COMMONWEALTH HOME REMODELERS

"A" across the board. This is a first class organization, top to bottom.

Commonwealth, being a contractor, did a MUCH better job with this than a sole handyman. The owner came out to assess the job, ordered the appropriate ladder and sent a crew that installed it properly and at a very reasonable cost. The remodeling job done several years ago went far better than I expected, with dreaded inconveniences being at an absolute minimum as Commonwealth went out of their way to accommodate us.

I scheduled an appointment for early in the morning, and no one from the company showed up. They were very polite and apologetic on the phone about having "forgotten" the appointment. Nonetheless, my wife and I, both professionals, had scheduled our entire work days and child care plans around having this evaluation performed for a substantial addition onto our house. Obviously, we will not be using this business for any services, now or in the future.

All phases of our project went very well. The design phase gave us all the information we needed to move forward and attention was given to how the room would be used, where furniture would go and how it would fit with the existing part of the house. The next thing that happened is that all the trade people who would be working on the project and the guy leading the project met here to talk about how it was going to go and look at all the details of the project. We were given a schedule as to what work would be done day to day and that schedule was followed. The price was more than we wanted to spend but for the quality of the work, it was definitely worth it. The people who recommended Commonwealth told us that they stick to the budget given at the beginning of the project and that is true and something we really appreciated. The price only increased a few hundred dollars and that was to a condition in our house that was not able to be known ahead of time. It's important to think out and talk out what you want ahead of time so that you don't have to make changes as the project goes along. The project finished early. Everyone who worked here was professional, very skilled and the work was neat and done well. There was an attempt to minimize mess, dust and disruption to the rest of the house. We are very pleased with our new space.

It looks beautiful, as long as you don't look too closely! We purchased a home in May of 2011 and Commonwealth Home Remodelers had just completed work on a new kitchen addition & remodel and family room remodel in approximately February of 2011. The homeowners were not planning on moving, but they ended up having to move across country quickly for a job relocation, and we were fortunate enough to buy the house. Both my husband and I fell in love with the kitchen/family room when we saw it. I will say that the design is really beautiful: It's a lovely space and it has nice flow and it is by far the nicest looking room(s) in the house. If there were a category for "looks" I would give Commonwealth an A for their design (which is why I didn't give them an "F" for overall experience). Their construction quality and professionalism are a totally different story!Our home inspector noticed a few problems with the kitchen during the home inspection, such as a broken soap dispenser and missing wheels for the dishwasher, etc. We also noticed some cracks in the new grout, a gap in the seal of one of the french doors, and that one of the dishwashers was not flush with the cabinets. Both the real estate agent and the sellers assured us that Commonwealth would be on hand to fix any problems with the new kitchen as the remodel just been completed. Famous last words! Not long after we moved in, I contacted Commonwealth via e-mail and also by phone and spoke with Susan Pierce, one of the owners. Ms. Pierce made it clear that Commonwealth had absolutely no intention of fixing anything at all because we didn't hire them for the remodel. Forget the fact that we "bought" the remodel when we bought the house. Ms. Pierce also blamed some of the problems like cracks in the grout and wood floors on the previous owners because they didn't install a dehumidifier in the house, which she said she recommended doing. Subsequently, there was a lot of back and forth between the real estate agents, Commonwealth and the previous owners; the head of the real estate office for the sellers even got involved because their agent had made certain representations; Commonwealth said some unpleasant things about us (according to our real estate agent), but Commonwealth still refused to fix any of the problems. It was all very unprofessional.Shortly thereafter, when we had our vents cleaned, the vent technician pointed out that Commonwealth never installed connectors to the HVAC "toe-kick" vents under the cabinets - they simply cut holes in the floor and the hot and cold air was forced under the cabinetry with nothing connecting the vents to the exchanges. We called the Virginia Department of Contractors and they informed us that this was a building code and urged us to file a complaint, which we did. I also called NARI (the National Association of the Remodeling Industry), of which Commonwealth is a member. According to both NARI and the VDOC, any licensed contractor in Virginia must guarantee their work for two years under the Virginia law. If you look at Commonwealth's website, they even have a tab under "Our Process" that says "Two Year Warranty." Commonwealth had no choice but to come out and "fix" the HVAC ventilation problem, and they also attempted to fix the door and the soap dispenser. Commonwealth uses subcontractors to do a lot of their work, and I was able to get one of the sub contractors to come out and install a drip guard under the outside eves/gutters, which had not been installed, and which could have lead to moisture and subsequent rotting of the wood next to the roof. The VDOC encouraged us to file a legal claim against Commonwealth, but we really didn't want to go that route. Both my husband and I decided we'd either fix the remaining problems ourselves, or pay someone else to do it. We wanted to put the entire unpleasantness behind us, and I really didn't want to ever hear the name Commonwealth Remodelers ever again. Two weeks ago, however, my husband used the butler's pantry dishwasher for the first time and when I opened the dishwasher door at the end of the cycle, the entire bottom dish-rack tilted forward and nearly broke every dish because the dishwasher had never been bolted in! It seems we keep finding lots of "minor" problems with the workmanship that are adding up to one big headache, and that was the final straw. I joined Angie's list so I could find good service providers. I rely on other members' reviews, so I finally decided to review our experience with Commonwealth Home Remodelers. I even took pictures of the following so any potential customers can see exactly what type of problems we've had to deal with: French doors not installed properly (you could see daylight when door was closed at top);Grout around 3/4 of kitchen granite is cracked;Cabinetry is not level in several places (you have to really look to notice this);Granite not cut properly next to stove or garbage disposal recessed button;No HVAC connectors under toe kick vents in kitchen - air venting under cabinets (code violation);Dishwashers not flush with cabinets;One dishwasher not secured at all;One dishwasher secured by glue only; Kitchen sink and granite not sealed properly (water leaks under sink if you rinse the sides of the sink);Trim under two kitchen windows never painted;Small holes and cracks in new wood floor;Gaps between floor molding and wood floor;Ceiling tape peeling away in the family room;Shoddy work on floor vents with uneven cuts and gaps in metal;No drip guard under new roof line/outside gutters. Perhaps I'm too picky: does it really matter if the granite isn't flush with the stove? I found out the hard way that it does matter, because if you spill liquid next to the stove, it seeps into the crack and there is no way to clean it up. I've had a lot of friends and neighbors ask if they could have the name of the company who did our kitchen remodel (as I said, it looks lovely), but I've been very honest about our experience of living with a Commonwealth remodel to everyone who asks: It looks great, as long as you don't look to closely!

