Josh Anderson advised us on a major remodeling project in our home. He located our house plans from…read morethe original builder, and did a thorough analysis of our load-bearing walls and beams. Based on his calculations, we were able to determine which walls and supports could be safely moved or eliminated to maximize the impact of our new floorplan design. He was easy to work with, very knowledgeable, and taught us a few things in the process. We would like to provide the highest of recommendation here, and thank him for great engineering services!

We agreed on a price for a site visit of my building in Mercer county and given the general scope…read moreof the project, a price for the drawings. We met late afternoon with Mr Mason and my contractor and it went well, no surprises as my contractor already had a plan in mind and Mr. Mason, with a couple modifications, agreed upon the design. So i need to pay for the site visit and the drawings to get the work started. i received an invoice but the total cost for the project was $150 more than we talked about. I emailed them and the reply was the site visit went from $500 to $650. I was in a tight spot, i had to pay it to keep the project moving but I was totally unhappy with the price increase.

Last week my husband made an appointment for the engineer Mr. Bob Mason from Reliable Structural…read moreEngineers to inspect our house. According to the business's website, Mr. Mason holds a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering and Master of Architectural Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University (our alma mater, too!). We had purchased the house only a couple of months ago, and we had a regular house inspector do an inspection, but my husband wanted peace of mind about certain aspects of our house. A few days before the appointment, we had to reschedule because my husband's grandma passed away, and her funeral was during the appointment time. Mr. Mason rescheduled the appointment for a couple of days later. On the day of the appointment, Mr. Mason showed up a few minutes early. We had never before hired a structural engineer so felt a bit unsure of what questions to ask, but Mr. Mason answered all of our questions thoroughly. My husband probably asked the same question about the bouncy floors dozens of times, and Mr. Mason patiently answered the question each time. In about one hour, Mr. Mason inspected part of the exterior of our house, our basement, our two floors of living space, and our attic. Because of Mr. Mason's feedback, my husband and I learned a lot about the structure of our house and how to remodel it in the future. For example, we might add a trench drain between our driveway and garage, we know which load-bearing walls to leave alone when we remodel our kitchen and full bathrooms, we might add a roof vent and aluminum ladder in our attic, we will make sure that our front stoop has sufficient footing to add a portico, we might add sister joists to our floors to reduce bounciness, and we might add sister joints to our roof to support solar panels. In the future, we will use his recommendations to ensure that our contractors correctly perform their jobs. Because our house has no major issues, Mr. Mason gave us the option of purchasing a verbal report instead of a written report, which saved us a few hundred dollars.

Wish I could leave zero. He will tell you anything you want…read moreand do a bad job. don't trust him.

Brian Baines is a great guy and he delivers quality at a fair price. He keeps in touch throughout…read morethe process of estimating to job completion. He completed my new sidewalk job and my significant others driveway project exactly on schedule and has recieved inquries from other neighbors after seeing his work. I would not hesitate to hire him for any project requiring concrete know how!

I'm very happy I went with Carl J Massini as a structural engineer for my foundation concern! He…read morewas able to come out and do a thorough inspection even though there was scattered light rain outside. I have been concerned, stressed, and overwhelmed about my foundation situation. Carl Massini pinpointed what the issue is and what exactly needs to be done. Carl Massini also drew a straightforward sketch of the issue, as well as left notes about what to do. I'm very grateful that I have this paper to show future contractors/repair companies the foundation repair I'm looking for! Finally, this inspection was very affordable and accessible for me. I prefer talking via email, and I was grateful Carl Massini was alright with that form of communication. Definitely go with him as your structured engineer! I really didn't know what to do about the foundation issue before. He also recommended me some companies / people / contractors to handle the foundation repair, and gave me feedback on other companies that I found that don't do foundation repair. I'm very happy with my structural engineer inspection!

I had some foundation concerns so I called a Foundation Company. After sitting through a long drawn…read moreout presentation. The project would be $30k. I decided to call Carl, an honest structural engineer rather than a salesman at a foundation company. Carl, agreed something needed done but less than half of what I was presented. Carl gave me other companies to call. I called one of those companies and they agreed to follow Carl's recommendation, saving me $20,000 Take a breath, call Carl and get some peace of mind.

We waited a very long time to have our driveway in concrete. It just wasn't in the budget for a…read morevery long time! Finally it was and we decided to take action. We knew of no concrete contractors, and we wanted someone we could totally trust. A.E. Nicholas Concrete Construction was highly recommended to us, as he was/is known for excellent work and owned his business for over 40 years. We called immediately. Many were good but he seemed to be the best and his reviews and testimonials were outstanding. Fully licensed and insured. More years experience than many crews out there and if you don't his team as well they have many lifetimes worth of experience. Jimmy came out and took measurements and photos to get us a detailed quote with their 100% best price guarantee. He was a nice guy and he made the beginning process easy and worry free. We ended up choosing them for the job. We felt comfortable that they had the best price, quality, and qualifications to handle our job. I can honestly say, Chip the owner, was very pleasant to talk with. He answered any of our questions and made us feel at ease. If there were rain delays in the schedule, Chip would always notify us. Chip works right with his guys, and to say they are amazing is an understatement. Chip and his guys were always prompt when beginning their day. When the job was completed they even reseeded our lawn where needed. That is going above and beyond. I'm not quite sure why ratings only go to 5 stars. We definitely give A.E. Nicholas Concrete Construction a 5 star rating! Only wish we could give them a 10 star rating. Even a 20! We recommend A.E. Nicholas Concrete Construction to anyone that would want the best concrete construction team around! Thank you all again for the excellent work and beautiful driveway! We are beyond happy!

