DDA Home Remodel

great. would hire again. The best!

The work was done perfectly and professionally. Dan appeared punctually, offered good suggestions, installed the bars, and cleaned up meticulously. We are very happy with his work. He is very pleasant to deal with and does an excellent job. From now on, that is who we will call for home repair/remodelling. A few months back one of his carpenters did some gutter/window frame repair and that has held up beautifully.

They were great. They came on time as planned. They were polite and professional. Even though the job was more work than anticipated, they charge me the quoted amount. They solved my problem and I am very appreciative.

Every experience I have with DdA Home Remodel is a good one. I feel like I can go to Dan with a list of things I'd like to do with my home, prioritize it and he provides his insight and estimated cost to achieve those projects. He's always very communicative, professional and timely. His staff is lovely and highly skilled like him. I feel comfortable letting him into my home and performing the work without my being there - he is absolutely easy to work with and he's honest. His estimates are fair and accurate. I look forward to working again with Dan and his staff for any and all of my home improvements that fall under his scope.

Dan has done multiple projects for us, the most recent being building mudroom cubbies in our garage so we had a landing zone for all of our shoes and coats. I explained what I wanted, he drew up the specs, and they did a wonderful job building it. It is so durable. I am always so pleased with how prompt Dan is, and you always know exactly what to expect out of each job. In the previous projects we had DDA knock down a wall between our kitchen and dining room and build new back steps.

It went well. We liked all the guys that came through (carpenter, plasterer, tiler.) They were friendly and did a great job. (We used our own plumber and electrician.)

I would hire DDA Home Remodel again. Dan was very responsive with the original visit and estimate. Noel did a great job with the project.

He hired Dan and Knoll to install a number of bathroom fixtures and complete a few random projects to round out a recent bathroom upgrade project to avoid a full gut/remodel. Dan was extremely responsive and upfront about a potential cost estimate. Within a week, he came to scope out the project and within two weeks, we had a signed SOW to do the work. In the Boston area, I have found handymen very inconsistent with quick responses and availability for smaller projects. Dan was the complete opposite and I was impressed with his attention to detail and transparency on cost and availability. Within about three weeks Knoll came and performed all of the work in the expected six hours. Knoll was very friendly and was able to perform all of the tasks we needed with great attention to detail and good quality. We had a lot of random tasks (like installing a medicine cabinet, mounting a vanity backsplash, retrofitting a shelf within the vanity, touch-up painting, installing towel bars) and he was very efficient and came with questions before any installation to ensure the approach was to my liking. In terms of cost, I don't have a lot of knowledge about where Dan falls along the spectrum, but I would guess that they're mid-to-high, and Dan did acknowledge this upfront and I appreciated that. However, what you get with that is someone who is organized, responsive, and very clear about expectations. For someone who wanted to get these tasks done quickly, this was exactly what I wanted. I would recommend Dan and Knoll and would hire them again!

We have been pleased with this ongoing relationship.

Dan De Angeli and his team were amazing - they communicated clearly throughout the entire process about the simpler window replacement and the rather complicated circular window restoration. Dan even accommodated a last minute request to add a storm to my circular window, to prevent further weather damage from happening. Dan is meticulous, honest, prompt and clear about his plans for repair/restoration. I look forward to calling Dan, for all future needs, because he is a pleasure to work with!

Dan came by shortly after we spoke on the phone to see what needed to be done. I was emailed the estimate the following morning and the work started as planned. The repair was nicely done in a timely manner.

Dan was very responsive throughout the process and answered any questions I had. Noel did the work on the day of the job. Both were friendly and professional and did high quality work at a reasonable price. Would recommend/hire again.

Very well. Noel, the primary worker is a construction genius and a perfectionist. The front porch is now the most solid part of the whole house! They might not be the cheapest, but the work is as good as it gets. And they often over-estimate the cost upfront. The final cost is usually less.

