My wife and I had new concrete floors poured and interior waterproofing installed in the basement levels of our side split home. We would require a home renovator to finish the basement levels once the foundation waterproofing work was complete. Naturally, we obtained quotes from a few renovators in our area, none of whom though gave us the vibe of yes, this is renovation company for us.
Luckily we received a strong recommendation from a neighbor to contact Paul Varey at Hawkeyes Renovations. So we called Paul and invited him to our home to scope out our project. After spending some time with us one evening we knew without a doubt that Paul was the renovator we were going to hire. He just seemed kind, honest, and experienced, and we were impressed with his portfolio of completed contracts and his online reviews. Paul priced our project and provided us with a rough estimate as to when the project would begin and how long it would take. Bear in mind, this was during COVID when supply chains and material costs were in disarray. By the time our renovation was set to begin, Paul fairly readjusted our quote to reflect the lower market material costs since prices had fallen from the previous COVID inflated prices.
When renovations began, Pauls crew consisted of himself, his brother-in-law Allan, Allans son Ryan, and Paul's associate Brandon. They consistently came every morning and worked throughout the day. They purchased and delivered all the materials focusing first on leveling the floor followed by the installation of Dricore and framing. Shortly after that, they moved on to complete new plumbing, joist bridging, insulation and vapor barrier, followed by drywall and mudding, bathroom tiling, and trim. My wife and I were very pleased with how fast and efficient the work was being done. They were also extremely patient with us when it came to design decision changes we made during the build regarding rooms, overall floor layout, as well as suggestions from our city inspector.
When it came to scheduling, Paul was very transparent. He disclosed to us that while our project was the primary focus, he did have a few other smaller jobs he needed to address on specific dates. This is noteworthy because many contractors (we came to find out) do not disclose this, and theyll often work parallel jobs with no real sense of priority or urgency to complete your job. So not only did Paul keep us informed with his other projects, but we never had the sense that he was slowing down our project or diminishing its priority. He also strategically scheduled his parallel jobs so that on the dates they were away from our site, they had at least someone at our home working on other phases of the project (such as mudding and bathroom tile work). Holidays aside, It seemed like no matter what, our project continued to be pushed closer to completion.
Having experience dealing with bad contractors, I tend to persistently question why and how things are being done by contractors during the construction process (regardless of a given contractor's expertise). Despite this, no matter how annoying my questions or second-guessing may have been, Paul and his team never hesitated to professionally provide thorough explanations to address any concerns or doubts I had.
In the end, we were so pleased with the work that was done, that we hired them a second time to renovate our upstairs bathroom as well as some exterior home detail work. Now that the work is complete we can honestly say that we miss them being here. Pauls a great dude running a great company with a really great crew to get the job done. Do we recommend them? Yes, we most definitely do.
