CRAFTSMAN DESIGN & RENOVATION LLC

Craftsman's beautiful design aesthetic and masterful workmanship perfectly complement the fair, honest, and transparent manner in which they conduct their business. This is an exceptionally well run firm with superb leadership and a well culled team of supremely talented and competent employees. After we had procrastinated for many years, a flood finally forced us to renovate our 1930s home, including the entire basement, the kitchen and a powder bathroom. A designer we consulted recommended Craftsman Design and Renovation, and we are very thankful that she did. Our first contact was with the owner/designer Wade, who we immediately liked and appreciated for his upfront, eye-to-eye manner. He was thoughtful and frank about costs, shared our love of old homes, listened intently, and immediately grasped our vision for the renovation. We contracted for his services on the spot and have had no regrets whatsoever. The plans that were drafted up after that first meeting incorporated all of our wishes yet took the design to a higher level than we had ever imagined. Because Wade and his group were so knowledgeable and meticulous, the project proceeded on time and stayed very close to the original budget, exactly what we had hoped for from a design-build firm. We encountered almost no surprises, and any minor glitches that occurred were handled in the most fair, ethical and professional way, always to our advantage. The Craftsman employees who worked on our project were equally and uniformly fantastic, from demolition to punch list. Not only was our brilliant lead carpenter (Kevin) on site every day, but we had wonderfully capable specialists at Craftsman working on all aspects of the project, including the plans and scope of work (Bill), the production and payment schedules (Suzanne), demolition (Liz), and finishing touches (Courtney). Never once was I concerned about handing my house key over to this group. They treated our home with care and respect, treated us like cherished clients and, perhaps most tellingly, became best friends with our dog. We will hire Craftsman Design and Renovation again and again, and we strongly recommend them to others, with no reservations. We could not have been any happier with the renovation process and are absolutely in love with the results. Indeed, walking into our kitchen still gives me goosebumps--in a very good way.

Wade was friendly and responsive, and we seemed to be on the same page throughout most of the process. When Wade first came out he complimented the architecture of my home and assured me any work CDR would to on my home would match the character of the existing home....I was sold! So I plunked down a $2500 retainer to initiate the building design process. During one of his initial visits, Wade estimated the final construction cost for the addition to be $130-200K. During the design process, Wade warned me that my design change requests were increasing the construction cost close to, and maybe a little above the $200K mark...for which I was fine with. Changes to the design also incurred more design cost, which cost me $1500+ extra. Toward the very end of the design process, I had invested $4000+ in CDR to provide a design that they in turn would use to construct the addition. I had also been working on securing a bank loan for which I was pre-approved for. Throughout the process, Wade would mention that "we won't know the final cost until we're done with the design", which made me a bit weary to hear. When the design was complete, Wade sent me the final PDF design and PDF cost estimate. In his email message he essentially said that "sorry to say, but the cost to build your addition is significantly more than you wanted to spend". The final cost estimate: $350-400K!!!! I met and argued with Wade over the situation, he insisted he couldn't help me. I was able to waive about $800 of the outstanding design fees, but I was taken for about $3200 in design fees paid to CDR. These are designs that are copyrighted for CDR use only. Wade mentioned I could take them to any contractor to use, but every contractor I've talked to will not use the unless they have written approval from CDR. I respectfully requested approval from Wade via email, and I have yet to hear a response. It is my belief that Wade knew what he was doing to me all along. Be very weary!! I strongly do not recommend this company!!

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WE LOVE THE OUTCOME. Very professional and competent subcontractors, from demolition to plumbers to electricians to painters to floor refinishers to tile installers. HOWEVER. Billing is complicated and not transparent. There are "statements" and there are "invoices." Confusing. Be prepared to pay more than contracted. There were large charges around design that exceeded contract. Nail down what "design" means. We failed to do so. Would use this provider again if their contract & billing process improves.

