The Stock Group

I emailed and called several times without a response from anyone at the Stock Group. Needless to say that if a business owner or manager can't respond then they clearly fail the first test of being reliable.

We were very happy with Chris (the owner of the Stock Group). He came out the same day we called to look at the job, and sent an estimate in the next day. His estimate was far more reasonable than others we received. More importantly, this is a company that emphasizes sustainable building, so his approach emphasized re-using as much of the slate roof as we could, filling in with recycled/salvaged slate, and being careful to blend everything so as to preserve the look of the original roof. Chris had great old slate he had salvaged (i.e. rescued from trash bins) from other roofers who had torn down old slate roofs, and it was perfect for our roof. We were very happy to use recycled slate, and it was far less expensive than buying new! I had originally called him to discuss replacing the metal awning over our back porch with a tiny green roof (the awning created problems with water flooding in storms) but Chris felt the "greenest" (and least expensive) solution was to use what's there and see if we could devise a gutter for the awning. We had asked other roofers to do this and they said it wasn't possible. Chris and his team did it in a few hours, and it looks great. Chris was present every day of the project and was in touch with us throughout. He came out at the end to inspect the work and spent a few hours touching things up to make sure it was up to his standards. He's very thorough and personable. He's also committed to sustainable building and very involved in the local community. We're very happy with the work.

I learned about The Stock Group from seeing their work at The Night Kitchen Bakery, in Chestnut HIll (Philadelphia). They did a great job there and I quickly chatted with the owner, Chris, and later called to set up an appointment to give me an estimate for our bathroom. Since they seemed to specialize in older structures, and our house was built in 1923, it seemed like a good fit. Chris came over and we had a great conversation about my bathroom, what the possibilities were, etc. I showed him how I might want to bump out part of the wall to gain about 6-8 square feet, and we seemed to be on the same page about the project. I emailed him a few more questions and he was prompt in replying. A day or two after the estimate, I emailed him to let him know that another contractor who had done an estimate said there could be a supporting wall involved in the possible expansion, which would obviously affect the cost of the job, and I emailed him my computer rendering of the bathroom to give him a close idea of what I had in mind and what we had talked about. I thought having this information would help him with coming up with an estimate. Unfortunately, he seemed to want even more specifics and said since the layout and fixture placement were still evolving, that I would need to show him architectural or professionally designed renderings in order form him to work on an estimate. I was surprised that he thought I hadn't been thorough enough, given that no other contractor I had interviewed had said I needed to know exactly where I wanted the fixtures down to the inch. I thought my computer rendering, which was not 100% to scale but a good estimate (using Plan3d.com software), was more than most clients provide contractors for estimates. Apparently I was not "firm" enough in my ideas of what I wanted for the bathroom (exact size of sink, for example) and Chris didn't feel it was a "good use of time" to write an estimate for less-than-concrete plans. He was the only contractor who required that I know exactly what the floorplan and fixture sizes were going to be before giving me an estimate. I honestly thought he had enough information to go on, especially since several other contractors were able to give me estimates with no problem. Whereas I had planned to work with the contractor to decide what was possible versus what wasn't (a 30" sink or a 36" sink, the shower head on this wall, or that wall?), since contractors know about plumbing and electrical, and there can sometimes be unforeseen structural issues, Chris didn't seem to work that way. I wasn't willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for a designer or architect to draw up plans, so I decided not to go further with Stock Group.

Never sent an estimate after coming out to discuss work.

They came out and I liked what they had to say. I did not get the estimate, so I called them and they were surprised I had not recieved it. I still did not receive the estimate after that.

Met Chris through a friend and had heard about his work in the Mt Airy area. He is truly a passionate guy who has been a leader about eco friend construction for years. If you want a guy devoted to green building you MUST use Chris. He renovated my kitchen, redid my floors with a soy based polyurithane and actually BUILT cabinets using bamboo which was about the price I was paying for mid high end cabinets. He made suggestions during construction that actually saved me 2K! What contractor would do that! Bottom line, if you want a "green" renovation in Philly use the Stock group!!!