Best in Phoenix AZ

We hired Homework/Tri-Star (same owner/company) to remodel our kitchen. A simple project - basically a matter of installing new cabinets, fixtures & appliances in a simple galley kitchen. They highlight their experience with midcentury homes like ours.  There weren't any unwelcome surprises in the walls - no weird plumbing or electrical problems, everything as anticipated. It should have been straightforward.

And yet, every part of working with this company was difficult.  Main issues:
 
DESIGNER:  They require a fee up front for a design, rather than doing traditional bids. The designer was a nice person, but not detail-oriented from the beginning - designing a kitchen island, for instance, and not noticing there was no way to get power to it (until we pointed it out).  She was friendly but did not seem overly excited about or invested in our project.  We should have walked away at this point, even after paying.  

She re-did the design, and we went forward with building.  On our scheduled completion date, as the appliances were delivered....and she had failed to measure correctly for the refrigerator, a true rookie error (and something that ANY correctly used design software will detect!).  The fridge didn't open anywhere close to 90 degrees.  Worse yet, NO normal-size fridge would fit between the cabinets.  We had to choose between ripping out and re-doing the new cabinets, or putting a smaller, specialty fridge in an awkward spot.

I had even asked her whether she was certain the fridge would fit - I should've carefully measured it myself, but THAT'S WHY I HIRED A DESIGNER.  Managing details is the heart of a designer's job, right? Homework agreed to re-do ("within reason") the cabinets if needed, but she did not refund any part of her $1,000 fee.   It would have been better, and free, to use software at Ikea or Home Depot.  Lesson learned.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT:  right before our start date, they changed our project manager without explanation.  The guy was nice but didn't know even the basics - in what order to schedule tasks, when appliances get installed, how cabinetry is hung, which contractor does what, etc.  We had problem after problem after problem.  Though Homework management downplayed our  concerns, and they tried hard to coach and supervise him, he was fired partway through our project.  A mess ensued as a new PM tried to take over.

SUBCONTRACTORS:.  The countertop guy was great, but most of the others were very unprofessional.  One of the subs took 30 minutes of my time to complain about how poorly he was treated and paid by Homework. None of them were adequately supervised by the PM - by the end, we took turns staying home to watch them....if I wanted to babysit subs, I wouldn't be paying a general contractor!

The electrician had to be called back three times to repair shoddy work; by the end I had to ask Homework not to let him back in our home.  At one point he covered up a jagged hole in the drywall and an *open* junction box with live wires....by hanging our phone over it.  The plumbing under the sink started leaking before the project was even done.  The tile guy never got around to sealing any of the grout.  I had to point out each of these problems to the PM, days or weeks afterward.  He clearly hadn't checked the work.  

OVERALL:  I will say for Homework that they aren't shady - I wasn't worried they'd skip town with my money.  They came back every time I found another problem.  They returned my calls.  The kitchen is nice, though I now worry that the subs took some hidden shortcut that could cause a disaster later on.

But for $50K I expect more than "not shady." The project ended up taking 3x longer than planned. We paid the full contracted price; they offered no compensation for the long string of errors that cost us a lot of lost work time and money.  They didn't even have to cover the cost of re-doing cabinets, because we decided to just get the smaller fridge - by then, I couldn't stand the thought of continuing to deal with them.  

Their only small concessions, which I had to argue for, were 1) cancelling a change order to install an outlet that was overlooked and 2) buying a $60 trim kit for the range, which PM#1 mistakenly told me was included.  That's it.  

You will see on Angie's List and Yelp that the vast majority of my reviews are positive.  I take it seriously, saying something in a public forum that could affect someone's livelihood.  I purposely waited four months after our completion date to post this, so I wouldn't do anything in anger.  

A couple of the employees, and some of the subs, were great people who seemed knowledgeable and experienced.  But somehow together, they add up to less than the sum of the parts  We've done a kitchen remodel before with another company - we experienced 1/10 the hassle, and the same cost, for a much more complicated project.  Believe me, Homework earned this negative review.

