HART OF THE NORTHWEST

Before we found Byron we had to fire two contractors on a major master bedroom and bathroom remodel in early 2006. The first contractor simply never showed up again after the first day of work tearing out a deck; his contract meant nothing to him. The second was totally incompetent. Byron then took over and was fabulous. The project required a couple of months of almost full time work, and all work was done on time and on budget. We combined two bedrooms into one master plus a large walk-in closet and a large master bath. A guest bath got a minor remodel. This required moving walls, including load-bearing walls. There were new Pella windows to install, a lot of bathroom tile, plumbing, and electrical work, and new hardwood floors to be laid in the remodeled rooms and on a set of stairs. We feel his price of $120K (grand total for all labor and materials) was a fair price for what was done. The work was excellent quality and there hasn't been a single problem in the years since completion. He was a pleasure to work with. He was our point of contact for all of the subcontractors, and all of their work also went smoothly. Since the first remodel, we have used Byron again for lesser jobs such as a new front door installation, and plan to use him again for some exterior work before repainting the house in the near future. We highly recommend Byron. He is worth the wait to fit you into his schedule.

Bryan stuck to the schedule, did the work necessary to keep the other contactors (plumbers, tilers) on schedule. He called when he was going to be late and let me know ahead of time what days he was going to be working. His bid was for one visit to repair drywall, but because the granite installers damaged the walls in the master (that the drywallers had repaired/prepped after demo) and we had more extensive work done in the hall bath, they came back for a 2nd day of repairs - and I also had them repair numerous nail pops and cracks throughout the house. Bryan asked for 30% at the start of the job, 30% after the master bath was completed and the remainder was not paid until all work was completed. Kevin Pattillo, the plumber was great - he used copper pipe, discussed where the new shower plumbing should go and made a change to the tub plumbing when I had concerns about placement. He made sure the plumbing for the master tub was done correctly by double checking the fixtures in the garage so there were no unpleasant suprises when the tub as brought in and installed.

Bryon was to replace the siding on two sides of the house and install new windows. Once the siding was taken off, he discovered that I had a single-wall-construction house, he removed all the siding on the south side of the house, and put up plywood sheeting before re-siding. However, there were a number of issues along the way, some resolved to my satisfaction, and some not which has warranted his "fair" rating above. I had engaged Bryon on a time & materials basis-this was a verbal agreement, no contract was in place. The primary issues were: 1) He took on my job knowing that he had a hard-stop, at which point I would no longer have access to him. He did provide a very good sub, however, this stretched the schedule over the course of several months rather than over the course of a few weeks (I had a hard-stop too). About 25% of the time no one showed up when scheduled-he exhibited no sense of urgency in finishing my job taking vacations and holidays as if he had not made a commitment. And in fact, I did miss my window of opportunity with another contractor because of the schedule slip. None of the finish work on my initial list was done; I came home one day, and without notice he had removed all of his equipment and all of my remaining (and paid-for) materials from the site, leaving nothing but a trail of sawdust and nails behind. I ended up having to find another contractor to finish his work. 2) Though visually beautiful, the quality of some of the work was very average to poor. He ran siding all the way to the cement, causing water to leach up the side of the house; he didn't support the threshold to the garage, causing instability in the framing as well as a trip hazard; when putting the shakes on the garage, he didn't pound down the nails which stick out dangerously into a much-used work area; and, most egregiously, he did not seal the windows. I discovered this when the painter pressure washed the house-they leaked like a funnel, I had cascades of water all over my light carpet and laminate flooring. All of these issues were communicated to him in writing, but he made no effort nor showed any interest in fixing them nor reimbursing me for the expense I incurred to have another contractor fix them. 3) My expectation was that I would receive copies of invoices for the materials and he promised them to me, in writing, several times over the course of the year. Ultimately, he was either unable or unwilling to provide them. In fact, he just recently told me that he charged me a 15% markup on all my materials. This markup was not communicated to me at the time the work was done and was not divulged until I told him that I would not be making final payment until I got the long-promised invoices (I had withheld 10%, the tax on the last invoice, as leverage to get the invoices). While a markup is not unusual, the fact that it took him over a year to divulge it is.