Richards Construction Inc

We had two projects we ended up contracting through Richards to do. One was a classic and relatively simple kitchen island installation, which is in their area of expertise. The other was a one-of-a-kind project, to build out a faux fireplace in our formal living room. With both projects came a little electrical work to rearrange lighting and install new lighting and switches. Both projects turned out beautifully. We'll take some credit for having a clear vision and design for the Richards crew to follow. But 100% of the credit for the perfect execution and workmanship goes to the Richards crew. Everyone that showed up at our door to do their part were professional, pleasant, conscientious and talented. If we could go back in time, we would have used them for every project we've ever done. Can't do that, but for every project going forward our first call will be to Richards.

Working with Richards Construction was a great experience. No surprises, no extra hidden charges. Everything done with daily clean up and project finished on time as promised.

It was excellent. It was a 6 week project and everyone from the demolition people to the installers were very professional and on time.

Service went very well. The workers did a wonderful job. They were all nice and attentive. At the office the lady helped me pick out the paint and other things

Great design; great work; competitive price; completed at bid price! We worked with Richards Construction and one other contractor so they both could develop competitive bids. Richards Construction was very forthright during this whole process and made sure we covered everything so there would be no “surprises”. Both contractors bid on functionally the same design, differing only as necessary because of different makes of cabinets. The Richards Construction bid was within a reasonable range of the other bid and we chose Richards because we liked their Bertch cabinets better. Wow! Did we ever make a good choice to go with Richards Construction. They use their own employees to do the work and each one is an expert in their craft. All of the work is perfect and the kitchen is beautiful. Richards Construction and their wonderful designer, Shun, worked with us throughout the whole project to make sure every little thing was to our liking. No short cuts. All of the work and finishes turned out so well that it is fun just to look at the endless wonderful details. The job came in at the bid price. No series of price adjustments for “oops we forgot to include” items. No arguing over work not done or work that was poor. Richards Construction cheerfully performed everything they promised and we are more than happy.

Richards obtained the tile we had selected and had it delivered.  Work began November 6 with removal of the old marble tile floor and the underlayment which was insufficiently strong.  The new underlayment, and then the new tile, was laid within the next couple of working days.  The new underlayment caused the level of the floor to be about 1/2 inch higher than the old, so carpenters provided new custom-cut transition strips into three rooms plus at the top of the steps to the basement.

Electrical work included installing three outdoor light fixtures we provided (replacing existing ones so there was no new wiring), wiring and installation of an LED light fixture in the coat closet; and minor drywall repair as required. 

It happened that as we planned this job, coincidentally we found a toilet in another part of the house needed to be replaced, so Richards Construction accommodated us by acquiring the fixture and installing it as a part of this otherwise unrelated contract.

Except for one very minor punchlist item of rounded shoe molding that had to be special ordered, all the work was completed over about 8 days, well within the two weeks specified in the contract.

Once again, we were very pleased with the results RCI achieved

We had used Richards Construction for at least two bathroom remodeling projects in the past; we called and told Larry generally what we wanted to do; he came to the house to review the site, made some suggestions/offered ideas, offered some advice on how we should prep for the job (e.g. emptying cupboards, etc) and sent us a draft contract within a few days. We signed a contract on August 30 and within two work days, a countertop subcontractor had come to take measurements for replacing four separate sections of countertop (one about 25 feet long).    

We delayed work start until September 14 until some other major work by another contractor was being completed elsewhere in the house.  On that day, a whole crew arrived - carpenter, electricians, job foreman - laid down protection for the floor, and began demolition/removal of old countertop, sinks, pantry door, and started some of the new electrical wiring.  The start was timed to coincide with completion of cutting the new quartz countertop, which arrived and was installed, along with the new sinks/faucets, and reinstallation of the existing kitchen range, on the second day, so we were only without a functional kitchen for two days.  New wiring, lights, and switches were essentially finished up on day 3.  Great! 

