An A+ design team from start to finish! If you're looking for a company that not only provides quality work for your home reno, but also provides excellent customer service -- Starcom is it! Bob is great at keeping an open line of communication & has an excellent crew/team behind him. Highly recommend!! read more

Amazing service and they got the job done quickly. All our needs were met beyond belief!

So the owner, Bob of Starcom Design Build finally came out to my property and saw the cement damage (this is after over a year and a half of emails of Bob simply stating he wasn't contracted to do cement work). He is correct he wasn't contracted to do cement work. His contractors spilled cement all over my sidewalks and driveway around the perimeter of my sunroom and caused damage to my sidewalks while laying footers. Bob came and saw the cracks all around the foundation, again this damage was caused by his company. I had to send photos to the BBB and Bob FINALLY agreed that his company was at fault and would fix it! So this has been going on since March 2019. Think about it. Would a reputable company drag this out for a year and half? I should also note, not only is there cracked cement, some areas are lumpy, but other areas have been smoothed out and are so smooth they are have no texture and I pointed this out to Bob. The cement is so smooth it is a slip hazard. Bob just blew me off and said "anything can be slippery." The contractors tried to smooth out the cement they spilled on my asphalt driveway by feathering it. This smooth cement is actually dangerous. Bob's contractors feathered the entire 24 inch surface so as you walk out of the sunroom, so the areas that are not cracked have no texture. This is very dangerous and when it's wet, it's like walking on ice. I was shocked and how much damage can be done with contractors spill cement on your property! I uploaded the blueprint Bob sent showing what he would fix. Now here is the catch! Look at the last line of the document/contract Bob wanted me to sign, there would be no warranty to these repairs and it would void remaining 3.5 warranty I have left on the sunroom. When I asked him about it and told him this was unethical to make me sign this form for him to make repairs for damage his company caused, he told me if I wouldn't sign it then he wouldn't make the repairs. Again, think twice if this is the type of person you want to go into business with. And what happens now... I have to file an MHIC bond complaint and I have to pay for mediation because even though Bob admitted this was at fault and his company won't do the right thing. If you PM me, I would be happy to show you all of the BBB documents and our email communications before you decide to hire this company. Please make an informed decision. *******UPDATE (11/19/2020) ********************************** To address Bob's quote in his rebuttal below : " I suspect we poured some concrete around the perimeter of the building at Mrs. O'Brien's request at no charge." This is pure gaslighting on Bob's part. My property was damaged and Bob has nerve to write a rebuttal and claim he's doing me a favor. It would be funny ... okay this would never be funny. This is just shameful. Take a look at those pictures, there is cracked cement all around my sunroom, and cement on top of asphalt. What he should do is apologize and fix it. I have an email I sent to Greg the at StarCom Design Build telling him his contractors spilled cement on my driveway/sidewalks and they needed to clean it up (I added one to this post). And several follow up emails. Bob was cc'd on all of them. They were also sent to the BBB. Bob is quite creative thinking I asked a contractor to do this to my property. What sane person wants cement haphazardly dumped randomly on their property? Also notice in the contract Bob wanted me to sign and that I attached it states the cement work is "REPAIRS" meaning his company damaged my property and STARCOM DESIGN BUILD was repairing it. And my sliding glass door is STILL leaking. Bob says he found the leak in the siding after coming out 3 times. The first time they caulked under the doors. The second time they found out they had poured cement in the rails blocking weep holes and had to reseat the doors. One door is still leaking after 3 visits leaking. This is the one Bob says he fixed with a bead of caulk due to siding work. He did NOT fix it. It is still leaking and the cause was determined by another contractor. It was due to to how the closet they installed was designed. The pitch of the cement they laid is slightly off, so when we have a very heavy rain it floods. Another contractor measured the angle of the cement in and around the closet and it's not level and water is pooling toward the sunroom (this is Nov 2020). Again, all due to poor quality of the cement they installed and this flooded again and leaked when we had a heavy rainfall two weeks ago. If Bob spent as much time repairing the damages his company caused to my sunroom as he did making up stories on Yelp in his rebuttals, I'd have a great sunroom. I'm filing a MHIC bond complaint, will keep you posted. Here is how to file one if you need to do the same https://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/mhic/mhiccomp.shtml read more

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From the very start, I was shown detailed plans and they worked with my budget. There was great communication between myself and the designer & project manager. I will not hesitate to call Starcom with any future remodeling projects I may have. I would recommend to anyone! 10/10 read more

