Managed Renovations

Michael Shannon was recommended through a family member who had worked with him on their addition. We wanted to redo an old addition that was a porch and add an addition above it to add a master bath off the master bedroom. After meeting with Michael, he came up with a preliminary budget to give us an idea of what the costs would be and what we could save money on. It was easy to work with his architectural designer Christie and together we came up with a design we liked. We didn't really have any major issues but when something did arise Michael and his associate Natalie were quick to come up with a solution. We only hit one major delay that set us back maybe a week but that was not Michael or his subs fault. While digging for the new foundation they realized that dirt around our house was just fill dirt and the foundation that was originally in the design would not be enough to support our addition. Since we had been working with Christie for our house design and she was able to quickly draw up a new foundation blueprint and it was resubmitted. We stayed pretty much on budget, Natalie was good about sending out updated contracts and estimates so that we could keep track of our budget. Natalie was usually over checking on the work several times a week and if we had any issues she was able to talk to the contractors to correct anything. There was just one last issue that arose at the very end, we had our attic insulated with spray foam and the contractors did not seal it properly to pass inspection. Michael took care of it at no charge. Michael was able to get the contractor back out before the final inspection and everything passed inspection. We have been very pleased with the new space.

From the very beginning Michael or Natalie or both where on my job.They met the contractors and went over all of
the details. They made sure we knew and understood exactly what each contractor was doing and that it was according to our specifications. I would not hesitate to use Managed Renovations for any project We may have in the future. They, were very helpful
in helping us pick the contractors and suppliers.

A neighbor of ours recommended Natalie and Michael from Managed Renovations for an addition to our house: a new master bedroom and en-suite bathroom which was built as the second floor of an existing addition.
This was our first time doing a relatively major renovation and one which we had put off for a while as we were nervous about how to proceed. But working with Michael and Natalie proved to be a very good experience. They were very helpful and patient with us as we went through the various steps and stages. One of their key strengths is they have worked with various trades people and have really picked some of the most professional ones. Their approach also allowed us to be in control of the costs and the work that was being done from beginning to end. They were also excellent in helping us through the various choices and we were able to make changes in the renovation. Lastly, they were excellent with planning ahead so we knew what to expect, in particular as we were living in the house as the work was happening. We are very happy with the result and the extra space!

We are very pleased with the results. The whole process went very smoothly, with Managed Renovation taking care of all the details, coordinating the different contractors and staying on schedule.  

Over the Easter weekend last year we had a pipe break in our master bathroom and the water ran throughout our home for over 24 hours causing over $125,000 in damage?.an absolute disaster.  The significance of the repairs required and the extent of the damage that affected so many different parts of our home (hardwood flooring, electrical, drywall/painting, replacing damaged doors, etc.) clearly required an experienced remodeling company with a wide range of expertise.  I am fortunate to know a few people in this line of work both professionally and personally and I am confident that I could have found several firms that could have done a good job, but in choosing Michael Shannon and Managed Renovations, I selected a company that did a great job of restoring my home to better than new with very high quality work (often with better quality materials than were originally used in the house!) and made it almost hassle free for my family.  Additionally, the work was all scheduled, managed, and reviewed/approved by the experienced trades professionals that Managed Renovations brought to our job.  We had complete visibility to the all the costs for the work and we paid Managed Renovations a fixed fee based on those costs.  The best part was that we got all the damaged areas restored and saved enough money using Managed Renovations to run our project that we recovered our $10,000 home owner?s policy deductible and then some!

There are a few points that I would like to make that will provide the deltas between a service provider that will do a good job and one that goes above and beyond:

• Managed Renovations dealt with my insurance company directly in terms of the repair estimate.  The communication and feedback provided to my insurance company by Michael was so detailed and exact, that we ended up receiving over $15,000 in incremental funds beyond the original claim estimate to return our home to its original condition.  Michael knew exactly what information was needed and provided significant detail and documentation to allow the adjuster to quickly approve the request.

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• The workmanship and dedication to excellent work by the Managed Renovations trade professionals is second to none.  I watched a carpenter literally tear out work that he had just spent an hour completing in our dining room because it wasn?t perfect.  He told me that it was one 1/8 of an inch off.  I would have never noticed in a million years, but he did.
• All of the workers were the exact same way?.polite, on-time, and hard working.  The worst thing in the world in a large job is when people do not show up when they say they are?never an issue and they were in our home over 5 weeks.  In addition, they took tremendous care to clean up every, single day. 

