(I'm writing this rather late, the work was completed earlier this year and I simply forgot to post this, but I always try my best to keep my word on things and had told them I was going to post a good review thanking B&E for their good work, so better late than never!) I'm in the real estate business myself, a WI broker for years and also a landlord and have renovated many homes, first starting as a hobby on a previous home of mine in the late 90s and that eventually grew into part of my business, but NOT like the TV shows, which are far from "reality" and while my work has to be profitable, I've been in this for the long term and do not cut corners, as your reputation will catch up with you for poor quality work. I also know my limits as far as what I can handle and what I need to hire professionals for (always needed for electrical and plumbing of course) but this work was done on my own home, I'd recently bought a home in Fox Point, a really wonderful home built in 1937 and built far beyond the usual standards for that time, but like many older homes it was woefully short on closet space. Apparently even in very nice homes back then they assumed the average person only needed closet space for a few outfits or maybe you were supposed to buy dressers and just deal with the wrinkles! I had a wild idea of possibly adding a dormer, which sometimes can be added at a reasonable cost, but forgot one important detail which I'll get to soon. Adding a dormer is beyond my expertise and B&E was actually my first call, I knew of their reputation as an excellent company doing top quality work and soon afterwards Mark, the owner of the company was here and quickly pointed out the major detail I missed, the home has a slate roof and due to the weight of slate, etc we'd be talking about one VERY expensive dormer! I felt rather embarrassed at the time, but he was nice about it and said as long as he was there, he could come in and take a look and see if maybe something else could be done. We were in the middle of a lot of other cosmetic work inside and the place was a mess, but I figured as long as he'd taken the time to come out we might as well take a look and although I'd never met Mark before then, his company had this excellent reputation for top quality work, so why not! Within literally 30 seconds of walking into the master bedroom, which is a large bedroom (with SMALL closets!) he said why not just build a new wall, several feet out from the existing exterior wall, you'll still have a large master bedroom and you'll at least have decent closet space and it will be a fraction of the cost of any dormer addition. I thought it over for a day and called back and asked for an estimate, which came soon after. As far as price goes, I gave them an excellent rating, which doesn't mean they're going to be the cheapest up front price necessarily, I may have been able to find someone to do it for a bit less, but it wasn't a high price whatsoever and I know from both from my own experience as well as clients who've had work done by all sorts of contractors, from great contractors to awful, simply taking the low bid up front can work out or it can lead to disastrous consequences, especially if you've got someone who's not fully insured, including workmen's comp insurance, etc. Considering that and that the price was by no means out of line, I decided to have them go ahead with the work. Also, this was his idea and something I'd not thought of at all and he came out for a free estimate after I called them, they didn't solicit me, so it wouldn't be too ethical to then take his idea and then shop it around to other contractors, or hire the subs myself.
Everything went just fine and THAT was an added benefit I really felt the value of during and after completion of the work, because I ended up being EXTREMELY busy with other projects I had going on elsewhere, PLUS trying to keep other work going at my own home, so it was a relief to literally not have to do anything other than make sure the door was open for their people to get in! From that point forward, everything was handled by a project manager, Bob who was always great about getting back to me on any questions, letting me know ahead of time when they'd be coming, etc the work went very smoothly. All of the paperwork, payments, etc were handled by Marlynn, who was always right on point with everything, pleasant to deal with, they were both very competent and easy people to deal with. As far as the design and workmanship aspect, this was a pretty simple project but there was attention to the design, instead of just a straight wall all the way across, they put a slight "jog" in the wall, which I now see the benefit of and one great detail are the doors that they had had custom made for this. The home has very nice solid oak doors with a design you'll never find a match for, but they took a closet door to their woodwork supplier to match and it is a perfect match! That one detail (two doors, it is a his and hers closet) could've ruined the whole thing if the doors didn't look original and they are a perfect match! I'll mention one other detail that might scare some people just a bit, but it is actually nothing to worry about at all, it is a good thing and that is the contract we signed prior to starting the work. It was a 10 or 12 page contract and I can see how if you haven't had this kind of work done before, you might wonder why the need for such a lengthy contract, especially if it is a small job like mine was. I always read any contract I sign very carefully and there was nothing in there that shouldn't have been and its the contract (if there even is one!) that's too short and leaves many details to chance that can turn into a nightmare in the event something goes wrong! Any good contractor will have a good contract that covers all the details and this was one that did. I would definitely work with B&E again, whether it is something small like this or for a much larger project and in retrospect, as far as the other work I've had done on my own home, which needed a overall cosmetic refreshing, but is built so well that it was still a very solid and wonderful home, I've been so busy with my business that I think I should've simply had them do ALL of the work here, it would've made 2016 a MUCH easier year for me, so next time I just might do that!
