CQCHOME

We’d give CQCHome six stars if we could! We are veterans of several major home renovation projects (some great, others bad). CQCHome was the best. We are very happy we selected them. They delivered a full kitchen replacement, along with new laundry room, bathroom, and office. From initial sales, through design, build, and warranty, CQCHome’s experience and skill earned our full confidence. Their planning and project management expertise kept our renovation on budget and on schedule (they finished early!) Communications were seamless throughout. Their sub-contractors are skilled and courteous. The CQCHome team was outstanding. A few special shout outs: Ken Combs (owner) was great during the initial proposal process. Pricing and estimation were easy thanks to Patrick Bowers. Ericka Combs and Stephanie Palm were wonderful during design phase and throughout – special thanks to them both for their creativity and patience as we waivered on materials and design choices. LaTina handled billing and change orders perfectly. Our project was managed by Shawn Norstrud, who is a star. His customer focus went way above our expectations. His carpentry crew was skilled, friendly, and great to have in our home – Sean, Noah, Justin, Marcus. Honorable mention to Dickon Housman who stepped in to guide us through an early engineering challenge. We’ve already recommended CQCHome to friends and neighbors. We’d happily work with them again. Six stars.

CQC stands for “custom quality carpentry” and the quality of their carpentry was excellent. One of the best things about this job was Raymond, the craftsman assigned to our project. He was on site daily and did much of the carpentry himself. Raymond was friendly, worked diligently and paid excellent attention to the details. He (and his supervisor Dickon) frequently communicated updates about the project and happily answered our questions. We felt comfortable with Raymond and Dickon in our home and knew that we could count on them to lock up and set the alarm if we were out when they finished for the day. CQC used sub-contractors for the electrical work, plumbing, tiling and painting. We were generally pleased with the quality of work performed by all, though we did need to bring a tiling error to CQC’s attention. Ken, the owner of CQC, came out to inspect the tiling job and not only acknowledged and apologized for the error, but had the shower floor ripped up and redone correctly the following Saturday. There was also some painting work that needed to be redone, but they took care of this quickly and without complaint. While all’s well that ends well, this job was not without some issues. The genesis of these issues occurred during the design phase. The CQC design team provided the big details CQC needed to get started—like the brand and style of tub, towel bars and shower heads. But they failed to address the finer details, such as where to place the shower heads, the height of the shower wall, and size and location of niches. Glossing over details like these resulted in small problems and inconsistencies that had to be solved during the construction phase. This poor planning also resulted in a lack of light where some illumination would be useful. When we have worked with interior designers in the past, they have stopped by to inspect the work, talk to contractors on site, and to ensure the job progressed according to plan. Once we signed the contract, we never saw the designers again. Perhaps our definition of a designer and theirs differ, but while we felt we got our money’s worth in the construction, we would not say the same about the design fee. CQC seems to have grown significantly over the past few years, and perhaps we experienced some of their growing pains. While the on-site work was excellent, we found that the back-office administration was not at the same level. Three problems that we would link to a lack of institutional maturity were 1) their initial budget projection, 2) a convoluted and incomplete agreement process, and 3) a delay in obtaining the building permit. The initial budget projection was a significant enough problem that it almost cost them our business. During the initial walk-through and discussion of the scope of the job, they gave us a rough estimate that the project would cost between X and Y. When the actual budget was presented to us, it was 20 percent higher than the high end of their estimate. (Of note, design was a separate cost and contract.) What frustrated us about this jump in costs was that during the design process, they kept reassuring us that all the materials and fixtures we were picking were within budget. We would have understood the price increase if we made design choices that would have driven up cost, but that was not the case. Our advice: Surprise the customer with a lower price than expected, not a higher one! Once we decided on the the scope of the project and communicated it to CQC, we expected to receive a written contract that specified the agreements on both sides – ourselves as homeowner and CQC as contractor. But CQC wanted us first to sign off on a “specification sheet,” which was not very specific at all, and agree to a payment schedule. We thought the process could have been more straight forward. Apparently, they are limited by their software which lacks flexibility. And finally, after they did the demo and much of the rough-in, work ground to a halt for 10 business days while waiting for the building permit to be approved. The initial permit filing was denied because CQC failed to submit it to the Health Department first, as was required because we have a well and a septic field. We don’t know how a contractor misses an important detail like this; we guess it was a lack of communication internally at CQC. This was especially frustrating because one reason we selected CQC was that they were able to start the project earlier and predicted a shorter timetable than that of the other contractor we considered. In conclusion we would say that CQC are better builders and contractors than they are designers and business people. We would be willing to hire them again, as long as Raymond was our foreman, but we would have design work done independently and have the designer remain involved with the job. Hopefully they learned some lessons from our job, can tighten up some of their practices, and future customers will benefit from the hiccups we experienced.

