Auburndale Builders

All people we interacted with were professional, responsive, and a pleasure to work with. We have an 1870 farmhouse, so the bathroom was not done well in the first place. It had to be gutted completely and rebuilt to both update the bathroom and fit the house well. It is a second floor bathroom, so they constructed stairs leading up to the window, giving them access from the outside and sealing it off from the house. They were very careful about cleaning and keeping out dust etc. At every step, they checked with us to update us on the schedule, consult about the next step, let us know what needed to have delivered in the near future (fixtures, tiles, etc), and answer any questions that might have arisen. Their suggestions were always thoughtful and creative, and they were always open to our ideas, solving problems with practical and cost-saving solutions. The companies that they subcontracted to for painting and plumbing interacted well, working together in a timely fashion. The work was all beautifully done, with fine attention to detail including finding wood trim to match the original woodwork in the house. Whenever we wanted any small changes made, they were immediately responsive, as they were if the equipment needed slight alterations. When a wall in an adjacent room got a crack, they repaired and repainted it. They took full charge of permits, inspections, etc, and were even great company for my weimaraner! As they finished, they not only took care of fixing a few things in my kitchen, but they even arranged to take care of a plumbing problem in my son's place in Somerville! Neighbors and friends have used them with equally beautiful results and found the whole team just as delightful to work with as we did. We would certainly use them again!

I have no doubts that they are a great company and would do an excellent job. They definitely are a top notch company, however, I just had the feeling that Auburndale builders deals with much bigger projects than I was asking them to do at this time. The technician was very nice and had some great ideas. He called a few days later to follow up and see which direction I was going. I will be submitting plans to them for an estimate and update my review later.

Great job - exceeded expectations! Would hire again in a heart beat! Professional workers and fantastic subcontractors. Many thanks to Nick, Jimmy, and Iza!

From the beginning and throughout the project, Nick (the contractor), Floyd (the lead carpenter), and all of the Auburndale crew were responsive, personable, and professional. They had a really can-do attitude about everything we asked them to do. Whenever something didn't go as planned (and it happens all the time in a project this big), Floyd's attitude was always, "What can we do to solve the problem?". As far as I can tell, it's impossible to ruffle Nick--no matter how worried, frustrated, or stressed out we got, he was always calm, professional, and practical. All the work done by Auburndale was beautifully done. Floyd obviously cares deeply about the end result, and that seems to be Auburndale's policy in general. We wanted to give Auburndale straight A's, but we did have three minor gripes: 1) With some of the sub-contractors they used, there seemed to be poor communication between Auburndale and the sub; or maybe it was just too little oversight. I appreciate the idea that you hire good people and then give them space to work. That's the hallmark of a good manager, and Nick seems to know that. But it only works when your subs are as good as you think they are, and when you're effective at passing on to them all the info they need to do their work. On our project, for example, due to a miscommunication, the flooring subs ended up refinishing some floors we hadn't asked to have done. Another example: some of the tile work was messily done; the tilers came back and redid most of the shoddy spots, but the quality of the new bathroom tile work still doesn't match the superb finish of the rest of the house. Nick and Floyd were obviously pretty embarrassed about these two disappointments and couple of other similar ones, and they worked hard to make things right. I'm not sure it was Auburndale that goofed here, but there's only so much the contractor can do to fix things the subcontractor gets wrong, and ultimately the contractor has to be responsible. The problems here were mostly about the scope of work the subs were doing. With the exception of the tilers, though, the quality of work done by the subs was awesome. 2) It was often difficult to for us to figure out what decisions (e.g. bath fixtures, lighting, paints) they needed from us, and when. They did give us spreadsheets with a tentative schedule and upcoming decisions we'd need to make, and we tried to keep track of what we needed to tell Auburndale, but even so, we still seemed to be constantly behind what they needed, and they often needed more info from us than we realized they were going to need. This ended up delaying the project. Auburndale was waiting on us, but I bet we're not much busier or more scatter-brained than most homeowners, so I get the feeling that things might have gone smoother if we'd had more help in the form of specific questions we needed to answer each week. Again, I think Auburndale may well be better than most contractors at this stuff, but there's still room for improvement. 3) I don't have the exact numbers, but the work ended up costing several tens of thousands more than the contracted price. The contract had many unknowns built into it based on existing conditions we couldn't see (until we took down the walls, etc.), and we budgeted a contingency fund to cover unexpected expenses. Once the walls were down, though, suddenly we had to do lots of really expensive electrical, heating, and structural upgrades, and we blew right through the contingency and kept on going. The work clearly needed to be done, and Auburndale bent over backward to find ways to help us reduce our costs, but we still felt like hostages whenever Nick called to tell us that we needed e.g. $3,000 of additional electrical work before the inspector would sign off. We believe some of those "unknowns" should have been guessable based on the condition of the house, and we would have appreciated a contract (or at least a contingency) that was more realistic. Thinking back on the project, I believe these were the only three negatives that stuck with us, and they were pretty minor given the stuff that some people go through with their contractors. I want to stress that everything else was really positive, and we're very, very happy with the finished product. Based on what I've heard from other people, I'd say we were lucky to have hired such a professional, competent, reliable, careful business to do this work. We love our house (the end result)! We would certainly hire Auburndale if we had it to do over again, and we'll likely hire them again to do more work for us in the future.

