Rockville Kitchen And Bath Remodelers

"I am writing this to assist others who are new to home remodeling and contractor selection. I hope you find this helpful in your decision-making.
remodeled my outdated kitchen recently, and they were able to transition my home from a 1970s retro-tacky harvest embarrassment to a gorgeous up-to-date space WITHIN the confines ...more of my budget – no small feat. When I began planning for the project, I had (as instructed by company president

before our first visit) gathered pictures and images of my dream design, and I had gone to home improvement stores to find samples of finishes I wanted to use. I’ll admit I had champagne tastes nurtured by the HGTV sites I had been scouring! Upon our first meeting, however,

did something that won his company my business – he was able to give me an estimated cost ON THE SPOT, he helped me fine-tune my budget explaining the costs of all aspects of the project, then he showed me how to stay WITHIN my budget while still achieving the look and feel I wanted! He kindly and respectfully educated me on the process of construction as no other contractors had taken the time to do. The people I had met with before

either didn’t show up or never got back to me with a bid, or they tried to convince me to exceed my budget before we even started.

and

were different.
Now I will say this –

doesn’t pull

or sugarcoat things, and I could see the Marine Corps training behind his upfront approach (I’m a former military officer), but that training clearly is what keeps his crews on track and professional. All the guys knew their jobs and were efficient, careful of my things, respectful, polite, and even nice to my dogs! They seemed to realize how disruptive a kitchen makeover could be so they put one of my old cabinets and piece of countertop in the family room to make me a temporary station for my microwave and coffeemaker! A small gesture, I know, but characteristic of their attention to my needs.

, the project manager, was perhaps one of the calmest, nicest people I’ve met and was a great counterbalance to

’s no nonsense approach - I think they’ve got the good cop/bad cop thing perfected! The project moved along quickly and probably would have finished exactly on time, but one of the fixtures I wanted was discontinued so we had to re-order something different which took a little extra time.
The kitchen, when finished, was beautiful and looked really high-end! My friends thought I had stuck with my expensive tastes and blew out my budget! That made me very happy and proud to have guests for dinner once again where the main topic of conversation will NO LONGER be my

Bunch kitchen. As

said at our first meeting, “We’re not the cheapest guys, and we’re not the most expensive either, but we’re the RIGHT guys!” I know that this is true, and I’ve learned through discussions with friends who’ve either tried to go cheap (with non-licensed people) or friends who didn’t work with someone who respected their budgets, that I made the best investment.
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" and are true professionals. They have done several projects in our neighborhood, and the neighbors have all recommended them to me. I gave maybe 100 photos from magazines and web sites, each flagged with a note about what I liked in that particular photo. She took all those disparate ...more ideas and returned with suggestions and samples, ALL of which I loved. From lighting to fixtures to tiles to finishes, she had listened carefully to my preferences.

came up with several options for reconfiguring the layout of the bathroom, with lots of options to accommodate budget. They began work about 2 weeks late, but were in communication about the reasons, and I do understand that delays occur. The demolition was excellent. They were meticulous about keeping the dust and debris confined, using a zippered tent to access the area, plastic on the carpet, and cardboard over any area they would walk on. They gave us the option of having a port-a-potty for the workers or having them use the powder room. The demolition crew was great. Very respectful of our home and hard workers. The carpenters were also wonderful.

is meticulous and a perfectionist, and made sure everything was done well. He found what could be a potential problem underneath the existing tub, and needed to tear out some already completed work, including have the plumber return. I appreciated his integrity in this matter, and was fine with the extra two days of construction time to do the job right. The coordination of delivery of materials, cabinets, tiles, fixtures, etc, was seamless. The project ran about two weeks over estimated time, but I appreciated their thorough and meticulous work. I have recommended them to many friends, and I would use them again in a heartbeat. The cost of the project was more than we had originally planned to spend but worth every penny, and so very glad we went with them. We are hoping to have them add a portico over our front door in the next year or two.
"

"MSC worked with me to tweak the design of the extension. They listened and provided the expert design assistance I needed. The construction was exemplary and at a reasonable price. I recommend MSC to all who are considering to modify a home.
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"Awesome job - best contractor I have ever worked with from start to finish! The job was completed on time and surpassed my expectations. treated my home as if it was his own, leaving it as spotless as possible at the end of each day. He took extra steps to ensure everything was done correctly and interacted extremely well ...more with the other contractors (cabinet company and lighting company). He is a talented craftsman who is able to address, with great skill, unexpected issues that arise. He also finished off areas of the kitchen with molding he created from extra cabinetry and it looks wonderful. All of the work - cabinets, appliances, floor, tile - was done extremely well. I highly recommend him and would definitely hire him again.

