Kelmann Restoration

Kelmann Restoration not only did a superb job with remodeling the basement after the initial water damage from the fridge, but they also came to the rescue again because of another water incident the Friday before Christmas. Kevin arrived at our house very shortly after we called Kelmann, even though it was the end of the work day leading into the holiday weekend. He came well-equipped with 4 fans and a dehumidifier. Renee also came over to see if we needed anything else before she went home for the day. They were so helpful that evening and helped put my wife and I at ease, especially in time for the holidays. We are truly grateful for how quickly they responded to the crisis. I'd also like to specifically thank the members of the Kelmann team that helped us over the course of both restoration projects: Brian Focht, Kevin, Manny, Renee, Scott, Marcela, Joe, Franklin, and Kenny. They were really friendly and great to work with! Thank you guys again for such quality work and for being very reliable too! I recommend Kelmann for any restoration work and will absolutely refer them to family and friends.

They were a little slow on responsiveness to phone calls, there were quite a few issues after they had finished the restoration. The walls were scratched, outlet covers were not reinstalled, doors were not reinstalled, pool table was not set up the same as it had been taken down, baseboard trim, was not flush against the wall. This was all corrected, but I had to identify these issues and follow up repeatedly to get them corrected, where I would have expected them to identify and correct the issue, as they were acting as a general contractor.

I met some of the folks from Kelmann several years ago (Adam Nelson & Tom Kelly) and remember thinking they were nice guys, but I hoped I'd never need to do business with them. A few years and one forgotten candle later and I did. Everyone on their team that I've encountered has been courteous and very professional, including Joelle, Justin, Dan, Tammy, Maria & Marcella. The fire happened on a Sunday afternoon and their people made it to may house within a few hours to start setting up clean-up and repairs. Their full crew arrived early the next morning and after the first day, the smell of smoke was pretty much gone. The extent to which they are cleaning and repairing our home is beyond what we realized was needed or expected, but is greatly appreciated. It's a shame it takes a disaster (even a small one) in order to get the opportunity to business with such a great company.

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For some time I had noticed water seeping  into my basement and the cause wasn?t easily identified by my plumber. When the service sent in their A  team they found that everything from my upstairs bathroom was draining under the house--that old iron pipes were broken. My plumbing contractor suggested that I contact Kelmann Restoration to work with them on the massive problem.
Over a two month period of time my plumbing contractor (reviewed separately) working with Kelmann dealt with the problem sending in a series of specialist crews. Furniture was carefully removed. Since there is no basement under the affected room the floor was removed, the broken pipes and contaminated earth were removed, gravel was laid, and air was sanitized. Every morning a project manager arrived ahead of the crew to explain the project phase and introduce me to new crew members.
The project manager also kept in touch with me by phone and email.  Kelmann subcontracted the construction and finishing of a new floor which went well. They also dealt with the insurance company who had agreed to cover the Kelmann work. Finally Kelmann sent in a cleaning crew who also returned the furniture to the room.
 Each of the Kelmann staff was professional, helpful, and an integral part of an impressive team.

I described my attic mold and water dripping problem over the phone to Mr. Kelmann. He is an expert in this field and immediately asked pertinent questions to diagnose the possible causes of my problems. Mr. Kelmann was courteous, knowledgeable and immensely helpful. Based on his experience, we do not believe this will be covered by my insurance.
i received his expert opinion about the causes of my problem, advice to reduce continuing condensation and mitigate the problems immediately. He recommended services and companies closer to my location to provide professional help. He also advised me about potential costs and alternatives. This was all by telephone. 
Based on Mr. Kelmann's advice, I have contacted my gas and electric company to look into a Focus on Energy inspection of the attic in order to discover all sources of extra condensation.
Finally, Mr. Kelmann CALLED ME BACK the next morning! asked additional questions! and advised me to turn my humidifier off right away.  And he explained the effect of too much humidity super-charging into the attic. 
This service was free of charge by a company concerned to solve my problem, not just make a profit. I am impressed by the professionalism, excellent communication skills! and expertise provided to me.

