I try to avoid writing very negative reviews but this one is deserved and I'm out $1500…read more In Summer of 2013 I purchased an Angie's List "Big Deal" from Green Castle for "four days of labor" for $1500 (35 hours). I intended to use it for sheetrock repair and patching throughout my house. Upon inspection of the job, they indicated it should not be a problem to complete the repairs in the alloted time. -The worker came on three different days for three to four hours at a time (according to my neighbors.) He arrived generally between 10 and 11 a.m. and left between 2 and 3 p.m. -After working for two partial days, he disappeared for 10 days. The next time he came back, he indicated his wife had been ill. I told him it was not a problem but to let me know if he wasn't coming on a particular day, which never happened. -After the second day he told me he didn't have a ladder or a way to transport one - even though he had been to the house and knew that the bulk of the repairs were around ceilings and door frames. I had to borrow one from my neighbor for him to use. If that fact had come up the first day, it would have been helpful. -One day upon leaving in the early afternoon, he texted and told me that his helper who used to work with him had gone into catering so it was taking longer for him to do the work alone. -On a day I expected him to arrive, he texted me and said that Home Depot was out of 2x2 sheetrock so he'd have to come back after he found some ... -The third time he came back was the week before Christmas. He indicated that he planned to return once his boss stopped putting him on other jobs. He never said anything about the 35 hours being used up. I called Henry the owner in the middle of last week and asked when they were going to finish the work. He acted surprised "He didn't finish???" Henry didn't say anything about the time being used up but that he would call the worker and find out what was up. I never heard back from him. My next two calls to Henry went to voice mail, and today I have received a text from the worker guy saying "Henry told me to text you and let you know that the 35 hours of work was done, anything else that needs to be done that's past the 35 hours cost extra" and "I was told once I hit 35 hours to stop what I am doing and leave" Apparently the fact that less than half of the project which was supposedly doable in 35 hours was completed was irrelevant. If, by some magical warp in time, he did spend 35 hours working at my house (he didn't) why did no one ever bring that fact up in response to my numerous calls, texts and e-mails between December and now? In fact, why did the worker guy indicate that he was planning to come back? Why won't the owner, Henry, return my phone calls or e-mails but instead has his employee text me that the work is done? It's clear that I am an unhappy customer and instead of finding out my side of the story, he's avoiding me. Is it acceptable that they did NOT do the top priority repairs (taping and floating the large areas of damage, and instead did the minor work (and that inconsistently)? I was very clear with Henry and the worker during the inspection that the big stuff was most important. In the end, NONE of those repairs were made.

I called Scott today to come out and take a look at a small job I need completed. He was very…read morefriendly and honest on the phone, saying he didn't think I needed a general contractor based on the job description (I have a small section of brick facade sliding off the outside of my home, which Scott said would be more appropriate for a mason), but he'd be happy to come by and take a look. He gave me a time estimate for when he thought he'd by, and then called to let me know he'd be over shortly -- so his communication and timeliness were very good at the outset. When he came to my home, he took a thorough look at the problem and gave me multiple suggestions for how to tackle it for the lowest cost -- none of which involved paying him to do it. It was definitely refreshing to have a contractor looking at a problem for a potential client with the best interest of the client in mind. While he was over, we also discussed some other projects my wife and I have been thinking about, and he gave us some very good advice there as well, and did not try to sell us on his services. The only selling he did was to leave us his card. Finally, about 10 minutes after he'd left, he called back from his car with a suggestion for how to talk about the sliding brick issue with the builder of our home and possible recourse we might have. The only reason I give Scott 4 stars instead of 5 is that we never had him do any actual work for us, though that will change, as we will definitely be calling him back if we are in need of a general contractor in the future.

We recently used Renovate 512 for several home projects, both indoors and outdoors. We can't say…read moreenough good things about their work and the way they handled things. James came out within a day of us contacting him. He was very knowledgeable, extremely professional, very fast to respond and get his workers out to begin the work. The work was completed quicker than estimated. The work included repairing cracks to the limestone blocks on the exterior of the house. They matched the mortar exactly and it all looks brand new. They also did major repairs to an exterior door, fixed an interior door, replaced floor trim around flooring and several other jobs. We can't say enough good things about Juan, who did much of the work and Renovate 512. They will be our first call for future projects. Great company!

We can't speak highly enough of A.R. Lucas and our experience working with his team on our remodel…read moreand addition. We met with a number of contractors and felt that Adam's experience and style was the best fit for our Crestview home. Adam is super responsive, patient (I was pregnant at the time and probably not the easiest client ever :), and has fantastic subcontractors--we trusted and truly enjoyed getting to know everyone that worked on the house. Whenever you tell someone you're remodeling, you typically get a gasp and a "Good luck! How long until you move back in? Plan for twice that." We were nervous. Our experience could not have been more opposite--Adam finished on time and within our budget, another shocker based feedback from everyone else in the world that's done a remodel. 5 stars would hire for our next project!

Our architect recommended A.R. Lucas Construction for our add-on project and we could not have been…read morehappier. Prior to construction, we worked closely with our architect and Adam to ensure the project could be completed on budget. Throughout the project Adam provided frequent expense and progress reports. As this was our first construction project, we were filled with uneducated questions and concerns. Adam and his team were impressive, kind and patient in handling all our questions. They made us feel very comfortable coming to them with anything. Andrew was our main lead for the day-to-day and did a great job keeping all the subs moving and on track. The craftsmanship work that A.R. Lucas designed and crafted are beautiful and unique, and definitely my most favorite parts of the add-on. We were drawn to A.R. Lucas Construction for their craftsmanship, attention to detail and budget insight. Adam, Andrew and their team were a lot of fun to work with; it was a comfortable, collaborative and rewarding experience. We will most certainly reach out to them for our future projects.