One of the key things about Richards Construction is flexibility - Larry has told me it's dealing with the unpredictable that he really enjoys in his work.  And that was illustrated here.  The job would, I suspect, easily have been finished up within two weeks - but the wall around the pantry door was discovered to contain a bearing member - the available space was less than we thought, so the new custom-made doors that had been preordered and predelivered had to go back to the manufacturer to be cut down; brought back to be hung; then sent out to the faux-painter who also encountered delays.  These delays added four weeks to the final completion of the job.  But we were still able to use the kitchen while all this was going on. 

We introduced a problem ourselves when, while waiting for the doors, we happened on a new kitchen range we liked, bought it, and had the appliance company install it.  Well, technically every 30-inch range should fit in a 30-inch space, but this one didn't quite.  Again, flexibility - our old range hadn't been accurately leveled yet, so in doing that, RCI also tailored the new countertop for us so the new range fit..

Other points we like about Richards Construction; their crew all really know their stuff and are problem-solvers; many of them have more than one skill; and Larry himself will always deliver what he has promised.  We have already completed another job with RCI (which I will review separately) and have plans to do yet another one sometime during 2016.

They're excellent. Both remodels involved total reconstruction. So, they were higher-end remodels than simple jobs. He is a top-notch professional about what he does. He has excellent ideas. He has quality workers, really high-level people that know what they're doing. They were extremely punctual. He sticks to a timeline without any, "We can't come today. See you in two weeks." He actually sticks to a schedule better than I ever thought a contractor doing a remodel would. My expectations were quite low maybe, but I was real pleased that they wanted the job to also be finished, almost as much as we did. But, they never rushed anything. They did the job well. He had people that knew what they were doing for each of the task that was involved. He had a very nice feature in his company where he had sort of a decorator that kind of walked you through choices of things. So, he had a hand-holder who had good design experience. That was very helpful in coordinating the choices. It was high price but it was quality product. I got my monies worth.

Larry has great taste and is able to suggest the perfect match for your tile, the perfect design for your room and the perfect layout for your cabinetry.  He is a treasure to anyone who isn't sure how to make their project truly special.  Everything Larry does turns out beautifully.  He is incredibly responsive and easy to work with.  I wholeheartedly recommend him to all of my friends.

We live in a 1930's era small cape in Arlington.  We bought it as our retirement home and recognized that we'd need a lot of remodeling to stay in it very long.  Richards Construction has created a livable and modern home for us.
We appreciated Larry's experience with older houses.  On all of our projects he came in knowing where trouble spots would be; for example, the plaster ceilings in the kitchen and dining room were showing problems and he was very confident that they just needed to come down before they fell down.  He was able to foresee the types of construction techniques of the 1930's that he'd have to work with today..
Based on a neighbor's recommendation, we first hired Larry to rip out and replace a tacked-together basement bathroom.  It was an odd space with little room for maneuvering, but we ended up with a sleek and usable bath that we really needed in our small house.  
We then moved on to our other bathrooms and the kitchen.  The projects all involved taking the rooms down to studs and modernizing from scratch.  It was wonderful to know that those areas that involve so much plumbing and electricity are now updated with the very best materials.  Walls have insulation, cast iron pipes were removed and updated,  We never had unexpected surprises which frankly, you'd kind of expect in an older house.  I think it's because Larry knew what he was doing from the start.
Doing this much renovation is always going to be painful for some period of time.  But the pain was certainly mitigated by the great people Larry has working for him -- almost all are his long-term employees and it was a pleasure to have them in our house.   We got to know the hard-working demolition crew who dragged so much out of our house all the while taking care of the walls and floor; to the skilled and details-oriented tile folks,  plumbers, carpenters and electricians.  They all took great care with their work and cleaned as much as possible each day before they left.  When water and power had to be off, they were careful about checking with us and the outages didn't last for long.  Mike, who oversees the work, was the ultimate problem-solver and was out frequently to check on progress.
We didn't go into the project expecting that we were Larry's sole project -- we came to appreciate  the intricacies of balancing his various projects with the skills of his people.  We never felt that we were put on a back burner or that we weren't making progress.  We found Larry easy to reach and talk to, but also came to rely on his assistant, Shun, who always knew where everyone was and was able to get back to us if we had questions...usually within the hour.  Shun also has a great design sense and we were happy to have her choose various details for us.

