Meyerson Custom Builders LP

First a bit of history. My parents home was destroyed in the Bastrop Complex fire on Labor day weekend, 2011. At the same time a different fire blazed through out neighborhood and burned all of the one acre forest behind our house. My parents moved in with us and we helped them work thorough the devastation of their lost lives. We then started talking about rebuilding, do we use the old slab, or not? Who do we call? We called the largest builder in our subdivision, we met with them and they didn't really have a plan that would work and they seemed high for the size they quoted. My mom had gotten a letter in the mail from a builder offering his services. My first reaction was " throw it away" as we had heard about all these "fly by night" builders who were trying to capitalize on this disaster. After the deal didn't fly with the first builder I told mom "let's call him" so we did. Mom called and visited with Sanford "Sandy" Meyerson, and he was very personable. He also told her that by coincidence, he had built a small office behind one of our neighbors, right on our street! So of course right away I contacted our neighbor who had glowing reviews for Sandy, and invited us down for a look at his handywork.We were all very impressed with the place and his demeanor, along with his business plan of using local vendors, Plus he belongs to "Angel Wings" which is a group of pilots who flies Cancer patients back and forth for treatment. His house was one of the few that survived in the Tahitian Village community in Bastrop so he was immersed in this disaster. He was also one of the selected builders to participate in the "Extreme Home Makeover" show filmed here in Bastrop. We felt good about Sandy, and proceeded:We had a floor plan from one of our neighbors who had a guest cottage they had built for their parents. They invited us down for a look and it was perfect, albiet a bit small. We have Sandy the floor plan, and asked to blow up the bedroom and living room. The other challenge was getting it to match our house, and to pass our very strict HOA building approval. This was all happening around Christmas time. We hadn't even signed a contract with Sandy and he brought my folks a beautiful gift basket. He worked hard to get the plans to work, and put in the custom features we needed such as ADA features.Then the day came, he was ready to submit the bid. He came over with the contract, and his offer. The price was quite a bit more than we had expected for a small house, but given the bid we got from the first builder, that must just be what it costs. He didn't expect them to decide right away so left us with the paperwork. After some debating, we (well my parents anyway decided to move forward.The construction:First thing I have to say, Sandy takes no shortcuts. I told him of the shifty soil we have and all the neighbors having foundation troubles. He asked for our engineering report from when we built, and once he had it in hand, he just about turned white. "we are gonna beef up that slab" and boy did he. I have never seen so much iron in a slab in my life! The guys he has that does slab and concrete work are amazing. They made little mini ramps built into the concrete by the front and back doors to make it easier for my dad!The construction process has gone smoothly and pretty swiftly. Sandy did all sorts of creative thinking to save money and resources for my folks who were building this with limited resources. One of our neighbors stopped by and I saw him looking closely at the lumber "he uses top grade lumber, this stuff's not cheap" I never even gave it a thought, but asked Sandy and he told me it's not worth saving a bit on cheap lumber. He's also very good about calling and checking with you on small details. He wants it to be right.Today's date: June 15th. In two weeks, it will have been four months since the slab was poured.Construction has gone on at a steady pace. We have since I began this review met all of his subs and seen their work. Every one of them is a master in his/her trade. Some of the things they have done, I have never seen done, like using this little tool that makes every grout line in the outdoor brick, exactly the same depth. It's beautiful.The home should be finished in two weeks. Yesterday they installed the AC system and even that guy from Leon's was very nice, and explained some of the "little extra's" he did to make sure the system is right. I expected the kitchen cabinets would come from a major cabinet factory like Merrilatt or the such, but nope. Sandy has a custom cabinet maker who came over and sat down with my mom, helped her pick the wood and then helped her design her layout. Tile work has been excellent. They have been very creative within mom and dad's budget. Granite countertops were done with such care you cannot see the one and only seam. The concrete guys have done all the flatwork and it's beautiful. They designed it to carry the water from our existing driveway all the way to the end and off into the yard. The house was finished and they moved in the second week of July. The house turned out perfect and the remaining bill was actually less than we expected. We were 100% satisfied with the work, with Sandy and his crews.