Maple Leaf Construction Inc

I called Scott Bookwalter to look at a home I had just purchased. It was, to say the least, a fixer. Scott and I talked about replacing the deck and repairing the front entry to the house. I was impressed with his responsiveness, professionalism, and his references, so we came to an agreement for him to do the work. In the time between that meeting and when Scott could come to begin work, I discovered many pressing issues inside the house that needed to be addressed prior to any deck or entry work. Scott and I went over everything I’d found, and he helped me prioritize where we needed to begin. Near the top of the list was the main bathroom in the house. I'd found rot in the floor, from years of water damage, that had been hidden by a floor covering. It extended up the wall and had compromised the vanity structure. Instead of fixing one spot at a time, Scott determined that it would be less expensive and safer to gut the room to see what other damage might be hidden. It was a good call on his part as he uncovered several bizarre construction choices that were causing problems. His knowledge and expertise set me at ease because I knew that, regardless of what challenge he encountered (and there were many), he would have a solution. He fixed the problems, and buttoned the room back up beautifully. At the end of each work day he tidied the space and put his tools neatly in an area out of the way. He was respectful of my budget and provided me with frequent, detailed updates of the costs. He kept me informed of his schedule and the project progress, as well as any setbacks. He has a fantastic work ethic, a quick wit, and it has been a pleasure working with him. AND my dog loves his Uncle Scott!

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1.  Scott Bookwalter was always very complete, organized and thorough from the initial interview and consult through job completion.  He came into the job after most excavation was done by owner/occupant, Plans and building permit were already acquired by  the owner.  Job time from November 2014 to beginning of April 2015.

2.  He was realistic and frank about the scope of his services, potential costs and schedule in a remodel.   

3.  He was very prompt on time every morning, missed only one day at the end of the project due to illness.  Very good for 6 months of my job. Good eye and standard for finish work in the kitchen cabinetry. 

4.  Had depth in resources, sub-contractors.  Most would comment,"you are lucky to have Scott on your job."  All trades from electrical, to plumbing and even deck coating were available.    The job was always moving forward. My wife definite noted progress every day arriving home after work.   All sub-contractors like professional, courteous and careful with our existing home and property as we were living in it during the work.  He had a jobsite workers' toilet, layed down carpet protector, cardboard to protect floors, drop cloths as necessary and so on to protect our things.

5.  Active on site for 6 months and just have the existing roof left to do.

6.  All work was at or below what I could find prices for.  His connections in the building trades were all top notch quality materials and skilled craftsmen. 

7.  Great help in advice, purpose and scope of all work done.  Well experienced with the right connections for my project.

8.  I had some materials acquired for the job and he and his sub-contractors were able to use most of the materials.

Scott was very reasonable and knowledgeable and quick. Given the short notice I gave, he found the time to quickly help and get the work done in an efficient manor. He brought in skilled subs to roof, side and wire this little project. His price was fair, and he kept an organized log of his time. I will gladly call him again if I need more work

fantastic experience

Scott was always extremely punctual and patient with our clueless questions about a remodeling project that in the end we could not afford.  When we asked him if he could do only the sub-floor of one room, he was happy to take the much smaller job, and promptly set up a date to begin work.  Working entirely on his own, he tore out the old rotting subfloor, disposed of it, built a new frame and sub-floor on top this, all in less than one week. 
His work is first-rate, the new floor is rock solid and even, and joins perfectly with the rest of the house.  He was always extremely professional, punctual, polite and frank in his answers.  He was extremely fastidious about cleaning up after his work, and left us a perfectly tidy workspace when he was done.  He also took notes and forwarded information about the floor to the people who installed the wooden flooring on top of his sub-floor.
There might be cheaper contractors our there besides Scott, but I can't imagine that they do work that is better or even on par what he did for us.  Everything about this project from scheduling to cleanup was head-ache free and exceeded all expectations.

