Carrigan Curtis Design Build, LLC

I hired Carrigan Curtis to sort out and “close” an extremely troubling experience with a company I had hired to remodel my kitchen; here’s my story: Soon after contracting with a high profile design-build company known for award-winning kitchen design, construction, and efficient project management, we found ourselves overwhelmed by their incompetence. Early on, we discovered a serious absence of design oversight, sloppy construction management, and fractured communication. Sub-contractors consistently ignored, or refused to follow design specifications; no one monitored cabinet fabrication; with one exception, all subs failed miserably in workmanship. Most disheartening, the company was chronically unresponsive and refused to honor a critical timeline. When early and subsequent requests for larger recycle bins were ignored, we finally took matters into our own hands, hiring independent contractors with whom we'd worked in the past. They swiftly built us what was refused, repaired and retro-fit what was badly crafted, finished the unfinished, and installed the uninstalled. Amid this chaos, my spouse was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition and we were obliged to quickly schedule major surgery. I insisted that our contractors prioritize the project, as it was already 3 months after the promised completion date—and we needed privacy at home and a working kitchen following surgery. The company remained shockingly passive and unresponsive. I re-hired our independent subs, who worked quickly, compassionately, and without complaint. Mercifully, a trusted friend made the suggestion which finally pointed us to a happy outcome— she sent us to a unique professional named Carrigan Curtis. Carrigan is an interior designer who'd beautifully transformed our friend's home; she runs Carrigan Curtis Design Build, LLC., specializing in residential design, remodeling and green building. In addition, she is a licensed and bonded contractor, and as we soon discovered, is an expert project manager. To us, she was a wonderful blend of angel and attorney. Within hours of learning about our situation, Carrigan had us sweeping through all contractual documentation; she interviewed us at length about our relationship with the company from design day one, through demolition, to date. She not only focussed on our serious need to schedule immediate completion, she paid rapt attention to our detailed expenses of hiring extra contractors. In less than 48 hours Carrigan had a strategic action plan. She applied it logically, unemotionally, but assertively. Her twin tools in dealing with our contractors were 1/ the facts and the truth, evidenced by our good record-keeping, and 2/ a keen grasp of human situations, evidenced by her rapport with homeowner as well as contractor. In both meetings, and by phone and email, she spoke calmly, in non-threatening neutral language, with balanced insights, and acute knowledge of the design-build industry. She gained our contractor's trust because she was able to see both sides of the situation, yet stood her ground fairly toward both parties, even though she was advocating for us. Within 5 days the design-build company agreed to all our demands, including: crediting us for all work completed by our independent contractors; swiftly finishing their own contracted work— subject to our final approval; delivering a completely functional kitchen on our calendar date, or crediting us for doing it independently; and finally, immediately releasing us from our contractual relationship. Carrigan is a multi-gifted person. Through her design skills she not only generates delighted clients like the dear friend who introduced her to us, she's had the smarts to broaden and grow her skills into the very building industry for which she works as talented designer. She's an invaluable homeowner's resource because she's fluent in both languages, that of designer and that of builder— this fluency enables her to move easily between those two worlds—so that the expertly-crafted and the beautifully-designed produce a unified outcome for her clients. To Interior Designer, Licensed Contractor, and Project Manager, Carrigan may want to add another title, Homeowner's Advocate—now that she's become our favorite and quot;closerand quot;.

The process was wonderful. I had my ideas and she helped me lay them out with design and color. Then she gets ALL the subcontractors. We made dates for going out to pick out tile and appliances, etc. And once the work started, I got a schedule - a day-by-day schedule - that, not only did she keep, but she got done several days ahead of time! She thought of everything. There was excellent dust control in the house; there was a portable toilet that the workers used (they did not use my bathroom). When unexpected things came up (which always happens), she had several options for solutions. She helped with a potentially major problem in terms of building code which cost me little but could have cost me a major amount. The great thing about Carrigan is that because she does BOTH design and construction, she knows the important things to know from both angles. I would use her again anytime, for any project.