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The entire experience was great. I enjoyed working with the CQC Home team. The staff is top notch - the quality, care and customer service was second to none. I would hire this team again! They are amazing people.

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Ken responded to my request for a quote, stopped by in two days and I had my cost and a sketch workup three days later. The price was fair, and when the job was scheduled his crew showed up five minutes early along with Ken who walked us all through the job. They were done in two days and when I wasn't quite satisfied with one detail they made no qualms about coming back the next morning and making me happy. The final bill was for the exact quoted amount, and the work done to the exterior of my home looks like the home was designed and built that way. Happy customer. I highly recommend, and we would use CQC again.

CQC Home re-built our house, re-using the foundation, roof, most of our hardwood floors, and most of the wall studs but little else. They did the design work, oversaw the asbestos remediation, and then in the next 4 months, rebuilt the house. The work included fixing structural issues; reconfiguring the floor plan; replacing all windows, doors and appliances; sealing the crawl space; building 3 retaining walls and repaving the driveway. The workmanship is excellent. Though we encountered a few problems and misunderstandings, Ken (the CQC Home owner), worked with us to reach mutually agreeable compromises without blowing our budget or diminishing the house's look. All of the CQC employees and subcontractors were professional and easy tow work with. They were willing to talk to us and answer all of our questions. Overall, a very good experience.

Kelly was amazing to work with as a designer. I had a lot of ideas of what I liked but the choices were overwhelming. She read my mind and managed to find products that would keep us in budget. Kenny made sure we knew what we would be paying up front. Dickon was our PM and he and his crew and subs (special shout out to Mike) worked tirelessly to get our job done in time for the holidays. They were clean, courteous, on time, and did great work. I couldn't be happier with the results! I highly recommend them for any size job!

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My wife and I were on Love It or List It in Raleigh and CQC was the contractor in charge of our home renovation.  The finished product was fantastic and very high quality, but in all honesty, that wasn?t what impressed me the most.  I was left feeling extremely comfortable and confident knowing that our house was being taken care of so well while we were essentially moved out.  Mike and his crew reached out to us at the very beginning of the project and provided us with his cell phone number letting us know he was personally there for us day or night if any issues came up.  The product behind the walls was just as high quality as the finished product that we get to enjoy each and every day.  There was a part of me that was very concerned that with the rushed timelines of the filming that the product quality would suffer but this was not the case at all.  They turned our fixer upper into a beautiful home, one that we will happily love for a long time!  Thanks CQC!

unknown

CQC was on time and on budget. I had them order and install a new
customer back door for my house. They showed up on time, did the necessary installation and replaced trim. They also did some very nice tile work to finish it off; it took two more days than initially quoted (seven versus five) but they communicated this would be the case and it was no problem. I will definitely call them again.

It took me a LONG time to find the right contractor for my project, but I?m so glad I found my way to CQC. Owners Ken Combs and
Michael Hayes and the entire CQC team have been incredibly professional, responsive and a joy to work with, and their craftsmanship and attention to detail has been absolutely outstanding. They made my vision of a new front porch and walkway a reality. 
In addition to doing big projects, CQC also has a small jobs/handyman division that works on an hourly rate. I definitely plan to use them to help with things large and small in the future.

unknown

The screened porch looks great and is performing wonderfully for us. It is exactly what we wanted. And the entire process--from the initial on-site consultation, to the design phase, to the construction phase, to the final walk-through--was handled by CQC with exceptional professionalism, excellent communication and follow-through, first-rate construction, use of good quality materials, and close attention to detail. Ken Combs and Michael Hayes were both a pleasure to work with. Even more important to the project was Teague Wagner, the lead carpenter on our project. Teague possesses first class carpentry and construction skills as well as excellent communication skills. Teague provided me with daily updates during the course of construction and promptly responded to my questions along the way. He and his crew never took a workday off from the first day of the project to its completion a month later. He skillfully handled all aspects of the on-site construction process, plus the project management work that is so important to a successful construction project, such as ordering materials, scheduling deliveries, and obtaining inspections approvals.

It could not have gone better. From the moment I spoke to CQC's office staff who gathered information regarding the scope of our project, to the completion of the design-build, every person representing the company was highly professional, competent, and exceptionally capable. They began the job as planned and staffed it everyday until complete. They went out of their way to please our every request with a willingness and eagerness that isn't seen very often. There is not a single thing I would have wanted them to do differently if I started over again. Additionally, I will use them for any home maintenance issue and/or any future remodel plans that we choose to do.
I cannot more highly recommend this company to anyone needing a top-rate construction company to modify or take care of their home.

