Matt in Aurora

Pool Craft led the complete upgrade of our backyard this summer. We went from a backyard we loved and used a lot for entertaining to a resort-like home paradise. Rick was instrumental in developing the vision with us and Jessica and Chris and their teams brought it to life. As with everything in 2020, there were some ups and downs with the project but they were always attentive to our needs and came up with great solutions. We loved that the pool team and the landscaping teams worked so closely together and coordinated their efforts. All crews were professional and great to work with. We are very much looking forward to enjoying our new backyard next year.

We recently had a basement completely renovated by Penguin Basements and are really pleased with the final results. We share the feedback as some others in that the initial quote/consultation appointment is quite long and much of the content feels unnecessary. Our sales rep designed a floorplan that we liked but at that point we felt high pressure to make a decision on the spot. We almost didn’t go with Penguin Basements because of this. Ultimately, we were able to put that aside because we believed that the price was competitive compared to other companies that we had quote the project. We also experienced some communication challenges that were predominantly prior to the start of our project. We had difficulty receiving an indication of when our job was going to begin, and reached out numerous times without response. Finally, we did receive a response and it was explained that the delay was a result of our representative being on vacation at the time. The online tool (Buildertrend) that is used to help manage the project was fine but it was never updated to reflect any changes in the schedule of work. We couldn’t rely on it to get an indication of when we would have someone working in our home. We did use it to message our customer service rep and our project manager which worked as expected. The trades that worked on our project were professional and personable. There were some misses during the project that were of small concern. On a couple occasions some of the basement windows without screens were left open in addition to trades letting themselves in with the lock box key when we were at home (a courtesy knock would have sufficed). In the end, all produced a high quality of work and as a result there were few issues. Our project manager Seth made the project go very smoothly. He was very professional, accessible, and client focused. He took care of things in the background so we didn’t have to worry about anything. He was quick to respond to any concerns or questions that we had. He also offered great advice and practical solutions to any issues that arose and even was proactive in identifying most of those issues. If we weren’t happy he made it right. It was really a pleasure working with Seth. Overall the project had its challenges (to be expected with all custom renovations) but the basement looks fantastic, we absolutely love it and we are going to enjoy the space for many, many years to come!