The Garage Gurus

Really happy with estimate but it was a little hard to coordinate for initial visit. Everything we wanted done was included in the estimate and we were able to understand and see a few options for the work. Work started in a timely manner and progressed well throughout the project which ultimately took a little less time than estimated. Very happy with the quality of the work but a few elements took a few tries since we were renovating an existing garage, not building new. Only complaint with work was on the communication side where we expected more proactive regular updates from the main contact...it was hard for us to keep with the different subs and their schedules. Value was good and sequence of payments very reasonable (3 installments). Permits included.

These guys did a great job. They demoed the old building and built a new garage and drive. I ask for and was given multiple revisions to the quote before signing on with the project while working out all the details i wanted and Shawn was great about getting back to me with the updates. Pricing was very reasonable. Construction went as scheduled and I am happy with the results. Note that Shawn can be a bit difficult to reach by phone, usually because he was busy wielding a shovel or excavator, but answers emails regularly.

Please do not hire this company, The Garage Gurus, or contract work from Shawn McNeil until our work is completed. This company was recommended to us by the architect who drew the plans for our work. However, we are not happy with them. It is June 6, 2019. The garage is finished though we had to finish off the electrical ourselves since no one came back to connect the garage door opener. The concrete slab behind the garage has not been poured, the front porch finish work is not completed. The workmen left holes in the siding and framing throughout the winter (see photo) and just completed the framing and most of the vinyl work in May 2018 only because we called and emailed and texted Shawn McNeil, the contractor, to remind him that the work was not finished. After most of the porch work was done, the contractor, Shawn McNeil, claimed the downspouts couldn't be installed on the porch and garage until the trim was painted, but he couldn't find a painter. On May 12, we told McNeil that, in order to expedite this project, the painter would only need to paint the fascia trim where the downspouts and gutters go, and we would paint the all other trim around windows, doors, and porch ceiling. McNeil told us he would have a part-time painter at the house at 6 AM on the 23rd of May, and we were to leave the paint on the porch for him. The painter didn't show. We called the contractor to inform him that no one came to paint that morning. The contractor told us the painter would be there that evening after his real job, but the painter didn't show. The painter claimed he had stopped by but couldn't find the paint; however, we were working outside until 7:45 PM and no one came to paint by that time. Disgusted, my 71-year-old husband and I painted all the trim ourselves and on May 28th we told McNeil the fascia trim was painted and we were ready for the downspouts and gutters. McNeil and an assistant showed up Wednesday the 29th and installed the storm sewer tie-in. Around this time, McNeil said he planned on having everything completed in two weeks, by June 7th. By June 3rd, nothing else had been done: still no downspouts and gutters had been installed, no concrete pad had been poured, and the finish work on the porch had not been completed. We emailed asking if he still planned on having the project completed by June 7th. He replied that he would talk to the concrete guys about having the prep work completed on Wednesday, June 5th and possibly pouring the concrete pad on June 6th. On Thursday, June 6th at 8:44 AM, with no rain in sight, we emailed McNeil asking if anyone would be here to work on the concrete pad or gutters. He responded that the concrete pour has to be put off until next week, the week of June 10th, but he "plans" on being here tomorrow, Friday June 7th, to move the fence and shed for the concrete pad, and the gutters are to be installed the 7th also.. The gutters were installed June 7th and the shed was moved that day to make room for the concrete slab. However, the forming for the concrete pad was not put in until we rented a post puller and removed the fence posts ourselves after McNeil's assistant tried to remove them with a shovel, a bottle jack and a chain with no success. The concrete slab forming was done on June 12th but the concrete has not been poured. Today, June 21st, is bright and sunny. When asked if he would be pouring the concrete today, McNeil replied, "Sorry, not today. I had it set up for earlier this week, but it rained. I've got it set up again for next week, so I'll get this thing knocked out for you quickly." From the beginning of this project, calls and texts to McNeil have been met with many and varied excuses: His men left him for another company, he is swamped with work, his men are working inside since the weather is bad, his men are on another job and are almost finished (!), his men will be here the week of May 6th 2019 (they were not), we are next in line, and on and on and on. We have been overly patient with McNeil's excuses for not completing our contracted work. Columbus, Ohio has had many sunny good weather days since this project began in August 2018 that could have been used to work on our project. Unfortunately, we believe that completing other jobs has taken precedence over ours.