Nick, the owner of Auburndale Builders, developed a detailed spreadsheet of what would happen each week, and kept the project right on schedule, in spite of several ?surprises? that needed additional work (soft soil, large boulder, and some poor original construction that needed to be fixed). His cost spreadsheet made us feel we knew where the money was going, allowed us to make intelligent choices to control the project budget, and keep track of the ?extras? we asked for along the way. While we were able to obtain bids that were significantly cheaper from non-local contractors, we went with Auburndale Builders since we felt we could readily work with Nick and his team. We had many special requests, mainly stemming from our interest in making this a green project. Nick discussed the pro?s and con?s of each item, and then made sure that his team executed them according to our final joint decisions. Nick?s cost estimate was right in line with other local contractors, but we could tell from our initial meetings that he was someone we could readily work with. Nick and his lead carpenters are well organized, knowledgeable, and ready to try new approaches and ways of doing things when they make sense. In talking with our friends who?ve done similar projects, they all told us that at the end of the project they couldn?t stand working with their lead contractor, and in contrast, we were glad to have had the opposite experience in working with Auburndale Builders. Besides the great experience of working with Auburndale? Builders immediate staff, we also really appreciated the capable team of subcontractors Nick has developed. You can tell that they have worked together on many projects and really work well as a team. That is critical if you?re going to get what you want in terms of plumbing, electrical, HVAC, as well as get the project done in a timely fashion. It?s amazing how well this project ran, given the complexity of the project. In large part, this is also due to Auburndale Builders great on-site lead project managers/master carpenters (for us it was Jimmy) who make sure they are meeting your expectations, coordinate their staff as well as the work with the subcontractors, and really ensure quality work is done. We were impressed how Jimmy insisted that things be done the right way, even in areas that would not be visible after the project is done. And there is also Zen....the wizard tile master.....[you have to go with a company who has someone named Zen on the crew]. In short, we had a great experience with Auburndale Builders and give them high marks

