Casa Buena Builders

It was difficult finding contractors to do all of the work required. We asked for proposals but all came back without the woodworking element. Noel Sanchez of Casa Buena offered a reasonable proposal that covered all the required work without our having to have separate trades on the job. They started at the end of June as promised an completed at the end of October. The work proceeded smoothly with the work team arriving promptly at 8 AM each morning and leaving a cleaned and orderly site each afternoon at 4 PM. The crew was professional and steady. Very hardworking. Noel had frequent progress meetings with us and was easily available by phone. The work was excellent. Every effort exceeded our expectations. Restoring an old house has its difficulties. We were delighted to work with a highly organized, efficient company and would not hesitate to employ them again.

It went really well. I knew of Casa Buena from work they have done on historic residences in Providence. They also came highly recommended from a friend who has used them several times for work on their historic buidlings. When it came time to have work done on my own historic house, it was very important to me that the contractor doing the job not only be skilled and professional but also understand the importance of maintaining the historic appearance/fabric of the house. With that in mind, I contacted Casa Buena and another contractor known for working on historic buildings in the area to get estimates. The person I spoke with at Casa Buena took my information and indicated that their estimator would get back to me within a day or two to set up an appointment to come by and take a look at what needed to be done. They did get back to me within that time frame and we made an appointment for the estimator to come by within a few days. The estimator was personable and acted professionally when he came by. He examined the dormers and took measurements and indicated that it could be up to a month before they could get to the job because it was late in the season and they were busy finishing up several large jobs they'd started earlier in the year. Though he indicated that he would e-mail the estimate to me within a couple of days, I had to follow up two weeks later when I still hadn't received it. Apparently the estimator was on leave because his wife had given birth. I did get the estimate within two days after my follow up call. Casa Buena's estimate was higher than I expected, but not unreasonable in light of their reputation for quality work and sticking to their estimate. (Despite several calls to the other contractor I had initially contacted, I did not get any response from them until a month later. This reflected badly on them, so I did not pursue the matter with that contractor.) When I indicated my desire to commence work with Casa Buena, they confirmed that it would probably be two or three weeks before they could start on the job due to prior commitments. They ended up starting the job in two weeks. A few days before the start date, Casa Buena's owner, Noel, stopped by to review the job with me and confirm what was to be done. On the appointed start date, the work crew showed up at around 8 and worked until about 4, a schedule that repeated each of the 4 days that work was done on the dormers. Noel stopped by at various points to check up on the job and make sure things were running smoothly. The workers were polite and worked efficiently. At the end of each day they cleaned up after themselves. After the job was finished Noel stopped by to make sure I was happy with the work. All in all they did a great job. The dormers look great and match the rest of the house's exterior. I plan to use Casa Buena again.

We enjoy working with Casa Buena - they make life easy. Their staff are extremely professional and their work is high quality. We don't worry about projects exceeding scope or budget.

The original 15-year old roof was leaking in several places. I had already had it patched a couple of times. When Noel pulled up the rubber roofing he discovered the original builders had not used fiberboard and fused the roof directly to the particle board they used as a roof base. This meant Noel couldn't pull up the roof without destroying the roof base. So, as an alternative, he put new fiberboard down over the old roof and new roofing material over that. He also went above the scope of the job by repairing the attic fan cupola which was falling apart and replaced the flashing collar on my wood stove chimney which had been badly beaten up by a previous roofer. Noel did all the work within the time frame he had estimated and personally came back to re-attach a drip edge that had come loose.