Bowman Walker Construction

We had an architect (Halliday Architects) draw up plans for the changes. Presented the drawings to 3 construction firms in November 2015. Bowman Walker responded by the middle of December after coming to the house to look and measure and ask us questions. None of the others contacted us or the architect. We waited for the other estimates until the end of January, then we chose Bowman Walker. We modified the contract a few times and then they submitted a building permit request to Cape May. The permit finally came through in the end of April 2016! They began excavating for the new foundation. Unfortunately, the hole kept filling with water as they dug. They brought in a special pump to drain the water and then put in the special pilings (they screw into the ground; no pounding). Then everything started moving fast. After the foundation, the framing, the rough in for plumbing and electrical, then sheet rock. After that it is a blur?so much activity every day. Subs who didn?t interfere with each other?s ?work came in together; did their thing and left. If we questioned anything either Lance or David came right over to discuss question or problem. They were very reachable and attentive throughout the project. And as an aside, their design skills are very good. At the finish, there were very few items on a punch list and most because I forgot or changed my mind about something. The quality and perfectionism of the subs was top-of-the-line

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The work performed to date was excellent.   It was important for us to make the many updates (esp adding a 2nd bathroom on each floor), but retain the rustic beach house character and feel of the house, as it has been in our family for many years.  BW did this exceptionally well with the work performed and their suggestions during the project.  The work was contracted to be done in the spring, with some follow on work to be done in the fall after the rental season.  Lance Bowman is one of the BW owners and personally led our work.   He is smart, creative, experienced, honest, hard working, and focused on us being happy with his work.   We were lucky to have him.

Not living in Stone Harbor full time, we were concerned about doing this extensive remodel from afar.  BW was use to dealing with this situation.  They communicated frequently and effectively with us via phone, email, and pictures of progress.  In a project of this size, you are going to have issues at times.  Ours were minimal and well below what I might have thought.  If we had any issues, they listened and solved them fairly.  

We have received many unsolicited rave reviews and positive comments from neighbors and people we meet regarding how nice the house looks and how impressed they are with the work performed.   Our leasing agent, Diller & Fisher, have told us they are getting great comments from our tenants on our 89th street house update.

The post work "punch list" has been minor and BW has worked well with us to get these completed at a mutually agreed time. 

This was a competitive bid process, so I am not sharing their bid for the service online.   Their price was very fair and they did not tack on overhead for work we requested beyond the original scope of work contracted.   I never felt "nickeled and dimed".  They had great ideas and worked with us on options for lower cost add-ons, and in some cases talked us out of the add-ons altogether.  Their opinions and advice were sound.  It was a key reason we hired them, as their creativity, knowledge, and honesty was apparent during the proposal process.  BW was very professional and continually got across that their goal was for us to be satisfied and happy customers.    We could not be happier with our selection of BW as our construction firm and would never consider another firm besides BW after this experience.   They do high quality work at a fair price.  Lance Bowman and David Walker are good people who made us feel our success on the project was their 1st priority.   These guys are first class and I cannot imaging using anyone else in the future.