Three years into my whole-house renovation-rebuild-addition, I can tell you that a major remodel is a brutalizing and slowly corrosive experience and one I likley would not repeat with any builder other than Auburndale Builders (AB). I write this review with the hindsight of having lived with the work for nearly a year (I did not move into the house until late 2009 due to my ongoing remodel even though AB's work was completed in 2008) and the experience of having worked with another well-established GC and numerous trades. I don't know if it was because AB came in at the beginning of my remodel before the financial pressure from my undertaking really began taking its toll, but working with AB's crew was actually fun. As other reviewers have posted, Nick's employees are genuinely great guys who are respectful, courteous and want to do good work. The notable standout for me was Jim Buckley, the project manager-lead carpenter. He was my rock and go-to person when the process became stressful -- yes, there were still hiccups along the way -- inspiring my confidence as he ably took control of the problems. Jim "got" my vision and shared my enthusiasm for my remodel, and I truly felt like we were partners on this project rather than client and contractor. If I were to give an MVP award to all the remodeling professionals I've worked with to date, I would give it to Jim. That said, there are two lingering issues from the work which still confound and vex me but which I did not notice until after I'd moved into the house following the expiration of AB's warranty: First, the 5 3/4" baseboard I'd chosen for use throughout the house was ripped down to 4" to match the toekick height of the base cabinets in the bathrooms and laundry room without my consultation (even though I was consulted on just about every other matter, including vanity location along a wall, desired hallway length, etc., regardless of what the architectural plans showed). Had I been consulted, I would have instructed the crew to keep the baseboard at full height even in those rooms, as is done in high-end, new-construction homes. The discrepancy is especially glaring in the half bath, which has a doorless opening to a vestibule trimmed out with full-height baseboard. Second, there is a 5/8" difference in baseboard heights on either side of the full bathroom doorway, resulting from the fact that 5/8" hardwood flooring was run under the vanity (on one side of the doorway) but not under the linen cabinet (on the other side of the doorway) at my instruction. However, with their experience AB should have recognized that this problem would arise and either set the linen cabinet on 5/8" plywood so the toekick heights of the two cabinets would match up or rip all baseboards down to the lower toekick height because the shadow created by the recessed toekick would be more likely to hide the discrepancy. Yes, these are minor issues in the scheme of things, but they're issues I have to look at everyday (and, in the end, that's what counts). However, they are not the reason that I did not award the next and larger phase of my remodel to AB. That reason was price. AB is not inexpensive to work with, but for your money you get reduced stress levels and, let me repeat, a great group of guys who aim to please, with an honest and trustworthy GC in Nick Falkoff at their head. (Even Nick's subs really like him because he's straightforward and pulls no punches.) Even though Nick and I inherently had a conflict of interest as I attempted to keep my actual costs in line with his cost-plus proposal while maintaining quality and he tried to make a fair profit on costs that continually came in higher than he'd proposed, I never doubted his honesty or integrity. In an industry full of rogues and mercenaries, he's one of the good ones. In fact, I still haven't removed him as an additional cardholder on my credit card used for purchasing materials, that's how trustworthy he is. And, finally, I have some advice for those who are planning a major remodel: While you should certainly interview three or more contractors for your project, I would suggest that those meetings be the basis for determining with which GC you would feel most comfortable working. Estimates are largely meaningless, and only an actual bid proposal can give you a more accurate-than-not gauge of your final cost. However, a true bid for a large remodel can take anywhere from 40 to 80 (uncompensated) hours of a GC's time to prepare, so it's to be expected that some bids will be "less than accurate," with the GC relying on change orders to render the final price paid to him "more accurate." Given what I've learned from my own renovation, I believe the smarter way to approach a large remodel is to pick the GC who is the right fit for you and hire him while still in the planning phase (because most architects have no idea of real-world building costs), so that you end up with a plan that is realistically within your budget and at a price that the GC can deliver ... without resentment. (The "without resentment" part is important; because if you have to wield your contract to make your GC deliver what he promised, then your relationship with your GC is likely broken and you lose all trust in your GC.) As has been repeated throughout these reviews, working with AB carries a certain pricetag, but if you accept this (and budget for it) at the outset, then at the project's end you can feel good that you will have received value for what you paid.

Auburndale Builders defy all the stereotypes of contractors. They have executed on our vision for updating with a period look our 1895 Victorian home. They do what they say they are going to do, come when they say they are going to come, and turn out beautiful work with attention to detail and great workmanship. It was a tough choice between two contractors, but once we chose, we never looked back. Don?t let his youthful look fool you, Nick is experienced and very knowledgeable across a wide range of projects. We have worked with Auburndale for 20 months in a multi-phase project. The length is due to our choice to spread out the work in phases and add projects as we go along. We have the utmost trust in Nick and his guys. They help with making choices, especially ones we are not as well informed about the options; Auburndale hasn't steered us wrong. Nick works with great subs and demands top-notch work. They are also very reasonable and realistic with their pricing - some contractors will low ball a project just to win it, only to later tell you that "this or that wasn't include in the original proposal" and then the snowball effect comes in. Nick always provides honest and realistic proposals and is willing to work with you to stay as close to your budget as possible and provide options that work. Most of our project overages were from choices we made on upgrades, not contractor mistakes in estimating. Auburndale have also been quick to help in emergencies that have arisen, including flooded basements and burst water pipes. Nick is organized and communicates well via phone, email and in person. Responsiveness is a big thing for us and Auburndale hasn't disappointed. We feel we have a long-standing contractor for all our needs in Newton.

