Thoughts on Case remodeling co

[Anonymous]

Have you used them, please share experiences.

[Anonymous]

Use Matt Dirksen. He's the Green guy and really does a wonderful job.

[Anonymous]

Super expensive!

[Anonymous]

They will do a quality job but they are way, way more expensive than almost anyone else in the area.

[Anonymous]

Good job way over priced. They finished our attic into a guest room. Put in ultra expensive light on stairway and built one crappy bannister which we had ripped out--husband rebuilt it using repurposed wood from our farm . We drove down from the north. Case also put in the the guest bathroom --way too lavish--Japanese heated seats, etc, came in at 5k for a 400sq ft bathroombut yes, there is a bidet in each bathroom except the powder room on th ground floor. Bottom line, I would not you the again too $$$. Good workmanship though sometimes you have to fight with them to get them to not use cheap ugly materials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good job way over priced. They finished our attic into a guest room. Put in ultra expensive light on stairway and built one crappy bannister which we had ripped out--husband rebuilt it using repurposed wood from our farm . We drove down from the north. Case also put in the the guest bathroom --way too lavish--Japanese heated seats, etc, came in at 5k for a 400sq ft bathroombut yes, there is a bidet in each bathroom except the powder room on th ground floor. Bottom line, I would not you the again too $$$. Good workmanship though sometimes you have to fight with them to get them to not use cheap ugly materials.

It sounds like you weren't involved at all in designing or picking out fixtures. I mean, Japanese heated seats? It sounds like you gave them way too much free rein to pick and choose what they wanted. I can't imagine doing that, even if I wanted to.
Everytime we have any remodeling done I have make every little decision, like where to place electrical outlet, how many, how high, what color, what shape. Jesus contractor, isn't there code or standard practice for these things?

[Anonymous]

We just tried to meet with Case about a remodeling job. I say tried because even though we had a confirmed appointment, the consultant didn't show, and then was outrageously rude when I called to inquire if there was some misunderstanding. I had rushed home from work to meet him in between other work responsibilities, and wasted half my day for no reason. We decided any firm that is this rude to a potential client doesn't warrant any further consideration - our money is better spent elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Their bid was 4x other bids for redoing our basement.

[Anonymous]

We tried to use them several years ago to remodel our upstairs bathrooms. I called the general number and ask a series of questions, which we all answered. The woman couldn't have been nicer and informative. Specifically, I asked if our initial consult could be on a Saturday or Sunday, or an evening. She said that it was typically not what they do, but that it could be arranged. So we continued and she said that the area rep would contact me.

When the area rep called and we went to talk about a time to meet, I asked again about Sat/Sun or evening hours. He told me that it is was not possible to do that and they only meet during the day and never on weekends. I explained that both m husband and I needed to be there and the hours they were proposing were impossible for us to meet. After all, this was going to be an expensive renovation and we needed to pay for it, which meant we needed to work. The man could have cared less. He told me that once we agreed/signed a contract with them, any subsequent meetings could be arranged for a weekend or evening hours, but not the initial one. I told him again that wouldn't work for us, and asked if he was willing to risk losing two bathroom renovations over not being flexible and he said he was.

After my experience with them, I have had others tell me how pricey they are and non flexible with many things along the remodel process. We ended up getting it done by someone who was pleasant to work with and worked with us...after all, we are the customer!

[Anonymous]

We had a really great experience with them - with a kitchen renovation and expansion. They are pricey, but we got top notch service. They were very patient with us - originally we had envisioned a two story addition, we ended up scaling down to work within the footprint of our home and open up our downstairs to make our kitchen bigger, and they did a great job of maximizing space and educating us about why some of the things we thought we wanted would not have worked. We could not have dealt with nicer people from the time we made our first call to the conclusion of the project.

One thing that I liked about them was that everyone working at our house pretty much works for them. Their is a lot of accountability. We both work and couldn't be there to manage the project, and it was really well managed. The quality of the work was awesome - having been in about a million homes looking to buy before we decided to renovate, there are a lot of shoddy renovation projects in this area.

But there is really no doubt they are pricey and if you are willing to put in the time you can find a cheaper way to go....absolutely.

They have free kitchen and bathroom seminars - you can get more of a sense of them that way if you are still considering them. My husband went to one and it was very helpful.

Good luck with whatever you decide - it was hard living without a kitchen but so worth it in the end - we couldn't be happier with our new kitchen.

[Anonymous]

I had a very negative experience with them. We hired them to do a simple job (tear off old wood planks from our house and put up new ones). They charged by the hour and after one day very little work was completed (2 guys, no less). We fired them and hired a solo handyman who finished the job himself for less than what we had already paid Case. This happened when we first moved into our home and didn't know any better. To this day, every time we get a mailing from them, DH still fumes about it.

[Anonymous]

We used them for a very large addition (over 500K). The design support was weak to non-existant, the project manager was terrible and actually got fired while our job was in process, and they have only one decent tile subcontractor who cannot fit big jobs into his schedule, so we were stuck with their new tile guy to do our master bath, and it is a disaster (he got fired, too). They also made a critical construction error in one of rooms and failed to adequately supervise a subcontractor in another room, resulting in a large leak through multiple floors less than four years after our work was completed. The lead carpenter was very good, as were the roofing subcontractor and the brick mason. All in all, it was an experience I hope never to relive. That being said, I am not sure any design build firm would be better. They all have the same process, which is to rush you through design, push you into signing a contract, and then send you off on your own to deal with pretty much every subcontractor and supplier of what they view as "finish" products. As the lead carpenter said when I asked why some critical design errors were made, "They sold you a picture." Case was actually the lowest of the three bids we got for our job, but I am still not convinced we got good value, and I know the stress toll was a very high price to pay.

[Anonymous]

We had them come out to bid an addition job. While they were neither the cheapest nor most expensive, we were turned off by how pushy they were. Then when we told him we chose another firm (that had a better price, more ideas and better recommendations), he almost wouldn't take no for an answer and basically told me that I was making a big mistake. Then, he followed up with an e-mail again to reiterate what a mistake we were making and wanting to know who we chose and how much it cost. He acted like a sore loser and it made the company look desperate. Weeks later, we started getting calls from a manager at Case to try to talk us into using them (this is after we had told them we signed a contract with somebody else). If we ever do another house renovation, I will not call Case for a bid.

BTW- if you do decide to proceed with getting an estimate for work, don't accept their first proposal. When DH told them that their first proposal was more that we were looking to spend, he eagerly revised the proposal, making the addition larger and less expensive.

[Anonymous]

We had them do a bid for our basement remodel. They bid $45k for the framing, electrical, drywall, and plumbing (we put a half bath in with no existing plumbing for the toilet). We hired another firm and paid $15K for all but the plumbing and $1400 for the plumbing putting in the toilet and water for the sink.

They were VERY pushy. Repeated calls. Like every 10 minutes. And the sales person would call home phone, cell phone, work phone in a round robin. I explained that we had another firm agreeing to the same work for a lower price I got all kinds of insulting crap about how I probably hadn't thought to lock in a start date, lock in a price escalation limit in the contract, find out who would be doing the work, etc. To which I replied, "I am lawyer. I know how to negotiate a contract."

We have had several other projects done in our house and we have never called them to come back. Probably never will.

[Anonymous]

I was very pleased with Case. They gave me great advice and ideas for our basement remodel. Of all the companies we interviewed, they felt like they were on my side finding solutions. They weren't the cheapest, but they were worth it. We love our basement and we will use them again.