Owner of company contacted me personally and resolved my complain. I think the owner really cares about the customer service

Months ago, my boyfriend and I went on the hunt to find the perfect company to remodel our 30 year old kitchen. Upon searching through countless reviews and sites, we thought we had finally found the perfect one, Star Com, but we were sadly mistaken. Our first interaction with our salesman, Mike, seemed ideal as he really knew his stuff! We discussed adding cabinets, countertops and finding the perfect spot for our kegerator (as we love to entertain!). They led us to believe that they could give us the best price & service for everything that we wanted with a smile and friendly demeanor. Later, we found out they only fed us what we wanted to hear. Weeks went by after we signed the contract with Mike, took out a loan before any communication. We were then contacted by the project manager, Don, during the weekend and were told that they were be starting demolition that Monday. With such little notice, this forced us to have to move our whole kitchen into our living room and making our main floor basically unlivable. When asking about the delay in contact, they informed us that the salesman was no longer with the company. Demolition was completed very quickly. I work nights, so I am home during the day when they were working on the kitchen. There were 2 men, Donny and I didn't get the younger ones name! I made small talk with them in passing but was stuck keeping the dogs upstairs as our bottom floor was now in disarray. After about a week of having the same 2 men working on my house of whom I've become comfortable with, I started receiving inappropriate Facebook messages from Donny. This now made me very uncomfortable with allowing them back in my house while home alone. I forwarded these messages to the project manager, Don, who immediately contacted Donny's boss, Travis. I received numerous apologies from of them and was informed that Donny was fired the previous day for "drinking on the job." After that fiasco, we then came to the next hurdle...our original plans were "not on their blueprints" and "not possible", so our kegerator will no longer have a home in our kitchen as planned. We were sold on this project as they promised that all of our requests were going to be met, this being the biggest. Trying to just get this project done to get back on with our lives, we requested cabinets where the blank space in the plans are...their response was $500 more dollars. This was the last straw and I reached out to the owner Bob to express my disappointments and frustrations with the project. I left a voicemail with his secretary to please call me. Bob however, "didn't have the time in his schedule to speak with us." Don, the project manager, did the right thing and ordered us the cabinets free of charge after this happened. We have been debating on pulling the plug on this renovation since the first week of demolition and the only reason we did not was because of the amazing attention Don gave to us. He was professional, understanding and most of all attentive and could be reached by phone or text any time. Other than Don, I do not recommend Star Com to anyone looking remodeling! read more

I love my new master suite. Starcom listened to my needs, budget and time restraints. It is rare to find a contractor who is so reliable. 10/10 for Starcom Design Build! -Tyler P read more

Definitely would not recommend them. They do not stand behind their word. Be sure to get everything on writing. The only commitment that you can count on is when they come to pick up a payment. read more