They were very responsive and were able to do everything via e-mail. Unfortunately I needed someone to actually come out to the house to see and help with the design rather than take my word on how it should be built. I was not able to get anyone to come out although they were responsive in e-mails. On the phone they were always courteous even though I didn't understand why someone could not come out to measure. They depended on my measurements and design to quote. I decided that it was not worth pursuing as we seem to be out of synch for some reason. I do want to stress that it probably is not all their fault but I realized that it did not start off right so I did not want to continue.

Starting from the estimate, the team was responsive, detail oriented and extremely professional. Nick drafted a very detailed estimate complete with timeline and activities to be performed. He was also very thorough with his explanation of costs. Nick and Jimmy worked with us to ensure that the remodel was done on time and they were willing to work around our schedules. When we ran into difficulty with an appliance and countertop Jimmy took the initiative to ensure that things were worked out. Since our remodel we've had a number of people see the kitchen any they've all commented on the quality of the work! We enthusiastically recommend them for any kitchen job. They'll be our first choice when it comes time to remodel our bathrooms!

We decided to remodel our sole upstairs bathroom, and add a master bath, and found Auburndale Builders via the architect we used. We liked Nick and his crew right away, which made the decision to choose Auburndale Builders an easy one. They managed to complete the demolition during our summer vacation week. I had told the crew that we had a cat who they might see. When my neighbor who was feeding the cat told me she hadn't seen the cat in a few days, I called the crew chief at our house, who said he hadn't seen the cat. But he offered to look for the cat, which I thought was a nice gesture. I ended up driving home from the Cape to find the cat, and the guys seemed genuinely relieved. Although the project was being done on the second floor, in the middle of the summer, and things got a bit hot up there, nobody ever complained while they were working. Nick and his crew made sure to always tell us what would be going on each day and who would be there. When they finished in November, we were ecstatic. The master bath is a real pleasure, and the kids' bathroom looks terrific. Auburndale Builders also painted our bedroom, a necessity since we had carved the new bathroom out of existing space in our bedroom.

Auburndale builders did an excellent job. The crew was polite, knowledgeable, professional, and friendly. They were very careful with protecting the job site and parts of the house they walked through every day. They cleaned up after themselves daily which was wonderful. Although they were not cheap...you get what you pay for and they did a job that was worth every penny. They even came up with ways to save us some money without cheapening the work in any way. What could have been a stressful situation (all the family showers 'going bad' at once) turned out to be not as stressful because of Auburndale's willingness to work with us on scheduling their work and transitioning from one bathroom to another....especially the week before Christmas. We would definitely use them again. In fact, my husband baked them a bunch of his famous homemade chocolate chip cookies to say and extra thanks for a job well done.

We contacted them thru a word of mouth reference and they came on time and were extraordinarily professional and performed the tasks within the timetable they layed out for us and on budget. Moving forward I would contact them for any future needs. Great follow-up during and after the work was completed. A true professional. As "Holmes on Homes" would say Do it right the first time and they did.

