Design Home Renovations (DHR)

It went very well!!! Dana ran this as a turnkey operation. I left many of the design details to her. This is a family business with Dana’s husband Rex leading the installation. Within minutes of returning to the MLS, I had a contract on the townhouse for full price. The agent had been checking in on the progress of the remodel and was impressed with the work being done. My real estate agent also checked in and was pleased. I could not be happier with what they accomplished in a short amount of time. Dana was a “godsend” to me.

During job very responsive using text and did what was need to complete the job to our satisfaction. A little slow on fixing things after they were done.

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We have used Design Home Renovations for several projects.  All of the work was started and completed with top quality materials and construction.  We are also already on their schedule  to have our kitchen remodeled and they are building us a new sunroom in March.    The process of selection was so easy with Dana's help.  She worked with us to keep our project on budget and was still able to capture all the looks we wanted!


They have always been neat and kept a clean construction site, along with having a friendly work crew.  We could not be happier and would like  to recommend Design Home Renovation for your home Remodel needs.

We wanted to recognize the exceptional renovation project that Design Home Renovations (DHR) recently completed on our home.  The project was a major renovation of our living space and kitchen.  The owners, Rex and Dana, worked with us every step of the way.  They were very flexible such that several changes to the design were accomplished mid-stream during the renovation.  We were particularly pleased with their suggestion to do a cathedral ceiling in the great room living space that made the finished product exceptional.  We
were happy with the way they coordinated many subcontractors, and also worked with Durham County inspections.  Overall, we are very happy with their work and timeliness, and plan two other projects with them in the near future.

It snowed right around the time the work was scheduled to begin. However, workers were here as soon as possible. Work was completed in two days. Floors look beautiful. Dana was very easy to work with.

Let me just begin by saying that Dana and Rex are very nice people, sweet and friendly as can be.  That being said, I would never use them again. 

 We first contacted them in the middle of Oct. about doing the work.  We explained what we wanted and the time line we wanted it done in.  The only thing we were very specific about was having the porch done by Christmas as this was a gift that we were giving each other and we wanted it done for the holidays.  They told us they would be able to have the whole job (porch, kitchen and bathroom) done by the first week in Dec.  My husband and I both questioned that, but they insisted it was doable. We gave them the 1st installment the 1st wk in Nov. Let's jump forward.... the 1st wk in Dec. came and went and they had barely started.  They blamed this on delays caused by the county inspectors and the availability due to the Thanksgiving holiday of the custom glass windows for the porch. Skip now to the week of Christmas....  we've got a gazillion workers in here, there's dust everywhere, the master bath is torn up and we're having kids back home for Christmas.  Shower tile was installed incorrectly and had to be torn out and they ran out of tile for the porch which was a special order that had to be reordered.  Needless to say Christmas came and went with nothing being finished.  It was a HUGE disappointment.

An additional snafu that was not their fault was the kitchen sink.  We had ordered a Kohler farmhouse sink through Amazon that arrived damaged beyond use and because of trying to deal with Amazon and the company that had supplied the sink we lost almost a month trying to get another sink.  When we asked Dana and Rex to locate another sink for us, that became another mess; eventually they just gave up and the job fell to my wonderful husband who found the exact sink we needed by making 1 phone call to a supply store in Raleigh. 

In the end we are at the 3rd week in Jan. and we're finally finished.  To be fair, the rooms turned out exactly as I had hoped and we're really happy with everything.  So to really sum up; DHR has terrible time management skills, they order the bare minimum of materials needed without considering possible damaged pieces or other contingencies (we had to wait for additional bathroom tile, porch tile and hardiplank for the exterior of the sunroom and bricks for the foundation) and their subcontractors aren't always careful about what they're doing (especially the tile people who do not speak any English, so trying to communicate with them was impossible without their supervisor being onsite, hence the bathroom mess). So that being said, if you don't have a firm deadline and you don't mind living in a mess and you're available to supervise the work everyday, go for it because the final product looks amazing.

I met Dana out at the Fairgrounds and asked her about laying a carpet in my bonus room and Bruce wood up my stairs and hallway.  She was very informative and said she would be happy to come to my home for an estimate. I had a couple other estimates under way as well. I have to say that I went back and forth with Dana and other carpet installers because I wanted something nice in my home but did not want to invest a lot of money. I don't plan on staying in this house forever and with selling in mind, I don't want upgrades that I won't get back in return. Dana was super friendly and listened to my requests and helped me pinpoint the exact flooring that suited my needs. I ended up choosing a very nice Berber carpet for my stairs, hallway and bonus room. We removed the carpets ourselves because my husband took down popcorn ceilings in the hallways and bonus room. Dana was very agreeable to waiting for this to complete this work before we had the carpets laid. My installation went very well if you compare my experience with previous contractor experiences (I don't have the best luck when it comes to work being done on my house). The install was delayed by one day; due to the carpet not arriving on time. The next day the installer was supposed to be at my house by 0900 but did not arrive until about 1100. The installer explained that the carpet was delivered to the wrong warehouse and he had spent much of the morning tracking it down. However once he started installing you could tell he knew what he was doing and the job went very quickly. He, alone, installed the carpet within 3-4 hours. I was extremely impressed. He did it systematically with very little mess. The padding was awesome and the finished product was exactly what I wanted. The color is perfect (which Dana helped me pick out) and it was all done so professionally. My kitchen is next and will definitely look to Design Home Renovations for what they can do for me in my kitchen.

DHR came to our house to discuss various alternative
designs, products, colors, and materials to allow us a range of looks and
prices. They revisited several times until we came up with a plan that met our
goals and budget. The existing flooring and kitchen were demolished quickly,
with no mishaps, and with no dust spreading outside the work area. They
completely cleaned the work area at the end of each day ? causing no
disruption. As one of us works from home, this was very important. 
The kitchen remodel required saving granite countertops;
there was no damage or repair required. New cabinets were designed, installed,
and adjusted for proper door and drawer operation and proper fit of new
appliances. The most modern drawer and cabinet hardware was installed ? better
that what we had ever seen in showrooms. They designed an enclosure to house
new, dimmable LED lighting fixtures over our kitchen island, giving us more
head room, a cleaner look, and excellent illumination for cooking and
entertaining. The instant-on LEDs have a longer life, do not give off heat, and
save on energy costs. They also utilized new, low cost LED ribbon lighting
technology for our china shelves.  
They completed all the work in about 3 weeks ? amazing!
On time, no surprises, no overruns, and no delays. Rex was always there working
on the job and supervising his crew, most of whom DHR has utilized for years,
and many of which are family related. The work was excellent ? they wouldn?t
leave until both we and they were happy with the work. I highly recommend them
and plan to use them for our future projects.

We are very, very pleased with the quality and workmanship.

REX AND DANA SHEARON HAVE DONE OTHER JOBS FOR ME: HARDWOOD FLOORS, VINYL ON SOME FLOORS, NEW WINDOWS
THROUGHOUT HOUSE, GRANITE KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS AND BACK SPLASHES. ALL OF WHICH WE ARE WELL PLEASED.
THEY HAVE ALSO BUILT THE HOUSES OF TWO OF MY SONS. THEY ARE THE ENVY OF THE NEIGHBOR HOOD.