CJ's Builder Assist Services

In the begining I made sure he knew I was on a strict budget and wanted an accurate estimate, that I was willing to defray some costs by assisting where I could and that I would do all the finish work, staining, painting, interior trim, calking. He said he enjoyed working with homeowners and that would not be a problem. In the begining I wanted the enclosed patio to be a laundry room, so we calculated that into the estimate, he was about 3k under the closest bid. When we started everything was great, I took the week off and we accomplished a lot, deffinately a skilled framer and has the ability to develop plans and work with the local inspectors. We had to adjust as we went based on the origional plans and he demonstrated the ability to work out issues well. As we got into the project problems began to pop up, he underestimated the sf of the roof by 50%! This meant additional cost for roofing as well as the roofer changing his bid, next pieces of trim where not ordered and the siding he origionally ordered was too short, had to reorder. when placing beams he drilled holes and asked me to drive bolts while he drilled additional holes, ended up spliting beam because holes where not straight, solution, live with split beam and just don't use second bolt. As we got to working on laundry room we were so far over budget I told him I was not going to enclose room and just go with roof, he rework bid to be just slightly over budget so we proceeded. When I remeasures and realized appliances would not fit I changed plan to pantry instead, as well he forgot to bid isulation, foam insulation and the cost of the sheetrock into the pantry bid so more over run on cost. Now it seemed he just wanted to be done and gone. As we got to finishing pantry he said dry wall wasn't his thing and I should go through one of his subs at additional cost. He bid drywall so I wasn't paying more. The day we did dry wall I walked him on the job as I didn't have a good feeling. The hole he cut for the pocked beam was a bit less than an inch too wide and the siding on the back side behind the deck was 2 inched too short so bugs and rodents had access to the inside uunder the pantry floor. His response was "that should be easy for you to fix" and tossed out a few suggestions between telling me he had to knock out the rest as he had another job brewing he had to bid. Then he brought to my attention that he had worked over the bid hours on the pantry and I owed him money and the more he worked on it the more I would owe, I reminded him of the bid and he said it was just a guideline and I should always expect a possible 10% cost over run. The next 3 hours were h***, listening to him b**** and complain about doing sheet rock, that it wasn't his thing, and that he sucked at taping and he would "walk me through how to do it as he didn't have time" (this was all he had left on the job) He patched the ceiling with small pieces of rock and finally I just told him I would finish and he should go (but not until he settled up for all his over runs and underbids)Reslts; skilled framer but relies on subs for anything not related to wood.Slider that he installed now sticks and does not close properly.I fixed gaps in pocket beam and siding (took me and hour)Had to hire a taper who did a smooth wall to save me money (couldn't believe the ceiling)Costs over ran by almost 1000.00 on a 5500.00 bidI wish he would have done an accurate bid so I could have chosen what I wanted to do rather than realing me in with an under bid and reminding me daily that he wasn't making any money on this and expected a good angies review for his trouble, well here it is!It's too bad bad because what he knows he does well and should be honest with what he can and can't do.

I met C J off Angies List in 2009. I was impressed with his skills with all facits of building and remodeling. In all my projects since that time he has been invaluable. He and his crew have helped me complete several projects or did them himself without my oversight, even when I snowbirded to Arizona over the Winter. He is in demand by many others but is always willing do what he can to schedule some time.

We had used CJ for some smaller projects earlier this year, and it worked out very well. We then gave him a bigger project -- converting our garage into an apartment. The garage was literally falling apart, with walls that had broken off the foundations, windows smashed out, ceiling joists missing, etc. CJ took care of everything. He framed new walls, fixed the foundation, installed a cathedral ceiling, put in new doors and windows, dug trenches for new plumbing connections, and much more. CJ was very helpful in determining what parts of the structure could be saved, which kept our costs down. And he was very agreeable about letting us handle some parts of the project on our own, which also saved us money. Through the whole process, CJ kept us informed about timing and budget, and was easy to work with. We're already thinking about some new projects down the line (boy I'd love to add a 2nd story to the house!), and CJ will be the first person we call.

Project went well.

He arrived on time and was very knowledgeable. I was very satisfied and the patio is now beautiful.

Found CJ on Angie's list and gave him a small project to test him out. Our carport was falling apart, and a few sections needed to be reframed and reroofed. The existing structure is about 80 years old, and had been added on to haphazardly over the years. So there were alot of weird angles and odd connections that had to be worked around. CJ came through beautifully. His framing skills are flawless. At every step, he thought about how to tie-in to the existing structure in ways that allowed us to rebuild only a few small sections, which saved us alot of money in labor and materials. The process went very smoothly, and we are very happy with the results.

Based on this positive experience with the carport, we then hired CJ to oversee some drainage issues. He built exterior French Drains along two sides of our house, and routed all the water to a new dry well. This involved alot of excavation, lots of new perforated pipe, and lots of gravel. It was a messy job, in less than ideal weather, but CJ got it done quickly and efficiently. Best of all, we now have a dry basement!

For both projects, CJ worked independently when we needed him to, and alongside us when we wanted to be part of the process. We found him to be easy to deal with, very honest, and very reliable.

Next up.... we're hiring CJ to convert our garage into a small apartment. Should be fun.

As planned.

I appreciated his thoroughness. We are both like-minded, being perfectionists. His choice in helpers was great as well. No one seemed to stand around not having something to do. Overall, it's been a great experience working with him.

It went very well except they didn't put up the down spouts like they said they would, so I had to put them up. One lag bolt was not put in and another lag bolt was not put in like I wanted.

The carport went great, more than the estimate but a few things were changed mid-stream. Overall very happy end result and price. The door took a while to get scheduled but we weren't in a hurry. Again the price was a bit more than the estimate but price was still very reasonable and the door looks great.

CJ provides advice and help, as well as performing general remodeling. He's great for the eperson who wants to do some of the work in a remodel to get some sweet equity. I will be paying him more money, but the amount so far is $2000.