1st In Home Improvements

The owner, Joe Ward, personally performed and oversaw all services alongside his team each day. He provided a fair and transparent estimate for the complete remodel, including a Tub-to-Shower conversion. With 35 years of experience, Joe inspired confidence in choosing him and his company for our project. His artistry and expertise were evident throughout the process, as he guided us in selecting options that resulted in a stunning and enduring design. Joe’s honesty and dedication shine through in his meticulous attention to detail, ensuring every aspect—from plumbing and electrical work to flooring and paint—meets his exacting standards without cutting any corners. He works exclusively with his trusted team, eliminating the need for unfamiliar contractors and maintaining consistency with the same crew each day, all led by Joe himself. Punctuality and communication were flawless, and his team treated our home with respect, thoroughly cleaning up at the end of each day. My trust in Joe is absolute, and I look forward to hiring him again for further updates to our over-100-year-old home. If I could, I’d gladly award him 1,000 stars! Thank you, Joe, for your exceptional work. We are in love with our bathroom and forever grateful we chose you!

This is the third time we’ve had Joe come to our house for various projects. He has redone almost the entire interior of our house, and we couldn’t be happier with his work. He’s always on time, he’s honest and efficient, his pricing is fair, he gives great advice if asked for, and most importantly, he does exceptional work. From plumbing and electrical, to drywall and painting (and everything in between), there’s nothing Joe can’t do - and he does it right. I have recommended him to several people. We are thrilled with everything he’s done for us!

Joe and his team did an awesome job! The team is "small but mighty". They went above and beyond and paid attention to the the smallest details. I highly recommend them if you need any home improvements.

Outstanding work! .The work is impeccable, and Joe will treat you right!

Joe Ward and his crew were amazing. Always on time, good natured and willing to answer every question I had. Our new master bath is beautiful and we love it. His workmanship was well done and meticulous. We will be calling Joe in the future for our home improvement and repair needs. Highly recommended!

We had hired Joe back in 2021 to remodel our bathrooms, and we were so pleased with his work, we hired him again to remodel our kitchen, dining room, and family room. These were connected areas of our home that were not functional due to a partial wall and outdated elements. Joe removed the wall, remodeled the kitchen, added lighting in the ceiling that didn't exist before, updated/corrected previous issues with the electric and plumbing, and added new flooring and paint. We couldn't be happier with how the space turned out! We've been wanting to get this done for a long time and we're so glad we hired Joe to do it! He and Stacey do exceptional work, and they are always friendly, honest, and extremely helpful in advocating for us and making suggestions regarding products to use. There's nothing Joe can't do and I will absolutely hire him again for a future project! We will forever recommend Joe to anyone we know!

Joe and his crew did a great job remodeling our bathroom. They were friendly and easy to work with. They showed up when they said they would and cleaned up after themselves every day. Their schedule was disrupted twice by damaged merchandise special-ordered from Home Depot, but they were very flexible and returned when the merchandise finally came back. Most importantly, they did quality work, with meticulous attention to every detail. I would, without hesitation, enthusiastically recommend 1st in Home Improvements to anyone looking to have remodeling work done.

Wonderful kitchen remodel 1st in Home Improvements did a great job on my complete kitchen remodel. Various updates had been made to the kitchen in our 1913 home but never with any planning or thought. It was definitely time for a total makeover. Although a fairly large room, approx. 280 sq. feet, with tall windows on two outside walls, an open stairway to the basement, hallway entering the middle of the space and a door to the dining room there wasn’t much wall space to place cabinets in a cohesive manner. There was space in the middle of the room for an 8 foot island. Efficient use of space dictated that we put the sink in the island and Joe accomplished this with no problems. One glitch we ran into during the construction process was the island turned out to be too close to the back wall cabinets and the space was very tight. Joe and his crew took the island apart and moved it a couple of inches into the room, away from the back cabinets, with minimal complaint. This seemingly small adjustment improved the workflow space and I was grateful for their effort. They built two pantry closets in space that was difficult to utilize. This greatly improved the storage in the kitchen, making it possible to store many needed items without a great deal of cabinetry. While in the process of initial planning and gathering cost information, Joe made the suggestion to put recessed lighting in the ceiling,which I wasn’t planning to do because I thought it would be too expensive. He pointed out that he would have to tear the ceiling up anyway so it wouldn’t add much to the cost. This turned out to be a great decision providing a lot of excellent lighting without being obtrusive. During construction, Joe asked many questions, making sure that they were proceeding according to my wishes. We ran into a problem while laying out the handmade tile backsplash with elongated diamond shaped tiles. The pattern that I had initially chosen had many straight lines, resulting in wavy lines everywhere that were too unnerving. Joe and his crew suggested an alternative way of laying out the tiles, which turned out to be an improvement on the original pattern and resulted in a great looking backsplash. The quality control turned out to be substandard on the custom cabinets I had ordered online. Although the company was willing to make replacements, getting them to do so in a timely manner was difficult. Joe did a great job of fixing them up in some cases, and making them look good. He even returned after finishing the job to put on a replacement cabinet door that arrived after the job was completed. Joe and his crew painted the kitchen and trim, laid a new LVT floor, installed large glass pendant fixtures over the island, in short did everything necessary to complete a gorgeous new kitchen. And did so while being pleasant to be around and tidying up the workspace everyday before leaving the jobsite. I highly recommend 1st in Home Improvements. They produced a beautiful kitchen and did so for a reasonable price.

They were and are absolutely wonderful. They really treat you like they would family. Always on time, did exactly what they said they were going to do and were accurate on how long the job would take. Helpful and kind and will only use them moving forward! Definitely recommend.

Very good work. I really appreciate their flexibility. I work long hours they were willing to make time for my project on a schedule that worked for me. Very kind and polite would definitely recommend for your project.

