First Choice Carpentry Inc

This went very well.

EXCELLENT!!!!

They did really good work.

We moved into this new home and realized that a porch would make a great addition to the property. Max was very thorough in guiding us through the whole process and helped to make the initial design phase painless. He thought and pointed out items that we could not have anticipated at such an early stage. Once the building got under way, John and his team were very punctual and professional throughout the job. John was on site most days and kept me informed about the progress and movement of the staff. This was a tough time to be working outside as it happened to be during the two snow falls and of course the floods we experienced in December 2010 and not to mention the holidays that fell into this time period. Even so, the work site was always left neat and tidy and we were even able to use the space to do some BBQs during this time. During construction John made suggestions to further improve the design which brought us the advantage of additional privacy from the neighbors. We are very happy with quality of the work that was done and would definitely recommend First Choice Carpentry to our neighbors and friends!

Weather was Pac NW weather--much rain. Regardless, the crew worked throughout to complete the deck and got drenched at times. There was a light delay after demo of the existing deck and placement of railings for the new deck material to be delivered but that was acceptable. (I wasn't going to use the deck in that weather anyway!) The only complaint that I have is that one or two days when I expected someone to show, they did not. But that is a minor complaint. My new deck is beautiful and even smells wonderful. I am very pleased with the work done and would call them again with another project. Thank you, First Choice!

First and foremost, the craftsmanship on this job was excellent. Bill, the lead framer, is really exceptional in his field -- just watching him work was inspiring for a DIY like myself. All of the mitered corners are crisp, and every cut looks like it was done by a machine. All of the nail holes in the trim are filled, and the cedar shakes are absolutely stunning. They never scrimped on materials, using plywood instead of OSB, 5/4 trim, and high-end paints and sealers. Everyone who has looked at the house is impressed with the quality of the work. Additionally, First Choice took great pains to work around our life. I run a small business out of my garage, and they were able to work with me to move my shelving and tools around so they could do the massive job of putting in 6 22' LVL beams. They even dropped one in from the top of the roof -- not an easy task. I handled the electrical side of things, so they even bored some access holes for me to run wiring through. They also were able to accommodate numerous changes (add a secondary slab for a step, install a new front door, etc.) without adding a lot to the cost of the project. Max made numerous trips to our house to bring by materials for us to look at and select from, including making two trips just for stone samples. There were a few communication hiccups -- a couple of times we needed to scramble, especially on the custom brackets on the front of our house, but this was mostly due to a slow response from the architect on the job. Additionally, we had a few discussions over what should / should not have been included in the original contract, as I believe First Choice somewhat underbid the garage job for the amount of work it ended up being. However, these were negotiated to a reasonable compromise, and I feel good about what we paid for the quality of work that was done. We have another phase of this project (back of the house!) already bid by First Choice for when we have the budget to kick them off. I plan on going with them to do it, and I would highly recommend First Choice to anyone either building a new house or remodeling -- you won't regret it.

Max and Ron came and planned our project with us. At first we were considering building an addition onto the house, but in the end decided that would cost too much. We definitely needed a new roof and double paned windows. We also knew that with the new roof we'd be putting in skylights. Max told us about the solar tubes and we decided to go with 2 of them (1 in the guest bath, 1 at the end of the upstairs hallway). The dumpster arrived on Monday of the first week. On Tuesday the roofing team (John C, John John and Martin) came first and ripped off the old roof, framed in the skylights and solar tubes. Then the new roof went on. We got rid of the 14 year old shake roof and upgraded to a lifetime guarantee, green composite roof. All the old roof went into the dumpster and by Friday the new roof was on and looking beautiful. In the process, John C found some dry rot near our chimney. He was able to repair the damage and The second week, the windows team (Christian and Justin) arrived and the old brown aluminum single paned windows started to come out. One by one they were replaced with double paned Ply Gem vinyl windows. Christian and Justin didn't implode the windows; they cut around the old ones and removed them and then slide the new ones into the hole. Then the pieces they cut out when back in. The cuts had to be covered by window trim which we had not had before. We decided to stain the trim for the windows ourselves and did so on Wednesday and Thursday of the second week. Then that trim was used to finish the newly installed windows. Window (12 windows), sliding doors (2), skylights (4 in cathedral ceiling, one replacing lighted ceiling fan in a bedroom)), and solar tubes (2) went on for three weeks. The gutters came off in the middle of this so that they could go into the recycle pile with the old windows. The exhaust fan was also installed in the master bathroom along with an extra set of outlets midway through the window/skylight process. When they had questions, Christian and Justin were professional and courteous and not afraid to ask rather than guess. After window, skylights, and roof were complete they re-roofed the shed to match the house with the product we had left from the house. Another company then came in and stained and painted the house. We would have had FCC do it, but they don't currently do painting. So two weeks after completing the main part of the job, our new gutters came and took half a day to install. We had ordered a leaf guard attachment, but it didn't come in so the job had to be completed the following week, but that took less than two hours. We looked at rain chain sample pictures and chose the one we wanted near the end of the fourth week. The rain chain was installed by Michael in September. After the roof and windows went in, but before the gutters, we had those 100 degree days and the house no longer got that hot, reaching only 74 degrees at the end of the day rather than 86 to 90. Now that the days are cooler, the house stays warmer and is quieter; we hear less car noise and outside noise with both the new roof and windows. Not one of the windows, skylights, or solar tubes has leaked and all provide spectacular light in the house. With the new window trim, our house looks great. John C and Max were excellent at checking in with us and managing the project overall. They and their teams did spectacular jobs. We'd known that John C was very quality conscious; he put our upper back deck on several years ago and we were very happy with his work then. We are no less happy now, and First Choice Carpentry continues to deliver high quality work at a reasonable cost.