Brad has done 2 projects for us, he built a Casita on our residential property.  We had been working with another contractor that had drug their feet and Brad and his team came in and got the job done quickly, during the beginning of the COVID issue.  He really came through for us.
The second was a commercial project, he remodeled our office, at our business in Chandler.  We had a quick deadline to get it done and they did an amazing job, excellent price and it was done on time.  
Highly recommend Brad and his team!

We asked Distinctive Construction to help us turn a seldom used bedroom in to a mega closet and they didn't disappoint. They did a phenomenal job and we're extremely happy with the work. Everyone was professional, courteous and nice. I would highly recommend them for any work you need done!

Jesus from JYK Construction did the job of removing loose, water damaged stucco from the street side of my garden wall, redid the stucco and repainted.
He was easy to communicate with in English, came promptly to view the job and gave me the estimate within a day. He was easier to work with than other, bigger companies.
Their estimate was reasonable and they offered a warranty so I gave them the job. They came exactly when stated, Jesus and his helper worked hard and did a good job.
I can recommend them. They are a very small company but they do competent work.

We were probably one of their first customers.Glen repainted the whole inside of our house,did some drywall repair,and also helped us move some misc items to our new location.At our new house he removed some popcorn ceilings,built a fence on one side of the house and built a gate on the other side of the house. I know there were other things he has done for us and we try to call them when we can.Glen and Tina are not only good at what they do,there are always reasonable. They have also become good friends and we will call on them again.

I had the pleasure of being recommended Clover Home Services owned by Matt Powell to replace and paint all my interior doors as well as paint my kitchen and bathroom cabinets.They did an outstanding job and I would recommend them to anybody who's looking to have painting services.

...Pleasant personality, not pushy, good suggestions, major kitchen project completed on time, 100% satisfaction! not "cheap" by any means, yet we feel we have our money's worth

crappy attitude during estimate, spent more time talking about the fact he was a celebrity around phoenix because he does radio shows instead of being focused on the estimate of the house. really full of himself, didn't know what he was talking about, had 5 other estimates before him and he really was the worst.  shocked he he does this for a living in the first place way more interested in his show than in doing work.  wouldn't recommend to anyone

When I was trying to sell my condo, I found it had a structural problem.   It was an older home, and a rim joist had rotted.  I called over a dozen contractors.  The big ones were too busy; the small ones had no idea how to repair it.  All were in agreement over one thing:  I had a mess on my hands that would be very expensive to fix.  

In desperation, I found Greenwood Contracting on Google.   Rocky looked at the job and gave me an estimate that was substantial, but reasonable.   He told me it would be a 4 day job.

At the end of the first day, he called me and said they would be done at noon the next day.   He charged me - wait for it! - a mere 30% of the original bid.   Yes, you read that right.   He charged me LESS than his bid!   (No, I have never had that happen before!)

A buyer appeared.   The condo flew through inspection and is now sold.  

Since that time, I have had Greenwood Contracting do a number of repairs on my new house.   They have all been done beautifully. The projects are always completed on time.   And the guys have all been great to have around.  

Greenwood Contracting is the best.  PS. Hire them fast.  I am now dreaming of a kitchen remodel....)

Very nice guys who mean well, but just don't know what they're doing when it comes to tiling.  Your bathroom may look good at a glance, but do your homework and know what you should be looking for when inspecting their work during build.  I stopped them half way through 2 bathroom remodels and so glad I did.  It cost me a couple thousand dollars to demo what they did and buy new material, but it saved me several more in regards to problems I would've incurred in the future.

BEWARE: I hired David with "Mohave Leveling" to level an addition on my mobile home and add additional supports underneath. He requested a deposit of 20% for materials which is always a risk but I proceeded and sent the deposit. Once he received  the deposit He immediately disappeared, would not respond to countless calls and texts. At the time of this review he has still not responded or made it right, if he does I will edit this review