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Smithwright Home Improvement is a general contracting company providing a broad range of home improvement and home repair services in the Suburban Maryland area. I am a company of one and use subcontractors only when absolutely necessary. 99% of the work I take on is performed by me. Smithwright Home Improvement is licensed with the Maryland Home Improvement Commission since 2004 under license# 89597. I've done mostly flat-fee work under contract with the home owner. Small projects, or handyman related work, bills out at $80/hour with a 3 hour minimum. Angie's List customers receive a 10% discount off labor charges that invoice over $500.00. Discounts do not apply to materials cost which are in addition to labor charges. I do not add any additional costs to materials. You pay what I pay. My business, up to now, has grown strictly through referrals from satisfied customers. In the 20 years since I started this business, I have served hundreds of home owners in this area doing everything from simple drywall work to building large room additions and decks. I pride myself in delivering results that far exceed my customer's expectations. (Please note, the nature of my work can make it quite difficult to take phone calls during the day. The last thing I want is to offend anyone by not picking up or not returning phone calls. Please contact me via text at 410-707-5542 or email at [email protected] as well and I will try to respond to you within 24 to 36 hours. Thank you!).

"Amazing experience!! From the start of our project VKB has been absolutely wonderful. Our designer, Calvin, really took time and thought out the best use of our space. He went through several designs until he used his creativity to design the perfect kitchen for us. From the start our project manager Jason was very good at communication and very nice to work with. Any questions or concerns were quickly answered. Him and the crew wore masks and made me feel very comfortable. His crew worked very hard and the head of the crew Ismar, was always willing to answer any tiny question I had with what I think (it's hard to tell with mask) a friendly smile on his face. They had great attention to detail, and worked hard to do a solid job. The crew finished ahead of schedule, and the result is nothing less than amazing. I would recommend VKB in a heartbeat."

"Very well. Matthew was pleasant. Naveen and his crew were prompt, professional, and neat. Naveen himself was a pleasure to work with."

"This contractor offers good service at reasonable rates. They provide the service with care and respect for the customer."

JEB Services is a family own business since 2006 with more then 20 years experience servicing the area of MD. Here at JEB Services we offer all type of handyman services both residential and commercial. We take pride in what we do and treat all of your needs as if they were our own . Give us a call for a free estimate.

"It went very well. The technician, Thomas Matamore, not only fixed our kitchen cabinets and drawers but let us know how to better maintain them."

"Devin Nasvaderani (Marel Homes) is, without a doubt, the best contractor with whom I have ever worked. He came into a job that had been royally screwed up by a prior contractor (see review of Stevenson & Sons). He thoroughly inspected the property, prepared a detailed bid, gave us advice on the most important items and delivered a bid that could work with our budget and the existing lender requirements. His entire crew were professional and consciencious. Devin delivered on time, on budget with high quality work. He kept us informed throughout the process. The portico he built is frequently the subject of compliments by our neighbors (and people just driving by). We will use Devin to continue improving our home. He took a nightmare and turned it into the dream home we had hoped for. If you need a great contractor to remodel your home, call Devin at Marvel Homes (the name says it all).
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We pride our company on reliability, great communication, integrity, and quality work. We are experts in our trade and will do our best to keep you as educated as we can on your particular task or project. We look forward to earning your business!

"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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"Great. John Krause was professional, timely and willing to provide advice, even when we weren't going to use him for a task. We do plan to have him back to install new gutters, under-floor insulation and, perhaps, raise the house by a foot. Highly recommended."