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"Joe Delfine from JD Michael Construction was the general contractor/project manager for a whole house renovation. Joe supported our process from pre-purchase of the house through the renovation and working the inspection list for our eventual sale. Joe managed every aspect of the renovation managing more than 25 subcontractors and a budget close to $150,000. This included formal renovation design, permitting, scheduling, subcontractor management, financial management procurement, scheduling, and safety and quality control. Joe's tenants of safety, quality and timeliness were key to our successful and profitable renovation. The job consisted of: design, complete demolition of the interior/exterior down to bare studs, demolition and removal of a two story concrete out building, procurement of materials and oversight for new siding and roof, all new windows, electrical and plumbing, subfloor repair and installation, new hardwood/carpet/tile flooring, new drywall throughout the entire house, paint, trim, cabinet/vanity installation, lighting, and more. This project was successful because JD Michael positively supported every aspect of the project. We are continuing to work with Joe/JD Michael Construction on another project as well as future projects."

"VKB far exceeded out expectations for our new kitchen design and installation; as well as, the resurfacing and stain/varnish to my existing floors and stairs. My wife and I are very pleased with the final outcome. Money was well spent. Base on our experience, I would not hesitate to recommend their services again. Jack and Suzanne McClinton."

"No surprises. Good honest contractor that does quality work."

"We highly recommend Taylor Made Custom Contracting. Kevin, Tim, Rick and Co. provided much more than expected in the level of detail given without prompting. Exceptional customer service and HIGH QUALITY workmanship. We love our new room (and all the extra side projects they did) Great value added to our property with minimal stress. They were there on time every day and delivered everything and more than was promised. Definitely will ask them to come back for future projects. Top notch professionalism is so appreciated and hard to find. Look no further!"

"He fixed my cabinets beautifully!"

"wash and stain deck and patio. a very good price and product."

"Gus Moniodis of 4 Seasons Construction, LLC did a fantastic job on remodeling my kitchen. My house was built in the early 70’s and the kitchen needed to be gone. He did a fantastic job on clearing everything out and even worked around my appliances that I was keeping. He was very helpful on suggesting were I could purchase my cabinets and countertop at reasonable prices. Gus also did whatever I asked and even gave suggestions on some things because this was my first venture on doing anything like this. He was very professional and left my house clean, once he was finished for the day. Always on time and communicating which is very important to me. I know who I’ll be calling on my next project!!"

"Carlos and his crew do great work. They are clean and efficient. I have used them a few times and would use them again."

"I have nothing but high praise for All Things New and the work that they did renovating our basement from a messy storage area into a beautiful new living space. Their attentiveness to detail, care for their handiwork, excellent communication and friendly team made our long-anticipated basement renovation well-worth the wait. The owner, Willie, in particular, is a thoughtful, honest, caring, detailed and fully-accountable contractor who I highly recommend for any and all of your home improvement needs. We’re totally satisfied! 12 out of 10 stars."

"Update: 9 September 2015

Updating overall grade to B, bordering C, based on quality of work and the provider's unprofessional responses to our review. Just learned from a different contractor who is constructing a screened porch and deck for us that we have a fire hazard (yes, a FIRE HAZARD) on our hands. The under cabinet wiring was run incorrectly behind the siding of our house where they (Chevy Chase) had placed cardboard (even as "inexperienced" as I allegedly am, I know bad wiring + cardboard = house go bye-bye), and they (my current contractor) will have to tear off the siding running the length of the kitchen and rewire all of the under cabinet lighting in order to fix the issue and pass inspection, since, as it is now, it would "definitely not pass". So, it seems that looks aren't everything. If this corner was cut, what other shortcuts were taken? Before this, I would've just said that I wouldn't use Chevy Chase again. Based on the fact that we have, unbeknownst to us, been living with a fire hazard since April, the additional cost we now need to pay our current contractor to fix Chevy Chase's oversight/laziness, and the provider's unprofessional comments since posting our obviously too generous initial review (see below), now I will adjust my recommendation to "Not only would I not use them again, but I wouldn't recommend anyone else to either".

As far as using them for an exterior project shortly after they completed the kitchen project, the back of our house looked hideous after they took out the sliding glass door and installed a regular door so we wanted it addressed with new siding as soon as possible. We added new roofing, gutters, and shutters to maintain a cohesive look. We did not want to spend the time or have the hassle of vetting several other contractors, and figured exterior work is pretty straightforward.

