This was our first experience with any general contractor for an interior home improvement project. We met with three general contractors in preparation for the project before selecting Spencer Home Solutions, and our experience with Dan and his team was fantastic!
Dan was able to come to our house to discuss the project and design ideas within a few days of our initial contact and was extremely thorough in his analysis of what would be feasible given the original construction of our firebox and within our general project parameters, much more so than other contractors we contacted. Dan is VERY detail-oriented! It took a little less than a week to get Dan’s first project proposal. The proposal was detailed, and itemized by project component (i.e., demo, tile and hearth installation, drywall, firebox electrical, mantle, carpet, etc.). Dan was upfront about us having complete control about what work we’d like him to do vs. what we’d like to do ourselves. For example, we indicated that we’d like to do our own painting and trim, and would handle carpet outside of the project scope. We changed our design 3-4 times prior to executing the final contract, and Dan was very patient with us each time. The only reason we rated Responsiveness a “B” instead of “A”, was that it took a little longer than we hoped to get the final proposal numbers – we were eager, but he was understandably busy with other projects. Thankfully, he was great about putting our project on his calendar while he finalized the numbers so that our proposed start date would not be delayed.
Dan was great about setting expectations, from project duration, to when the ‘loudest’ days would be – key information for a family with 3 young kids! Our family room sits just opposite our kitchen, and Dan did a great job of curtaining off the project area and directing dust/debris out the window – there was very little dust to be cleaned off our counter tops, even after significant brick demo. After the first day – no additional clean up was necessary.
We encountered one hiccup in the project – we made a last-minute change to the hearthstones we selected and purchased independently for the project. Unbeknownst to us, if the installation had proceeded as originally planned (placing the hearthstones on top of the original brick hearth), the gas fireplace insert we purchased/installed through a local retailer would not have fit! Thankfully, Dan double-checked all the specs prior to the installation of the new surround materials and we made a last minute design change to demo the entire brick hearth and place our new stones directly on the sub-floor. Great catch – that could have been painful, and it still turned out gorgeous!
We LOVE the result of the project, which took about 5 days, and have received many compliments on the fireplace surround. Dan and his team will definitely be our trusted go-to contractor for any future projects we might have. Highly recommended!!