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"We contacted Zirekoglu for an estimate for remodeling our two, small full baths. He quickly responded answering any of our questions. We scheduled a time for to stop by, he showed up right on time, and provided an estimate by the end of the day. In the end, we did not select …but ...more we still remain impressed by their responsiveness.
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"In a word: Great. I could not have asked for a more professional and talented crew.
Details: I have a small house with a small kitchen footprint. owner came out and looked at the room. He asked many questions about how I use the room, what I wanted to add or take away from the old kitchen. Since ...more I had been planning this renovation for almost 20 years, I had specific ideas as to how open I wanted the room to feel, what sorts of tiling and countertop I wanted and a pretty good sense about the cabinets.

works with

Cabinets. If you want another brand that's fine, too.

makes high-quality cabinets in a wide variety of styles and shades. For most people, it's not difficult to choose what you want.
This was the second project

has done for me. He also renovated my bathroom, for which I have written a separate review below.
As with the bathroom, I really enjoyed this renovation experience. The demo went smoothly, followed by the plumbing and wiring, and then, boom, the cabinets went up! What a great thing to come home from work and find the upper cabinets in their places so soon after the project began. The work continued apace. The crew began on time and completed the work right on schedule. No leaks in the plumbing, all of the electrical works beautifully.
The original estimate included an installed laminate floor. I chose

Ceramic instead. Since

was not experienced with this type of material, he asked that I hire an outside business to put in the floor and then came by while this work was taking place so he could see how it was done. I liked that

worked with the flooring business to accommodate this work without my having to bother with scheduling myself, since I work full time. The cost of the floor was taken off what I owed

and applied to some additional tile and and other work that came up during the renovation.
I am very, very happy with my new kitchen! What a joy to have found an such a wonderful contractor with such a skilled, friendly crew.
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"Mr. 's estimate for all of the work was $57,900 (including $2,500 for the guest bath upgrade) and he began demolition of my kitchen in mid-August 2013. In addition to the kitchen remodel and guest bath update, I also decided to have his floor supplier replace all the floors on the main level of my townhouse, and he had ...more his painters paint the ceilings on that level. I gave him photos of the kitchen design I wanted and he took notes as we talked about the features I wanted. He said that the project would take six weeks.
He worked with subcontractors including master carpenters, a master electrician, master plumbers and painters. His subs were professional, neat, pleasant, and did good quality work. I used his vendors for the cabinetry, counter tops, appliances, fixtures and paint. I chose all of these items on my own (except some of the cabinetry features and I would have appreciated more communication on those), which was fine because I had a good idea of what I wanted. One thing I wanted was curved doors on some of the cabinets, and although we couldn't curve all of the doors due to storage issues, he did put a curved door on the pedestal cabinet, which I appreciated. However, I would have appreciated more communication regarding the width of the pedestal cabinet. It is too narrow.
The work process went fairly smoothly, even though Mr.

went out of town the second week and no one came by the house until I called him. Nevertheless, considering the expansion of the project to include replacing all of the floors on that level as well as painting the ceiling, he did a good job of keeping to the schedule. However, I repeatedly had to ask him what was going to be done the next week. (I had a dog who scared some of the contractors and I needed to know which days he needed to go to day camp.) I had heard tales of projects that were delayed due to major items such as cabinets and appliances being delivered late, but that did not happen in this project except for some of the flooring, which didn't hold up the overall project and was a minor inconvenience.
One big disappointment was that I had told him I wanted a double sink, but by the time I discovered he had planned for a single sink, the cabinetry had been ordered and it was too late to make a change. Additionally, I had to tell Mr.

several times about the need to move one of the floor vents.
When the painter started removal of the wallpaper in the guest bath, he discovered that it had been installed improperly, so the removal damaged the walls that then had to be reskimmed. I knew this would be an extra cost. However, when I asked Mr.

several times about the amount of the extra cost, all he said was "I have no idea".
When the project was mostly done except for some of the flooring (for which I contracted separately with the flooring vendor), Mr.

called and said he wanted to come over and collect his last check. It wasn't until I again asked him about the extra cost of the guest bath that he said that I would owe him $3,438 more than the contract. This was significantly higher than I expected but he said he had it itemized and would show me in person. The extra cost due to the wall repair in the guest bath totaled $1,200. I have no idea if this is fair price and would have appreciated communication prior to writing the final check. I knew that there would be an extra cost for painting all the ceilings on that level so I didn't have a problem with that, even though he did not give me an amount on that prior to the final check either. What I did have a problem with was that, excluding the extra cost for the wall repair, the guest bath cost $4,213, which was $1,713 over Mr.