Scott was really wonderful to work with: he was very willing to work within our budget, and to keep it in mind throughout the job, while providing us with top-quality construction and service. He helped us design the project, continually talking to us about our needs and ideas, and what was possible for that space. He was prompt, he organized the project to maximize subcontractor time on-site, he continually problem-solved access issues to our basement (and any other issue )with us daily, he was extremely neat and considerate, and cleaned the site well each day, All the subs he hired provided top notch work, and spoke highly of Scott. He is a master craftsman, and could expertly build as needed. As final proof, as we live in our new space, and had guests stay there for the holidays, we are appreciating how well-constructed each element is, how smoothly doors fit, how everything works so well and is so beautiful. Scott really worked to complete our project on-time, we were totally grateful he was able to finish before the holidays!
I would heartily recommend Scott for your next remodel.

We exhausted the first 12 months of our permit dithering with other contractors who promised to help but in the end were "too busy". We were unsure Scott would take us on after our first meeting, but notified us he could start the middle of Oct. about a month away. As I had already started the demolition of the interior of the upstairs pending a start by other contractors, I began again with the thought of about a weeks work to do before Scott arrived. Two days into the demo, on a Thursday, Scott calls to say he has a gap in his schedule and would be able to start next Tuesday. I finished bagging the last of the old insulation two hours after Scott showed up on that Tuesday morning. As I finished he asked me what I intended to do while the upstairs were being remodelled. Knowing how contractors felt about working for or with engineers, I told him to help when and if I could, but generally to stay out of the way, I was then appointed the contractor's gofer and spent most every day upstairs on the job site, cleaning, lifting, stacking, cleaning, and occassionally working as a sub-apprentice carpenter for the next six months.  
    The key elements of the project for us became heating and cleanliness.  The only entry to the upstairs was in the middle of the downstairs, which meant that all construction traffic came through the front door and living room.  Scott used several methods to reduce the dirt and dust, the most important being talking to his subs about the issue.  The heat issue was harder, since for about half the project the upstairs was open to the outside in winter.  Still Scott managed to seal off the entry well enough that the downstairs stayed comfortable throughout construction. 
    The measure of any contractor is the quality of his sub contractors.  Scott keeps a quality list of subs.  All that we worked with were concerned about their impact on our home, from cleanliness to where to place light switches.  I was impressed with everyone he brought into our home. 
    One thing that made Scott easy to work with, was the monthly billing and scheduling summaries he had with us.  In a project like ours it is easy to sight of budget and schedule.   Scott kept us involved so that we could do the shopping and choosing that we needed  to do for the overall project. 
    While Scott did have some definite opinions on how things should look, it was always the owners opinion that carried thes day, if it could be done.  Kay tells everyone, that no matter what the project having someone not part of your family in the house every day for six months is hard, with some people it would be impossible. Scott made it easy, by needing only a starter cup of coffee in the morning and a clean work place.  
    We have since hired Scott to do a major kitchen remodel for us and would hire him to do more if he hadn't become such a good friend.,

We had used Scott before when remodeling one of our basement rooms and we liked his work so much that he was the only contractor we considered for this job. Scott is extremely detail-oriented and has a lot of experience remodeling older homes. He is very professional and hires good subcontractors with lots of experience (I think his framers had over 100 years experience between the three of them). He was on the job site every day, either helping perform the work (such as framing or installing cabinets and banisters) or supervising the sub-contractors (electricians, plumbers, etc.). He was great about sticking to our budget and he negotiated costs down with his subcontractors on our behalf.

Construction began in late May and we were able to move back into the house by early December. There were a few unexpected delays early on (a buried septic tank had to be removed and a leaky sewer pipe had to be repaired), but the framers made up the lost time. Often there would be several subcontractors working at once (for example, the heating duct installers were working while the plumber was doing the rough in). The rainy summer also delayed getting our roof on but Scott made sure that the house was tarped every evening.

Scott was flexible about us painting the interior (we wanted to save money and we hadn't decided where the accent walls would be). He worked with us on a schedule that kept the project on track.

Scott is a great problem solver. We wanted to match the rounded window and door trim in the mostly unremodeled front part of the house with the new construction in the rest of the house. Scott and his drywaller came up with a great solution and all the new trim matches the look of the old.

We are very happy with Scott and recommend him without hesitation to all our friends and family. If we have another remodeling project we will definitely hire him again.

For photo documentation of the process see http://blog.eightfourfour.madeofmeat.org/844/.

