T-Square Co

Description of Work: Major construction portions of a drive and garage to studio conversion Our goal was to create a fabric art studio from the garage space, improve the driveway and entrance landings, and to set up the front for long-awaited landscaping improvement. Original house by J. W. Smith, built in 1972. Large portions, dirt & foundation work, masonry, framing, drywall, and electrical, were handled professionally, more or less using today's standard construction practice, and we chose, due to some heath issues, to do considerable finishing at the end and to handle the "punch list". Dave Traut, the owner of T-Square, refunded some money when we changed course. We needed some landscaping work, but we couldn't come to a suitable agreement about the design, so we deleted that from the contract proposal since it was something that could be handled in a separate phase. Our knowledge of such things is too limited to be specific, and T-Square didn't propose a landscape sub-contactor. We're still working on that part. Dave did a complete re-bid to get an accurate estimate of this change and some other work that we decided not to do. We signed a contract in early October 2012, and most of the work was completed before the new year. His estimation process relies heavily on the opinion of his sub-contractors, allowing them the opportunity to size up each task on their own terms. Approximate work sequence: T-Square Co. (1) removed the garage door, (2) poured a reinforced "topping" concrete slab to bring the pitched garage floor to the level of the main house , (3) built a temporary roof support, then removed the garage door header, (4) built a 2x6 wall filling the garage door opening, with one 36" entry door flanked by two casement windows, (5) added an entry gable over the new door, (6) repaired all drywall, textured, primed, and painted, added primed wood trim where needed, (7) installed new electrical circuits including 2 floor receptacles, also various rough re-wiring to our specs, (8) built a special wet wall including sound absorption material for the washer/dryer niche, (9) built off-site and installed a special art/utility cabinet, (10) removed an asphalt driveway, prepared the dirt for new paving, (11) installed a stone border using "chop" stone veneer for the new drive, (12) filled and packed the new drive area with crushed granite over weed barrier fabric, (13) constructed a new concrete approach from the street to county specifications, (14) expanded the main house entrance "stoop" with a more attractive, larger foundation, and poured a complementary foundation for the new studio entrance door, then covered both with a veneer of Oklahoma flagstone, (15) electrician returned to do some finish wiring. There were four money draws, each explained in a work sheet.

Description of Work: T Square Company is a "Hidden Jewel" in Austin remodeling. We contacted 6 of the top ranked remodeling companies on Angie's List. Several came over, spent a lot of time discussing and measuring, but never sent a bid! Another had a good bid, but after reading the 7 page contract I was uneasy with the legal jargon that disclaimed just about everything. Others bid either very high or left important items out of the bid. Then I found David Traut and T Square Company. Dave is honest, knowledgeable and very easy to work with. The bid was realistic and his contract was detailed and straightforward with no deceptive legal phrases. He and Arlie, his foreman, have worked together for decades. The crew worked unobtrusively and swiftly. They fixed several things not on the bid, but didn't charge extra. T Square gutted a bathroom and installed subway tile shower with Kohler soaking tub, Toto commode, double Kohler sinks, granite counter top, lighting, baseboards, porcelain floor, vanity and linen cabinets, faucets, trims and Panasonic heater/vent. Dave also fabricated and installed new wood and glass cabinet doors for the den. The project turned out beautifully and exactly as planned. Dave even refunded some money because the granite cost less than he bid. How often does that happen? T Square makes beautiful cabinets, does interesting tile work, can build anything and is a top notch contractor. We unequivocally recommend David Traut and will use T Square again.