I have had 10 delightful experiences with 5 star handymen and other trades on yelp. 7 weeks later and received a reply from Bob "he stated in his reply to me, "Asbestos tiles; they were loose and falling apart which is not unusual due to the age of the tiles. We had heavy work to do in the area, keeping them in preconstruction condition was near impossible" No Starcom, the only heavy work you were to do in the washroom area, was lift up some removable self sticking modern tiles that were partially on top of the asbestos tiles. There was no heavy work you were doing in that area whatsoever. The asbestos tiles were not loose, they were documented extensively as being firmly in place due to mastic. Video, before pics, licensed people,etc. And again, Starcom doesn't HAVE A LICENSE TO REMOVE ASBESTOS TILES.(see MD database) NOR DID they HAVE ANY APPROVAL TO DO SO. The EPA is very clear on this. 6 weeks later (April now) and still no refund after sending certified mail. Time for next formal steps to occur. Also, see hidden reviews for more info from other unhappy customers. Their reviews only auto hidden because they were 1st time Yelpers. Had to let this contractor go. They were let go 2/16/2017. Wish I had noticed all the hidden 1 star reviews before hiring this company. First, their employee, Jon, handled and left unwrapped Pink Fiberglass without any type of protection in the work area. It wasn't wrapped in plastic and appeared to be old. They left unwrapped insulation sitting on the floor for a week. They stated that because the pink fiberglass has the word ECO in it that, it's safe to handle w/o gloves or eye protection. Project manager, Don, even commented that customers look at him strange when he demonstrates how safe it is by rubbing it on his skin and then starts scratching, but he knows it is safe because it is marked w/ an ECO label. As the product data sheet shows, eco means that it's merely formaldehyde free but still fiberglass ! Similarly, negotiated to have mold resistant greenboard used in place of regular drywall , but they show up with regular dry wall. Same excuse, it's "ECO", it must be same as greenboard. So a cheaper product than what was in the contract. This is a general theme of where I negotiate for something in the contract and #STARCOM either ignored it or feigned ignorance. "Oh what, you wanted that?" "Yes, see the email we went over line by line". Next they were supposed to put an end cap on an HVAC duct and instead the genius decided to use "Great Stuff" expandable foam INSIDE the end of the duct to close it off. Wow. The worker had such a field day he stuck the foam in all sorts of other places too; near electrical connections and it his newly added drywall joints. I don't know if he knew the HVAC was on or off when he shot that stuff in there. That would've been a mess. The work is being done in a confined 400 sq foot space and when they were told the furnace couldn't be used (turned out to be blessing since that's a NO-NO) wanted to use an 88,000 BTU kerosene heater to cure drywall mud. We told them "nope" as we were concerned about carbon monoxide and water vapor. We supplied an electric space heater. Part of the contract was floor installation. Despite lead time of at least a month, flooring subcontractor [ CB Flooring, currently rated a whopping 1 star on Yelp] showed up 3 days before they were scheduled to install the floor only to announce that "it would be a quite a while" before the materials would be on hand. The wood flooring was never ordered a month before. The GC got scarce after I shared that email. The final straw was the"Left Shark" employee who decided, with no notice or approval, to attack some asbestos flooring tiles. The plan was always to cover them up per EPA guidelines. So, the worker, Jon, knew what they were because he remarked that under his old ServPro business he would charge $5k for removal of the tiles. He knew! After a few conversations, it was reiterated over and over that he would not touch them. I went downstairs after he had left for the day and realized that he had started manually whacking at the tiles to remove them. There were still shards of the tiles laying on the floor and under nearby appliances. So a person who was well aware of hazards (and Maryland regulations, I would assume) regarding asbestos SMASHED and scraped and started to remove them. They were solidly in place, so he had to damage them to remove This is what every professional would agree is the worst case scenario when handling the substance. Without any approval at all. The general theme of their work was that they don't care about dangerous or irritating chemicals. Drywall looks like it was laid down & mudded by monkeys. Just a nightmare I want to move on from. Apology for exposing me to asbestos and fiberglass plus a refund is all I seek. read more

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Our western Howard County home was ready for a kitchen remodel and Starcom was there for us from start to finish. Bob and Jerry did a great job and most importantly, we had peace of mind throughout the remodel. We are loving our new kitchen! Thank you, Starcom! read more

I've known this company for many years, and they stand by their work!! I'm always so impressed with their quality designs and craftsmanship. Definitely recommend Starcom to anyone looking to remodel or build a new home! read more

Starcom built a 20 x 20 addition onto my home. We wanted to maximize the kitchen/dining/family room area so that it was open concept and better for entertaining. The design was executed perfectly and we absolutely love our new space. If anyone has hesitations about a home remodel, call Starcom! They know what they are doing. read more

Called starcom for estimate on a laundry room renovation, jerry came out and we were told we'd have designs in about a week and work could start in about 4-6, this was in June, called the business multiple times and were told that we would receive a call back and never did, the one time I did get to speak with jerry he told me they were "backed up" and he'd have designed out to us in "a couple of days". It's now August and we've had absolutely no follow up or contact, very unprofessional. read more

Called them after getting an exorbitant estimate from another company for wind damage to siding. Roger came over, explained everything in detail, and had a crew to fix the issue quickly. Good price and it looks great! Will use them again and recommend to others! read more

This company is not only dishonest, unethical and does a poor job, but they wont call you back after they have botched the job. Steer clear if you don't want the headache. The salesman, Matt, is a royal jerk too. Wont take ownership of a crappy situation. read more

