While we’re very happy with the work done on our extensive renovation & loved working with all of Deep Run Renovations highly skilled & knowledgeable, super respectful, creative problem-solving, & just cool to hang around with trades- & craftsmen, we’re bummed we didn’t get the level of service & oversight from Gary, the business owner & general contractor, we expected based on his reputation. Our experience may be an anomaly, however.
Our project was estimated to take 45 working days & started at an impressive pace, the addition under roof & the bulk of electric and mechanical complete within 6-8 weeks after signing the contract, but then Gary began pulling his crews to work on his own out-of-state vacation home, leaving us in limbo for days & weeks at a time with no other noteworthy causes. We started in early Aug 2019 & had the potential to be done by Halloween, but because of the sudden drop in activity, weren’t finished ‘til late Jan 2020. Gary initially communicated proactively, but once the other project started, I often had to reach out to him two or more times to get one response, & Gary was on site probably fewer than five times for the remainder of the project. Weeks before it was finished, Gary even requested “while I would not typically ask for a ‘punch list’ when we have a decent amount of things left to do, I would like to get such a list from you to make sure we are on the same page with the remaining items.” I sent a forty+ item list that included things like “finish building the kitchen cabinets” & “install all fixtures & accessories in the bathroom” and felt like I was officially taking on the responsibilities of GC.
I recognized this only in hindsight, but, in the initial whirlwind, the building plans were rushed & without detail. I caught obvious mistakes when they were emailed to me, but not all, & never received a second submission for approval before construction started. The result is our addition has quirks like a window on a focal wall that’s 3” to the left of center, a door so close to the shower the wooden trim overlaps the tile field of the wet wall, & light switches not where you’d instinctively find them. A meeting, rather than email, to review those plans, & at least two chances to see them would have allowed us to make sure all design considerations and construction norms were sorted out in planning, rather than when it was too costly & impractical to change them.
Finally, I expected a certain amount credited to the final invoice because we’d spent far less on windows, doors, flooring, & HVAC than the contract allowed for, but I was surprised to see it greatly reduced by several unexpected labor charges added to the final invoice. I’d regularly asked if we were running into added costs, & Gary would answer “it’s about a wash,” which I thought meant any changes cost the same as the original design or were offset by other changes that cost less to execute. Instead, he meant added labor costs he’d been tracking without telling me would be subtracted from the allowance credit. He described it as a paperwork/time-saver & insisted he’d been clear about it all along. However, had that been my understanding, I’d have asked him to at least just alert me to the costs, so I could decide whether or not to accept them before he did the work. To be clear, I don’t at all believe this is a case of dishonesty or slickness, but of miscommunication & an inability to relate to my priorities.
Most of the not-so-great parts of our experience with DRR were likely due to the competing project in an unusually distant/remote locale that posed logistic challenges beyond the norm, so this may have just been one of those things, badly handled. We’re pleased with the improvements on our home & chance to work with the talented craftsmen with whom Gary associates. I have already recommended many of them to a friend who is planning work on her home & would hire any of them again, but I can only recommend Deep Run Renovation with reservation.
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