Nick started off as a very responsive, professional person to do business with. However, after setting up a time to begin the work, we had to tell him that he needed to pull a permit - which is something it seems a builder should know needs to be done. The work to open the walls occurred without a problem - they showed up when they said they would and they left the work area as clean as could be expected. But then the problems began. We were told we would have a estimate from Auburndale for the next phase of the work by a certain Tuesday. Not receiving it on Tuesday, condo Trustees tried to reach Nick but he would not return our calls even though he had been responsive and easily available in the past. After one Trustee left a voice mail saying that we would provide negative feedback on Angie's List, Nick did return our call but said he would not or could not provide us with the next estimate he had told us he would provide. Receiving the estimate when we were told we would receive it was of high importance because one of the 7 unit owners was closing on the sale of their unit and we needed the estimate in order to assess for the upcoming required work - work that the structural engineer who Nick was working with said should be done ASAP. Once a Trustee was able to talk with Nick, she discovered that Nick was friends with the person selling his unit. We do not know that Nick delayed and then did not give us an estimate because of his friendship; we do not know that Nick did not return our calls for 2 days because of his friendship. However, we do know that if we had known that Nick and the seller were friends, we would have interacted with him and his business differently. For over 48 hours during the week (not the weekend) we were told and expected our calls to be returned but they were not. We very much disliked being told by Lily that Nick was in a meeting and would return our call when he came out of the meeting and then not receive a call from him that day or the next. Several weeks after the first phase of the work was complete, we had not received an invoice from Auburndale and called to check on this. They then sent us the bill which was approximately what they said the work would cost. We continue to need work done in our basement - work that a company like Auburndale could do - but we will not do business with them again after this experience.

Nick estimated the job and provided a detailed project schedule. Ryan was the project manager. The work was completed within the scheduled time despite a couple of changes due to unanticipated issues with the staircase, which also added somewhat to the final cost. Nick and Ryan and their workers and subs were polite, neat and efficient. We've had the whole gamut of contractor experiences, and this one was definitely one of the best. These folks are not the cheapest, but you will probably be very satisfied with their work. Definitely ask for Ryan to manage your job if you use Auburndale.

Auburndale responded quickly to my first e-mail requesting a quote for replacing a Formica countertop. After going over information Auburndale provided, I realized an engineered stone countertop made more sense. Auburndale used a home improvement store in Framingham to provide the surface since that was where I had seen the sample I liked. Thus, $3370 of the total I spent went to that store. Auburndale always showed up right on time, early in the day.

Everything went very well. I couldn't expect any better. They performed the job exactly as indicated in the proposal. Paper was put down to keep things clean, the room was swept up everyday. The little things that show how professional this company is was a bonus. My 2 biggest concerns was the 420 lb insert that was stored in the garage and the 200 lb custom mantle from Canada was carefully handled without doing any damage to the materials or the floors. There were no issues. *The pictures speak louder than words! *Note: I had before and after photos I wanted to post but it looks like theres no longer a provision to do that

The entire team at Auburndale Builders was very responsive and did an excellent job. We were very pleased with the entire process and with the finished job.

Wonderful job. The area is now bright and attractive: better than we had hoped for. The workmen were very pleasant and quite skilled. We are thrilled with the result, and will definitely use this company again.

Their work was excellent. From Nick's initial responsiveness to Floyd management of the project, everything went well. If I were to do this project again, I'd would have had them do all of the work (e.g., framing and electrical).

Nick, Floyd, John and the others were all wonderful to work with. Everyone involved with the project was professional and talented. From the planning stage to the execution phase, Nick was detail oriented, never over promised and met our high expectations. As usual with renovations, issues arose requiring additional work, when this occured, the additions were immediately scoped, priced for our review. I would highly recommend Auburndale Builders and would use them again.

