Birkemeier Construction Inc.

My wife and I needed our porch and driveway replaced. They were settling because of issues with drainage. I started by researching companies on Angie’s List and BBB, looking for smaller companies with few negative reviews. After several weeks of reading reviews, I located six and started calling. Birkemeier Construction was the first company that I called. Jeff Birkemeier, one of the owners, arrived on a Saturday to look over the driveway and porch. He spent about half an hour talking about our options, and then he patiently answered a series of questions that I had regarding his company and the project. Throughout the entire afternoon, Jeff was polite and professional, and I felt comfortable talking with him. My wife and I had a positive impression from that meeting. Cindy Birkemeier sent us a bid within a few days. The bid was clearly written and organized, with a price for the driveway replacement and separate prices for the other options that we requested. Due to my conversations with Jeff and my browsing of the company’s website, I thought that the quality of the work would be excellent, so I was pleased that the bid was quite reasonable relative to the others that we received. We accepted the bid and planned to have the work started in three weeks. Jeff told me that he and his crew would arrive at 7 a.m. to begin work. He was not kidding. I was working from home that day, but I was impressed when they arrived precisely at 7 a.m. started unloading jackhammers and a Bobcat immediately. They were removing the pad from the side of the house and demolishing the porch within ten minutes. The next few hours were a whirlwind. I was working from a room in the front of the house, and I was observing their progress from time to time. Jeff’s crew carefully removed the porch without damaging the brick veneer, which had been set on top of the porch, rather than the foundation. They loaded their dump truck to the brim with concrete twice. They finished removing the porch and everything but the approach of the driveway within three hours. I was expecting a good experience, but I was stunned: Jeff and his crew were busy at work the entire time. He was even swinging a sledgehammer himself at one point. I have rarely seen such efficiency and attention to detail, and Jeff answered some questions that I had during the process. By lunch time, I was feeling confident that I could head to work and leave them to theirs. At the end of the first day, Jeff and his crew had removed the driveway, laid rebar for the replacement, installed a trench drain, and poured the porch. The porch looked perfectly square, and it had a light broom finish on it. The next day, Jeff and his crew arrived precisely on time again. I asked a few questions to verify the plans for the driveway and to ask about maintenance. Jeff laid rock down before pouring, something the previous owner of our house neglected to have done. (The concrete itself had rebar and fiber mesh reinforcement in it.) I left for work for the day. Despite having had a challenging grade that basically directed water toward our garage, Jeff and his crew poured the concrete and angled it away from the garage, just enough to divert water into the trench drain. We had a light broom finish applied to the driveway as well. The driveway looks great. The joints are straight, and the grade and trench drain prevent water from pooling as it had on the old driveway. Jeff and his crew finished the driveway and sodded the side area (where we had a pad removed but not replaced) by noon. That was a day and a half for the entire project. Jeff even had some of the guys from his crew return and cut skinny strips of sod to fit the places on the sides of the driveway where it had been braced with boards. It’s been two weeks, and my wife and I are pleased with the results. Throughout the entire process, Jeff and Cindy were professional, responsive, and prompt. I have rarely seen someone work as hard and efficiently as Birkemeier Construction did. I had an enormous amount of worry about this project when I started researching companies, but working with Birkemeier Construction was such a great experience that I would gladly ask the company for help with another project. I cannot recommend the crew there enough.

Absolutely wonderful experience. The crew arrived at the exact time they stated, both days. The quality of the work was unparalleled, AND they finished everything in less than a day and a half! Very thorough. As stated above, the work was a two car driveway, sidewalk, and patio. Every crew member worked continually. I never saw Jeff, the owner, ever tell anyone what to do; they just did it. And honestly, I never saw anyone take a break, although that would have been totally acceptable. I really can't say enough good things about this company. Although I won't say what we paid, it was very reasonable for this amount of work.

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I met with Jeff and we spoke about concrete while he measured up the job, I received a quote a few days later and the price was somewhere in the middle of the many bids I received.  When speaking with Jeff during our meeting I could tell he was the guy I wanted to work with, I have met a lot contractors and he was unique in his demeanor and willingness to answer my barrage of questions.  He informed me that it would be two to three months before he could get to my job, as he was booked solid until that time.  After adjusting his schedule to accommodate some days off I had, Jeff and his crew showed up at my house at 7am on the dot.  The crew was tidy and efficient, everyone had their job to do and it was all well orchestrated.  I was taking pictures and asking a lot of questions, the guys were great and remained polite throughout the entire process.  I made a few changes along the way and Jeff added some details that I didn?t think of that turned out very nice.  The job took two days to complete, as planned, and the crew arrived on time both days at 7am. Removal of the old structures and a few bushes, grading, hand digging out the path for the new drainage pipe for the gutters, and pouring of the walkways happened on the first day. Installation of the PVC pipes and pop up drains occurred on the second day, along with the pouring of the steps and driveway.  I can?t remember if it was the following day or a week after the job was complete, but some of the crew returned and backfilled around the new concrete.  Everything turned out great and my wife and I couldn?t be happier with the resulting driveway, walkway, steps, and pop up drains.  It is nice to know that I never have to worry about trying to find a concrete crew again; Jeff has won my trust and will have any future concrete work.  You won?t find a better group of people to work with on your project and they were worth the wait.

They showed up at daybreak and got right to it.  By lunchtime all the prep work was done and they were pouring concrete. By the end of the day they were finished with the exception of removing a couple of the forms which they wanted to leave in place till the next morning.  Beautiful work! Jeff and his crew are polite and very professional.