Lewis and Associates Contracting, LLC

Paul and his team were responsive, professional, and on time. We had our kitchen floor re-tiled and needed our deck railing replaced. I appreciated the care they took not only with the work but with my home; putting down plastic and matting to protect the floor and furniture. The tile and railing look great. I would definitely work with them again.

Excellent!

All of the work was done in a professional manner. In fact, they went above and beyond what we contracted for. Just one example, they noticed a defect in one of the bathtubs after it had already been installed. Alex took it back to the vendor and replaced it.  I'm not sure all contractors would go that extra mile.  All phone calls and concerns were answered promptly. I felt comfortable having them in my home and would certainly have them back again.

Paul replaced the skylight in our Baltimore Row home last year and did a fantastic job. His crew is polite, respectful and as quick as possible. They replaced our skylight and drywall that was damaged from water along with a ceiling fan in just a day. ( A couple extra days for final spackling and paint)I would definitely recommend Paul Lewis for future jobs and will be contacting him next year regarding our future roof deck.

Background:  My wife and I searched for a builder to construct our deck based on architectural drawings and specifications generated by my architect.  To kick start the process, the architectural drawings were solicited out to about 10 different builders and we received back about 7 bids / estimates.  Of the various builders that were solicited, three were recommended by Karen, including Paul Lewis, as she had worked with him previously.  After reviewing all the bids that we received, we chose Paul Lewis as our deck builder because of his good price, good terms and relationship/reputation with Karen.

At the beginning of the project, there were a few minor changes to the drawings which were required by the county in order to get permits.  The changes related to the retaining wall and how the deck would be attached to the house.  Throughout the process, the deck was inspected by the county several times. The inspector found a few items which were readily resolved by Paul and
his team.  I also had asked Paul to fix another small mistake related to where the lights were positioned on the staircase.  I had a private contingency reserve set aside for out-of-scope items, upgrades and unexpected issues.  In the end, we only went over the estimated deck cost + my contingency by about $1K.

Paul also used his talents to further improve on the design of the deck.  One of my concerns was having so many low beams as I wanted the ceiling under the deck to be as high as possible.  As such, Paul was able to re-engineer the structure of the deck such
that fewer beams would be required while still providing the same level of structural integrity.  He also reconfigured the gutters in such a way that the downspouts from the roof would not need to drain through the deck.  The benefit is that the downspouts didn?t have to pass through holes in the deck/blocking which would have made it challenging for the DekDrain system.  In addition, I prefer not to look at downspouts while being on the deck.

The quality and overall craftsmanship is excellent.  Although there are a few very minor cosmetic issues around the brick work, you would actually need to be looking closely for these issues in order to spot them.  The DekDrain system was also a little more challenging in that it prevents the deck flooring from being perfectly flat in some areas.  Not much Paul could do about this as it relates to the way the DekDrain system is made.  I'm very happy with the electrical installation.  Paul?s electrician did an
outstanding job with recommending lighting solutions and completing the work.

Throughout the process, Paul was very approachable, friendly and personable.  I will miss our early morning chats with regards to status, direction and obstacles (challenges).  During the process, I was responsible for making decisions on some of the detailed design items, including the layout of the railings, identifying the type of fasteners to hold down the floor decking, etc.  I also performed some work including painting and staining of various railing components, purchase of the pillar caps, etc.  Having these morning meetings allowed us to make sure the deck was moving forward and that it met both Paul?s and my standards.  The project was completed on time (3-4 months).

In the end, Paul?s craftsmanship and eye for aesthetics was able to help us build a high quality deck.  We received many compliments from several different neighbors regarding our new deck.  One neighbor, for example, said ?you did everything right with the deck?.  I take this to mean that we not only that we made very good choices in our deck components and layout, but that we followed the right process and selected the right team (Karen and Paul) in order to design and build the deck.

Overall, we are extremely happy with the deck and with the use of Paul as our builder.  We would definitely hire Paul again and we recommend him to everyone.  Thank you Paul for a job well done!