They did a great job. The quality of work was outstanding. The construction was done well, on time and professional. They matched the exterior to our existing home. Thwy also poured a new garage concrete floor which was done very well. My only complaint was interior trim around a new window and door into our house that was installed was not part of the agreement, unknown to us at the time.

I was relatively satisfied with all the work they did up until they put the siding on. Vinyl siding & aluminum trim, they are not that good with those materials. I would use them again however I would not pay them for the siding.

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I had a rusty fence line and space in the back of my property at the adjoining road. Garage Gurus came, surveyed the area and constructed a 2.5 car garage taking into consideration the specific needs of my property and what I wanted as a customer. There were a lot of choices to make, but they took care of all the small details. It was approximately 3 weeks from ground breaking to completion, and I've never felt so happy about spending that kind of money on anything. The garage is everything I'd hoped for, and it was exactly what they'd promised to do. They were very professional, very thorough. 
They took out the garbage fence, left all the space I needed. Inside the finished garage were the plans used, the manual for the garage door opener. The interior was "unfinished" (lacked drywall covering to the walls) but that just makes it easier to hang shelves without hunting for the studs. The concrete pad is tip-top, and I haven't had to park in the snow for 2 years now. That alone has been worth the money.

The McNeil brothers (aka, the Garage Gurus), Shawn and Cameron, were wonderful to work with!  We knew we needed to fix the rack in the garage before it became a safety issue, but we weren't sure we could afford to build the studio space.  We know very little about construction and Shawn patiently took the time to explain concrete foundation choices, ceiling joists, load support, etc. when he came out in August to provide us with an estimate for the work.  He allowed us to do some of the work ourselves, e.g., painting, tree removal, so we could make the job price match our budget. After we agreed on price and design, Garage Gurus began work in November.  We have found, with the age of our house, that there are often "surprises" encountered during renovation.  This brings up one of the Garage Gurus greatest strengths: the communication regarding these "surprises" and other issues needing resolution was timely, succinct, and very clear.  Because of this communication, we added some additional sub-roof repair and decided to re-roof and put new gutters on so that everything is sound and the garage and studio visually match one another.  Another big strength was their attention to detail - there were several tasks that required some "fussy" retrofitting to the existing structure and Cameron put in the time to make the appearance of our garage look professional and consistent with the original design.  We signed the contract in Sept. 2014 and the guys finished up in January 2015.  They went above and beyond the call of duty cleaning up the site before they left.  Overall we were extremely happy with the work and enjoyed our interaction with these two very nice guys.

We had a huge three-car carport, two sets of concrete steps and a large garden shed demolished to build a large, covered back porch connected to a two-story garage.  Shawn walked us through the design of the project and then getting the variances neede.  He presented it to the zoning board, and it was approved.  
     The porch was begun in June and done first at our request so we could enjoy it for some of the summer.  (The whole project took longer than anticipated, but considering the scope of the work and the custom details involved, looking back on it, it's not surprising that it took several months total.)  Shawn was responsive to our concerns and questions, and his workers were skilled and conscientious with their jobs, and we are very happy with the result and would recommend this company for similar projects.
Our neighbors are amazed and call it the Garage Mahal!

Shawn was great to work with - we wanted a garage that complimented the exterior of our house. He did a great job helping to design it, choosing appropriate materials, and getting the work done. We paid our deposit in October - but due to needing a variance for height and the coldest winter on record, no work was started until April. It took about 8 weeks in all. The excavating and framing went up quickly. The slowest part was installation of the shingles - we wanted something to match the house, and the shingles were slow to put up. The two men who hung the shingles did good work - but they were not as present as some of the other workers. I think this added to the time. Once that was done, it came together quickly. Shawn and Cameron were responsive to any questions or issues. We did choose our own electrician to help run the line to the house. We chose a few upgrades (garage door, bigger opener) that added to our cost, but feel that their cost was reasonable considering the other estimates we received. We think they did a great job, overall. The quality of construction is excellent. It looks beautiful too!

It went extremely well with Shawn keeping me abreast of all issues as the garage was constructed.  We had a problem with two pipes being broken while digging for the footers.  Shawn replaced the piping for both lines and everything, as of this date, is working fine.