We had 10 weeks to complete a sizable remodel on an older 1929 house that we purchased. We found almost everybody on Angie?s List and were very happy with all of our choices. We hired Morrissey and Sons for electrical, ProWindows to do window replacement and Olde Towne Painting to do interior painting. The rest of the project (as described above) was coordinated by the contractor. After interviewing several contractors that we found on Angie's List, we felt that Auburndale Builders was by far the best choice. Nick gave us a straightforward quote and was direct and honest. We were not disappointed! Working with Nick in planning the project went very smoothly. Nick communicated very well over the phone and in person and provided us with a timely estimate that we went back and forth on several times before settling on the work to be done. Nick did a great job explaining everything in the contract which was outlined, itemized and very clear. This was a big plus and was very different compared to other contracts we were considering. The prices were a bit higher than we were anticipating but since we were on a tight timeline, we were convinced that Auburndale could deliver a quality project on time. They certainly delivered. Nick appointed Jimmy to be the project manager for our renovation and our experience with Jimmy was very positive. We met with Jimmy and Nick almost every week throughout the project to go over the details of what was to be done that week and what decisions were to be made. Nick and Jimmy ALWAYS showed up on time and were very courteous. Nick responded to questions over email and over the phone very quickly which was much appreciated. Add-ons were fairly priced. We are really happy with the outcome of each part of the project. We love our new bathroom, kitchen and central air. We get lots and lots of compliments from our friends marveling at the attention to detail and the quality of the work. While 95% of the overall experience was way above our expectations, there were two small issues that came up, both with subcontactors: 1) We didn?t love the HVAC subcontractor that Nick uses (clashed with the other people on the job), started work before floor protection was down, etc, 2) The tile guy that Nick suggested we talk to was a DISASTER in everything he touched (Edson Sampaio from Beauty Stone in Auburndale)-good for cheap tile, do not use for installation. However, this was where Nick, Jimmy and Auburndale really went above and beyond. When the issues arose, Jimmy and Nick watched over the tile guys to make sure they fixed everything we wanted to our satisfaction. When the tile guy didn?t show up until 4:30pm on a Friday, Nick came over himself and delayed his personal plans and actually got on his hands and knees to help the guy get the work done. There are always little things that come up during a renovation, but we were extremely impressed at a) how few problems came up overall and b) how expertly and professionally Nick and Jimmy solved problems. Once he saw that Edson was not pulling his weight, Nick put another tile guy (his friend Zen) on the job to get things done-and Zen worked ALL weekend to get the bath tile done on time (even climbing in the window to access the 2nd floor bathroom being renovated since the rest of the house was off-limits due to the floor refinishing). All of the guys really cared about making sure we were happy with the final results and comfortable with each step of the process. The entire job was finished within a week of when it was promised. At the end, Nick and Jimmy pushed very hard to get everything done, which was much appreciated since we were moving in with a 2 month old! We strongly recommend Auburndale and have already recommended to friends and family. The prices are a bit higher than others, but are honest. Nick is a fair, direct, honest, trustworthy guy and runs his business that way. We will use them again in the future. Thanks very much, Nick, Jimmy, Brian, Zen, and Craig!

We highly recommend Auburndale Builders. They were very professional to work with, they were on time with the schedule and kept us apprised of progress via weekly meetings. They kept the work area extremely clean in an effort to protect the rest of the house. We very much enjoyed working with the Supervisor - Brian Floyd. They were flexible and accomodating if we changed our mind along the way. Actually, they were great at pointing out that something wasn't going to look as we had expected and worked with us to adjust. In closing, we would recommend them and look forward to working with them in the future for additional projects.

Nick from the builders came over and I showed him a bunch of projects we had in mind. We're not quite in the position to do many of them quite yet, but he was very helpful in terms of thinking about them. We subsequently called them to take care of fixing a window that the alarm system guys broke by accident, and they were great for that.

We had a 10-day window between closing on a new home and moving into it, and we planned to paint most of the interior of the house, replace carpets, replace the kitchen counter and appliances, wire some electrical work in our family room and make a number of small repairs/adjustments throughout the house. Nick went through our plan with a realistic eye and agreed that we could likely get most of the work done before our move date. He helped a great deal during the planning phase so that everything was ready to go on the day we took ownership of the house. He was knowledgeable, available, responsive, professional, and he has excellent recommendations for other contractors (e.g., Peter V. of Adelfia Painting). The actual 10 days of work went smoothly and the work got done as planned. Everyone from his team was great. Floyd has come back numerous times to help with small projects that have arisen since our move. We really appreciated that Nick and his team were willing to take on our relatively small project and have it be a priority for a period of time. I would recommend Nick to anyone who wants a positive remodeling/building experience.

Excellent job! My wife and I were very happy with the work. They finished ahead of schedule and gave us a credit for some of the demo we had done ourselves. I would highly recommend these guys Nick was the GC.