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Review content:
We had a great experience with Neil Kelly. Our vacation house (one hour away) needed all three bathrooms remodeled. We also needed some updating of the kitchen (didn't have a dishwasher, for example). The windows were single pane and the only entry to the house was through sliding glass doors that were aluminum and leaky. My husband and I both have really busy jobs and don't have the time to coordinate any kind of construction project. Plus the house is really funky and we were concerned about ""surprises"". Neil Kelly costs a bit more, but it was one price. If they ran into ""surprises"" that had to be fixed, they would absorb the extra cost. \r
Our designer was Therese DuBravac. Really warm personality, very accommodating (would meet us at night after work, for example), very flexible. Very patient with all our questions. She came up with some unbelievably creative solutions (like how to make a shower next to logs in the bathroom). During the remodel, we noticed some things that hadn't been evident up front (kitchen cabinet wasn't convenient, etc). Therese would immediately think of several options, make diagrams or mockup models, show us samples of finishings, etc. If we decided to incorporate the changes, then there would be an extra charge, but that's expected (""a/w/a -- addl work authorization""). She was respectful of our taste, even if she didn't think it was the best solution. Conversely, she was not shy about telling us when our ideas wouldn't work (like the space in front of the toilet has to be a certain number of inches to meet code, or the light couldn't be hung somewhere because the wiring wouldn't fit in the wall space). \r
The project manager was John Finn. He and Therese managed all the bid process for subcontractors, scheduling, equipment, demolition, cleanup, everything! Completely painless for us. Very responsive team. I even called someone on Christmas Day because I couldn't find the new hidden key, and they were available! The crew was clean, respectful, friendly. I showed up unexpectedly on a number of occasions, and they were always hard at work. They cleaned the entire work space every night (even if we weren't scheduled to be back for days). They did great work and were good at improvising solutions in our odd house ( creating a step into the shower, rerouting the plumbing drain, making a new hinge on a trap door, etc). I really liked the fact that they treated the house like their own. I would get phone calls like ""John has been looking at the door frame, and do you think it would make more sense to have the door open from the left (was designed for the right) so you don't have to reach for the light switch?"". \r
We had a few glitches along the way. A couple of times the workers set off the burglar alarm and I heard about it from the police, instead of from Neil Kelly. The project took longer than planned, but the weather was bad and the house was odd, so not unexpected. \r
The only kind of odd thing about the company is that they assign you to a designer and project manager over the phone. You call the main desk and tell them what your request is, and someone plays ""matchmaker"" and then the designer calls you back. We won the lottery with Therese, but I wonder if we would have had a different experience if we'd been paired up with someone else. We were not given an opportunity to interview a different designer or change along the way (if we had been unhappy). \r
We are thrilled with the results and would call them again in a heartbeat.
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