Before you decide to do any work with StarCom, have a look at their BBB history (see below) and you will see NUMEROUS complaints filed annually--more than is typical for a competent contractor. More importantly, there are three things to consider: 1. StarCom contracts require dispute resolution exclusively through the BBB 2. StarCom pays an annual fee to the BBB that homeowners do not pay 3. This preexisting relationship works in StarCom's favor during disputes 4. Rather than resolve the CUSTOMERS' problems, StarCom will discredit the customer and overcome the dispute. StarCom wins time and time again and the customer forks out more cash without getting their issues resolved. Do you really want a contractor with so many disputes? Customers are unhappy time and time again. Do you really want a contractor that has an arrangement in place to justify poor workmanship and poor customer service at your expense? If you love to take expensive risks and want to use StarCom, there will be PROBLEMS. Make sure you delete the mandatory BBB arbitration clause from the contract if you are willing to take such a high risk. Alternatively, just use a better contractor. Here is some BBB history: https://www.bbb.org/us/md/columbia/profile/bathroom-design/starcom-design-build-corporation-0011-22010124/complaints read more

First time doing reviews on Yelp as a very ethical person I am sharing my review. Had my handicapped brothers house rebuilt for 200,000.00 ++. I could only come to check on the progress every week or so as my brother was staying at my house and I have to care for him. Some of the employees are ok. I would give the completed job 4/10 as since the job was completed have had major problems every few months. Come to find out too late that there are certain protocols that a contractor has to go by to be considered a good honest contractor. The president of the company decided to not go that route and take full advantage of my families situation. Do not hire this company. The standards of this company are horrible. I will give some of the employees an A/B review as it's not their fault. Recently received an email from starcom most likely by accident offering a gift card to the customer that wrote the best review on BBB. Not very ethical to bribe for good reviews. read more

I really wanted this experience to be a good one and was very hopeful after reading reviews and looking at rating on multiple sites. Unfortunately, the whole experience ended up being more of a hassle than anything else and a disappointment since the project manager and designer ended up being a lot of the problem. All very nice people and everyone tells you want you want to hear but the actions to do not follow the words. A project that was estimated to take 7.5 - 9.5 weeks ended up taking 14 weeks to complete (after almost 3 weeks of no work in the middle) and is only complete now because I had to stay on top of everyone every single day and take leave from work to babysit the workers and make sure they actually did the work. I have been told by their own workers and multiple subs that my 14 weeks is nothing compared to some of the other Starcom projects they have going - kitchens that have been under construction since November! Multiple problems throughout construction because the designer didn't measure correctly, didn't know that when you put in 12 feet of windows, you need stronger headers, ordered the wrong sizes of items (3 different cabinets, 2 of which they completely destroyed and threw in the dumpster), didn't order enough of some items (hardware) , didn't order some products at all (ledger stone, back-splash) until very late in the process and almost caused even more of a delay if I hadn't intervened and worked with the companies. They bring in people to do the work that either don't know or don't care about the work they are doing (installed 9 feet of windows crooked by almost 2 inches, spilled stain on new blue stone hearth and tried to "fix" by putting paint thinner on it, dumpster placed w/o wood under the rollers, dry wall installers that covered over lights, vents, numerous wires and cables, no regulator installed on gas line). From the very beginning, I told everyone that I wanted communications, updates, status reports either by phone, text, email or in person and if they kept me in the loop, I wouldn't end up bothering them. I got nothing. I either had to call, text, and email the project manager or wait for him to show up to actually have a conversation with him. The designer responded to emails with one word responses. In the end, I would receive an email from the project manager, respond with question and receive no response. In the beginning of this project I recommended Starcom to 3 different people looking to get work done. 1 contacted the company, waited several weeks for the designer to get back to her and then went with another company because of the price and communications issues and the other two I have changed my recommendation to a NO. All very frustrating and a disappointment. read more

Starcom did a great job, this was a complete kitchen tear down and overhaul. The floor was ripped out, the counter and cabinets were removed, and the doors/windows were relocated. It was a big job and Starcom made it happen. Bill Miner, Scott Chattin and Dave Laflamme really gave me a kitchen that is the envy of the neighborhood. At the beginning Bill and Scott visited us a number of times. We spoke to other contractors, but they all gave us the same recipe... a remodel, with new appliances and a new counter. We were looking to change our kitchen drastically. Bill and Scott did this, they guided us through what we can and cannot do with the budget we had. They really worked with us and provided us with many options. Scott and Bill took us to find the right cabinets and the right counter top. That was the fun part... when the work began, it was a little rough living with a packed up house. The clutter was a bit much, but Dave Laflamme helped out tremedously. He made sure that the dust was concentrated as much as possible. He also made sure that the work and staging area was isolated. His craftsmanship on the crown moulding was superb. The attention to the finished product was very nice. At the end of the day we have the kitchen we want with some extras that were not in the original design, i.e. heated floors and ambient lightiing. I have attached the before and after pictures... its quite startling, that these are pictures of the same house. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. read more