When we discovered that what looked like a small leak in our master bath shower was in fact sending pouring rain down into the room below, we had someone open up the drywall in the ceiling below to see what the damage was.  That person looked in the ceiling, got off his ladder and said "I'm outta here.  Call your insurance company.  You need mold and water remediation. NOW!"  So we did, and thankfully, our insurance adjuster told us there was just one company she would call about something like this, Kelmann Corporation.
From the first phone call to Kelmann I went from shell shocked to relieved. Within 45 minutes workers from Kelmann arrived in droves bearing all sorts of equipment for water removal, mold remediation and containment and everything associated with it.  They hauled out the soggy, moldy insulation right away, and set up these Hepa filtered air cleaners in the downstairs room and our master bath.  they built a plastic wall around the shower stall to contain any mold spores from getting out into our living area. They removed the moldy carpet from the lower level.  Most amazing to us was that they stopped to explain every last thing they were going to do before they did it, so that we would understand the process.  They first lay down protective drop cloths along any pathway in the house so that they would not damage our floors or carpet.  They even pet our dog when she greeted every one of them like a long lost member of the family.   All this was in the first 2 hours of calling Kelmann.
In the days and weeks that followed, someone was at our home just about every day. We were given the job boss's card and cell phone number to call anytime.  The machines need to run a certain amount of time until the moisture and mold are out of the air.  they took readings.  They brought different machines.  They communicated with us daily.
When all the readings were at the normal levels then we talked about the next steps of reconstruction.  At that point the insurance company gave us the option to use any general contractor to do the rebuilding and re-tiling.  We were very happy to stick with Kelmann.
Kelmann Corp is a very class operation.  They have employees who care about the client and the finished project.  We never saw an employee with a bad attitude, and we saw dozens of their employees thru this whole project.  They subcontracted the tile work to DragonFly Tile and they did a fabulous job on our tile (we had no idea who to call, because our whole problem was the result of a bad tile job done when the house was built).  The drywall patches are virtually undetecable.   Our bathroom looks like a brand new, beautiful bathroom, and we owe it all to Kelmann.
This project took almost three months to complete, and some of that time was because we were waiting on tile to arrive, and some other scheduling issues.  A good deal of the work was done while we were out of state for 6 weeks.  Kelmann had a lock box on our home, and they had complete access to the house.  I never once worried about the security issues or "valuables" in the house.  The employees we saw were professionals, and not a thing was out of place when we returned.  I trusted them completely.
All in all, I think we were lucky for the recommendation of Kelmann Corp, and think anyone would be pleased with their work and experience.

Everything went well. I'd use them again. (I find the 2 boxed areas to write about my experience to be about the same -- why the 2 boxes?)

Kelmann was contracted by our insurance company for both emergency mitigation and restoration project. Kelmann was very responsive when during the emergency mitigation, starting the drying out of the house the same day they were contracted. Their staff was professional and courteous at this stage of the project. At the time we were moving out for the first week we were informed that the entire project should take approximately a month and we were relieved to know we would have our home back and in the same shape as it had been prior to the damage so quickly and efficiently. We were allowed back into our home about 5 days later and were told we would be contacted soon about the restoration projects. 8 weeks later none of the projects had even started and several areas of my home had been extensively damaged by the staff during the mitigation. Admittedly about one week of that had been delays in approval from my insurance company over concerns about double billing on cleaning jobs listed in the estimate, but when I contacted them after two more weeks I was informed that they were aware as a company that they had "dropped the ball" on my case and they would make everything right as quickly as possible when I got return calls at all. Finally after two months I called extremely frustrated by the lack of progress and contact from their staff and was informed that they were too busy to meet my time line expectations and would no longer be completing any of the work. I have tried to get answers about them repairing the damage they caused during mitigation, including a large gouge in my hardwood floors, but have not been contacted in return about my "warranty file" and now will likely have to contact legal representation to be made whole.

Estimate came in right on what we received from insurance. They read insurance inspector's report (after the estimate was given) and followed directions from there. Moved things in the basement, knocked out one wall of panel and removed. Came right on time. Three people, very careful about keeping upstairs clean and also very accomodating as we have several pets that were curious about what was going on...made sure the basement door was closed. Company inspector came at the end and made some suggestions, then made sure we were happy with the work. Brought boxes that got wet with various items in them and put these into the garage so we could go through and decide what to keep. Work went well and not as overwhelming as I expected.

Once all the logistics were worked out with the Insurance Appraiser, the progressed smoothly. The subcontracted mason Scott did a great job reattaching all the damaged brick. Kelmann then handled all the flashing, gutter, roofing issues and fixed the interior to brand new. Wife and I were very pleased.

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