Craftsman Design and Renovation is an exceptional company with a strong commitment to quality, aesthetic and communication. It's been over 2 years since the work was completed and we love our space and our respect for the company has only grown.
Their design process was exceptional. I was what you might call a and quot;highly involved clientand quot; and I think we did near 30 re-draws and several joint visits to tile, appliance and other supply companies. Any time I contacted them with thoughts, ideas, input, the response was and quot;we'll keep working on it until you think it's perfectand quot;. We did! They were also very welcoming of my desire to keep anything that was still functional, like our appliances, even if it was a bit more work figuring out how to work them in.
The construction process is never easy, especially a family of 4 living without a kitchen for a few months. CDR was the first to tell us that speed is not their speciality. They work with great subs and give them room not to be on top of one another. That was hard and the finish date was extended a few times. But having seen many other people's construction sites, CDR's commitment to cleanliness, communications, quality and details was exemplary. I had a couple of freak-outs during the process, one in particular where my single slab fireplace mantle was finished by the outside company in a way I didn't like. Andy from CDR stayed calm and cool, and worked with them for an awesome solution when I thought there wasn't one. It's one of the coolest features of the space.
Towards the end of our remodel we had a significant tragedy happen in our personal life that made things even more stressful so we kind of dropped out of communication. I did want fireplace wall built-ins that were handcrafted but was convinced by CDR to do custom manufactured, and in the end I would have preferred handcrafted with all it's imperfections. I think they are used to clients who want perfect and things like adjustable shelves instead of fixed shelves. I get it, but based on their marketing I thought handcrafted would have been their first choice. Those built-ins are probably the only thing I would do differently, but everyone who comes to our home loves what we have. At the time, with all life's stresses piling up I freaked out about that and again they stayed super professional and responsive, which I really respect. Again the response was always, and quot;We want you to love itand quot; and they really meant it.
I recommend CDR highly.

We hired Craftsman Design and Renovation (CDR) to work on our 1910 Foursquare home in Portland, OR. We recently completed the first stage of a plan for several stages in renovating our old house. We did a complete kitchen renovation which included an additional with extensive new foundation work to support this and connect to our basement, and making a powder bathroom. Also a part of this is modernization of almost all the house's plumbing, major new electrical modernization as well as preparation of future plumbing, electric, and heating for future upstairs renovation as a future phase. So it was a complex project that CDR helped us plan for and break into financially-manageable phases.

We chose CDR after an extensive research process. We considered other design-build firms, as well as architects and separate general contractors. For the people we considered closely, we visited former and/or active job sites and spoke with several former/current clients of each company. In the end, for us the choice was easy: Every reference we spoke to about CDR was highly positive and would chose them again (and many already had them do additional projects). They gave the most detailed and transparent information about costs and pricing and what to expect. Their work was beautiful--their renovations of period houses blends perfectly in style and execution with the original style. And perhaps most importantly, we truly felt that we could trust Wade (the owner) in all aspects of the process. I can't emphasise that trust enough--committing to a huge renovation is big risk and committment. I felt Wade and CDR were trustworthy from the beginning, and our experience through this project has only reinforced that belief!

The design process was deliberate, higly detailed, and thorough. We thought it was fun, too. Wade and the design team were interested, listened, and were fun to meet with. They did a terrific job of designing for us the kitchen we wanted.
Our project was expensive. It was definitely a high-end project, and there was a lot of things that contributed to cost above just a kitchen renovation and addition, particularly the extensive foundation work, plumbing and electrical, etc. No doubt we could have found someone do to a renovation for less money, but I feel like we got excellent quality materials and work. I think you definitely get what you pay for,and I think we got great value for what we paid for. I never felt like making a profit was the only concern for CDR and I NEVER felt like someone was trying to take advantage of us. Quite the contrary--I always felt that quality and making us happy clients were the first concerns.

The build process went smoothly, and the routine and happenings were well communicated. All CDR carpenters were friendly, respectful, and interesting people who obviously cared a lot about doing quality, careful work. I learned something from each of them . Many of the subcontractors had been long-time CDR associates and they worked well together.

They were very patient and accommodating with our desire to do some demolition and painting work ourselves. The only minor glitches in the whole project wouldn't have happened if it were not for this request by us, but Wade always addressed any concern in a way MUCH more than fair to us. (In the future, I wouldn't choose to try to do this work ourselves, but not because of any problem we had with CDR.)

The look and quality of the finished work is excellent and we are extremely happy with the results. My biggest concern prior to starting renovation was that our renovation would look dated in a few years. From the beginning of the process, Wade and CDR soothed my fears of this. Now that its finished, I think it blends in well with our 1910 house and will look great for many years to come. We feel the work has greatly improved the function and appearance of our home in a way that blends old and new quite well.

