Bowa

Exceptional quality of work. Absolutely stand by their work. No issues with follow up or warranty. Extraordinary home builders.

Initially it cost more than expected, but quality was good. after a year everything fell apart. Bowa is concerned with their profit not their customer.

Bowa was amazing. Yes, they are a bit more expensive but I couldn't have made this move without them. Our contact was Rob and George and both were beyond great. I could call them with any concerns and they were handled beyond my expectations and promptly. It is rare that you go through home renovations and consider your contractors friends in the end. I can not recommend this company highly enough. They truly did go the extra mile. NO REGRETS!

Met with BOWA representative to get advice on updates for my north Arlington home. Was working with a tight budget but debating the pros and cons of using smaller contractor in a piecemeal way versus hiring a firm such as BOWA to manage a more complete update with up-scale design services, on-site supervision and deadline accountability built in to the price. I was very pleased with how Ms. Tetro answered all my questions and gave me many examples of similarly scaled projects BOWA had completed. She gave me good information to help my husband and I think through the investment/return of upgrading at this stage in our lives. There was no pressure; just information. We will definitely look to BOWA for future work on our home.

It took 3 years and looked great. Lasted about one year until several items started to fall apart. Company offered to fix them with a 30 percent fee. Recently learned that Bowa used other contractors who sub contracted causing us to get double billed for contractors fee. After spending nearly 10 million, the job was left 98 percent complete after the final check was written. Treated us like a nuisance after things started to fall apart. Have threatened legal action. Everyone should be warned that they seem great and put on a good act, but they are in it to make money, plain and simple. I am now using a sub contractor they used who informed me of their practices. They not only charge you their fee, they mark up the price they get significantly, sometimes nearly 50 percent and then charge you a fee. Will never use them again and want the public to know its not just them but many and quot;high endand quot; builders are engaged in similar schemes.

I was not satisfied with the process nor the outcome of my dealings with BOWA. The modest project was a the design for the renovation of a 900 SF basement into a separate apartment, and the phased upgrade of utilities and bathrooms. The budget was $100K. Negotiations began on 24 Nov 2010 and after their suggestion I terminated the contract on 18 August 2011 because we were not able to come to a mutually agreed scope or budget. My dissatisfaction stems from BOWA taking, without prior notice or prior invoice, $5,013.13 of the $10K deposit I paid up front. For all other invoices, I paid BOWA $8,931.25 for their work. I am a geographically separated owner, so would need to work with a contractor from afar. I selected BOWA based on their advertised process and after interviewing their project manager Sean Ganey, who claimed and ldquo;the process BOWA has found to work best for our clients is where we are working together as a team to build your project budget and scope from the ground up rather than taking a guess at it from the outside.and rdquo; In the early stages of the process I was led to believe that BOWA would initiate and hold a series of design meetings to confirm my intent for the project and to reach a mutual understanding of the design. No design meetings were held with the team. The first opportunity I had to give direction or feedback came in February when I received a fully executed schematic design drawing that did not reflect the statement of work agreed to in contract, nor my intent for the design of the basement, and omitted a key limiting feature that rendered the architect's basement design solution unusable by any occupant. In the conference-call meeting with Sean I expressed my dismay that I had not been consulted, and that if I had the architect would not have wasted time designing a scheme that was not workable. However, Sean assured me there was little effort that went into the scheme and that the team was prepared to respond to my concerns. In March I received an invoice for $3K, which I was told reflected the architect's work in developing the unacceptable schematic design, and the as built conditions. In the spirit of cooperation, and hopeful of better communications in the future, I paid the $3K. In hindsight, I realize now that I should have terminated the contract then, as we were never able to get back on track with the statement of work I proposed or with my budget. In early May I finally received a concept that reflected my intent for the basement design and my input. But we could not come to an agreement on cost within my budget. In August, when I insisted on regrouping back to the original contract, I was informed by Sean that he was and ldquo; concerned that what is on your list amounts to a lot of and ldquo;handymanand rdquo; type projects which I have to admit, BOWA will be the more expensive route on. We really excel and earn our fees on the more complicate projects.and rdquo; I terminated the Contract on August 18th. At that point I had paid to BOWA $8,931.25 a total representing all invoices I had received from February 2011 to July 29, 2011. Sept 26th I received an invoice for $5,013.13 and a check for $4986.87 as a refund, and I promptly sent a dispute letter stating my expectation that the full $10K deposit be returned to me. In return I was informed in October that the invoice reflected the work done by the architect in June to develop the permit drawings. Even though we had not agreed on final scope or budget of project. My concern and dissatisfaction with the final billing remains unresolved.

Bowa renovated two bathrooms in our house. They are fantastic! They were on time, and on budget. At the end of the day, they spent at least 45 minutes cleaning up. If there was a nick in the wall they painted it. The house looks better than before they started! I can't say enough good things about them, and I will absolutely use them again.

Working with BOWA was virtually a stress-free experience. See above for additional information.

They came back to do the follow up work at no cost and they stand behind their work. They were a little priced and I will use them again in the future. They were a top notch firm, who showed up on time with everything they needed. They were extremely professional and provided a notebook for all the work that was being done. All the estimates and change orders were in writing. They did an excellent job and if there was something which was not right, they came back and fixed it without questioning. They subsequently did work for other people in the neighborhood.

Bowa exceeded our expectations. They worked closely with us through the design & construction process. We always felt we received excellent service, were treated fairly & are very pleased with the result.

They were very professional and thorough but very expensive. Their estimated price was $250,000, which was about 200% above everybody else. Everything was topnotch; it was just that their prices were a little bit too high. I don’t think I would consider using them in the future.

