Gaspar's Construction

Doesn't Recommend

PKtm

Joined 4 years ago

Don't be fooled; avoid this contractor!. A few years ago, I had the worst experience of my life with any provider: with Gaspar's, on an extensive home remodel. It went about $150K over budget. But it wasn't just the money: it was the way I felt we were treated, consistently, throughout a project that spanned seven months. During this time, there were at least twenty specific incidents where I came to question what I was being told. We saw inflated cost estimates: e.g., a $600 estimate to install a toilet, $850 estimate to install a light in the basement stairwell. We saw lots of vague "design costs" being charged. We came to question the billing at every turn: for example, we saw at least two cases where we knew a worker had left after only half a day but we were charged for the full day. We were billed for full use of a dumpster, even though I personally witnessed Gaspar's Construction workers bringing material from other construction sites to put in that dumpster. When we raised our concerns about the project being way over budget, the response from Gaspar's Construction was "so?". There are countless other examples. And the dollars just kept climbing, with no end in sight. I have never felt so helpless.

We saw incredible defensiveness, even outrage, whenever we expressed less than happiness with the project. In fact, I felt that the consistent attitude from this provider was that if the customer wasn't happy, the fault for that somehow lay with the customer.

Later, at the end of the project, we had great trouble getting unfinished work addressed (we called them back at least five times to touch up a badly botched paint job on a railing), but you can believe that we got lots of calls regarding making our final payment.

We finally did pay, in full, just to get the upsetting incident behind us. At the time, I wrote Gaspar Construction a letter, stating, "At this point, we prefer just to put this very unpleasant experience behind us, even though that means paying for things we should rightfully not."

Recommends

BCheesman

Joined 4 years ago

A most beautiful home. We had our entire home in Edmonds remodeled this year and the entire project was a huge success. All Gaspar's workers and staff performed in an excellent manner. All timelines were met in a timely fashion. We had weekly meetings to discuss progress and possible changes. The most important thing to me was the fact that ll the important people involved were under the same roof, ie architect, engineers, designers and contractors. The lead carpenter, Art, was especially easy to work with. the clean-up was done every day and if needed work was even done on weekends.

I have recommended Gaspar's to all my friends who might need some work and look forward to a long friendship with the entire staff. Most people are so happy when the project is finished. I actually miss seeing Art and my weekly meetings with Cathy, Mark and Art.

Recommends

antoine1949

Joined 5 years ago

EXCELLENT COMPANY TO WORK WITH. I was entirely new to construction projects when I started with Gapar's. All I had was a preconceived idea that there were no honest contractors, projects always ran over budget and took forever. Fortunately, the recommendation I received from a good friend was completely positive. I was planning to do an extensive remodel of my condo, with removal of walls, new kitchen, and hardwood floors.

From the initial interview with the owner, Kathy, I was pleased. They were up front with me from the beginning. Michael, the designer, worked with me for nearly two months before we began construction. The limitations of my budget were always kept in mind as they were pricing, and I ended up with a great package that I could afford. I don't know whether it was my anxiety over the project, but I was impressed at the attentiveness of the staff to my concerns.

Following the design phase, I signed a construction contract, and work began in early November with the estimate of completion for early February. There were, of course, things that occured which we were not expecting. However, it is now the end of January and I am making plans to move back in mid-

February. There has been only a week's delay, and it was unavoidable.

During the construction, they have been just as attentive. They require a weekly meeting with the construction team on site. I have been kept in the loop on everything. As well, they have dealt beautifully with the building staff, as they have needed to make arrangements for the use of the elevator. I have spoken to the staff, and they have been impressed with the company's professionalism.

All I can say is that my house looks great and there are just a few more things to do. I would and will highly recommend Gapar's Construction to anyone. They have been great to work with!!!

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Smitty2shoes

Joined 5 years ago

Fabulous! But get on their schedule early.... So, my partner and I hired Gaspar's to do our second story addition after visiting one of their homes on the Remodeled Homes Tour in 2007. We've remodeled ourselves before, but an addition was way way beyond our level of skill to manage. The designer who worked on our project (who was also one of the owners) was really down-to-earth and walked us through the process of designing the interior/exterior, figuring out the structural concerns (it's an old house!) and selecting the finishes. We were able to keep to our budget, but we did have to sacrifice some of the things that we wanted. If we had done everything, our budget would have been over.

Once we went into construction, we had a project lead that was there the entire time and communicated with us during weekly meetings where we were in our budget and schedule. The couple of change orders that we did have were communicated to us right away.

Recommends

olblueeyes

Joined 6 years ago

Fantastic Handyman Company. I had the Handyman Service guys come to the house and he was great! He fixed my door that my husband could'nt figure out and he did it in 5 minutes! He was super nice and easy to talk to. The managher Tom was great with the scheduling. They are worth every penny!!.....I had already tried many other handyman services and was very dissapointed. Take it from me..IT WORKS!!!!