The bottom line is that we have recommended Craftsman Design without reservation to friends and neighbors. Owners of two other homes on our block (that I know of) have since chosen CDR for their renovations. We plan to hire them again for projects in the future. We trust them for their integrity and excellent work.

It really hard to write this review. We are delighted with the job that CDR did, but we wish that we could have had the advantage of really knowing what to expect up front. First off, we spent WAY too much money on this remodel. It's not their fault; it's ours. That $403K didn't include everything. We also spent $10K on paint stripping (that part was totally worth it); $17K for appliances, $6K+ for light fixtures, $2.5K for a copper hood, $14K for the roof, $1K for the gutters plus a thousand here and there for various hardware bits. When you're in the thick of a project, it's just SO HARD to say no. Unfortunately, every time something came up, it was too easy to say, and quot;sure, let's just take care of this now.and quot; And there were some additions that we just couldn't refuse, like resurfacing the plaster.

Overall, we are *ecstatic* with the job CDR did on our house. They met our objectives to remodel our historic house and install an interior, with some modern compromises (like a dishwasher), that looked like it could have been there back in 1912 when the house was built. I really only have a few small gripes and it seems mean to spring them here in this review, but I wish somebody else had done it for me....

The first gripe is we felt pressured to sign the contract before all the details of the job were set. They were, understandably, trying to get their calendar scheduled and a job of this size would definitely impact their workload. However, be forewarned, once you sign that contract, your markup rises from 25% to 35%. So, I would recommend you figure out any big ticket items, like extensive tile work or siding materials, before you sign on the dotted line. I'm sure that mistake cost us dear...

Second, if you care about all the details--you have ask about all those little details. We have quite a few examples for this recommendation. For instance, I'm disappointed with the new doors they installed because they don't match anything else in the house. But nobody ever asked us what style doors we wanted. They never showed us a catalog, never suggested we find something we like. One day the doors just showed up and were installed. Sure, they work, but I believe since we were so obviously interested in nearly all the details, they could have taken a few minutes to ask us what we would like. Now I feel like I want to replace these brand new doors because I don't like them... Also, I was disappointed about them installing dirty brass all over the house on new doors and windows. Every selection we made for lighting or hardware was polished or unlacquered brass, yet everything they ordered was and quot;antiquedand quot; brass; it just looks dirty to me. Last (for this review), I'm unhappy about the ugly plastic thermostat box installed in the living room; it looks so modern and clashes with the historic look we were going for. Had I known that thing was going to be installed, I would have inquired about moving it to a less visible location. I guess I should have known there would be a thermostat control installed somewhere, I just never thought to ask.

Out of such a huge project, it would be surprising not to have at least a few gripes, I think. We love the project they did for us and we would hire them again, if we had a HUGE pile of money. They do quality work and Wade and Chelly do great designs. Our house is now truly beautiful and we love the newly remodeled areas but we wanted to try and share what we learned from our experience. Good luck!

He gave excellent recommendations, he has excellent people skills, and his drawings were great. His price was a little high but it was well worth it because he does great work.

I thought he was sort of expensive, but he did good work. They cleaned up after themselves, but it took a long time. It was a big job, so I think they did it as fast as they could. They were professional. They did a few extra things for me.

This was the only bathroom in the house so the remodel project significantly impacted daily life for a while. They got the work done in 6 weeks, on schedule, despite a few days delay due to unexpected weather conditions (snow). They provided a port-a-potty to serve as a temporary "half bath" for the duration of the project. They even rigged a light in there so I didn't have to go looking for a flashlight for nighttime visits. The work area was cleaned up at the end of the day so things looked tidy in spite of the construction activity. Wade and Heather came by on a weekly basis to check on things and I was able to discuss any issues and solutions on site and in person. Calls and questions to the office were answered in a timely manner. Everyone did a great job and they were great to work with. I would totally recommend them to anyone and use them for my next remodeling project.

Wade Freitag is the ultimate craftsman. He respects his clients' ideas and provides information and education for those like me who know little about construction. He is timely, professional, and hires only the best people to do the work. I would unhesitatingly recommend this business for any remodel project.

They were super. I highly recommend them. Wade Freitag is very personable and gives good advice, but doesn't insist on his way. They have very good assistants. They employ excellent subcontractors who are also personable and pleasant to have in our home. The kitchen now draws oohs and aahs from people who see it for the first time. The kitchen is convenient, where it was not before, and we love being in there.