Smiley Renovations

After completing everything and reflecting - would I use Smiley again (or would I recommend them)? Short answer: NO Long answer: Every project has its ups and downs and ours was no different. We had a major issue relatively early on and I thought that the way Smiley addressed it was reasonable. They verbally admitted to the issue and committed to rectifying it. And to some degree they did give some concessions. But my major mistake was not getting verbal commitments in writing. And there may not have been malice or dishonesty in the agreement, these projects are so long that each person's memory of a conversation will be different. But this wasn't the only reason for the poor review. They have major turnover, of staff and in the office and this lead to major project and bookkeeping issues. We had 5 different project managers and we would have to correct and correct things because of the turnover... Something similar seems to be going on with bookkeeping. And this is major. Bills appear out of the blue. One of them appear over 6 months after completion of the project after seemingly everything had already but squared away. And the paper trail on expenses is non existent. The designer associated with the company I will say was great, organized and always responsive. And she was there the whole time! In the end we got there. And I think the construction work is actually to a good standard. But with all the headaches and issues within the company, the poor documentation and communication, and poor bookkeeping, I would have to recommend against using this company.

They were professional, easy to work with, knowledgeable. They were very clean. They stuck to the deadline. When it was all done, I enjoyed the experience all around

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Dealing with Daren, Barry, Josh, and Mike has been a great experience. They're uniformly responsive and take the time to understand what you want while still offering their thoughts. They also have been flexible about accommodating changes that we requested mid job. Further, they've taken the time to explain any unforeseeable additional costs (e.g., leaking pipe behind a wall that wasn't visible when they provided their initial estimate) and have passed through any such added expense at their cost. Most important, they take real pride in their work. They don't cut corners. Every detail is done right. I would give them a positive review without reservation even if their price was a little higher than their peers, but it hasn't been. We received multiple bids for the work and their price was one of the better ones--almost a third less than the highest bid. You can't go wrong hiring Smiley. And check out some of their prior projects on their website, as well as the awards that they've won for their work.

He never showed up to provide a quote.

The work was good and I liked it. It was fine.

They were very good. They were very accommodating. They showed me some of the work that they had done in other places. I just decided to use some one else, but it wasn’t because I had any negative thoughts about them. They were very professional. They were very willing to accommodate my schedule and come to my house and go over various specifications because I have a difficult work schedule. They were available on weekends. They were very nice. I would consider them for an estimate in the future.

Met these folks at the Montgomery County Home show. They seemed pleasant and knowledgeable after talking to them so we asked them to come out for an estimate to do some work in our kitchen = new countertops, flooring, lighting, etc . They did come out, took measurements, etc. It's been about a month and a half and we've yet to hear back or see an estimate. I even made a follow up call to find out what happened - no response there either. Seems pretty unprofessional to me.

We certainly have performed our due diligence with regard to getting at least 3 quotes for our renovation. First, we had contacted a "high end" K St architect, who readily came out to meet us at our home (i.e., within a week of my calling them), talked in detail about our needs and what they can offer us, and came back with a bid about a week later, with an emphasis on being willing to work within the actual budget we had in mind. Unfortunately, they estimated $178 per sq ft - our project was about 2,000 sq footage, and our actual budget was half of that amount. Knowing they were primarily an architectural firm who did beautiful work (think modern, sleek oak built-ins and floating glass & steel staircases) and I'm sure worth every penny, we decided to talk with general contractors to see what they could offer. We spoke with the general contractor currently renovating the house two doors down from our house - the amount was right, but the house just wasn't what we hoped for aesthetically. We spoke with another architect who was willing to draw up our plans for $7k, but couldn't build the house itself. Soonafter, we contacted Smiley and another general contractor company at the same time to request estimates. At Smiley we corresponded with a gentleman named Taylor. He seemed enthusiastic about the project, and advised he'd get back to us with an abbreviated scope of work. Then that never came (he said his email hadn't been working), and he advised he needed to crunch the numbers (even though we never gave him our planned budget amount), even though he mentions that the "budget conversation" comes at a later time time when we are more comfortable with him and he has done "appropriate research" (didn't explain what that means). Then he asks us if we are looking for a "detailed estimate" or a "budget proposal" - we just simply wanted to meet & talk about out project in person! We never mentioned the amount we hoped to spend on our construction project, thinking they would provide us an estimate AFTER our meeting and based on what we envisioned for our completed project, similar to the experiences we've had described above. We expressed our interest in still meeting, and then we just never heard back from him. It was a very disappointing experience. We were very excited at the prospect of talking with them, esp given the initial enthusiasm that Taylor had, so we're confused on why they never followed through. I think it is poor customer service and lack of respect, esp in a situation when first impressions count a lot and communication is key between a contractor and its client right from the beginning. If our project was "too small a fish to fry," then just come out and tell us, don't string us along, don't waste our time too. If that was the case, then perhaps it's good for Smiley's business that they have such high-earning projects, but then we think that they manage to close out the majority of projects out there. (Our search for a contractor had a "happy ending" in that we found one who respects our vision, shares our excitement about our project, willing to work within our budget, and promotes communication & trust right from the beginning.)

i didnt have the renovation done because of other circumstances. But while i was considering the project, Smiley's staff was courteous and knowledgeable. They were generous with their time and provided us with a tour of a project which would have been very similar to the project we wanted.

I really liked Smiley Renovations. I was very very happy with the company and would totally recommend them. I thought they were very professional, they cleaned the site after every days work. They did everything as promised. They were on time, and scheduled the inspections perfectly. It took 2 weeks as scheduled.

I have worked with many contractors and none were as attentive, honest and professional as Smiley Renovations! I would recommend them to all of my family and friends.

We both work and did not have as much time as we would have liked to spend on the project. Smiley (specifically Darren Smith) worked with our schedules and our concepts to create the spaces we needed and wanted from the beginning. He provided us with sketches and ideas to enhance the project without dictating his tastes. If he had a bad experience with something we were looking at he shared that information with us. The project was managed by Smiley but they used numerous speciality subcontractors. He managed them well and they always cleaned up their work space daily and were respective of our space. When we did have problems, he never hid from them; he listened to our frustrations and then offered his solutions to correct the situation. He has a very customer-oriented and personal service and takes his responsibilities seriously. He holds his subcontractors to high standards and often had them fixing items that we did not even notice. He also provided a follow up a year after completing the work at which he asked for a list of any issues we had. There were a few items like grout, and doors that stuck, windows that didn't operate well, etc. He came in and fixed all items with no charge. He also has provided follow up service on a leak we had and said to just let him know if it happens again. Overall, the experience was very good. Smiley proved themselves to be a trustworthy company with a customer oriented service that produced a high quality work product.

The carpenters were punctual,knowledgeable and professional mechanics.

The estimates were good, and all add-ons calculated in advance; the workers showed up on time, and kept the work site neat. The project was concluded almost on schedule, the hang-ups having mostly to do with the delayed shipment of some materials and poor weather.

We were happy with the work and the end product. Daren Smith, President of Smiley Renovations, was extremely easy to work with and kept us informed throughout the process. We had an architect do drawings; he gave us two recommendations for possible contractors. We picked Smiley, largely on the presentation that Daren Smith made when he gave us his estimate. The work was done on time, with people who did a good job and with whom we were confortable to be working inside our house. When any problems occurred, as they inevitably do on such a project, Daren was quick to take care of them.

They were prompt and courteous. For two of the months we were not home and our neighbors had commented that they were at the job site everyday and worked the full 8 hours without supervision. They have taken care of any problems and I would highly recommend them.