MENATWORK Design Build

We bought our house with the intent of adding a second storey to it in the next few years. We started reviewing contractors online and ended up interviewing five or six of them. We selected Paul Gallop at Men at Work.

Before we could start our second storey though, we ended up with a flood, and lost our entire basement to a mould problem. Professional mould remediators cleaned up, but Paul helped us refinish the family room. From waterproofing to building material choices to floor installation, he and his team were a pleasure to work with, reaffirming our choice for the bigger project. (A single room is not really Men at Work's sweet spot in terms of project size though, but Paul was professional throughout the project.)

Shortly thereafter, we began planning the second storey addition. Paul and his architect spent countless hours at our home meeting with us (we still know how he likes his coffee and which techno-geek blogs he likes), going through designs, revisions, brainwaves, budget cuts, all the way through to the estimate/proposal phase. It took a couple of rounds but they were able to come up with designs that we were happy with and that we could actually afford. Their estimate process is very fair and we really felt that Paul was being complete and honest with us throughout the whole process. (Actually, we were a little surprised at the transparency but very quickly came to greatly appreciate it.) He listened to our ideas, some of which were completely insane, and responded respectfully and insightfully.

By the time we had finished the planning phase there was no question that we wanted to use Paul and his team for the build. We knew that he was not the cheapest out there, but his transparency, attention to detail, honesty, and frankly, his friendly personality made us feel that using a builder like that was the only option for us. That said, we did have some challenging budget constraints that were always in the picture. But we are busy enough, we don't want to deal with shady tradesmen, cut corners, other hassles and endless headaches to spare a few percentage points on the project, even one of a staggering scale such as this. We had dealt with (and are now unfortunately dealing with) some sketchy tradesmen and we were absolutely right to choose Paul. The home reno involved over a dozen different trades. 10 of them were great, and Paul completely handled the "other two" entirely to our satisfaction (and we sort of forced the issue with selecting one of the problematic ones due to a scheduling snafu on our own side).

During the build, Men at Work uses an online construction project management system (well, and the telephone too, of course). We were guinea pigs on this tool and it is awesome. All of the selections that we had to make (a terrifyingly shocking number of them) were all online, listed, scheduled with deadlines, and annotated with extremely helpful details and advice. We missed half of our selection deadlines (okay, maybe 3/4) but the project continued. Paul was able to help us work through some of the more complicated decisions and scheduling drama that ensued from our self-inflicted gaffes. Once we made it through that process, the software took it from there. It works for communication with Men at Work, reporting issues, providing technical details of everything in the project, and it's all in one spot, all online, and accessible anywhere on the internet (a godsend as I was on the road a lot during this whole process).

We did move out for the build, and moved back in 9 months later. We would have been done quite about 2 months sooner, but we chose to drag it out a little. We ended up procrastinating on some of the finishing touches though, which was not the best idea, but it was our call, not Paul's.

Overall, the team is great. Punctual, neat, of highest quality. No need elaborating on something so basic, and so well done. We've been in our house now for about a year and a half. The finish and attention to detail are excellent. We constantly receive compliments on the house (we didn't go with a cookie cutter second storey add-on, we really thought a lot about the designs, and Men at Work realized them). Whenever an issue came up during our warranty period, Men at Work was on top of it. They've been by here in the last couple of months as well, so this information and all that we're telling you is based on our experience with Men at Work ranging from late 2004 through late 2012.

There are a few specific trades that Men at Work doesn't deal with, so we had to track them down and manage those aspects of the project on our own. But when we asked for advice on any topic that they did deal with, we have found out (both the easy way and the hard way) that the advice should be trusted and followed.

In summary, Paul is the man. We love our home, loved interacting with him and his team for the project, and would recommend him to any friend without the slightest bit of hesitation. He and his team are a delight to work with, smart, thoughtful, detail-oriented, practical, fair, and worth every penny. They're on our holiday card list. :-)

The only advice I would give to anyone working with them is the following: follow their advice. If you don't, you better be very sure you know exactly what you're getting in to. Secondly, and this is more generic than Men at Work specific - don't rush the end of the project. (This is actually Men at Work advice too, but some that we didn't follow). Unexpected last minute problems that can ordinarily easily be addressed can become an unnecessary nuisance. Take your time through the final stretch, and above all enjoy the project. A major reno like this is a huge project and a major life event. Enjoy it, don't rush it.