Artisan Restoration

We live in an 80-year old house that suffered neglect for a number of years, followed by some shoddy repairs. The paint was flaking off the deteriorated frames of the leaded windows, several panes were cracked, the leading was not looking great, really ugly caulk jobs had been done around doors, the jambs were alligatoring and peeling, doorknobs didn't latch, and you could see daylight all around the edges of several doors. I called the only company I had heard of that specialized in this kind of work (Old Growth Window Restoration) and was told that they had a 2-year waiting list. I asked them if they could recommend anybody else, and they said the only company they could recommend was Artisan Restoration. Lucky for me, they only had a 1-year waiting list. Ed, the owner, came out rather quickly. He worked with me on costs where applicable, for instance saying that I could save money by not refinishing the insides of some doors that looked good, or not restoring the inner windows in a double layer of windows. and wrote me up a very detailed estimate which I agreed to. Then came the waiting. I bugged them a few times throughout the process and they patiently updated me with the current ETA, which admittedly slipped a few times. Once I saw the nature of the work, though, I understood why delays might happen. They took our leaded windows back to the shop and boarded up the openings. To prevent our home from looking *too much* like a derelict property during the process, they did this in a couple of different batches, bringing back the previous batch before taking the next one. This took quite some time, but when they came back the panes were replaced, weatherstripping was installed where needed, the leading was resoldered where needed, the hardware was cleaned up or replaced, and the weathered wood was sanded down or patched/replaced and beautifully painted or stained. The door jambs were stripped and sanded on site, the old caulk was dug out, and new caulk was put in. I had them add a few additional pieces to the job after they started, and they agreed without complaint; they also offered to paint the front door (which wasn't part of the original plan) at a good rate since they already had the paint. While the appearance of the work pretty much speaks for itself, you can tell they really go the extra mile, taking a planer to windows that don't fit quite right when they're reinstalled and fixing up other issues like windows not opening and closing right. They even got the doorknobs to catch in their latches, which hadn't happened previously. Ed and his partner Jason are also easygoing and friendly, chatting about things, explaining why they're doing things a certain way, and so on. I'd hire them to do every door, window and frame in the house, but... as you can imagine, this is not an inexpensive project to undertake. Depending on how you count, they restored up to 21 individual pieces. It was the most expensive home improvement project I've ever undertaken, coming in at just over $10k. But after seeing the sheer amount of work required to do this, and the results they achieve, I think it's a fair price.