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The Richards Construction team was just wonderful to work with. They showed up on the dot, worked highly efficiently, and left a beautiful laundry room behind. The project was necessarily a bit of an inconvenience to us, since it required turning off the running water to the entire property; but the guys worked with us to get everything done as soon as possible, and we're exceptionally pleased with the result.

Excellent. They worked with us around a family health emergency that entailed rescheduling several visits.

We wanted a new master bathroom and we got an amazing result. After researching local contractors via Angie's List, we called 8 different companies to come look at our home. Of the ones we contacted, 5 responded and showed up to look at the bathroom. Of those, 3 provided written estimates with reasonable designs. Only richards construction came back with a real solution to our problem. We visited the Richards Construction showroom to see their operation. They are local employer with a real investment in their business. They are very knowledgeable about their work and have a strong track record of success in the community. We agreed on the contract, made a down payment and got started. 
Background: Our 1985 builder grade home in Lakeridge, VA is a 2 story, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 2 car garage "cookie cutter" house on 0.25 acres. We've got one of the smallest houses in the neighborhood with no room to expand. We wanted to leverage the equity in our home to remodel the master bathroom. It was a very poor layout with wasted space, an unusable bathtub (you had to crawl into the foot of the tub and climb across to access the faucet. it was completely idiotic) and a tiny shower. the cabinets were pressboard and the flooring was still rolled linoleum. We had a toilet in a small room with the only window in the bathroom. Lighting was horrible. Finally, there was a bizarre design with a hole in the wall from the bedroom to bathroom with 2 wooden shelves that eliminated privacy and made it impossible to use the space in either room. We did have a walk in closet in the back of the bathroom that we kept intact.
Following the holidays, Richards Construction arrived to start demolition. they stripped the bathroom down to the studs and tore out the walls. remodeling included a new layout that maximized the available space. The team installed new plumbing, wiring, tile floors, a glass shower with double head, new cherry Bertch cabinets, custom design tiling around the shower and tub, a new jet powered whirlpool tub, new toilet, ceiling fans, recessed lighting, double mirrored medicine cabinets and soapstone countertop with new plumbing fixtures. 
We experienced a couple issues during the construction project that Larry resolved quickly. When the whirlpool tub failed the leak test, Larry forced the supplier to replace it. While it delayed the project a couple weeks, we were happy that we wouldn't have any issues going forward. 
the outcome is amazing! our master bathroom looks like a Hyatt hotel luxury suite now. We were very pleased with the outcome and confident that this has added value to our home. We highly recommend Richards Construction for your home remodeling project.

Our second home remodeling project with Richards Construction. Larry and Kay Richards did an exceptional job on our home. Their team of experts arrived last winter to transform our 1985 builder grade kitchen into something right out of a magazine. Since we already benefited from their work on our master bathroom, it was time to transform the main floor of our 2 story, 3 bedroom  house. We couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. Our family and friends all come to visit and say "wow....this is amazing!". 

Project started with a visit from Larry and his designer for pictures and an assessment. The following week we traveled to the Richards showroom for a design consultation. We talked about the options and reviewed his recommendations. Since we already had hardwood floors installed in the living room, we wanted to match the flooring in the redesigned kitchen and family room. This proved to be the "long pole in the tent" and the major reason of the delays on our project. Larry's flooring supplier did their best to find the same flooring material, but had to contact the Canadian mill to have the material custom made and shipped. Larry worked on our behalf to "make it right" and kept us informed along the way.