The real test for a company is how they react after they have been paid.  We found a few small things a couple of weeks after the job was done.  After speaking with Michael, they were fixed within days on OUR schedule. 

Hopefully this will help anyone who is interested in getting great work done and saving money when repairing, building or adding on to their home.

Michael Shannon, of Managed Renovations, referred me to a bathroom designer.  And she referred me to a closet designer.  Once the design was complete, Michael and his team began the work.   The workers were very professional and detailed.  The work area  was always kept clean.  Michael Shannon uses contractors who are extremely knowledgable and professional.  If any of the work was not up to Michael's standards, he would have  it redone correctly.  I felt totally comfortable putting my house (and bedroom) in his hands.  My bathroom and closet look incredible.

Under the leadership of Michael Shannon of Managed Renovations,  our screened-in back porch addition went flawlessly.  The attention to detail is what stands out most.  From the thinking and  planning to the actual work everything went smoothly.  We communicated easily and changes, when necessary, were no big deal.  The workers were friendly and respectable.  My family was even out of town for some of the building time and still, the work went ahead with no problems.  We remained on budget with no surprises.  This is our second time working with  Michael and his team and it certainly wont be the last.

Michael and Natalie were simply the perfect team for us.  They helped us conceive the addition, introduced us to all the right people to make it happen, talked us through any decisions that came up during the construction, and made sure everything was completed to satisfaction.  All of our friends rave about how great the porch renovation looks, and it's greatly increased the street view of the house.

I couldn’t be happier with my new kitchen!!  It’s exactly what I envisioned and I have Michael and Natalie to thank for that! Not only did they assist with selections, providing advice about where to shop for cabinets, lighting, tile, appliances and more, they also passed along their contractor discounts to me so I didn’t have to pay full retail pricing.  Michael and Natalie also coordinated delivery of everything, got all the work done on time and, more importantly, on budget.  It was a pleasure working with them. They kept me apprised of the schedule via their custom web-based project management tools, which also alerted me to when selections were required and payments were due to the subcontractors so that I had plenty of time to make those decisions and get funds transferred into my account. They took pictures of the job and uploaded them onto that website, so my family could essentially watch how things were progressing.  And Natalie kept a detailed spreadsheet of the budget throughout the process, which was a huge help to my peace of mind.  Something I came to appreciate about both Michael and Natalie is their attention to detail and how they care so much about the work being done as if it’s their own house!  They really stayed on top of everything – I felt totally secure and in great hands!  Thank you Managed Renovations!

We were looking for a way to maximize our project scope without exceeded our limited available budget.  We had considered trying to do as much of the hiring and managing of different contractors like carpenters, electricians, drywall installers, painters, etc. as we could, but after exploring that pathway for a while it all seemed so complicated and time consuming. We then started asking around to friends, neighbors, etc. to get referrals to recommended general contractors that could do the whole job for us.  We got a couple proposals from recommended GC's, but they were beyond our budget and we really didn't want to have to significantly cut back on our original project objectives.

We got a lucky break when we got a referral from a friend that told us about a mailer that they had received that described a company said that they help their clients build their remodeling projects by providing construction management services so that the client can act as their own GC.  We didn't understand how they did it, but we were interested enough to take the time to contact them to find out.  That company was Managed Renovations and we sure are glad that we called them! 

Working with Michael and Natalie at Managed Renovations enabled us to meet all our project objectives and our budget goals!  They introduced us to their great preferred subcontractors and craftsmen to do all the tasks that we needed for our job, solicited the necessary bids, and then put together the contracts for the subs work.  They set up a schedule (it was available to us to review at any time via an on-line software service that they use...pretty neat!) and then they managed all the work that the contractors did for us.  They were on site at our job frequently to made sure all the work was done correctly and then told us when to pay the subs for their completed work milestones.  The online software scheduling tool even sent us messages to give us advanced notice when any of the fixtures and/or appliances that we were responsible for providing needed to be at the job for the subs to install.  

Overall the project went great and met or exceeded all our expectations! We couldn't be more pleased with our choice of Managed Renovations and with our experiences working with Michael and Natalie!   They told us at the beginning that we would get our job done for less cost, with less risk, and with more control than using a typical GC fixed price contract and we must say that they made believers out of us!

Michael Shannon used his expansive building experience and vision to re-create an existing kitchen island that was ill placed and dysfunctional.  The result is a perfect island which is functional and aesthetically pleasing to our home.  Michael was easy to reach and available to us at all times.  His subcontractors were professional, reliable and very hard working.  Any glitches that came up were quickly dealt with and solved.  We feel that his thinking and planning made this project an exciting one.  Other contractors who gave bids were unable to even think of a solution to our problem.

