Merrick Design and Build Inc.

First, I would use them again if - and only if - Paul did the actual work again and I didn't care how quickly the work was done.  (There's no choice of "yes I would use this provider but with a caveat.")  The quality of the work was great, and I know I'll love the kitchen once time goes by.  BUT....



They were expensive, but I knew this going in.  I decided on Merrick based on other reviews which were generally good, Peggy (who designed the kitchen) and the fact that they were a local family company.  I was willing to pay for quality work from a company which would stand behind their work.



The MAJOR problem was timeliness.  Pretty much only one man (Paul) worked on the project other than contractors (plumbing and electrical).  I started this process in May and decided on Merrick in June.  They knew my budget from the beginning.  I was told the project could certainly be completed by "the holidays," which I originally thought was Labor Day.  Silly me.  When I was told to go out and select things like tile, floor, appliances, etc., I was given no guidelines as to the cost I should consider.  The one exception was the granite, which I was told to keep at a particular level.  I did try to select moderately priced, but good quality, items.  (No Wolf stove or Subzero fridge!)  When they came back with the initial quote (2-3 months later - the first red flag) it was almost a third over my budget!!!  David, the owner, came out to see if any modifications could be done.  We finally ended up with a budget which was over my original budget (by the way - forget doing a kitchen with the "national average" of $55,000!) but I could live with.  At that point, I realized the holidays would probably mean Thanksgiving, but they put "December 15" as the contract completion date - to make sure they could meet the contract completion date.  They almost never sent anyone to help Paul - even though he requested it, and I was questioning the deadline.  (One guy maybe a couple of hours two-three times came.)  FINALLY, yesterday Paul cleared out everything - not quite a month late.  Since it was a two-month projected timeframe, that's 50% over budgeted time!  We couldn't decorate for Halloween (totally expected), couldn't have family over for Thanksgiving (somewhat expected) or Christmas (NOT expected! - and we couldn't even decorate) or New Years (NOT expected).



Paul pretty much kept everything outside the construction area clean.  He cleaned up the construction area every day before he left.



I don't know if Merrick is over-extended, or if they just didn't care about our project getting completed.  They ordered items which didn't fit, and then didn't immediately reorder the right ones.  You would think experienced remodelers would know how to measure!  I feel that if Paul wasn't such a good carpenter (he really did do good work), I would have totally been disappointed - perhaps even angry.  As it is, I will eventually love my kitchen and the irritation about Merrick's lack of concern will fade.



Oh, by the way, the delays were NOT due to any changes I made.  I added on a couple of small items, but neither of those were done by Christmas, so it certainly didn't affect the overall timeliness.  I had thought a few things would be different than they were done, but decided I could live with what they did (and perhaps I had THOUGHT they were different, but they weren't!) so didn't have them redo anything.  Now that they're out, we can finish painting the dining room and living room (which are now open to the kitchen) and put back furniture (we had to store furniture outside so they had a "staging" area) this weekend and start enjoying our new kitchen.



Downstairs bath (my son's) - done at the same time - was pretty much the same story, but we had no changes/additional work at all.

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The workmanship by Joe Dougher (the Merrick Home Repair person assigned to our job) was outstanding. He was creative, precise, and highly skilled. We would use Merrick/Joe Dougher's services again without reservation. The cost of the renovation was higher than the original estimate (probably not unusual for this type of work), but at the end of the day we were so satisfied with the results that we didn't argue it.

Initially, the work seemed fine but the bubbling/chipping continued. While they agreed to retreat the area based on their warranty, they said the problem may be efflorescence which was never mentioned before. We asked for work orders to justify the $2300 charge for work completed, but no records could be provided. We then asked for a refund given that it seems all they did was scrape paint and re-paint for $2300 when it only cost $5000 to paint the entire front of the building (from a different provider of course). What's troubling is the shoddy work performed and refusal to refund the exorbitant cost of such subpar work. I would NOT recommend Merrick Design Build for any projects as their costs are rather inflated and much higher than other similar contractors. Look elsewhere!