I can give them an A+. They did it so efficiently. They were just excellent about it. I am very happy with the work that they did. They have a fair price, did a good job and good people. There price is competitive.

Shawn and his team did a great job working with the quirks found in an older neighborhood that has architectural review requirements and lots of surprises in the 100 year old property. They honored my design requirements while making the garage very functional and attractive. I was so happy with them that I also hired the to build a fence around my property. I love the results and highly recommend them to anyone.

Contractor did fair and timely work considering weather challenges. Contractor communicated regularly. Needed Contract addons were not included in bid  but were priced OK. Contractor probably could have supervised subcontractors a little more closely; electrician had difficulty locating inground electric line as foundation subcontractor buried line I had marked for them.

Workers were capable and fast, knowledgeable, completed the work promptly.

This was by no means a simple project, but Shawn did a great job navigating through it.  We ended up having to move the garage into the back yard due to a city easement, but even though it made the project more expensive, it turned out better than the original plans.  Once Shawn and his crews started work on the project, the process was relatively quick.  All of his subs were easy to work with, and completed everything in a workmanlike manner.  Greg was in charge of excavating the footers and doing the concrete driveway, and he did a great job.  Cam was in charge of framing the garage, as well as closing down the old garage per city specifications, and doing the gate.  Everything went very well, and besides the uncontrollable weather delays, things went relatively according to plan.  Shawn was very responsive if I had a question or wanted to change something, and was good about giving me updates if there would be a delay.  All told, I am very happy with the job, and I would definitely use Shawn and his crews again.

My experience with the Garage Gurus (GG) can be split into two areas: Shawn McNeil (owner) and the framing crews.
Shawn: I ended the business relationship when I caught him lying to me. The GG insisted on changing a 2x8 eave girt to a 2x6 to avoid notching around other boards. This eventually caused roof steel to intersect with the wall panels. Shawn insisted that I pay for the cutting of the roof steel and claimed that he didn't know that the 2x8 was the designed eave girt. We had discussed this correction ( the blue prints showed two different eave girt designs on different pages, but the materiel take off only supported the 2x8) so he was depending on my not finding an email confirming this correction. Unfortunately for Shawn, he had told the crew to use 2x8s anyhow since the plans called for that and to simply rip the 2x8 into a 2x6 (yes, he actually told them to do that....). The crew told me of this and when I confronted Shawn with that foolishness and that he obviously knew he moved on to other attempts to get me to pay additional money. Once I knew Shawn lacked integrity, I fired the GGs.
As a general contractor and supervisor for the project, Shawn was completely absent. The plan called for galvanized nails and if I hadn't checked every day, that would have been the exception. The crews were still sneaking non-galvanized nails in until I fired the GGs.... AT one point, the framing crew claimed that the design was causing them to not be able to get the facia to meet from one corner to the other. I listened to Shawn complain and had to read a multi-paragraph tirade from him. When we met to review the problem, I had to show them that they hadn't squared the posts at the eaves which was throwing off the line. I was embarrassed for them!
When Shawn bid on the project he walked the building site, saw the posts which were already in, and had the plans & materiel take off for a week to make his bid. What I learned was that he had simply given the prints to a framing crew who told him how much it would cost. So, when the crew made mistakes, Shawn was completely unable to help beyond complaining. Simple and clear aspects of the plans were a surprise to him. The three minor errors on the blue prints completely threw him and even when the designer corrected the errors Shawn would want to focus on them.
The first framing crew (M & M - see review) made changes to the barn that required significant structural corrections, I fired that crew. As I am working on the barn in the evenings myself, I am finding many problems from the second crew also.

The Garage Gurus were terrific. Shawn came out and surveyed the property to find the details of the garage I wanted. Even though I was a little wishy-washy on the size I wanted, he provided me with two quotes so I could evaluate what I wanted with what I could afford. As it turned out, with a little saving I was able to afford the larger garage which was very reasonable. I met with Shawn a few times before construction actually began, and there were some miscommunications that turned out to be entirely my fault, but they cleared the existing fence, leveled the area and laid the foundation in the first few days. We spoke on the phone throughout the process to finalize building materials and to keep me abreast of the timing of everything, but in 4 weeks I had a brand new 2.5 car garage. My only surprise with it was that the inside wasn't finished with dry-wall, but when after-the-fact that made sense to me because it was never specified in the original quote. 
Overall, I'm absolutely over the moon with the speed and quality of service provided by the Garage Gurus. I've spent the last several months out in my garage on project after project, and my family still remarks to me occasionally how great the garage is. I would absolutely use their services again (in fact I've already received a fence quote that I'm saving up for).