To the note about being inexperienced, yes this was our first major reno so if our suggestion to move the fridge into the house after the removal of the sliding glass door was not preferred or feasible, then fine; that should have been stipulated when we made the suggestion before work even started. Not just agreed to as it was, and then we were left wondering why the fridge remained in the garage. It is just another example of poor communication. Seriously, putting the blame on the client because they are inexperienced with a massive home renovation project?? Since when does a customer need to have the experience? That's what the provider is hired to provide.

Also, might I add, the unprofessionalism of the provider was made clear when he sent me an email after my initial review that started out "Just had a client cancel a contract that was signed yesterday because he read your review. He said he can't afford to have the problems that you had on your job. An 85000 dollar complete renovation." To receive this after simply writing an honest review on Angie's List was appalling to us. The tone and announcing the fact that he lost a 85000 contract over my review (which I highly doubt was the only motivating factor there) were uncalled for and a blatant example of this provider's inability to accept any constructive criticism; apparently I should have just lied in my review and answered "Yes" to the question of if I would use them again, and also not included any negative points.

And, I might as well add, according to the contract, the approximate work was to be performed in 6 weeks. Actual project timeline: 3 and a half months. So, as you can see, I exercised a significant amount of restraint in my initial review. I only highlighted a few areas of improvement to explain why I gave them an overall "A" but still answered "No" to the Angie's List question of if we would ever use them again. There were many, many more difficulties, hiccups, and examples of frustration that we experienced throughout the process that we did not include in the initial review and have not included in this update.

In conclusion, it turns out that my initial review was too generous; however, it was completely honest. If the provider can't handle this type of honest feedback (as demonstrated by this "defensive" response and two equally defensive emails he sent after the initial review posted) and see it as an opportunity to improve his business, then that's too bad and they need some serious training in customer service.

Now we have to hire a professional to ensure everything was installed correctly and no other shortcuts were taken. Something tells me that what lies beneath the surface won't be as pretty. Please feel free to reach out to me directly via message if you have any questions about our experience.

Initial review: 24 August 2015
Overall, it went well. The work was completed as promised, and the first level is literally gorgeous. However, the process could've gone a lot smoother and there was plenty of room for improvement in terms of organization and communication. We were not provided with a schedule of events or a list of what to select, when we needed to have it selected, and where to select it from at the outset of the project. Therefore, when Steven would send an email asking whether we selected a certain material since it was needed for the next step in the process, we would be like "ummm...no...we didn't get the memo that we needed to have that selected now..." so we often found ourselves scrambling in the middle of the work week trying to figure out how we could get to the tile place or a granite place as soon as possible, so as not to hold up progress. 

An example of where communication could've saved some time and effort on the part of the crew was the fact that we suggested to Steven before the project began that the new large refrigerator be brought into the house when they removed the sliding glass door and before they installed a regular three-foot door and sealed the rest of the opening, since we knew the fridge was too large to get in the house any other way. Well, that advice was not passed along to the crew and the process was delayed several days when they had to call a repair service to remove the fridge doors so it could be moved into the house. Another lowlight was when our newly installed washing machine sounded like a space shuttle during take-off and literally walked itself into the kitchen every time we tried to wash a load of clothes. We voiced our concern to Steven and the crew supposedly addressed the problem by balancing it; however, this did not help. We called the manufacturer, who sent out a technician and it turns out the shipping bolts had not been removed (step one on the instructions; it was even emphasized with pictures...). In the final stages of the project, everything was wrapping up and we asked when they would install the under-cabinet lighting; turns out it was forgotten about and we had minimal time to select what type of lights we wanted and the electrician had to get creative to wire the lights; fortunately, they could run the wiring outside since the new siding hadn't been installed. Talk about stressful...

Anyway, in the end, all issues, minor or otherwise, were resolved one way or another. Steven is a nice guy and very personable, and his crew and subcontractors are skilled in their work (shipping bolts oversight aside). It seems odd to be giving a contractor an A but saying that we won't use this provider in the future. To explain, I'm giving Chevy Chase an A (an A minus to be exact) for the final outcome (our first level is stunning); however, we won't be using this provider for our second level because seriously we need more organization/meticulousness/communication in our life.
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