They were on time, they stayed in budget, and they were very good to work with.

process went well, no work stopping, on site carpenter/site manager at house daily, project foreman very available, no conflict over changes, pleasant and neat workers and subcontractors. Quality materials and workmanship.

We knew that we wanted more space and a better flow to our small house (and closets!), but we didn't know the best way to get there. The first contractor we spoke with wanted to make our Cape Cod a Colonial. That was too big for our lot, and more space than we wanted. We spoke with another larger builder, whose solution was to put a few dormers across the front and back, which didn't seem very creative or really responsive to our needs. Then came Merrick.
After an initial visit, David and Lindsay came to see our house and brainstorm on what could be done. A few weeks later, we met with Lindsay, who presented us plans, saying she and quot;lived with it for a couple of weeks.and quot; We were blown away. She came up with a very creative solution that would preserve the openness of our floor plan and give us the extra space we wanted.

Merrick's design process was incredibly well organized, and they were willing to work with us to fit the project within our fairly tight budget. Once we agreed on the scope of work, we worked with Lindsay to refine our plans and start selecting finishes. Lindsay has an incredible eye for the big-picture design of the project, as well as for the little things like how a given fixture would look in the new space. She was always available, usually answering emails within an hour.
After some delays in permitting and finalizing a construction loan, we began construction in mid-September. Though we weren't given a firm date by which the project would be finished, we were given a rough estimate. For the amount of work that was completed, I never thought we'd be in the house at the beginning of February. Four and a half months was very fast (though we were helped by a warm winter).

Our project manager, Brian, was friendly, responsive and highly competent. He has the perfect temperment for his job as conducter of the construction orchestra -- even-keeled and seemingly unshakeable. Other members of the Merrick team, such as Julio and David, were very friendly and responsive to our questions.
In sum, we're very pleased with the work Merrick did on our home and would highly recommend them to anyone considering a home renovation.
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.The process was slow, originally planned to be 1 week, but there was a delay in obtaining the glass walls and then we were out of town and the whole process ended up taking about 4 weeks. Only a small part of that delay was the builders fault, however the builder was aware of our time schedule for being out of town.

While Merrick hasn't yet begun the work (it should commence in June of 2013) we wanted to write a review of the design process that we began a year ago with Lindsay.
Lindsay is, with all sincerity, the sweetest, most honest, and most professional person we've ever encountered in the home improvement realm. We cannot imagine working with anyone else. In fact, my wife and I were so compelled to work with her we decided it would be a waste of time to get additional bids.
Lindsay has, over the course of the design process, taken every one of our unusual requests with patience and consistently found a way to make them work in order achieve the effect we're after. There was no curve ball she didn't crush and no email she didn't respond to and absorb. We've been blown away at her ability to track and integrate every single one of our off-handed requests and rapid-fire emails. She oozes a level of competence and attention to detail you just don't expect to encounter these days.
We strongly encourage anyone looking to work with a design-build firm to begin and end their search with Lindsay @ Merrick.

It was great. They are very professional, conscientious, and have a strong attention to detail

I called, asked for a quote. They came out within a short period of time and gave me a quote. I then scheduled the installation of my storm door. They came out when they said they would, installed it in a very efficient and professional manner, and it looks great!

We had actually contacted them for doing an extension of our house. They did a good job with the installing but the only thing is that when they came to install the ad deck fan it wasn't working and they hadn't checked it prior. The other thing is that they had ordered it and we didn't get it on time, so we had to reschedule it the first time. When they came the fan wasn't working so we had to reschedule it again. They did a good job but the only thing was that we had contacted them for a potential addition to our home and we would have expected more for that job which was pretty simple than not rescheduling. If you think about it in a larger scale, that was a pretty simple job how would it be if we had the addition done through them, so I expected much better service from them. We wouldn't have decided to go with them for that addition

It went fine. We may use them again in the future.

They did excellent work. Everything still looks good, so it has stood the test of time.

Most excellent. Great communication, great staff (neat, conscientious, professional), beautiful job. Will definitely use again for big and small projects.

I think they did a great job. They are creative and they stand behind their work.