They were on time, transparent in their pricing and clear in their explanations. The work is beautiful. They completed both projects quickly. They cleaned up completely. A pleasure to work with them.

unknown

We had bought a Stryker II bed frame and XPRT mattress for a family member with progressive MS and post-major surgery use. The bed frame weighed 550 pounds and was not able to be readily dis-assembled.  To get it up the stairs, the bottom bannister had to come off as did the top bannister.  This contractor was sent to our house at the request of the seller of the bed because the seller had guaranteed us delivery to the second floor.  
The contractor employee, Noel, quickly and cleanly removed both bannisters which were original installation to the house and then returned them to their exact locations with very little indication they had ever been touched - they were sturdy, he filled what holes he made with filler, covered marks with polyurethane stain to match as closely as possible original finish.  He even helped spackle the stairway walls where a couple dents had been created by the bed frame on its way up.  He came before the movers, stayed while they performed their job and finished after they had left - it worked out great for us - and all on a Saturday.
Relatedly, it took four strong, young men with lots of energy to move the bed frame from the first floor of the house to the second floor bedroom.  We don't have all the contact information for this team as they too were hired by the seller but would recommend them for moving work as well.
We would, and will, use Dan and his team again for contractor projects.

unknown

Dda's estimate was higher than others', and the reviews we read here and on Yelp indicated that Dan can be easily insulted and quirky, but we picked them anyway because their schedule met our needs, Dan seemed to have a good eye for design, and because the carpenter (Noel) and plasterer (Bernie) got good reviews for quality. I can confirm that Dan does have an eye for design and project planning, and that Noel's rough carpentry and Bernie's plastering work is very good.  However, I would strongly caution anyone against hiring this company for crown molding, or probably any other kind of finish carpentry, and I would generally caution anyone against working with DdA unless you get all of your expectations about the quality of the work committed to on paper. Ask lots of questions about the specific skill set of the crew for each bit of work, and exactly what the finished results will look like, and what they will do if things don't end up that way. Buyer beware.

I went to the project site several times to inspect progress. The rough carpentry and plastering were done nicely. On my third trip, to see the freshly installed crown molding, I could see that it had not been mitered at the correct angles in several corners, such that the edges lined up unevenly. This left a "lip" in some cases where one edge extended past another, and a "gap" in other cases where some or all of the edge didn't meet the edge of the neighboring piece.  In still other cases where the crown molding was just supposed to stop rather than wrap around a corner, there was a gap between the "return" piece and the wall. Finally, along the length of the crown molding, there was a clearly visible gap where the crown molding meets the wall, in some places as much as 1/8"-1/4" wide, which was very visible from most vantage points.

I called Dan as soon as I saw these issues and he assured me that this was just the roughing-in step, and that they had a whole second day reserved to fix up everything with caulk (tubes of DAP). I expressed concern that some of the gaps seemed rather large to fix with caulk, and that I didn't understand how mismatched edges (particularly protruding corners) were going to be fixed with caulk and leave a smooth, paintable surface.  He assured me it would produce a good result.  That evening after work I researched crown molding installation issues and learned that caulk is indeed a standard solution to very small cracks, but that professional-grade work doesn't require a lot of caulk, especially not in corners, where the two mitered edges are supposed to line up without a big gap or a lip.  I wrote Dan an email explaining my concerns, and in the morning we talked on the phone and agreed to meet at the project site.

This is the point in our project where Dan started to exhibit seriously unprofessional behavior.  When I got there, he was removing masking tape from the floor and first just ignored me while I crouched next to him saying hello. (Update 11/24 - the tape appears to have permanently marred the floor in that one location, which I didn't notice until two days later.)  I started walking around the rooms inspecting the crown molding and Dan joined me after a few minutes. We agreed to walk the whole apartment together. Many of the small gaps between the lower edge of the crown molding and the wall had been effectively sealed with caulk, but there were still small gaps along some of the seams, one whole room hadn't been addressed at all, and the largest gap (a 1/4" gap about 2 feet long) was still just as wide.  I mentioned that my online research said that for gaps this large, one needs to use plaster to re-grade the wall to meet the molding. Dan didn't respond. As we walked through the apartment, he trailed sullenly behind me by several feet, sometimes looking at his feet or out the window as I pointed at various spots, calmly pointing out mismatched edges. I said some were so mismatched that they might need to be recut if it's not possible to make the mismatch disappear with caulking and patching. Dan said nothing.  We got done walking the whole apartment and then we were interrupted by a phone call I'd been waiting on.  When I tried to resume the conversation, Dan said they all needed to get to work, and didn't I have to get to work, too?  I told him yes, but that I wanted to know what his thoughts were on the various issues I'd pointed out.  He said curtly that they would spend some time that day fixing those spots as I wanted, in addition to re-placing the doorbell ringer back where it goes (which had left an exposed hole in the wall), and cleaning up the project site. Then he opened the door for me to leave. Seriously unprofessional.  Later in the day he called and said they were done, that the only thing left for them to do was to install some folding closet doors that hadn't arrived yet.