We are very happy with the screen porch. We had some concerns about the door they installed but they resolved our concerns promptly. The minor repairs and painting went pretty well. The painters did leave some overspray on the patio that has not been resolved. The under deck drainage system is not satisfactory. There are multiple leaks, more than we can count. Only half the patio underneath the deck remains dry during and after rain. After an initial response that they would address the problems, we have not heard from them in several weeks. We could have wished for them to have kept the work area neater during the work but they did clean up completely at the end.

Ken Combs is a pleasure to work with. He worked within our rather tight timeline and completed all the work ahead of schedule while we were on vacation. The best part was Ken's responsiveness and professionalism. He was always ready to answer questions and sent us updates with photos while we were away. We're thrilled with the result. The new floors came out great. Our 100+ year old house had some tricky uneven spots that Ken's crew managed to smooth over. They also did a fantastic job patching and refinishing the original heart pine floor, a job that other flooring contractors we'd talked to balked at. We're also pleased with excellent tiling work in the guest bath remodel.

Unfortunately, we had a very poor experience with CQC and we hope others will heed our warning and elect not to hire CQC.
Poor craftsmanship, lack of attention to detail, and unpleasant interactions with CQC staff while trying to resolve problems were our major frustrations with CQC.
An example of poor craftsmanship was three custom glass cabinets doors; after two failed attempts for CQC to product the 'custom' cabinet doors we settled for solid doors. Our project start on February 17 and was suppose to last three weeks. By mid-April, 9 weeks later, it was very clear that CQC was not capable of completing our project to an acceptable standard. We final agreed forgo a number of outstanding punch list items and call the project done.
We can list example after example after example of why we would not recommend CQC. In my professional career I am commercial real estate developer; I've managed new construction and building renovations for approximately 350,000sf of space. I work with architects, engineers, and commercial general contract's on a daily basics. I unfortunately made a poor choice for a residential general contractor for my personal project and I hope my review will prevent you from making the same mistake.

I purchased a web deal for 3 hours of labor from Handyman Solutions, which I gather from the website (http://carolinahandyman.com), is the same company as this. I mentioned the deal when I called, per the voucher instructions. The
representative seemed very curt. She asked what kind of work I needed
done and I said I had a bunch of small jobs (tile, trim repair, drywall
repair) and without inquiring further as to how much work, she advised
someone would be here the following day at 10:30. I asked if it was
just for a quote or to actually do work and she said that with the
vouchers, they just show up to do work. I was skeptical since most jobs
are not precisely 3 hours and it would be difficult for them to do
scheduling without knowing how much potential over-run a given job might
have, but with them having availability the following day, I thought
maybe scheduling was not an issue. I was surprised she didn’t ask
whether or not I had materials.
About 45 min before arrival, a
worker (who I later deduced was the owner) called to get more details
and I described the jobs to which he responded it would be more than 3
hours and I acknowledged I was aware. He also advised that grouting
could not be done the same day and I advised I was aware and could
possibly do that myself. He said he would send someone over w/ a helper
and asked if I had somewhere for them to cut tile since it was raining
and he didn’t want them walking through my house wet. I suggested there
was a small overhang in front or they could work out back where there
is no protection but is direct entry to the kitchen where the tiling was
being done. Given that they seemed to be offering to re-schedule the
job due to rain, I was surprised they showed up 30 min late. I was also
surprised it was both the guy on the phone and the 2 workers he said he
was sending. Since the voucher was only for 3 hours and I had never
worked w/ this company before, I was trying to keep this first job
limited so I could judge quality before deciding whether to give them
the rest of my work, so 3 people seemed a bit of overkill, but I had
not explicitly stated my intentions to keep it limited. There was a lot
of standing around by the two helpers. Although, I now understand why
he came with them, because he seemed to be the most knowledgeable (at
least about tile). But even with his oversight, they still did a poor
job.
They didn't use spacers whey laying the tile, just eyed
it. I could understand if they were hesitant to use their own spacers
since I had not committed to them doing the grout work and thus would
lose the spacers if they did not return. Or perhaps they didn't have
spacers, however, they had to make a store run because I did not have
the mastic or drywall necessary to patch a hole in the backsplash and
they could have purchased the spacers then. Aside from the spacing,
they also didn't do a very good job to keeping the tiles level with each
other (i.e. some lay closer to the wall with a thinner coat of mastic
and others stick out further with a thicker coat of mastic). They also
did a poor job of edging, both on the floor and the backsplash. On the
floor, what should have been a L shaped cut to go around a corner ended
up being 2 pieces. And on the backsplash, they didn't follow the rule
of always placing the cut edge of the tile at the outside where it
would be hidden by caulk.
In addition to the hole in the wall that needed repair before tiling, the
counter installers had ripped the paper surface of the drywall above the
bar and I asked their opinion as to whether to patch or
tile over. The owner commented that they could patch and make it look smooth but paint
match would be difficult and agreed w/ my idea to tile. However, they
then caused a similar rip in the drywall at the end of the backsplash
where the refrigerator is. I can only assume it was an accident, but
they did not acknowledge it nor offer to repair. Perhaps this was
because it was approaching the end of the work day and there would not
have been time to patch and paint, but they should have at least
acknowledged it.
I showed them the trim repair I needed done and they indicated
replacement would mean damaging the wall which would need to be fixed
and then touching up the paint would likely be difficult so the whole
wall would need to be painted. They suggested it would be better to try
patching the trim. Similarly, they suggested epoxying and buffing a
deep cut in my cultured marble sink would not be worth the effort, that
it would likely be fine (not discolor) and if not, cultured marble is
cheap enough to replace. I appreciated this honesty since it meant they were missing out on a potentially more complex job.
Although the 3 of them were here for almost 6 hours, they only charged
me for 4 hours of labor over the 3 covered by the voucher. Given the
quality of the work, I think this was a fair price.

