergun was able to repair the termite damage, and put in the new insulation and walls for a reasonable price that didn't break our budget.

We are very pleased with all the work Ergun and his crew did for us, and would definitely use D&E for future home improvement projects. We've already recommended him to friends looking for a contractor.

we had several meetings with Erin, going over the materials and options.  Work was started in november and completed in december.  Erin kept us updated on the progress.  Payment was made in 30/30/40 intervals, last on completion.  The whole experience was great, and now we are having him replace the french door to the deck.  The deck was done with Azek, and it looks great.  Strongly recommend him. 

Sept 27 2013: Just wanted to update you on the new deck door.  We had delivery problems with the factory (wrong door;damage), which is why this part of the project took so long.  They did fantactic work.  The wall openning had to be enlarged to fit the new door. expanding the sides and top of the door.  Then the newly repaired wall areas had to be painted to match the original wall.  The result was awesome.  You can't tell where the repairs were made!  They did that as well as staining the new door molding to match.  The results look fantastic, and worth every cent. The new door we got has horizontal blinds inside glass, AND WE LOVE IT.  No more cleaning the blinds, and perfect adjustment for light/privacy.  Thanks  Ergun (hope I got the name right this time)

Ergun was extremely thorough in his initial evaluation of the work to be performed, and noticed problems with the existing deck (beyond the deterioration) that other evaluators missed or ignored - for instance that the deck had incomplete footings, and that the bump out for the sliding patio door was built onto the deck surface, and not properly framed to the house.  His estimate accounted for corrections to these issues, and was still the most competitive bid for the deck reconstruction.  Work was completed with great care and obvious craftsmanship, and the crew did an excellent job of maintaining a neat work site.  Additionally, they were extremely flexible in dealing with modifications and add-ons to the initial design.  Overall, we were very pleased with the process and the finished product, and would definitely go back to D&E first for any future remodeling work.

I met with Ergun at our scheduled appointment time and he gave me a quote for the job. He didn't try to confuse me or over explain, but he explained the work in detail in a way I was comfortable and could understand. Throughout the summer Ergun updated me about approximate start times. He then started on time and the crew was respectful, clean, and most importantly, were careful of my beloved plants. The porches look beautiful and the pergola on the 3rd floor is stellar. They cleaned up after themselves and were all around fantastic. I highly recommend them and plan on using them again.

D&E is a very professional and responsive contractor.  Ergun took time to answer my many questions along the way.  He is knowledgeable and dedicated to his work.  He is also honest about what he can and cannot do.  
The two men working on the porches every day were respectful and accommodating of our schedule.  My one small complaint is that a few times they did not come on a day I assumed they would.  Overall, however, Ergun was very upfront about their timing, and I would absolutely call them again for a future project.  

The work was tedious as the house is built on a puddingstone ledge but Ergun persisted and seemed to enjoy working on our 1896 Victorian home.  We did not compare prices as other contractors were unwilling to deal with the drainage issues which Ergun took as a challenge and solved very efficiently.  The workmanship is beautiful.  Ergun worked with us in choosing materials and finalizing a design which he executed in good time, accompanied by most pleasant co-workers and within budget.  He was willing to go an extra mile to secure permitting (from a very dicey Historic Commission) as well as the usual permits.  Communication was easy and efficient both face to face and via cellphone or email.  Inquiries were answered within 24 hrs, usually less. 
       All in all it was a very positive experience and we now consider Ergun our man to go to so much that we have signed him up for another project when he can get to it.

I had several estimates on a porch replacement project, over the course of two years, and this one was the most detailed and comprehensive.  From the first visit, to the submission of the estimate, to the choice of material, to the related issues (such as permitting), to the construction and clean-up.... everything was clean, clear, efficient, tasteful, polite, and professional. Moreover, Ergun and his crew went well beyond the minimum requirements, and provided details that were a pleasant surprise (such as putting down white marble chips around the porch in their final landscaping). In sum, I couldn't be more pleased with the process of working with D & E Construction....and the final product (a side porch that is beautifully constructed and that works very well with the existing architecture of the house).

Ergun was extremely helpful, informative, and available during the whole process. He explained everything in detail and even gave me advice on other projects with my house. Ergun and the other workers were courteous and flexible. I am very pleased with all of the work and the experience as a whole.

I had used D& E Construction a year ago to remodel a portion of my unfinished basement, and was so pleased with the work I asked Ergun to build this custom unit for my living room.  He took precise measurements prior to starting this project, and also gave me time to select the stain color and door style.  Once I had selected the stain, he used two similar stain colors and painted them on oak samples so I could see what they looked like prior to making a final selection.  The finished unit is just stunning, beautiful workmanship that is so precise and the unit looks like it has always been in my living room.  It fits perfectly, and I have received numerous compliments from family and friends.

Ergun kept us informed during the entire project and was always on site as promised.  The workmanship is top notch, and the entire crew was professional and cleaned up any mess each day.   The room has been warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  We use this room all the time now, and couldn't be happier.  Ergun was highly recommended prior to this project, and we couldn't be more pleased with the result.

Ergun was prompt to respond, get us an estimate and get his crew on the ground.  The D&E guys were all great and worked tirelessly for two weeks to get the project done. Another challenge was that some of the work had to be coordinated with the company that installed the trees.  Ergun handled that as well, even though the other company was difficult to pin down.  Ergun and the rest of the D&E guys made a terrible situation bearable.  I cannot recommend D&E highly enough.  They are by far the best contractors I have ever worked with.  THANKS ERGUN!

Ergun was able to offer design suggestions, and modify as needed to contain costs until I decided on materials and design. He showed me the problems that were discovered and clearly described what needed to be done. During this time I had daily updates with him.   He gave clear, easy to understand explanations and spent a lot of time answering all of my questions during both the initial consultation and during the project. He started the project when he had predicted, did not miss a day unless it was raining,and cleaned the worksite. He returned to review the work and check out a question I had. I was very pleased with his professionalism and the quality of his work was excellent.

Ergan and his crew were great to work with throughout the entire project.  They were prompt, courteous, clean and kept us informed.  But what my wife and I were most impressed with was the attention to detail in every aspect of the work that was done and the level of communication with us as the work progressed. As I am sure you can imagine, having structural joists repaired due to extensive termite damage in a historical house that was built in the 1800's had us a bit on edge.  Ergan put us at ease and went well beyond what I would consider "acceptable" (I used to be a general contractor). 

We were so pleased with D&E that we are planning to have them do a bathroom remodel for us later this year.  Don't tell Ergan this, but after this experience, we won't even consider another contractor!  If you want quality work from a professional crew at a reasonable price, you should hire D&E.