The next morning I went to the project site again, and noticed a few improvements, several remaining deficiencies, and a few ADDITIONAL issues.  Along the length of the crown molding, most of the thin gaps had been effectively filled with smooth caulk, with no leakage onto the adjacent wall. The 1/4" gap was filled with caulk, too, and it didn't look good.  A couple of the corners looked better, but many did not.  He said they had used plaster and sanding to re-work the mis-matched corners, but I saw no evidence of this, just caulking and clear glue.  Indeed, several corners looked WORSE than the day before because there were now big globs of plasticky caulking on the surface of the crown molding, and even smeared on the walls below in several spots.  The doorbell ringer had not been moved back into place, so there was a clearly visible hole in the wall above my front door.  

I also noticed two things that had escaped my attention previously: some newly installed baseboards produced very poorly matched edges, such that both have a very visible "lip" of wood protruding past the adjacent piece; and a bit of trim that was supposed to be installed around the top of a support column was missing.  So I called Dan again, and told him that some things definitely looked better, but also explained the issues I was still seeing.  I started talking about the crown molding, and he flatly stated that they are "DONE dealing with the crown molding."  I said it's not done, though.  He said they're "DONE with it!" and that I'll "have to hire someone else" if I want it fixed any further.  I told him I can't pay him his last installment if the work isn't done, and he said fine, and that he would return the spare keys he still had.  I sent him a follow-up email with photos showing examples of the problems I was still seeing with the crown molding, and also detailed the other few items that still needed to be done (the folding closet doors, the doorbell, the column trim, and removal of a small pile of construction debris from my back porch) and said that, independent ofthe crown molding issue, these items needed to be done or I would consider him in breach of contract. I also wrote and posted the first version of this review, ending with "I hope to update this later with a more positive outcome."

The next day I'd arranged to start painting with two friends - I planned to start with the ceilings in the hope that the crown molding issue might yet be resolved. Dan emailed and called to say that Noel would be back to deal with the four items I'd emailed him about. I said fine. Noel showed up and started working on those items and our little painting crew stayed out of his way. An hour or so later, Dan showed up and was suddenly civil, even cordial, asking if we might talk privately somewhere. He asked if he might hear my concerns again. This time he listened. He asked clarifying questions. He got up on a step ladder to look closely at what I was talking about. Ul

The jobs were completed quickly and the provider was very courteous.

