HIGHLAND CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN CO

Ron and his crew are professional, high quality craftsmen. They were easy to deal with and a pleasure to have around.

Ron Gross came out to bid on the job in mid-September and work started the first week in November. He started by demolishing the existing closet and ripping out the flooring. Prior to starting the job, I had discussed with Ron that my floor slopes considerably (about 2 inches) from one side to the other. Ron assessed the floor and recommended adding some bracing and materials to even out the floor. This increased the cost of my job by about $1800, but Ron had warned me at the outset that it might be this much, so I was prepared for the extra cost. Flattening a floor, particularly in an old house like mine, turns out to be quite a job. Ron also had to work out how to transition the new floor to my existing flooring; this involved ripping out some flooring in a hallway and raising the hallway level to match the new floor. At the end of the job, the floor still isn't perfectly flat, but it's a lot better than it was. After flattening out the floor, Ron's crew started installing new bamboo flooring. However, it turns out that the batch of bamboo that Ron purchased did not match the existing flooring in my house, so I ended up going to a local dealer and buying new, matching bamboo to finish the job, adding an extra $2000 to the job costs. Although I was upset that the first batch of bamboo wasn't right, it was worth it to me to spend the extra money to get the matching stuff. Ron is looking for a buyer for the extra flooring, and I will post it on Craig's List as well, so I hope to recoup some of my money that way. The new closet was built and finished as I had asked, and looks great. The original job called only for adding an additional light fixture, but Ron suggested changing some old switches and upgrading my electrical outlets to grounded outlets at the same time, so I was happy to follow his suggestions. I had asked to have insulation blown into two walls, but it turned out that one wall was already insulated, so I received a credit for only insulating one wall. Wall repair and painting went fairly smoothly (except for my husband planting fingerprints on a newly painted door...) and the finished product looks great. I was very impressed with the professionalism and productivity of Ron's crew. He had guys on the job every day and everybody was very punctual. The original estimate suggested about two weeks to complete the job, but with the extra flooring problems, this stretched to about three weeks. However, I did see progress every day, so I wasn't overly concerned with the delays. Ron checked in often, either in person or by phone, and was able to address all of my concerns very promptly.

I saw Ron's sign on my friend's lawn. I called him and he came over. I explained that I wanted a beam to do acrobats on in my back yard. He spoke with an engineer and designed it. He kept calling me with the details and the prices to make sure that I was OK with the amount of money it would cost. He was very honest. He did the job within two weeks of the first meeting. Next for the bathroom. He suggested I get a new fan and checked the pipes. He told me everything was fine and did not charge me for the work (only for the fan and installation.) Again, his integrity was very evident, he said if it is not broken he won't fix it. For the driveway he gave me an initial price which was high about $6,000.00. I said, that is too much for me. Three days later he called and told me he found another guy who would do it for $4,500.00. I told him to go ahead. The job was completed in two days with very little mess. The driveway guy was also really nice. Ron was at the house everyday that the workers were there. He came by and was available for all my questions and concerns.

Ron was honest about the cost and gave me the exact bill up front with no hidden costs at the end. When the driveway was finished and they forgot to put in the hole for the gate they came back the next day. Ron supervised the work himself and was available for questions and changes. His wife designed the back room to increase the space and made it look beautiful.