It was the best customer service I've ever experienced. The workers were very prompt, polite, well-mannered, and sufficient of their work. Nothing was damaged or out of place and when the workers were done they cleaned up all the old material and took it with them. If highly recommend this service to anyone looking to have work done to their home.

Went very well. They were here when they said they would be, cleaned-up afterwards.

Our project went smoothly and turned out better than expected. Ken and his crew were very courteous and professional. Ken has great communication skills and responded to all of our questions and concerns immediately. He also is very genuinely concerned about the quality of the work and your happiness. Basically, we had a very large closet on the basement level of our house. We also have a bedroom and a "man cave" down there so it made sense to have a bathroom down there too. Initially, I thought we'd just add a very small half bath but after speaking with Ken we decided to go ahead and add a full bath with a walk-in shower. The large closet was divided in half and a sump pump was installed on the other side of the bathroom wall in the closet, there is still plenty of room in closet. The bathroom floor was tiled and so were the shower walls, no fiberglass insert. It all seems to work very well and we are thrilled with the final result. I wish I could insert a picture. I should say also that the first contractor we talked to about this job quoted us $20,000, Ken did it for half that. We also had some rotten back stairs replaced that lead from our back door down to the yard. It's a large flight of stairs. Again, we were really surprised at the quality of the new stairs, they're very sturdy and much more attractive than what was there. Also, we had two old sets of sliding doors replaced. One was replaced with French doors. The new doors are a big improvement and the crew did an excellent job of making sure the new doors were installed correctly and the trim surrounding looks perfect. We will be calling Custom Quality Carpentry for all of our future needs. Seriously, we have done a lot to our house and I have dealt with a lot of contractors and this was the best experience yet!

We were so pleased with all that Custom Quality Carpentry was able to provide for us. He was able to answer all of our questions from the estimate to the proposal to the everyday work being done and he was always updating us with his schedule. He was in constant contact with us and we were never wondering what was happening next. His crew was very polite and were very helpful.
Kenneth came out to provide us with an initial estimate, and after a few questions and design details worked out. They got started. It took them about 2 weeks to finish the list. When they were finished, Kenneth personally came and walked through everything with us, and even did the few minor touch ups himself. He made the process very easy.

I even got a special surprise after work one day. We had chosen to sand and refinish our wood floors and stain them a little darker. But once our floors were completely sanded, stained with what I thought would have been a perfect color to our house, I changed my mind :) The color was just so dark, Kenneth agreed that my happiness was more important, although my husband didn't want to pay to have it done all over again. So as a surprise, Kenneth worked out a wonderful deal with my husband so that I was able to get the floors sanded again and back to the clear color for almost nothing! Kenneth and his crew were just so wonderful, positive, and skillful I am going to highly recommend Custom Quality Carpentry to everyone I can.

Custom quality carpentry did an AMAZING job for me in the quickest time possible. My husband and I were trying to buy a house and our appraiser had a huge list of demands. We called CQC because of a recommendation from a friend and the work was COMPLETED in one day. We had a huge honey-do list from the appraiser which included fixing leaks and flashing on the roof, installing new siding pieces, installing carpet inside the entire 2000 sq. ft. house, checking on the condition of the plumbing and electrical throughout the house,and installing many new light fixtures. The work was done very well, it stayed within our budget, and it was done so quickly we were able to move forward and finish purchasing the home. I will never have another job done on my house by anyone else. They were so friendly and professional. I have a kitchen and bathroom remodel/construction job required next, and they will be building those for me. I will write another review in a few months once I can get those jobs done.