Dan DeAngeli Home Improvement was hired out of three bids to renovate my kitchen and family room, in addition to making electrical upgrades and improvements in other areas of the house. This was a massive project ultimately costing $47,000. The amount of cost overruns, poor time management, shoddy work, and miscommunication turned this project into a nightmare.
The original project was supposed to take three to four weeks. It was not completed for THREE MONTHS, beginning on April 1, and finishing on August 30.
PROBLEM 1 - COST OVERRUNS: Dan's original estimate came in the lowest out of three bids, but BUYER BEWARE: After having signed the contract, within days of pre-demolition, he raised his price because he had not done adequate research on the electrical code, and said that the costs would have to be raised by several hundred dollars.
PROBLEM 2 - POOR TIME MANAGEMENT: Dan had originally quoted us about three to four weeks for the project to take. - He cautioned us that this timeframe was contingent on how long it took our cabinets to be manufactured and shipped. However, his crew did not make measurements until several days after work had begun, therefore immediately delaying the completion of the project. Meanwhile, when the cabinets arrived as scheduled, Dan and his crew did not pick them up for several days afterwards, - Carpet removal and buffing of hardwood floors was a major part of the project. Even though the house was empty for more than a week between demolition and the delayed cabinet arrival (and the flooring was in areas separate from any other work being done), Dan did not schedule the flooring work to be done until after, adding three more days to the project at a critical time.- Even after several other issues that had pushed construction back well beyond the original projected completion date, Dan refused to finish the outlying problems (see below) because his other schedule was too busy.
PROBLEM 3 - SHODDY WORK: At several times during the process, Dan and his crew performed completely unacceptable work and would have left it this way unless I complained about it. Links to photos of the work are available below.
- Poor plastering, leaving a hole above a newly-installed window https://www.dropbox.com/s/mi0234qxdahnoua/window%20hole.jpg?dl=0
and a large gaping one near the floor
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kc30s8kumaj470k/finger%20hole.jpg?dl=0
- Poor trim work
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o8bhf1nryu8cwye/trim%20gap.jpg?dl=0
- Poorly patched holes that were not at all flush with the rest of the wall https://www.dropbox.com/s/46o9oyhbifgm3mz/switch%20hole.jpg?dl=0
- When installing the electrical fan lights in each of the four bedrooms, Dan's crew made the light switch entering applicable to the FAN, not the light, which goes against all customary practice.
- The scope-of-work agreement involved dimmer switches in all four of the bedrooms. Dan originally installed standard on-off switches, and when I complained, he actually tried to convince me that this required a larger box, and that the price of the project should be raised accordingly.
- Dan's crew was charged with removal of the carpet and re-furbishing of the steps; however, the following photo shows the condition in which he left the risers until I brought up the unacceptable results. https://www.dropbox.com/s/rlurt3uxch2yw4v/staircase.jpg?dl=0
- Dan's crew left two large holes in the ceiling, which I repeatedly asked be covered. He assured me that they would be hidden by the cabinets. These pictures clearly show they were not. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1u5aj8rmbd1ianh/above%20sink%20left.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g61pmfyj426a1ii/above%20sink%20right.jpg?dl=0
- It appears Dan's crew sliced two of the cabinet doors upon removing them from the packaging https://www.dropbox.com/s/pyyzvsrfx8gnjjs/cabinet%20scratch.jpg?dl=0
- Dan's crew removed, but did not replace a thermostat until I asked.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1i3738gsdigdf16/thermostat.jpg?dl=0
- Several new holes in the walls and ceilings were created and very poorly patched, in many cases, with a blank plate. https://www.dropbox.com/s/f125at3ryezlesq/outlet%201.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0pmxypng1i9333o/outlet%202.jpg?dl=0
- Electrical upgrades were performed unsatisfactorily, including here where live wires were left hanging out of one boxes, and another box was left covered. Also visible in this picture is grout from tiles that had been allowed to fall, harden, and adhere to the floor and freshly-painted trim.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g5ot25zr99l0hn3/behind%20fridge.jpg?dl=0
- The crew left too little space on the perimeters to account for a pre-existing floating Pergo floor. As a result, the floor began to buckle. When I asked if this could be remedied, Dan's crew responded that they had in fact done it right. Several other opinions agreed that Dan's crew was in fact at fault, and a third party ended up fixing the situation.
PROBLEM 4 - MISCOMMUNICATION: At several times during the renovation, Dan's poor communication led to problems with the project.
- Delivery of appliances was delayed and became a major hassle after repeated messages (email, voicemail, text) over the span of a week went unheeded and Dan was unable to assure me that he would be there for their delivery.
- Dan's inability to communicate what kind of faucet I needed contributed to me buying one that did not fit, and me having to settle on one I was not crazy about.
- Dan's failure to communicate the specifics of what we wanted for the countertop led to the granite fabricators cutting the counter on our kitchen island incorrectly. This added an additional two months to the completion of the project, especially because Dan took his time scheduling the finish and final inspections once it was re-installed properly.
The finished project was satisfactory, though out of sheer frustration and exhaustion, I let many problems slide in the interest of the project finally being completed (unfilled holes in the wood floor, uneven plastering, holes in the walls).
I strongly urge anyone considering a home improvement project to look elsewhere.

