G W ANDRLE & ASSOC

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We found Gerry at the local home show. He had a lot of pictures of modest additions on modest houses, which seemed to fit our planned project well. We quoted a few other contractors, but one wanted to add a $100,000 addition to our <$200k house. Waunakee Remodeling was more reasonable, but Gerry was still ~10k less. The work was started on time and progressed well until walls and roof were up. Then things slowed a bit. People tell me this is common since contractors want to get as much outside stuff done on other jobs before the weather turns, but it is still hard when all you need is a few trim pieces put in to finish it and it takes a couple of weeks! Adam, of Adam's Remodeling was his choice for foreman and also main worker. He was great, did good work, and was accommodating, as my family was still living in the house during construction. The plumber managed to break something every time he was at the house. The electricians were Dale and Chad from Mr. Sparky, and were pretty good. Gerry says he does design as well, but we found that the design of the structure and tying into the existing house was about as far as that went. We could have used a lot more design assistance on layout and finishing of the interior, but we did not hire a designer and feel we made acceptable decisions. He kept to the contract fairly well, and with prompting, kept the contract updated as we changed plans. Generally the work done was decent quality, with a few issues on final dry-wall repairs in the kitchen and pretty rough paint work. Planning/interface between the cabinet manufacturers and Gerry was also a little less than ideal, but it all got installed in the end. We negotiated a bit on the final payment and ultimately concluded our business. There were a number of small details that I was not 100% pleased with (duct work planning, cabinet door alignment, drywall, paint, protecting existing floors), but my father-in-law asked the most pertinent question. "Were the problems worth the $10k you saved?" And you know what, they were. I probably wouldn't select Gerry again, but we got a really nice average space on our very average house, and we got it at a good price.