DMV Renovation

Taylor Philemon _{on Google}

Mar 23rd, 2023

Estiven and the DMV team have been absolutely amazing in the renovation of our condo. Through numerous unexpected changes and interruptions they have taken it all on without question. They worked quickly and were extremely easy to communicate with. I would hire them a million more times if I could.

Drew F. _{on Google}

Jan 11th, 2023

Services: Install flooring, Home renovations, Bathroom remodeling, Tile work replacement, Painting, Remodeling, Plumbing fixture installation

Kimberly Jean _{on Google}

Sep 7th, 2022

Services: Tile work installation, Bathroom remodeling, Repair flooring

Ra-Ra ras-joy.online _{on Google}

Sep 2nd, 2022

Julio was awful! His crew didn't tell us when they were coming or what they did. He charged more than should have for the work. Even my Bank had to argue with him because he tried to get more than agreed! Horrible job in outside construction and inside. The drywall didn't touch the ceiling and cracks are everywhere. The roof work left me with a leaking roof and wanted to charge me extra money. I wouldn't recommend them to my enemy. He called me several times and emailed me to try to get my post taken down. He lied about the things he fixed like my mailbox, when my recently deceased father and friend actually posted my mailbox. He charges over $5000 for a crawlspace to be fixed with 1 beam and clearing when nothing was done. I wish I could post the before/after pictures with his emails to prove he is a fraud ! Services: General construction, Install flooring, Home renovations, Fan installation, Deck construction, Paint indoors, Painting, General building construction, Plumbing, Roof repair, Plumbing fixture installation, Repair flooring, Kitchen remodeling, Drywall repair, Flooring, Home construction

Jared Langevin _{on Google}

May 29th, 2023

TLDR: If you work with Estiven as your project/construction manager and can stay on top of the job, you'll be happy with the result. Estiven is a real asset to DMV and his hard work (and his construction team's work) earned DMV the overall 5 star rating for our job.
On the other hand, DMV as a whole could improve their operations and your experience might differ depending on who you work with, so please tread carefully.
*Our project*
- (Initial scope with Martin and Tony) Small kitchen (~140 sf) full renovation to replace everything including floors, cabinets, countertops, sink/faucet, and add a new sidebar along one wall, with new electronics and lighting as well. Quoted initially by Martin and Tony at ~$19K, ended up at ~$30K.
- (Added scope after we started working with Estiven) Replacement of all hardwood floors (~2000 sf home), insulate and refinish closets, paint ceilings and bedrooms, install several ceiling fans. Quoted initially by Estiven at ~$30K and ended up as quoted.
- The initial project scope was estimated to take 6 weeks to complete Estiven and team had 90% of the full job finished within that time frame (would have been 100% but for having to wait on some mis-ordered/mis-delivered cabinets).
*Initial planning and material orders (w/ Martin, Tony, Elena, and Maria)*
Pros:
- Initial schematic renderings by Maria were provided quickly and looked great.
- Martin was prompt in his initial engagement and provided us a reasonable-looking quote quickly.
- Tony and Elena were generally available by text and pretty responsive.
Cons:
- The initial project quote was not particularly detailed and this burned us later (see bullet below about cost increase.)
- After signing the project contract we switched to working with Tony and things started to go downhill.
- Tony was very late to both of our onsite planning meetings.
- As material order details began to be hashed out, the initial quote quickly increased from ~$19K to ~$30K; the cost of quartz countertops and cabinets had been significantly underestimated.
- Tony pushed us to pay the change order for the cost increase immediately, which was inconsistent with the contract/payment plan. This request was finally withdrawn after pushback from us, but it took effort and time.
- Tony failed to verify our Next Day cabinet order to ensure consistency with the plans we had discussed (despite Elena saying he had done so); this ultimately resulted in errors in the Next Day cabinet selection and delivery that Estiven had to address later.
- After making cabinet selections, it took weeks for DMV to place the cabinet order with Next Day, delaying the overall project.
- Tony gave us no guidance on floor material selection. We chose travertine, which we later found out from Estiven is very hard to maintain; Estiven had to correct this issue.
*Project execution (w/ Estiven and his crew)*
Pros:
- Estiven is a superb and hard-working project manager; he is also a designer and knows how to do the construction work himself. He bring so much to the table for DMV. (Not to mention he's a great person and easy to talk to!)
- Estiven's crews were also great, generally showing up on time, working hard and respectfully throughout.
- Estiven was especially good at adapting to our changing requests through the project and generating detailed change orders/scopes as documentation.
- Estiven also skillfully rectified a number of issues he didn't create, including mis-ordered/mis-delivered cabinets and our poor choice of flooring material.
- Estiven/team made so much progress on the initial scope within a week that we added on the entirely new scope to replace hardwood floors, insulate closets, add ceiling fans, and paint. This new scope was handled beautifully and right in stride with the initial work, with the quote, materials, crews, and execution staged in rapid succession.
- Estiven has great attention to details/ensuring they get done.
Cons:
- While the teams almost always arrived on time and as planned, Estiven became harder to get onsite as the project wore on. Services: General construction, Tile work installation, Install flooring, Remodeling, Home renovations, Fan installation, TV mounting, Paint indoors, Painting, Interior finishing, Remodeling, Drywall installation, Plumbing fixture installation, Interior painting, Repair flooring, Kitchen remodeling, Flooring