In 24 years, I had never used my garage for a car, because of the family's junk in there.  And, it could not be secured because of a
missing section.  The doors were old, heavy barn doors that barely moved on an old track (that had become the home of a nest of squirrels.) 
I am pleased with the work Sean and his brother performed.  I was told it would take one week to begin the project and (3) days to complete it.  As it was mid January and the weather was uncooperative, the project took longer than the promised (3) days.  However, I feel that taking the bad weather conditions into account, that the project was completed in a satisfactory time frame.  During the process, Sean was very good about communicating with me and I was happy about that.  Midway during the job, I asked if they could repair a small section that had not been originally discussed and they did that, as well.   Sean took the time in the final walk through to explain in detail what they did, and also, the mechanics of the door and opener.
A (hoped for) effect of this repair was that the squirrels have vacated. 
I would use Garage Gurus again,  I felt that I was treated respectfully and they delivered on their work.  I have a secure garage and plan to use it.

The Garage Gurus did a great job and kept me very informed throughout the repair of my garage and of any additional findings,
questions or concerns. Great communication! I would refer them to any of my neighbors and friends.
Thank You Shawn, Cameron and team!

Shawn and his team did a great job building the garage. I appreciated their versatility in dealing with our old, strange, two-level, fire-damaged garage. They were able to salvage a portion of the garage and the whole foundation, saving a lot of money. The final result looks great, and we are getting a lot more use out of the garage.
My only minor complaint was the sensors for our existing garage door opener were lost in the demolition process, so I had to buy a new opener. Not really a big deal, the opener was on its last legs in any case.

I Contracted with Garage Gurus to build a two car garage in a historic neighborhood. I received two additional estimates for the garage from other companies. Garage Gurus was not the low bidder, but close enough that the price difference was not a factor.
I was willing to pay a little more simply because I felt more comfortable with Shawn. The job started close the promised date.
 All  work was done by subcontractors-all were professional and communicated well. I added additional work after the contract was signed and I felt that Shawn was very fair in regards to pricing. Overall, a very good experience.

I got them from Angie’s List, and everybody else gave them an A and that is why I used them, and they were right.  They did an excellent job.  They were on time, professional, cleaned up, and did everything I asked them to do.  They did the work as I expected them to do.  I got what I paid for.  It took them about three to four weeks to complete the work.  It was two-and-a-half car garage; detached garage, concrete floor, fully insulated garage door with first-class garage opener, a window and a door other than the garage door and exit door.  It was 22’ x 26’ in dimension.  They were great to work with.  The owner is the one, who came out and gave me the estimate, and he is a contractor, so I may use them again if I have to put new windows in my house and things like that.

We had 4 contractors (all highly rated on Angie's List) come out to bid on the project.  Two of them said they could rehab the structure.  One said it wasn't possible and I would have to tear down and rebuild from scratch.  The last one never got back to me.  Of the two that said they could rehab the garage, The Garage Gurus quote was substantially less than the other bid.  In addition Shawn of The Garage Gurus was extremely knowledgeable and really listened to what I was trying to do with the garage.  He did not try to oversell me, but kept my budget in mind.  He had ideas on how to do a lot of what I wanted to do, when other contractors didn't seem to have the same depth of knowledge about garages.  Shawn provided a quote within a week or so.  We were under tight time constraints, and because of the time of the year, he was able to start the job within about a week or two of getting him the deposit.  His team worked fast and the bulk of the work was done in about 3 weeks (in the middle of winter.)  There were some smaller items that needed to wait until I had the garage painted.

Throughout the project, Shawn was available to answer questions.  Even after the quote was signed, I wanted to make a small change, which was not a problem.  The workers were friendly.  Shawn was responsive to my concerns as the project progressed.  The quality of the work was very high.

We are very happy with our new garage.  What used to be a large, very wet shed, is now a garage that can fit 1 car, all of our outdoor equipment, and retained the 1920's look and feel.  We feel we got more than our money's worth, and would work with Shawn again in the future.