Great communication, reasonable bid, detail oriented, professional, timely, high quality work, and…read morehonest. For him it wasn't a big job, for us, it made us fall in love with our home all over again.

I worked with JVC on my kitchen and great room remodel. Joseph was amazing and being incredibly…read moreresponsive and held my hand through the whole process. I am incredibly picky and Joseph was patient and understanding through all my questions and the change orders I requested. His team did great work and showed up on time and when they said they would, which can be hard to find in this space. I love my kitchen/great room and highly recommend JVC for any of your remodeling needs!

Flexible, friendly, and affordable! They do a wide range of services and completely remodeled our…read morehome built in the '70s with a new mod look. Everything from roof repair, painting, lighting work, tub repair, you name it. Strongly recommended for all home repairs and remodeling!

We hired Fortney Construction to do complete popcorn removal in all rooms, including an 18 foot…read moreceiling in living room, and a total retexture and repaint of the interior house and garage. This included all the trim, and a replacement of all interior doors. The price was better than 3 other estimates and they did a fantastic job! Everything was done to perfection, in a timely manner, and they made sure we were satisfied with their work before completion. The owner, Leland, and his assistant Bill, were very professional and worked long hours every day until the job was complete. He kept me notified of all progress without me having to ask, which was appreciated. We were out of the house during remodel and they did a lot of extra stuff to take care of the house in our absence, i.e trash, mail, ect. These guys can cover you in anything you need done, and were extremely trustworthy. Our house is now looking amazing and ready to sell. I would highly recommend them!!

Sylvester is an old school Austin type of contractor that can do a little bit of everything. He…read morecares deeply about the quality and craftsmanship of his work and he invests the time and energy that it takes to get the job done right. He was a great collaborator with me on a pretty complicated bathroom renovation project and he went above and beyond to make sure that we stayed on budget and were happy with the results. I would definitely recommend Sylvester for your next home improvement project.

SWC was highly recommended to us by a friend who is a structural engineer and very meticulous…read morecustomer. SWC rebuilt our crumbling back deck. It now looks absolutely beautiful. Their attention to detail and craftsmanship is excellent. And they greatly improved the structural integrity of the deck. We will recommend them to others and use them without hesitation for future projects.

Gonzalo and his team did an amazing job putting in new framing to my house, new countertops, new…read morekitchen island, dry wall and insulation. Has worked on 5 of my friend's houses which is how we got connected and I'm extremely glad that we did. Just hired him again to regrade my backyard, put in sod, a deck and some foundation repair. (Old home fun ! )

Before I bought my house, a flipper hired this guy to remodel the house. He installed two showers…read morewith faulty pan liners that leaked, causing flooding in my house. He incorrectly installed a french drain, leading to more flooding, and he wired the electrical system with *speaker wire*. When I notified him about the flooding caused by his faulty French drain, he demanded over $10,000 to fix it. Do not hire him. He is a fraud. I am going broke fixing his shoddy work.

I had quite possibly one of the most perplexing experiences ever with this company. Our family had…read morea new kitchen sink and faucet we wanted to install in the kitchen. The job would require cutting the laminate countertop by about an inch or two on the sides. We also needed to replace the wood in the cabinet below due to warping from various drips and spills (the home is 16 years old). We put the job out to three contractors, Republic Renovations being one that came highly recommended. Without coming over to look at the job or even discuss it on the phone, Bryan asked a couple questions via email and then sent over a bid. His wasn't the cheapest, but having done many remodeling projects myself I felt like it was fair. Fast forward a couple weeks while we picked up a new faucet, I reach back out to Republic Renovations to let him know we were ready to move forward. I explained that the new sink has a single drain (the old one has two) so we'd need to rough out new PVC to go from the disposal to the wall. I also reminded him of the full scope of the project, including the wood on the bottom. We get a new bid back from him with about a 70% increase in total project cost. Again, I take a fair minded approach to it, sign his contract, and we schedule a date for a week out. Less than 24 hours before our scheduled work, Bryan sends me an email saying he won't be able to make our appointment. Fine, I ask when we can reschedule. His response, "I'm not the man for the job. I do apologize." Really? When prompted why he even took the bid and discussed the project with us for well over 3 weeks, his response was simply, "Your frustrations are understood, apologies again and for any confusion!" So word of caution here. Don't bank on this guy following through with your job. Other than the slow start procuring our faucet, there's no clear reason why this guy flaked less than 24 hours before the day he requested to do the work. We've been more than fair with his original bid and questionable increase in cost, we even opted to have him do it on a Saturday at his request. The lack of professionalism here is pretty astounding. Update: so his response is about not having a plumber. Wish he would have told me about that before he scheduled the appointment, and that explanation would have been nice via email when he cancelled. Again, folks, buyer beware.

Believe the reviews. Bryan and Republic are thorough, honest, reliable, highly skilled, and they…read morewere always on time. We appreciated the detailed estimate and realistic timeline we were given. Republic did an excellent job putting our bathroom and garage back together after these rooms faced water damage. The finished product now looks better than the original. We'd absolutely work with Bryan again and recommend him to anyone looking for a top notch contractor in Austin.