Our kitchen project included demolition of the entire kitchen, removing the wall between the dining room and kitchen, rebuilding the duct work, installing ceiling flood lights, moving and upgrading the electrical switches, ordering and installing new Bertch cabinets, new granite countertops (we traveled to the Chantilly supplier to select the material), adding an island with a second deep sink and dishwasher, backsplash tiling, installing our new appliances and ceiling fans, under cabinet lighting, and then, the new hardwood floors. Since we opened up the back of the house and have one large room from the kitchen the family room, we have a large eat in kitchen now. Larry's team designed a custom made, counter height kitchen table that easily sits 6-8 people. 

With a new kitchen in place, we decided to replace the entrance flooring with tile. The gray slate tile is a perfect complement to the lighter canadian maple hardwood. Additionally, we covered the fireplace brick with new stacked stone and a slate hearth. the new recessed lighting over the fireplace highlights the workmanship. 

While the kitchen flooring was being custom made, we decided to replace all the carpeting up the stairs and in the 3 bedrooms with Brazilian cherry hardwood. the staircase took a while to complete, but the end result was worth the wait.

Larry's team of experts were courteous, friendly and conscious of the impact they were making on us during a 6 month remodeling project. We had to live in the basement and our bedrooms while the construction project overtook the main floor of our home. Dust accumulated on everything....we should have done a better job preparing for the mess.  the construction team arrived daily at 8am and used a lock box to enter the home. They cleaned up and removed trash on a regular basis. 

Our greatest frustration with the whole project was the delay caused by the custom flooring. In the end, the kitchen looks amazing and we are so pleased the with the outcome. I highly recommend Richards Construction for your home remodeling project too.

I had purchased fixtures myself and they accommodated it. Other than the fact that they didn’t have a central foreman who could deal with all of these subcontractors that they used because it was kind of annoying that every time there would be the woodworking person or the drywalling person or the plumber or the electrician, I had to take every one of them around in the room and explain exact same things over and over again.  Otherwise, the quality of the work was outstanding with the exception of the plumber and they brought him back until he got it right. I wanted a pocket door put in and I had explained that to Mr. Richards when he did the job for me that I wanted a pocket door, he didn’t pass that to anybody else, so this young carpenter comes out and I said I want a pocket door out here, he went out of his way.  It set him back a better point of the day, but he did a wonderful job.

Larry was very professional, as was his crew. They were there when they said they would be, and completed the majority of the work on time. They had to rip out an amateur job done by the previous owners, which took time. They got the bulk of the work done within two months. Most of the work on the list was completed as promised. A few small items were never done, but not enough to make me complain, especially since they let us finance the last 10,000 of the job, with no interest, and it took us over a year to pay it off. 

The down side is that the ground surrounding the window well keeps sinking lower than the well itself, which leaves a rather ugly trench around the well, about a foot deep. In addition, mud keeps piling up inside the window well, and mud seeps in through the window itself. (I don't know if I can blame the crew for that, really, or not, however. It may be simply that when you get that much rain, that will happen -- and to be fair, the walls and carpet stayed dry - it was just a layer of brown over the white paint where it seeped in from the window.)

