RUDLOFF CUSTOM BUILDERS

unknown

We met within a week after my first call. He was responsive and appeared to listen to my needs. He promised a proposal in a specified timeframe. I had in the meantime had other estimates scheduled. The timeframe for the proposal had gone past the expected time and I did contact to let them know that I was in the decision making process. The proposal was delayed due to what was explained as vacations at the company. Overall I believe this company would do a good job. I was a bit disappointed because one of the selling pitches was that they were big enough to carry the ball when the building season got busy?.and ironically the proposal ended up late. This however was not the reason I have not moved forward. The price came in around the $130,000.00 range for a 500 sq foot addition and this at the time was a bit out of range for me especially since this was being calculated only as an estimate. I then found out that for anything greater than 499 square feet that Newtown Township requires a (BMP) best management plan storm water drainage plan, soil erosion and grading permit as well. In the contract from Rudloff (in the small print) it clearly stated that all permits were not included in the price and that they are billable to the customer. This to me then meant that a potentially large unaccounted for cost might be encountered. Unfortunately, the projected cost was becoming questionably unmanageable to me. If I had that much money ( and possibly might in the future) I would reconsider further conversations with this company. The moving cost target is a bit frightening at this time.

In my experience, I?ve learned that generally there is just one kind of story about contractors that my friends, family and I have hired: horror stories. This, however is not one of those horror stories; far from it. RCB exceeded our expectations at EVERY turn. My husband has this thing about the need for contractors to be on the job every day. He figures that he has to go to work every day and thus, so should contractors. Taylor Rudloff, was the project manager on the project and the main contractor too. We practically could set our watch by his arrival; 7:30 a.m. every day or earlier. If he was running late (very rare), he would text to inform of us that. He was detail-oriented, took care of the work as if it were his own house, communicated with us well and often about what was happening and what he expected to happen (e.g., ?The windows will be installed tomorrow.?). And what integrity! For example, early in the project one of the contractors had a minor accident with a ladder that nicked our rear door. Whereas another contractor might not have mentioned the door (since it?s a rear door that we don?t enter often, it would have likely taken us some time to notice it), Taylor informed us right away what had happened and by the next day had ordered us a new door. We also VERY much appreciated their patience with some of the home-owner induced delays. For example, I was late ordering some floating shelves which introduced at least a 2 to 3 week delay in the project. Ditto when we decided that we wanted to tile an entire accent wall instead of just ¾ of it, as we had planned. Taylor was always patient with the change, noting that it was better for us to take the time to get the kitchen exactly as we wanted rather than rush and not be pleased. Our satisfaction was paramount. As for the quality of the work; just excellent. Taylor is fairly skilled and so when he could not find molding that matched the existing molding in the dining room, he simply created it himself. He was fastidious about measurement and placement and I was supremely helpful in giving us advice about the placement of things. And we felt like we had his full attention. After a long day, he would wait patiently to answer our questions or show us what he had done. And he was also first-rate in terms of communicating with and coordinating with vendors and subs. He handled EVERYTHING!! We had problems with these hand-blown pendant lights we ordered that arrived defective; Taylor handled all of the back and forth (and the back and forth was -- and remains -- substantial). We never had to get involved. Ditto, the vendor from whom we bought the tile. In fact, early on in the process when we first selected the tile, we knew that we were in good hands with RCB when the sales representative said, ?Oh Rudloff? They are one of the best contractors that we work with. They are always professional, flexible and don?t get flustered.? Yep, our experience too. Interpersonally, it was really nice to have Taylor and Jimmy, the two contractors from RCB in the home. A kitchen remodel is not easy, and since I work from home most days, I was in the substitute kitchen (aka our living room) and in the house when all of the work was happening. But it was more manageable than I had envisioned. They did the work and cleaned up thoroughly at the end of every day ? floors swept, debris removed, and tools placed neatly in the dining room. They treated our house with the utmost respect and we appreciated that immensely. Did I mention also that other than the delays that we introduced, they came in on time. They projected 6 weeks and that?s pretty much what it took. There were no cost or budget overruns. I mentioned all of this to a good friend in California who had a series of contractor horror stories, who noted that I might be the first person in the history of kitchen remodels to report such a trouble-free experience. It was better than trouble-free. Working with RCB on our gorgeous new kitchen was an exceptionally good experience, and we would recommend them without reservation. They are an excellent company!

unknown

unknown

Ed Rudloff came and gave me a quote. He worked with me to control my budget and address any extras that I wanted. His team came every morning, covered the stairs up to the loft and cleaned up at the end of the day. The insulation crew did a tremendous job. It was impressive to see how they moved through sealing everything. Anything that I or Ed saw that was not perfect was re-done promptly. I have only two issues with the work: the electrical boxes do not seem to be secured well andI had expected higher end dimmer switches rather than the lost cost models. Overall, I am happy with the work and would Rudloff again.

OK. The work was done over a 4 week period. Structural work was good. We had a misunderstanding about the design and agreed to split the cost difference - though I felt like I paid for it over the remainder of the project. Finish work seemed a bit rushed and the cost of changes seemed high. There were a few more differences in what I thought I was getting and what I got - the contract was open to interpretation.

I was referred to him by a friend who loved him too. He is a true businessman - follows everything up, turns nothing down, and does fabulous work. Recently with the stair work, my impression was that he was going to remove old carpet from my steps before he fixed them. He didn't think he was supposed to, and when I told him that, he dealt with it by coming over on a weekend with his brother to get the job done and satisfy me!