We would use Managed Renovations under the direction of Michael Shannon again and again.  In fact, that is our plan!

We could not be happier.  We got a detailed proposal with costs and time lines, and had regular communications on how things were going.  The project stayed on time and on budget throughout (and finished there).  Everything remains in good shape and working order two years later.

We found Managed Renovations to be consistently professional, knowledgeable, and client-oriented.  They worked to make the process and the product as high quality, and as client suited as possible.  We got to have the exact renovation that we wanted without any of the usual headache.  Having worked as a professional architect for many years I was surprised and impressed by the quality of the work and materials, the speed of construction (I have rarely seen this), and the ease of this project for us, the client.  We were able to easily choose all materials, with knowledge of costs and quality given by the professionals at Managed Renovations and by the expert sub-contractors to which they referred us.       The hardest part of the whole project was finding someone to guide us through it.  Once we found Michael Shannon and Natalie Grande of Managed Renovations, the rest was surprisingly painless and even enjoyable!  We began the project wanting to create a master bedroom suite - adding a walk-in closet and master bath plus a sitting area to our master bedroom.  We then decided to bring the rest of our house into the 21st century by (1) redoing the exterior -- adding a front porch and walkway, new roof, siding, painting, etc., (2) doing infrastructure upgrades -- insulation, conditioned attic space, new HVAC system, and tankless hot water heater, and (3) making it more contemporary throughout -- new hardwood floors, new trim, some new lighting, and new stair rail system.  The project was completed on schedule, despite additions to the work, and we’re thrilled with the results.  Our neighbors, who have witnessed a number of renovations in our sub-division, keep telling us how impressed they are with our renovation team.   We attribute the success of the project to Michael and Natalie who managed the entire process.  At the beginning of the process, they put us in touch with a designer and provided helpful advice throughout the design process, took care of the permitting process, prepared a detailed cost estimate, and made numerous recommendations on materials and potential upgrades.  As the project progressed, Natalie regularly kept on top of the construction schedule, provided us regular updates, coordinated with the subs, and kept tabs on expenditures and the budget, and interfaced with us on contracting with and paying the subs.   She also looked for products and materials in keeping with the look we were going for, and gently let us know when we’re about to do something inadvisable.  Michael assembled and managed a great team of sub-contractors and was a tremendous resource on all aspects of the renovation; he treated the house like it was his own and helped ensure we received good quality and craftsmanship for our renovation bucks.  Both Michael and Natalie were regularly at the site and in frequent phone and email contact and were always available to answer our questions and make suggestions.   We also found Managed Renovations’ approach ideal in that there is complete transparency with the costs and a great deal of flexibility about project scope but we have none of the hassle associated with managing the project.   Both Michael and Natalie are highly organized and detail-oriented so we don’t have to worry that something is being forgotten or overlooked. I never expected our renovation project to go so seamlessly, to be this stress and conflict free, and to come together so quickly.  Michael and Natalie have this down to a science, and are a delight to work with.

See above.

As I stated above, this company in my opinion low balls their original estimate in order to get the job and then uses multiple change orders that were NOT approved by the clients. After all the work was said and done their original estimate was almost $200,000 lower than the final total. We should have gone with the contractor our Architect recommended, at least he is honest. The materials used were NOT what we picked out, they had used the cheapest materials and charged us for the finer quality materials. The owner, Michael Shannon and Natalie Grande should not be conducting business and the local home improvement commission will be contacted and reviewing their practices. I would not give this business more than a year before their license is taken away. STAY AWAY!!!! You may call me at (240)372-1693 for further comments on this horrible experience. Billy

Update (May 31, 2011):

MICHAEL SHANNON IS SPOUTING LIES ABOUT CHANGE ORDERS IN THIS PROJECT WHEN HE DID NOT FOLLOW OUR ARCHITECTS PLANS. 

PENNY PINCHING IS WHAT MICHAEL SHANNON IS GOOD AT!!!!!

Managed Renovations is desperate for any type of job they can get and they have started to post discount coupons which if they were doing well they wouldn't need to. Buyer beware when you see this. If you are looking for a reputable General Contractor that does the work that was promised and follows the architectural drawings please call me. My architect whose background is much more reputable than Managed Renovations deals with ONLY the best Contractors and he also agrees that Michael Shannon is not on his list of reputable contractors. I am glad that I have received calls from Angies List Members and I am glad I have saved them the headaches of having work done by Managed Renovations. I can be reached at (240) 372-1693.