The work went very quickly, surprising us when it was done in only two months. The quality of work was excellent. Scott Bookwalter is a solo contractor but has a long list of excellent sub-contractors that he uses. We were very pleased with his choice of subcontractors. He is obviously quite familiar with them and they all worked well together. Given that we have an older Seattle home (a 1926 Bungalow), there were some inevitable surprises encountered in the process of the tear off, usually relating to what previous owners had done. Scott was able to either anticipate these or simply deal with them as they arose, without any significant difficulty. Scott has been doing this sort of work for a long time and his breadth of experience reflects this. He takes great pride in his work. I highly recommend him and would be happy to use his services again.

This was the second project I had Scott do for me and it was done equally well.  Not only did he get started early (before I'd had a chance to clear out the garage) he did the aforementioned clearing for me.  The garage was in previously very poor shape, having been half-finished by the prior owners and badly in need of repair (the garage door, when opened, would fall off, for example).  As with the prior project, Scott worked quickly and kept me apprised of progress and any issues he encountered when they came up.  Rather than manage the garage door installation himself, he suggested that I could save some money by calling them directly, provided me their number and coordinated with them on the installation.  All in all, I'm very happy with the work as performed.

Scott remodeled a finished room in my basement from a spare bedroom into a den.  In the process he ran speaker wires, widened and installed a new closet door, recessed lighting, electrical, insulation and new drywall.  He also re-framed and replaced the old casement window. During the entire process he was very helpful, detailing any problems encountered along the way (it's an older house, some of the masonry walls weren't plumb, for example) and soliciting input where required.  He finished quickly and was consistently professional.

Scott detailed the problems with the initial installation, and described how his repair technique would prevent similar problems in the future. He also took the time to thoroughly inspect the area for any additional damage that may have resulted from the initial concern. The whole process, from quote to completion was very professional.

The project went really well. Scott was really patient during our initial meeting and project planning. He encouraged us to make a list of projects we wanted completed and the priority we felt each project had. He went through costs for the projects with us and we chose the work we wanted completed. He showed up between 8 am and 9 am each morning and always made sure to lay down drop cloths to help keep the mess to a minimum. The tile sub contractor did an amazing job and Scott kept things moving along nicely with all of the different people that participated in the projects (plumber, tiler, roofer, etc). My wife now has a finished bathroom and I have my weekends back.

Scott Bookwalter of Maple Leaf Construction was absolutely wonderful to work with from start to finish. Scott was attentive and responsive throughout the project and provided excellent feedback and updates. He carefully considered our proposed design and was able to suggest subtle modifications which improved and complemented the overall design. Scott was very flexible in giving us options for how much finishing work we would do on the project to reduce the overall cost. He provided a detailed estimate, itemized for each phase of the project, including possible overages for areas that would not be revealed until work began. Once he started work, we were amazed at the progress every day and the extra steps he took to reduce the impact on our house and life. We will not hesitate to contact Maple Leaf Construction again for any project.

I found Scott Bookwalter of Maple Leaf Construction on Angie's list. He was rated at the top of Angie's list and local to our home (bonus). We had several general contractors come out to give us a bid for the job, as anyone should do. Scott's bid pricing fell somewhere in the middle of the bids we received but we ended up hiring Scott from Maple Leaf Construction for several important reasons: 1) Scott was extremely detailed in his bid proposal. He was honest, up front, and provided "best case" and "worst case" scenarios for his bid. He worked with my wife and my busy work schedules and came out evenings and weekends to meet with us in person. He did not sit back and guess on his work. He rolled up his sleeves and got dirty in order to provide a detailed and educated bid. 2) Scott had the best interests of my family at heart when preparing the bid. He was the only one that showed genuine concern for providing a quality end product that would be both safe and would last us a long time. 3) He is extremely methodical, logical, and holistic in his thinking- He thought out the project from start to finish in detail, created timelines, and gave us options, ideas, and logical steps that we could consider with regard to our immediate needs (wall and deck) as well as our wishlist of other things we potentially wanted to have done with our house. Those items include a bedroom makeover and bathroom remodel (We hired him for this too! Review on that coming in a few weeks!) 4) He doesn't cut corners on his work. He takes pride in providing an end product that is precise, visually appealing, practical, and safe. 5) He has done work for our neighbor who has had Scott do work for her. She had nothing but great things to say about him and his work. References are good but references from real people you know are even better! The end product: We have a beautiful, well contructed deck that we can enjoy this summer and a new wall that is water and pest proof. We are extremely pleased with the workmanship and would highly recommend Scott from Maple Leaf Construction to anyone looking to have work done on their house. As mentioned, we are in the middle of a bathroom remodel and bedroom makeover that has gone amazingly well. We look forward to enjoying these in a few weeks!

