RenovateDSM.com - Contractor - Comments

Recommendation

kelli.griffis — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:16:10 -0700

[Recommendation submitted via e-mail] We've had Brian Smith working on rehabbing our windows on a 1929 two-story brick home in Beaverdale over the past few months. He's completely refinished the interior woodwork, matching our existing oak stain, and is currently reglazing all the exterior panes, most of which were in bad shape. We are extremely pleased with the results, and would recommend Brian to anyone interested in restoring older windows. He really cares about the results, and is very conscientious and courteous.

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Great garage builder

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:02:51 -0700

Troy built a 2-car garage for me in August 2011. He and his crew were there every day arriving as I left for work and often cleaning up as I arrived home. I whitnessed Troy actively managing the job and his crew allowing the garage to be completed on-schedule. He was very patient with the design changes I made that reduced the construction cost and his final bill reflected all those adjustments. I was also able to leverage my own cement, electrical and painting contractor.

Leonard Tinker Heating and Cooling

MMondo — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:36:39 -0800

Leonard Tinker did repair work on my furnace in a few different houses. He is very knowledgeable and a good guy.

We used Troy recently to build us a new garage and we couldn't have been happier. He was great about telling is what was going on and he showed up when he said he was going to. All his subs were good too. Everyone in the neighborhood has noticed what a nice job he has done. I will absolutely call him the next time we need work done.

Extreme Electric

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:47:08 -0700

As a renovation and remodeling contractor, we use Extreme Electric for most of our projects. Jeff is knowledgeable and a good problem-solver.

Tinker is very good

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:40:44 -0700

I have contracted with Leonard on several occasions. He does very good work, is honest and is quite an interesting person. Gotta love the whistle!

Plaster Repair

RenovateDSM — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 07:43:41 -0800

Zach and his team also do plaster repair - they lead a "how to" session for the Des Moines Rehabbers Club!

Central Iowa Hardwood Floors

RenovateDSM — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:35:20 -0700

[Via Michelle H.] I had done daycare for 5 years and we had pulled up some carpeting in the house (due to damage from the kids). It wasn't until we had the carpeting pulled out did we realize that the previous homeowners weren't particularly careful when they painted the various rooms. We decided to just live with it as is until I wasn't doing daycare any longer.

In 2008, we decided to finally get our hardwood floors redone. After calling and getting quotes from 3 of the "big" guys and having my jaw drop at each and every quote, I decided to go a different route. I looked up hardwood floor refinishers on BBB and found Mike's company. After he came over (and before he had even quoted us), my husband was so impressed by him that he decided we would use him no matter what. We were very pleasantly surprised when his quote came in at 50% of the other guys.

We decided to have them done while we were on a 6 day vacation. We gave him the keys (he's SO trustworthy) and didn't look back! We arrived home to beautifully done floors! We had a lot of water damage by our front door, he was able to take care of all but a little of it. We had a bunch of holes - he filled them in so well that you'd have to get on your hands and knees to find them now!

We couldn't have been more happy. I've recommended him to at least 6 friends and several of them have used him and also been pleased with his work.

Update on Joel Barton

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:42:16 -0700

While I still feel that Joel did a great job on the larger stucco repairs he did for us there was a problem with one of the smaller repairs. Rather than putting up new stucco in an area around one of our dormers where the old stucco was missing, he tried to fill the space with Vulkem caulking. The caulking all fell/melted out and stuck to the roof which was messy and difficult to remove. I think if I had notified him of this problem he probably would have come back and fixed it, but the painters actually discovered it while trying to paint up there and I just wanted it fixed so I took care of it myself. I liked Joel, and a lot of his work I'm still happy with, this little bit just left a bad taste in my mouth so I thought I should mention it.

[RenovateDSM says: This is a good example of how important it is to verify work while the contractor is on the job and before he or she is paid the final amount. Even the best contractors can mess up sometimes. Of course it is impossible to verify everything unless you are on the jobsite the whole time - there has to be a certain amount of trust. It's good that you had another contractor mention the issue so you could fix it.]

Interiors

eluna — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:03:04 -0700

I should have mentioned that they do interior painting jobs as well but they only did exterior work at our house.

Outstanding contractor!!

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:11:15 -0700

I have used Troy for several projects and he is very dependable, he cleans up extremely well after himself and he does very impressive work including finish work and trim carpentry. If you want someone who will do the job right the first time Call Troy!!

Plasterer Recommendation

RenovateDSM — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:35:02 -0700

[Via the RenovateDSM e-mail group] We are having our stucco patched by Steve Cunningham. He is a laid off union plasterer w/ 20 years of experience. He has done several interor and exterior projects for us and his attention to detail is superb. His phone number is 515-249-5788. Hope this helps!

Recommendation for Loki's Garden

RenovateDSM — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:26:24 -0700

[Recommendation submitted via e-mail] I had the best experience with Loki's Garden. After being told years ago a dishwasher couldn't be put in where I wanted it, Loki's Garden figured out how to do it -- and in the process they found the pipes were practically disintegrating! Very professional, fixed a major looming problem and made the kitchen look fabulous. New dishwasher, new countertop, new sink and faucet. Thanks Loki's Garden.

recommendation

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:09:39 -0700

Floyd repointed our foundation on a historic home in Sherman Hill last year. He did an excellent job.

Recommendation

RenovateDSM — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:29:00 -0800

[Recommendation submitted via e-mail] Brian Smith of Des Moines is experienced and skilled at wood epoxy window repair. He was a good friend of my late husband's and it was doubly good to have him do some repair on my own house this last summer (2009). I was very pleased with the results and the work he did.

RenovateDSM.com - Contractor - Comments

Recommendation

Great garage builder

Leonard Tinker Heating and Cooling

Recommended

Extreme Electric

Tinker is very good

Plaster Repair

Central Iowa Hardwood Floors

Update on Joel Barton

Interiors

Outstanding contractor!!

Plasterer Recommendation

Recommendation for Loki's Garden

recommendation

Recommendation