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The crew did an excellent job on the fence. It was done quickly and professionally, including perfect cleanup of the job site and removal of all the old fencing. I will definitely hire them again for future fence repair/replacement and will consider them for all my home renovation work.

Our old upper deck was not built to code (it came with the house that way) and the planking was rotting. John gave us a great quote, came with his team on time, demoed the old porch, built the new porch, and cleaned up when done. The new deck has Trex planking and the railing is built to code. John and his team did great work and we're very happy with our new deck.

They charged by the hour plus the cost of materials. The weather was starting to get bad and they came and worked in the rain and the cold. Their main carpenter was working here. It was nasty weather and he kept working chiseling away. We liked what they did and they came and worked diligently. They finished the job as soon as they could. We said that we would finish the touch up painting because it was too cold. They gave us some good advice about doing that. John the owner and the carpenter fixed any problems that they ran into. The price was fair.

I am very happy with the work done.

Excellent, outstanding, professional. A+++!

We negotiated to a contract which clearly described the work to be done and the price. First Choice estimated that the work would take three to four weeks. They completed it in a little over two weeks. The quality of the work seems to be very good, and very thorough. John, Max, and Christian were all pleasant to deal with, very positive and good humored.

Our deck was old, too small and in bad shape. We also had a huge (think 1/2 basketball court) concrete slab which had become cracked and buckled from tree roots over the years. John and his brother Max and their crew completely busted up and hauled away the slab. They demolished the old deck. And built a new deck. (We're doing the final paint touch up and railing staining). It's beautiful!. We're thrilled. We wanted an outdoor space that we could enjoy and share with family and guests. The Capestany's were delightful to work with and their crew was great; from first call for a bid to the final walk-thru. This group had a terrific work attitude and ethic and a great pride in their craftsmanship. Even the pooch loved them. This deck is going to last for decades. Now we have to figure out what to do with the rest of the landscaping....

The bid process was extensive and thorough. Scheduling was flexible and the team was very professional. The project took longer than expected due to damage being more extensive than known. Craftsmanship was excellent. We definitely recommend First Choice, and will be using them for future projects.

We had heard First Choice was a quality operation, so we asked them to bid out our window replacement project so we could upgrade our house and take advantage of the Energy Tax Credit Rebate. They came in with a reasonable bid, so we signed the contract. They arrived on the launch date, and prepped the site, removing siding and getting ready for the window install. The window manufacturer (Ply Gem) ended up being a day late on delivery, so the first day was a prep. The job lasted 3 days, with quality new construction installation and John Capistani (the owner) even went above and beyond the contract by replacing interior window sills that had accumulated water damage. He is not a man to have a finished product that doesn't look top notch. Wrap up was solid, with additional siding replacement (again a John add on to tighten up the exterior presence). They even found someone to recycle our old aluminum windows as we are very green conscience people so they wouldn't go into a landfill. All in all, if you are looking for a contractor to conduct any type of improvements, additions, repairs, or new construction, I would recommend these guys. The whole crew is professional with decades of experience.

The person doing the job does amazing work.

He did a great job. The work was very professional. He was a perfectionist, and helped me with the design work. I couldn't be more pleased, and would definitely use him again.