Scott was fantastic. Very clean, professional, and bid about 10k less than another contractor we had take a look. He started when he said he was going to start, and set very reasonable expectations about how quickly the work would go, when we'd need to make a decision about xyz, etc. I'd absolutely work with Scott again, and have already started referring him to our friends.

This was a combination of a few large projects and many small projects, and the work began right before Christmas. Everything went very smoothly with few "bumps". Scott was always very careful about cleaning things up as much as possible at the end of each day. At the end of the project, I think my basement was cleaner than it was before the project began. He did a good job of setting my mind at ease - this was my first remodeling project, and I was a little bit nervous.

This project went pretty smoothly until unexpect new roof was required to protect the investment. Pillchuck Roofing suggested by Maple Leaf did oustanding timely work in replacing the roof. Owner did all the plumbing and electrical work, hired window installation, and contracted wood flooring and tile work separately and did all the painting. The rock fireplace wall provided by subcontractor Rawley, is inspirational.

Scott did an excellent job on the remodel. I showed him the designs we had put together for the space and he made a bid on the work - his bid was a little more than a competitors but I liked his attention to detail and decided to go with him. He was able to replicate what we wanted very well. The destruction work was remarkably neat and tidy. He also made some suggestions that greatly improved the look of the closet built into the gable room off the landing and was able to implement these on the fly. There was a miscommunication about the need for a door on the additional storage closet off the landing and he came up with one at very short notice. He also installed the wood sheeting in the attic space at short notice to help create floor space in there. He was accurate in his assessment of the time and cost and the only additional charges were for additional work that we decided on as we went along. He was there when he said he would be and communicated well. He subcontracted out the wallboard and mudding and that was well done. We would hire him again for additional work on our house.

We started remodeling a basement room to turn it into a home theater. When we got bogged down in the middle of the project, we hired Scott to finish the remodel for us. Scott gave us a detailed bid and was able to start work almost immediately (he had to wait until we completed some seismic retrofitting). He kept the process moving, hired and scheduled good subcontractors, and filled in the gaps between subcontractors with his own quality work. Scott is a creative problem solver and presented us with good suggestions at different stages of the project. We appreciated his attention to detail. The project came in significantly under budget from the original estimate. We definitely plan to hire Scott for any other remodeling projects we have.

I hired Scott after interviewing three contractors. One was referred to me quite some time ago -- I was given a final number, no breakdown and it was high. Second was someone from Angie's List -- he had a slightly more detailed quote but when asked for referrals, he refused to give me any until I signed a contract. Scott was happy to give me referrals, I called and received only very positive responses. Additionally, his estimate was much more specific so I could see how much he expected each aspect of the remodel to cost. I was perhaps a more unconventional customer, because I wanted to participate in the project, not only to keep the costs down but also to learn as we went along. I did a lot of the demolition work, added new insulation in the ceiling and walls and assembled all the kitchen cabinets. Scott was patient, provided lots of "teaching moments" and was always respectful of my budget. I'm so pleased with the results and grateful for the opportunity to work with him.

I was very impressed with how neat and tidy that he was. When he was done at the end of each day, he swept up all of the dust and all of his tools were in a small area all organized. I am very pleased with him. He was very straightforward and he was on time each day. His work was very good and he explained everything to me about the work he did.

I originally asked Scott to replace my basement stairs as they were unsafe. I liked his knowledge and experience and his ability to grasp the full scope of the problem. Then I added a remodel of the upstairs and replacing those stairs. I found him to be very thoughtful in his planning and care of my living spaces. His woodworking is impeccable, the stairs are perfect; solid in the construction. All in all the final product was better than I hoped for. While there were a few delays, nothing of significance, in general I found that Scott moved forward on the project pretty steadily. He used quality subs for the floors, electricity, roof and painting.

Scott is very competent and thorough. He reviewed the various options available to me, including doing the work myself or doing nothing. It might be possible to find someone to do such work at a lower cost, but you probably won't get the high quality work and sense of trust you get with Scott.