Excellent Service. Joe and team are the best ever. I will always consult Joe and the team for home repairs. Thank you for referring

Joe and his team recently completed an extensive remodeling project for us consisting of primarily the kitchen and re-flooring the entire house. We couldn’t be more pleased with the end result. With the advice and direction Joe and his team gave us on both design and functionality and their wonderful workmanship, I now have the prettiest, most efficient kitchen I have seen anywhere and it is a pleasure to use and show off to family and friends. Joe and the team are a pleasure to work with. They showed up on time every day and gave us more than our money’s worth. Joe is a perfectionist and pays attention to every detail. I feel Joe gave my home the same care he would give his own. He and the team were very considerate of our family and the interruption remodeling caused to our daily life. At the end of each day the team would clean up thoroughly. We would call on Joe without hesitation for future projects.

Joe is always my first call when I need work done to my house. I have hired him for many projects and after dealing with other contractors, he is the only one I trust to work on my house! I had a water pipe burst and needed my damaged shower torn out and replaced. Joe fit me into his schedule quickly and helped me keep my stress in check when dealing with water damage and an unplanned bathroom remodel. Joe and Stacy do excellent work and it shows that they really care about their customer's satisfaction with the finished product!

I hired Joe to replace damaged laminate flooring and fix the drywall/flooring in my utility room and could not be more pleased with the results. I've hired Joe for many projects throughout the years and he always delivers fantastic results. I've found that with working with Joe, he has your whole house in mind. While replacing the drywall in my utility room, he found 2 water leaks and fixed those as well. Finding and fixing those leaks saved me from further damage down the road! Other contractors I've worked with previously would have ignored those, causing me to have to redo the same work over again in the future. It's comforting to know that when hiring Joe, you are getting a contractor that cares about his customers and isn't just taking the fastest/easiest route to completing the job.

We use Joe and his team for all our construction/remodeling needs. He's very thorough and makes sure we are completely happy with the finished product. He is also the BEST drywaller out there.

Joe and his team were fantastic to partner with, fitting us in quickly and delivering with excellent service and quality of work. Extremely communicative, and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done well. They adapted on the fly to issues we had, and creatively came up with new ways to achieve much better results — and within budget. I really appreciate the flexibility and care for our home. An incredible experience.

We had Joe and his team completely remodel our master bathroom. When that was finished, he combined our existing half-bath and other full bath into one awesome new bathroom. This involved removing a closet, relocating plumbing and electrical, drywalling over old entryways, and installing all new everything. He installed a beautiful, large shower which is perfect for our tall family. It has become an oasis! We love everything about both our bathrooms and are so happy that we went with Joe! Joe and his team were always on time, responsive to every question or concern, cleaned up after themselves, and were honest and upfront with pricing. Joe does everything himself, so there's no sub-contracting. (I don't think there's anything Joe can't do!). He takes pride in doing things the right way, and it shows! What prompted us to do this project is that we had water damage behind walls and under the floor. It feels wonderful knowing that we'll never have to worry about those problems again. We are so pleased with the results that we are going to have Joe and team come back for additional projects. We would recommend him for any home improvement or remodeling project, no matter how large or small. Great people and top-notch work! We couldn't be happier!

FABULOUS!!! Joe Ward is truly the MASTER of ALL trades!!! He can do plumbing, electrical, carpentry, tilework and has a great sense of aesthetics! Stacy and Tosha are two of the hardest working women I have ever met! Stacy does fantastic tile and paint! We have already planned more work for Joe and his crew. Job was done, as promised, in the timeframe stated. House was left CLEANER than when they started! Joe is very knowledgeable, courteous and willing to impart helpful information! YES, we would recommend and re-hire 1st In Home Improvements and Joe Ward!

I have hired Joe for multiple projects around my house and will continue to call him whenever I need help! He is always very responsive and helpful with ideas on how to make updates that look good and are functional for my needs. On this project, he removed and repaired my soffit that another company installed incorrectly 5 years ago. My soffit was sagging and coming loose in multiple places. Joe removed it, reinforced it and put everything back together the way it should have been done originally. I know I can always count on Joe when my house needs work!

Joe and his team did an excellent job! We asked to have the walls patched, repaired, and painted. He also removed the baseboards to prepare for the flooring installation. Joe was VERY responsive via email and cell phone. He was competitively priced and very reasonable and completed the job on time. They kept us up to date on the progress with photos since we were out of state. We selected the paint color and he was able to pick it up prior to the job. They did a great job. I would highly recommend them if you are looking to support local businesses.

Excellent work! I had a utility room that was really outdated and was a remnant of the house's kitchen from a bygone era. I got four quotes, but chose Joe because of his reviews here on Angie's List and his personality and professionalism. Joe installed a wall, creating a pantry which was desperately needed. He and Stacy also installed a new floor, painted and installed trim, shelving, transitions, wiring/switches/outlets, everything that was needed to totally remodel the utility room and create an awesome walk-in pantry. I highly recommend Joe. Note his rates are labor only, so be sure to estimate cost of materials as well. His rates were higher than other contractors, but when comparing apples to apples, and knowing sometimes you get what you pay for, I chose to spend the extra $ with Joe, and don't regret it a bit.

Joe and his team did a great job. The leaking fireplace issue was resolved and new roofing installed.

Joe showed up on time and kept me informed on the progress. He removed all items in the laundry room water heater, water softener, washer & dryer. Joe installed new flooring, new water heater, replaced the water softener and washer and dryer. He also painted the walls and ceiling. Great job!

Mr Ward was professional and knowledgeable !!! He has completed multiple jobs for us. He is our go to for all the work we have done. Would not hire anyone else!!! Highly recommend 1st in Home!!!!

Great, Joe and his crew did a fantastic job