A.E. Nicholas Construction Co. is my contractor of choice for concrete projects in western…read morePennsylvania. He has been in business for over 45 years and it is easy to understand why after you work with A.E. "Chip" Nicholas. After 20+ years in the area, it was a pleasure for me to hire a contractor who will work with the customer, is efficient in the entire process from contract to completion and does a GREAT JOB! And a bonus, his entire work crew is hardworking craftsmen at their work and courteous to anyone they meet. My project had two components, the replacement of an existing concrete sidewalk and steps to the front door and the installation of a drainage system to reduce groundwater runoff due to the steep hills near our home in Murrysville, PA. Jimmy, the estimator was prompt and considered the challenges of my specific project at the outset to quote a price, and then Chip called me back right away over the weekend to walk-through the project scope and his plan on construction. Equipment and materials arrived the day before, and when Chip says he will be there as the sun is rising, take him at his word! His team worked efficiently to remove the existing sidewalk preparing the forms for the new concrete and digging the drainage trenches, removing all debris from the site the same day. Then the real excitement of the project began on day 2, when the concrete arrived (they only use high quality product), and when the moved and poured half a mixer truck of concrete, it was a really amazing, choreographed event that should be put to music. No heavy concrete truck came on the property as they moved almost 6 cubic yards of concrete from the road so as not to damage the existing driveway. Finally, after pouring the concrete, they finished the contoured sidewalk beautifully to produce an elegant look to the front of the house. Again, on the French drainage part of the project, they put surface drains and top-quality pipe covered and wrapped with pervious material and stone and backfilled with soil, fertilized grass seed and topping to ensure robust growth of the new lawn, all leading to a deep course stone pit to allow the water to run off slowly and be absorbed into the landscape. Chip even took note of a gutter lead problem and fixed a problem created by a previous deck contractor I had hired earlier this year. He said no charge, and not only was the total project beautiful, but it was also reasonably priced. I would hire A.E. Nicholas to do any project at my home again!

The was amazing working with Jason and his crew at building buddies. Before the Reno started, I had…read moreno idea how to transform the space but Jason had great ideas and was great collaborating with him on them. They worked on removing old drop ceiling and out dated wall paneling with brand new plasterboard throughout the house. They were efficient with great attention to detail! I would work with Jason and the crew over and over again and am looking forward to doing so on different projects in the future. The value and results are well worth it! Mike

Our basement was a hodgepodge of three different floorings, one drop and one conventional ceiling,…read moreand two walls in the laundry area covered in plastic by a waterproofing company. Jason and his team renovated the whole basement by installing drywall, replacing the drop ceiling with a conventional ceiling and new lighting, and covering the entire floor with functional but attractive laminate. They went above and beyond to make sure we were involved in the design and satisfied with the results. In addition, they replaced our kitchen floor, which had some water damage, with beautiful ceramic tile to complement the existing quartz counters. This is the second major project Jason has done for us. He previously remodeled a bathroom for us, replacing all the fixtures and flooring, as well as installing a pocket door. We are very happy with all the work that was done and would highly recommend Building Buddies.

Alan communicates exceedingly well - I never had to seek him out for an update or to ask about next…read moresteps, he always took the initiative to reach out when he had an update or a question for me. I also requested several quotes for this work to repair my deck - Alan came in at a very reasonable rate. Much more so than some of the other quotes and the work he did was of high standard. See photo of the time he took to sand the edges of the handrails; he also took special care to choose high quality boards. Even when he ended up realizing that there would need to be additional work to be done that would come at an additional cost to me, he made sure to talk me through my options, he made recommendations, and never forced me into anything. Instead, he worked with me to find solutions that would result in a safe, quality deck and also at a cost that I could manage. We're quite pleased with our repaired deck and would absolutely hire him again. He exceeded our expectations.

Alan rebuilt exterior stairs at our Mt Lebanon home. He helped us to create the vision and he…read moreexecuted with extreme care to the quality and pulled of an end result that we are thrilled with! Alan is kind and generous with his time and attention to detail, communicates well and is a pleasure to work with. Would highly recommend!

TJ was undoubtedly the best drywall guy I've seen in a long time. They were extremely professional,…read moreand the work was beyond my expectations.

TJ and his team came through for us after a long and exhausting search to find someone to patch…read moredrywall after a complete replumb of our house. He was responsive, reasonable, and, best of all, skilled! He and his team repaired our walls and ceilings seamlessly, even precisely matching a very annoying popcorn ceiling and the existing paint in our hallway (which we didn't think was possible since it's been there for more than a decade)! We had a few special requests, all of which he accommodated. He and his team operated in the most professional and respectful manner, including daily updates on progress and minimizing inconveniences to the household while I worked from home. An A+ contractor for sure that we will be recommending to friends and family. Thank you, TJ & team!