Unfortunately, the project didn't go as I had expected after Richards had been referred to me by another company on Angies List.  While I'm now satisfied with the quality of the work completed, I feel that the project took way too long to complete for a job of this size.  It was supposed to take 3 weeks per the contract I signed, but ultimately it took 6 weeks to finish including clean-up (few days ago).
There were many days when none of Richards' crew showed up.  I constantly had to contact Larry to find out the status of the work. The business descriptions state "No Subs.", but many of the crew that worked on the project are subcontractors.  I strongly believe this led to the significantly delays as a result of poor scheduling by Richards with the subcontractors.
On the gym mats installation, the guys left drywall dust everywhere and didn't clean up mess afterwards until 2 or 3 weeks later after I continuously contacted Larry and complained.  Larry made it seem like that was normal and wanted to know what I wanted him to do about it. We even had a heated conversation about that after I took off work to meet Larry or his project manager to discuss the issue. Neither one showed up.  One of Richards' employees even said that was unacceptable when I expressed my concerns the same day after he happen to show up to dropped off some materials.  He wasn't aware of the problem, but completely understood why I was upset.
As a contractor, I often looked for Larry to provide ideas or suggestions for the project. However, it seemed Larry didn't have any ideas to offer and left it up to me to decide on what I wanted.  Basically, whatever I chose, he said would look good.   I expected much better from Richards in terms of advice and guidance on this project.  As a customer, you always expect for all of your questions to be answered by the contractor.  I frequently emailed Larry questions regarding the project as he said from the start that he was usually online and would respond to any of my requests.  Well I have numerous emails with questions that went unanswered or I simply received short responses that forced me to resend the questions.  
I received the final accounting (bill) today that includes NO consideration for the significant delays in completing the work or gym mat issue.  Furthermore, I find it very odd that no one from Richards have come out to my house to follow-up to see if I'm happy with the finished project.  Larry came out to my house once to discuss the initial project and have not seen him since.  He didn't even take any time to call me when the project was completed. I simply don't understand how a contractor can do business this way and not communicate properly with their customers. That's very unprofessional and completely unacceptable in my opinion. 
Lesson Learned: Richards will definitely not receive my business again.  Good luck if you chose to use them!!

Overall, we are very happy with the work, and we would definitely use Richards again.  Larry was very flexible and responsive to all of our questions.  I gave a B for punctuality only because there were a couple of times when I was expecting someone to come by, and they didn't.  That was not a huge deal to us, but another client might have a bigger problem with it. 

Outstanding quality workmanship and advice. Ability to look at range of options in one showroom a big plus over other contractors we considered. Job wasn't cheap, nor was it fast, but there was a lot of work involved, including replacing lead pipes in almost entire house and the work was done right. Small follow-up was handled promptly and professionally.

They were excellent in all respects! They were talented and very prompt! They were a little pricey, but overall good. I would recommend them!

What was thought to be a basic renovation evolved into a major project ? all because we kept adding features once we got serious about the renovation.  Larry Richards, the owner, came to the house and provided a no-cost estimate, but more importantly, provided excellent advice on what could be done within the constraints of the size and shape of the bathroom.  His firm has a large showroom floor and his Interior Design staff was amazing in providing suggestions on tile and color coordination.  As with any such project, there were issues (SileStone shelf cut improperly; one of the glass panels of the shower stall was not properly sized; plumbing leak that created minor issues that were fully restored) and since Richards Construction has a team that performs all the work, scheduling was sometimes an issue.  That was certainly well offset by having a single person responsible for the work, avoiding the finger pointing of subcontractors as to who was responsible when anything went wrong.  What was to be 5 weeks became much longer (complicated by our planned vacation that interrupted their work). That said, materials they suggested and installed are first-rate and the final product is better than our wildest expectations.  There was some sticker shock with the price, but two other estimates from other firms with far less quality products and design features were essentially the same cost.  It?s just been a long time since we have invested in renovation of this nature.  Our single complaint is that, because the firm is very busy, e-mails and calls were not always responded to as quickly as we would have liked.  That may be more a reflection of our unrealistic expectations than what the industry standard may be (as this seems to be a common remark about construction firms).  So, in summary: we would certainly recommend Richards Construction and will select them over all others for our next\ renovation.

The crews did everything I asked of them and the result was very satisfactory.  Now, 6 years later, everything is holding up nicely.

We were really impressed with all of the workers and they did a fabulous job. They were timely and worked within our budget. If we need a contractor in the future, we will be calling them. Our kitchen looks 10 times better than it did before!