Sparks Construction

Description of Work: No garage has been built yet. The $12,000 figure is my target amount. I am in preliminary discussions with the owner of Sparks Construction to build me a garage this summer (2014). We discussed size of the two and one half garage, number of windows, size of garage door, style of garage, number of regular doors (2) and location. Mr. Sparks recommended it be placed farther away from the house so that snow plows in future years can clear the driveway and plow the snow to either side of the garage. This winter Land O'Lakes has received over 110 inches of snow. So what is next. I asked Mr. Sparks if the project can be done for about $12,000. He is currently working on the estimate. This contractor has already done 1 major project and 3 smaller ones for me over the past 18 months. Ist he built me a 1342 square foot vacation home for only slightly over his estimate of $150,000. He also rebuilt a poorly constructed shed, built me a wood shed (12 ' by 12') and added a board walk from my front stoop to my driveway. He has a wealth of information about other local area contractors and has steered me to others. I highly recommend this builder.

Description of Work: For the last 2 years my wife and I had been looking for a home builder in Vilas County Wisconsin (near the upper peninsula of Michigan) to build us a summer home in Land O'Lakes Wisconsin on 14 acres of mostly wooded property we own. We contacted a lot of various builders and contractors and asked if they could build us a home for approximately $150,000. Most of their estimates were considerably higher than this figure or they said it could not be done. Many Vilas County custom builders such as Wausau Homes, Dickinson Homes and Cornerstone Builders (located in Eagle River Wisconsin) had their own home models that did not fit our desires for a small inexpensive summer home. In the summer of 2012, we obtained architectual plans from an engineering firm in Eagle River Wisconsin for a 1348 square foot home with a full basement. We then obtained written estimates from two different licensed contractors. The lowest estimate $149,140 was submitted by Mr. Jerry Sparks, owner of Sparks Construction. We were very pleased to find out that Mr. Sparks understood our desire to build a livable and modest custom home that did NOT entail expensive materials and features. Mr. Sparks was also highly recommended by a neighbor and by our attorney. Mr Sparks bid included the details of the subcontractors' bids (site excavation, cement/basement, septic system, well, plumbing, heating, flooring, appliances, wood burning stove) plus his own labor and house construction materials. We signed the contract with him on July 28, 2012 with a start date of August 15 2012 and an expected completion date of May 1, 2013. The whole construction effort was an amazing experience. Mr. Sparks encouraged my wife and I to be present for much of the excavation and building. He provided invaluable advice throughout. He urged me to remove more trees than I originally planned. I soon saw the value of this advice both when the water well was dug and the septic system dug and the drain field installed. Also all the excavated earth for the basement had to be put some where and the additional space created by the trees removed was important. The subcontractor that did the excavating left 2 large piles of tree trunks (Birch, Pine and Aspen) for me to cut into fire wood. The equipment that removed the earth was as big as a tank and probably would have crushed tree roots close to the house. Since I have 14 acres of woods and bog, I still have plenty of woods around my home. So approximately twice a month from August 2012 to March 2013, I drove from my home in Chicago Illinois to see the progress and take pictures of the various stages of construction. My wife or I met with most of the subcontractors either during the construction process or before to make decisions about exactly what we wanted. We bought cabinets from a nearby big box store. We purchased the various types of flooring and wall panneling from two local subcontractors and bought out appliances from a nearby appliance store. Throughout the building project, Mr Sparks provided additional advice or asked relevant questions about the effort. Here is an example of his excellent advice. There was a small space (about 24 inches deep) between the tub in one bathroom and the "great room" wall outside the bathroom. Our architect recommended we just have deep shelves put in the bathroom in this space. Mr. Sparks recommended that he build a recessed book or display shelf on the wall of the "great room" that occupied most of this hard to reach bathroom space. The book shelf is removable so that the bath tub plumbing can be accessed. Most of our friends who have seen pictures of this wall and shelf have been impressed. Some of the reasons the final price of the construction exceeded the estimate were unavoidable. The well cost an additional $500 over the estimate because the well drilling went to a depth of 80 feet and the estimate was for a 50 feet deep well. We also upgraded some of the plumbing fixtures, electrical work, flooring materials, wood burning stove sub floor and painting supplies and labor. The house is now expected to be finished on April 3, 2013 and is expected to cost $151,000. Note we also spent an additional $3,000 to cover two additional non- house construction expenses: 1. the purchasing an LP tank and connecting it to the house (about $1500) and 2. the cost in labor and materials of rebuilding a poorly built shed and extra materials for the shed($1500). Mr. Sparks contacted the subcontractors throughout the project and coordinated their dates of work. The plumbing subcontractor for instance has been present approximately 6 to 7 times to perform various stages of installation. Similarly the electrical subcontractor has been at the site 5 to 6 times and the flooring subcontractor 3 times. The woodburning stove subcontractor installed the ceiling connections and chimney in November 2012 and installed the final stove on March 27, 2013. The final building inspection with the Vilas County building inspector will occur later in April 2013. To all the various builders in Vilas County Wisconsin who told me it couldn't be done, I say you were wrong. We ended up with a beautiful modest sized 2nd home for about $115 per square feet.