These guys are as good as they get... and for the Big Island, they are better than you get. Our story: we spent 3 years on a total renovation of my mom's house in Waimea (up from the Kona coast near Parker Ranch) and it was... I'll just leave the rant for another time - DIFFICULT, VERY VERY CHALLENGING. And yes, we asked for recommendations, and yes we tried and tried to be accommodating and yes we eventually got the project done, but having worked with all types of contractors and vendors in the SF Bay Area, it was so so so so so so so so so so frustrating (stop rant now)... anyway, we never got to the outside of the house and landscaping project, we just needed a break... then after a year and half, with heart in hand and a rotting deck and dreams of great outdoor living (did I mention my mom moved from Alaska to Hawaii, she wanted her 'outdoor living' :-)), we started again. We met with several general contractors and eventually chose Jim Modisher and crew, then set to work. Its been 3 crazy months but they have been amazing and we now have new roof for larger back covered lanai, gorgeous deck, new front patio, back dining patio, re-configured garage, horse-trailer parking, beautiful sliders that open up to our back view, hot tub, outdoor shower, great landscaping... in short, WE LOVE IT and if Jim's goal was to under-promise and over-deliver, mission accomplished!
Parting thought: my words o' wisdom for someone coming from the mainland that hasn't yet experienced building/remodeling on the Big Island: hire a general contractor (and by that, I mean a good GC that has worked on the island for awhile and has good reputation). This means he knows good people to bring in and he knows how to get the products to your house/job site (shipping costs and delays are a definite challenge and having someone that understands this and takes ownership over this aspect of the project is HUGE). And working with GCs is not necessarily my opinion for work on the mainland - I often preferred to manage a project myself - but for Hawaii, I would now hire a GC every time, even for perhaps a 'smaller' job (of course, if its too small and they are any good, they likely may not take it on... :-))
Good luck, you'll need it! My second word of advice would be to consider buying new :-) (never works though, too expensive and never just what you want), that said if you could find someone like Jim et al to work with from the beginning, maybe you'll be able to enjoy your slice of paradise a bit sooner than we did and can actually have fun in the process. read more