The entire experience working with Commonwealth was a delight, and we are thrilled with the results. We started by searching for three candidate contractors. We found two good possibilities quickly___ Commonwealth and one other. In our search for a third, all leads kept pointing back to Commonwealth. So, we interviewed just the two and got initial estimates. After making some adjustments to put the estimates on equal footing ( for example, compatible assumptions about appliances), we concluded that the estimates were within $100 of each other and that either firm would do a good job for us. We chose Commonwealth for two reasons: we liked the owners and the kitchen designer, and we had very positive recommendations from people we know. In the design phase of the project, we revised substantially our initial thoughts on kitchen layout and selected cabinets, appliances ( all a step up from our initial plans), granite for the countertops, and tile for the backsplash. Commonwealth's kitchen designer was wonderful in helping us formulate a vision of what we wanted and express it as a design concept. The contractor's sources for granite and tiles were especially helpful; they understood quickly our vision for the kitchen, pointed us in the right direction, and, for the granite, tracked down just the right slab. Our changes ___ really evolution __ of the design added about 20% to the cost of the project. The resulting design is an upscale, modern, contemporary kitchen. Demolition and construction was scheduled for 4 weeks. It took 5, because of a delay in measuring and fabricating the granite countertops. Work crews were professional, tidy and pleasant. We inspected and fretted about every little step along the way __ "picky" one might say. All of our concerns were addressed quickly, without any pushback or unpleasantness. After we moved back into the kitchen, there remained a long "punch list" of tasks to complete the project. Most were minor and completed quickly. Several, such as replacing cabinet items that were damaged or improperly finished and replacing a range hood that arrived with a dent, took some time. In the end, we are thrilled with our new kitchen and highly pleased with Commonwealth for their work and attitude throughout the project.

It went excellent. The cost was greater than $100,000. The architectural design was the best of three plans that were offered to us. It was the least complicated and it met all of our needs. The execution was great and their work was ethical. Their designer was great to work with if you are pressed for time and need somebody to make selections and give you ideas. The project manager was an excellent carpenter. The remodel took 12 weeks. They put a project manager on site and he is only responsible for that one job. Our only reservation was that they are not explicit about their labor so you pretty much have to accept the price that is offered for labor. They stuck to their price and it took 4 more weeks than they had originally told us. They had to re-level a bathroom floor so they had to pull up the tile and put it back down again. We were not charged for any of that. They stick to their price, which is great, but the price they give you is not really clear regarding labor, it is opaque as to what some of the charges are and you have to accept that. It was easy to do because we had received several estimates on the project but that was our only concern.

All of the work they have done for us has been done in a timely manner, with a practical budget and the highest quality workmanship. It's a treat to work with people of such high integrity and obvious talent. The results are predictably excellent, time after time. This year, we have had roving contractors in our neighborhood looking for work. Some of them stopped to compliment us on the beauty of technical aspects of the work done at our house which are seldom noticed by those who are not in the trade. Then, instead of trying to sell me something, they said,"How can we get to work for your contractor?" How cool is that?

It went fabulous. They did a wonderful job. They did arrive on time and did high quality work. They were very easy to work with and the price that they gave me was reasonable for the work that they did.

Once we all agreed, they did the design and layout and came up with the fixed price. I liked them because they had to make some changes and the price always stayed the same. They also really know what they are doing as they do what they say they are going to do and are very professional.