SALEM DESIGNS LLC

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We used Salem designs for a high end master bedroom/bath/laundry room remodel, as well as installing a roof deck in the city of Boston. The owner Dana is outstanding. He is highly responsive and worked with us throughout the entire project, from design to completion. He was also there everyday. He has a good crew who were very conscientious about moving through our house. Both the bedroom and roof deck were on the top floors of a brownstone, and we have two young kids. He was understanding about balancing the needs of our family while at the same time getting the job done quickly. He is capable of the highest quality work and in many cases went above and beyond adding detail work that was not in our original plans that nonetheless added to the look. Dana is a good problem solver and with a 150 year old house we encountered a lot of unexpected issues when we opened everything up. Also he is good at navigating permitting issues and all the other issues involved in working in the city. I know it sounds strange but Dana does what he says, and gets the job done right. We've worked with a lot of other contractors on numerous projects and Salem Designs is easily the best experience we've had. I would highly recommend Dana and his company.

Overall the kitchen was a huge success. Day one we had the only item we were keeping, the 2 month old refrigerator, acquire a scratch while moving. Dana immediately lined up a replacement door on his dollar and apologized for the issue. This set the tone for his level of detail which was fantastic from tile to woodwork. The whole project took four weeks which was four days longer than expected, but that was reset properly as we went. The workers were clean and efficient with the only issue after the fridge being the fact a tile set improperly, but once again the response was immediate and appropriate with a Saturday visit to fix and re-grout. Overall a fantastic project. On the bathroom project the quality was once again excellent with constant detailed attention. We threw a couple curve balls, like the need to bring the over sized two person tub in through the wall when changing window location and also a need to use thicker accent tiles than standard. Both elements were well taken care of with the tile guy even shaving the accent tiles to make them the same thickness as the regular tiles. Only issue with work was the fact there were days where little work got done between plumbing and tiling. I would say project was a week late, but outcome was worth it. Finally, I would like to add a neutral comment about working with Salem Designs. Dana is a letter of law type of guy in terms of quoting so it is imperative you verify each item of the proposal to make sure it includes all you expect. On both projects we had to have follow-up conversations around the project due to items discussed, but not in the proposal due to assumptions we made. Dana was very willing to compromise in both situations, but some extra diligence on our side would have eliminated any issue.