's estimate of $2,500. When I brought this to his attention, his response was "Oh, that was just a number I threw out." Excuse me? You wrote that number in the contract and it was just some number you threw out?
Although I am pleased with the final kitchen, floors (so far) and guest bath, I didn't appreciate Mr.

's cavalier attitude toward spending my money, which is a deal breaker in relation to my using him again.
For this reason, I have some advice to potential clients of Mr.

. 1) Write down every feature you want and do not assume he is listening to you. 2) Although Mr.

advertises as a designer, his services do not include help with selecting materials and some design elements, so you need to have a good idea of what you want. 3) If you need to know his specific schedule, be prepared to keep asking for it. 4) Be sure you know any updates on any cost increases over the contract, and do not accept "I have no idea" as an answer when you ask about them.
Mr.

is a good general contractor who keeps control of the project, which makes life much easier for the client. Also, I found the quality of the finished product to be very good. Therefore, I would not tell anyone not to use him; just exercise more control over communication and costs than I did.
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"It went very well, we are very happy with the kitchen and it looks great. The team they had onsite focuses on our job for the duration of the project. They were good at problem solving issues that arose from dealing with such an old house and the surprises that they encountered in the walls/floors, etcs. Any cost changes were a result of scope changes ...more (change in the number of cabinets, etc.). They did very good work and were friendly the whole time. They made changes and adjusted things as my wife and i changed ours minds on the fly without complaining, etc. and never changed their approach to the job.
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"I cannot express enough what an amazing job did. From start to finish, HB was exactly what we needed.
Their business manner was informative and professional. They had a solid understanding of what we needed and wanted, and every step of the way was able to either let us know the best way to do it or to let us know that ...more it wasn't advisable. (For example, we had thought we wanted a sliding door for the tub/shower, until they pointed out the lack of space between the sink area and the shower faucets, which wouldn't allow us to reach in easily to start the water with a sliding door.) Their estimate on labor and materials was fair and came in about 20% less than the first estimate we received, and included work that the first contractor said they were unable to do (replacing the window sill in the shower). I thought the options for materials (either a flat fee or an itemized customer-approved method) were fair and helpful.
We were on a tight schedule when the work could be done, and HB worked very hard to work within the timeframe, all the while keeping our expectations in check and being realistic and up-front about how quickly everything could be done. Even when there was a slight delay when some of the materials came in late, they sent someone out the Saturday at the end of the project to make sure it was done by the following Monday.
The consultation visits to the tile store and the bathroom fixture store cost 10% of the materials purchased, and they were well worth it. They brought a wealth of knowledge to the work, from both a practical and design point of view, and the dialogue allowed us to have complete control over the decisions made while in return receiving invaluable advice and suggestions. The contractor discounts more than offset the 10% fee if we had gone out and purchased everything ourselves.
The work itself was done thoroughly and professionally. They were flexible to work with us by installing the one fixture we got on our own (a sink and vanity from IKEA), and even swapped out the inferior IKEA-grade piping with far better drainage and pipes. When the medicine cabinet we had bought separately (also from IKEA) ended up not being able to be anchored well enough, they helped us choose a medicine cabinet that met our exact needs and looks a lot better than the first one we had picked out.
The new bathroom looks amazing and is, frankly, the nicest room in the entire house. They handled all disposal of the demo materials and left the rest of the house clean. All the fixtures and plumbing work wonderfully. The ventilation system makes a huge difference in how much moisture can be expelled during showers/baths, so much so that the mirror doesn't even fog up most of the time. The real proof in the pudding came when we paid our first water bill following the work. The utility statement compared the current period's water usage with the same period in the prior year. It had dropped from 15,000 gallons to 9,000 gallons, far enough that we are now billed at a lower per

rate.
Their labor warranty is very generous and gave us great peace of mind. About a month after the project, we noticed two hairline fractures in two of the tiles, along where the structural support beams are behind the walls. We notified HB about the issue, and they were able to come out within the week to look at it. The cause turned out to be the foundation of the house, where the size of the cross beams under the flooring are not up to the grade expected for a house of this size. This was consistent with another contractor's observation from before when we needed some work done in the crawlspace under the house. HB proposed swapping out the current floor supports with the appropriate size boards, after which time they could replace the cracked tiles free of charge. We still plan to take them up on this once we get the timing nailed down.
I have already started recommending

to neighbors, and would gladly recommend them to anyone. And in a couple of years when we are ready to remodel our kitchen, we will absolutely be giving them a call.
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" did a great job putting up my dry wall and then painted the wall located in my laundry room. They were extremely professional and finished the job quickly. A week later I had them come and replace my roof. They were put to the test right away as it rained hard for a week the day after they finished. No leaks! I couldn't ...more be happier with their service and will be having them back to replace my siding and remodel my kitchen.

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