Dan did a complete gut-job renovation on our neighbor's condo bathroom.  This bathroom is on the third floor directly above our bedroom and bathroom. During the demolition phase, they made a mistake with the plumbing and water leaked all night from the third floor through the walls all the way to the basement. As you can imagine, this was alarming and distressing for everyone in the building. There was visible water damage on our bedroom and bathroom ceilings. We had no way of knowing what kind of damage could be in the walls. Dan and Noel assured all of us that the water would dry out quickly and they would fix all the damage, as the fault was completely theirs. Dan was awkward to talk to and seemed in a rush, but our neighbors also assured us the problem would be completely resolved. 
Towards the end of the construction, Noel came down to our unit and put a quick coat of primer over the damage in both rooms and then followed up with one coat of ceiling paint. We expressed concern that the damage would still be visible with only one coat, but he assured us it wouldn't be noticeable. After drying, the stains were still visible. 
My husband contacted Dan and asked him when he was coming to fix the problem. Dan said he'd respond later in the week, but two weeks went by without any further response. I think Dan was hoping we'd forget about it. As we were having painters come in and do some work, we contacted my neighbor and told them that Dan was being unresponsive and we could have the painters paint the ceiling, but that we'd need reimbursement as it was Dan's responsibility to take care of it. Our neighbors contacted Dan and we heard from him once more. He was cagey and difficult to pin down for a time to come by until he heard the painters were coming. Then he showed up the same day. He argued with my husband about paining the entire ceiling of the rooms saying that there were other paint marks and that he wasn't responsible for the entire ceiling insinuating we were trying to get something for free. We are putting our place on the market soon and my husband told him that we're not concerned with the paint marks. It's easy to explain a crappy paint job to an inspector but not so easy to explain water damage. Dan insisted that he would cover only the corners and that was all he was responsible for. My husband agreed that Dan could try to do one more coat to see if it would cover, but we were sure it wouldn't. The next day, Noel came and also agreed that the corner paint would not blend in no matter what, so he reluctantly agreed to do the entire ceiling.  That evening, I saw that Noel had painted our bedroom, but had not touched the bathroom ceiling and that damage was still visible. 
At this point, we just had our painters paint the bathroom ceiling because trying to get Dan to do what's right just isn't worth the time or trouble. The team also left several trash bags full of construction debris on our lawn. To date, they are still there.
Dealing with Dan was frustrating and difficult. He acted as though fixing a problem HE CAUSED was an tremendous inconvenience and that we were expecting much more than what was reasonable. This was completely unprofessional and not at all what I would expect from someone who cares about customer satisfaction and future recommendations. I would absolutely not recommend hiring him or his team.

It was useful to have his advice and contacts to get work done, although it is more expensive than hiring workmen directly. Had I the time I would have been able to find people with the right skill sets myself, but he did instill confidence and urgency in me to accomplish what needed to be done.

We needed to install a wider door to our house, since our son lost the use of his legs and is now in a wheelchair. We had to knock down part of the exterior wall and build a whole new doorframe - - not a simple operation. Dan came out, examined the situation, and presented us with various possibilities, including some options we hadn't considered. (His experience with wheelchair situations was immediately obvious). Once we decided what would make the most sense, he sent two workers out to do the job. Both of them did superb work, were fast and neat, and were really good guys, too. Considering what these guys did, and how well they did it, I've never spent money better. Here's the kicker: When Dan came by to get the final check, he noticed that a stretch of our wheelchair ramp system was muddy and rutted, and insisted on fixing the problem (which was a huge problem: getting a stuck wheelchair out of the mud is not a lot of fun). He said he'd be by in a few days and fix things. The next day, I came home from work, and there he was, down on his knees, putting a bridge in over the mud, so that our son can get out of the house himself without getting stuck. How much did it cost? He insisted on doing it for FREE. What was the value to us? PRICELESS. Dan is really good at what he does, and he is really creative. The people who work on his jobs are first-rate. More importantly, he's just a wonderful human being. If you're tired of getting ripped off by contractors, there's an alternative.

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. It was fine. I had to pay additional because it had expired. It was only $20 or $30 more.

unknown