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Starcom Design Build is a terrible company. They did a terrible job for us and we had to pay another company to come in and redo their sloppy work. Also they overcharged us and refused to give us any money back after we told them that we did not like the finished product. NEVER USE STARCOM DESIGN AND BUILD!!!! read more

We contracted with Starcom on April 28, 2016 to build a front portico with stone porch and stone sidewalk for $29,000. A deposit of $9500 was paid. Starcom decided to opt out of the contract, and has not returned our $9500 deposit. Most surprising is the "OPT OUT PROVISION" of the contract we signed (on page 4). "Either Starcom or the Owner can opt out of the Contract at any time, upon written notice, at which time Starcom will invoice the Owner for final payment of all amounts due and owing for labor performed and materials then delivered, bought or allocated and/or any obligation incurred by Starcom in the normal execution of the Contract, including a portion of project profit and overhead costs." In other words Starcom can decide for any reason to avoid starting any construction, then charge us an amount they determine. In our case, the evidence shows that they decided that they underestimated their contract quote, and asked for an additional $4600 from us. We refused to pay more since we made no changes whatsoever to the contract details and didn't believe we should pay for Starcom's mistake. So we now have no portico/sidewalk and lost $9500. Here are some details: We became increasingly concerned as work on the project still had not started. Three times over the course of 2 months we were sent incorrect drawings for the contracted project; the stone mason and project manager Derek had a version of the drawings we had never seen, including a smaller sidewalk, no demo of existing sidewalk and shallower footing than originally contracted. These "mistakes" were apparently an attempt to reduce Starcom's cost. Nevertheless, with each drawing mistake and delay, the Starcom salesman, Scott apologized, took ownership, and assured us "It's a matter of trust" that he would resolve the problems and deliver the portico and stone sidewalk as we had originally contracted. Although we really wanted to get the project completed, we had offered to Scott that we would consider releasing Starcom's contractual obligations if they would refund our $9500 deposit (if Starcom didn't wanted to perform the work for any reason). However, Scott assured us that Starcom wanted to complete the contract. After a discussion about the faulty drawings, Derek and Scott both called us the next day to apologize for the actions of the owner (Bob), and warn us that Bob wanted to opt out of the contract. A few days later, the fourth set of corrected drawings were sent to us by Bob. The new drawings were sufficiently correct (included original contract details, nothing more). We immediately responded with our approval of the drawings and we were looking forward to starting work. Less than 24 hours later we received an email from the owner stating that they were "opting out" of the contract. Moreover, since we had approved the drawings, he would be keeping $2900 of our $9500 deposit if we agreed to release Starcom from its contractual obligations. We refused and suggested that Starcom had the reasonable options to either complete the contract work, or return our $9500 deposit. In retrospect it seemed like a continuing deception to charge us more for the original contract work, and/or reduce Starcom's cost by reducing the masonry work with modified faulty drawings, and delaying the project. However, sending us corrected drawings after we were told that owner Bob decided to opt out of the contract, and luring us into approving those drawings with a false implication to start work on the project, was deceptive since Starcom was not providing these services in good faith. read more

After a flood in our home, we were faced with the prospect of replacing all the first floor floorings and having walls repainted and repapered. Our kitchen cabinetry and granite tops needed to be removed and then reinstalled so that new flooring could layed. We hired Starcom to manage the whole process and couldn't be more pleased. They handled dealing with the insurance company to make sure we had everything budgeted for the claim. The subcontractors they used (painting, wall papering, carpentry, plumbing, and granite installation) were all first rate and Starcom assigned a work superviser that I could always reach on his cell phone when he was not on premises. We had a weelkly plan of who would be at our home, the day and the time. Not only did we have a very positive experience, but our home looks beautiful. read more

Starcom is one of the worst companies I've ever dealt with. This is the first on-line review I've ever written. I feel compelled to do so because of the absolutely terrible service I've received from this company. I chose Starcom initially because beyond their competitive pricing, they seemed to be the most professional, making promises of regular meetings and my full involvement through the remodel process. They cut corners, failed to involve me in the process, and the owner said things like.. "let's agree to disagree" rather than meet my needs. I would never recommend them to anyone else. Don't let the pretty showroom fool you - they are not customer centric and could care less about your needs. read more