The project went quite well and fully met our expectations. As with our other projects, the first phase involved defining the scope of what we wanted and Bowa's architecture-design representative created a comprehensive worksheet that provided a detailed cost estimate for the entire project. These were coordinated with our interior designer, a process that went very smoothly. Once the final requirements were settled, Bowa developed a schedule for the work to proceed in phases in order to minimize the disruption to our daily routine. The next phase was the energy audit which involved a comprehensive exam of our energy consumption which took the better part of a day. It should be noted that while we had already taken a number of steps to reduce our electrical consumption by about 30 percent, we believed more could be accomplished. The company performing the audit was selected by Bowa and we were highly impressed with their thoroughness and expertise as well as the cool equipment they used. Shortly thereafter we were provided a lengthy report with a long list of actions that could be taken with an estimate of the cost/benefit ratio for each step. This enabled us to select the actions that would bring the most improvement.. Meanwhile, the Bowa designer came up with a creative design for the reconfiguration of the two baths, guestroom and closet, and family room that significantly improved the look and usefulness of the overall space. This was accomplished by moving one wall and eliminating one pass-through door between the two half bathrooms. As a result, some essentially unneeded space in the family room was incorporated into the adjoining guestroom making it possible to add a small library nook and two display cases for the glass art collection. And by eliminating the door between the two half baths, it was an easy step to add a toilet to the guest bath making it a separate full bath. As with most major projects, the "devil is in the details" because of the need to make selections on numerous items ranging from paint colors, various tiles for the bathrooms, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, countertops, wall paper, mirrors, windows, doors, etc. All of this required close coordination between our interior designer (e.g., deciding whether Bowa or the interior designer would be responsible for acquiring/installing the item in question). As before this relationship worked very smoothly throughout the project. The same held for the relationship with the company we used for the audio-video systems. While installing two art display cases may not seem like a big deal, it definitely becomes one when the objects in the case are blown glass, poured glass, and other forms of glass art. The trick is in the lighting and the control of unwanted reflections. Without going into needless detail, some pieces require lighting from above, others from below, and others from both directions. Commercially sold cases rarely accomplish what is needed unless you pay an exorbitant price. Working closely with Bowa's designer, a creative solution was reached using a combination of LED lighting and built-in shelving. The effect is spectacular and the cost was well below any of the commercially sold products we investigated. The entire project proceeded quite smoothly and Bowa's quality of workmanship was superb. They clearly are not the cheapest guys in town, but that is not what we are looking for. We are most interested in high quality workmanship. Bowa excels at that. We are also interested in competent project management; we don't want to feel it necessary to constantly watch over everything that is being done. The Bowa project manager was highly competent. Work was done when scheduled, there were no unexplained delays, we were kept fully informed at all times. Workers showed up each day as scheduled; we never felt that our team was being diverted to other projects. One characteristic of Bowa's projects with us has been the cleanliness of the worksite. At the end of each workday, the work areas were cleaned up. Not only was the inside work space vacuumed and cleaned at the end of each day, our neighbors did not have to look out at unsightly scenes of construction materials/equipment scattered about the yard. A good way to evaluate a contractor is how the company handles the end of the project phase. This is when you provide them with a "punch list." that itemizes the remaining tasks to be completed before final payment is made. These items are usually minor actions such as some grouting in a tiled floor that needs repair. The list we presented to the project manager was relatively short, about 9 items. The fact that it was a short list, however, is not the important fact. Bowa had its own list. Not only did it include all of the items we had identified, it listed an additional 18. All were minor items, but we are glad that they found them; sooner or later, we would have also discovered them. This has been the case on each of the three projects we have had with Bowa. Finally, now that some time has passed, we have been able to evaluate the effectiveness of the energy conservation part of this project. Here again, we are quite satisfied. As noted above, at the beginning of this project, our energy consumption was about 30% below the highest 12 month period (Jan 2006-Jan 2007) in this house. As a result of the improvements made by Bowa, we are now averaging a consumption rate that is another 20% lower, that is, we are consuming 50% less electricity than we were in 2006. To summarize, we would highly recommend Bowa to anyone who wants high quality work, superb project management, and ease of mind during the project itself.

Great on all three projects they have completed.

The project was wonderful. BOWA created several designs for our basement based on specifications that we provided. They had great insights that also influenced the design. They were extremely helpful with material selections and aesthetic decisions. The project started and was completed on time. Every day of the project was a full work day--there was no slack time, waiting for materials, etc. A project manager was on site to handle all of the day to day issues. After we decided on the design and materials, we didn't need to do a thing. They handled everything. Communication was great throughout the project. As soon as we signed the contract, we knew exactly what to expect and the project was completed exactly as outlined. We're very happy with the results and will definitely use BOWA Builders again.

They do very good work and are timely. I highly recommend them. If something went wrong, they made sure they made it right. For example, they were having a hard time installing a window and I watched a guy work on that one window all day long. When they redid the kitchen they knocked out walls and created new entry ways. They moved our washroom upstairs so we could expand the kitchen.

We have excellent work with this company. They stand by their word and aren't finished until you're satisfied with their work. We are almost like family to them. This is an absolutely fantastic company. I highly recommend.

They get finished when they say they will be finished. They back their product 100%.

OUR EXPERIENCE WAS TERRIFIC. THEY WERE ORGANIZED, AND DELIVERED JOB ON TIME. THEIR ENTIRE STAFF AND ANY SUBCONTRACTORS WERE FIRST RATE, AND DID METICULOUS WORK.

WE RECEIVED QUOTES FROM 5 SEPARATE CONTRACTORS AND CHOSE BOWA BECAUSE OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE MORE EXPENSIVE. WE UNFORTUNATELY HAD A NEW SITE MANAGER WHO DID NOT WORK OUT AND MADE FOR AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE AT THE END, A MODEST PUNCH LIST TOOK ALMOST SIX MONTHS TO COMPLETE.