To anyone looking for a contractor large or small Joe is the one you are looking for.
My name is Debbie, I live in Glenview Illinois. I have been saving for many years to put an addition on our house. I have been very skeptical of contractors in the past, but my friend who used Joe for his driveway was very happy with the work he did. The business is called Junk It Joes (clean outs, demolition, excavation and concrete).
I hired him for an addition on our house and demolition of our one car garage to build a two car garage and a full 500sq ft addition with 9 ft basement on back of our garage, which is always scary putting that much faith in someone to put a hole in your house, and I was nothing less than very pleased. The references I checked all came out excellent and his estimates came out in the same ballpark as for our budget. The speed, in which it got done, even though he is not a large company, was fast. The most stressful part he put behind us and our minds at ease. It saved us a lot of time and money to hire one company when we had concrete companies that did not do excavating and demolition which added allot more to the bids. Joe informed us it is the same equipment to do all this and also said it takes alot more time to have 3 different companies lined up and also the amount we saved we were able to get a lot more.
We acted as the general contractor to save money and Joe helped us every step of the way with other contractors so we did not get ripped off. He informed us that we could always fire contractors if we were not happy and by making sure we did not pay in advance for work not completed. With this knowledge he gave us the upper hand. He worked side by side with other contractors to make sure everything went smooth as soon as the house was opened up. He put plywood and plastic up so no saw dust or debris came into the house. The site was cleaned up every day. I didn't have to worry about mud, dust or debris getting into my house. After the third day we were very at ease with going to work knowing Joe and his crew was amazing and they all knew exactly what to do without being told. He informed us him and his three main guys been with him since he started. We had kids there and they were nothing less than always professional and on time. My kids and neighbors kids loved watching the project. Because of this Joe stayed late put orange safety fence up every night another thing not in our bid. He went above and beyond; he also made sure other contractors put it back up. He was very concerned about the kids getting in and hurt. He was also big on the contractors we hired conduct themselves professionally and not use four letter words when having a bad day. It was summer and hot it was august and we let other contractors know Joe wanted to call a meeting of everyone we hired to make sure if they could not get there when called to retract there bid and that was kids and winter around corner. It was not his job but he is such nice guy that everyone respected him including us. I believe he was the youngest owner we hired of a company. He never had to yell or act like a jerk and let everyone know this is someones home savings and lifelong dream. He made sure everyone knew that its not just a job.
He explained all costs and step by step of what would be done. He was very forthcoming if something had to be changed. He is very honest and takes pride in his work. He was always at the job every day and treated it like it was his own house; he worked longer and harder than anyone else. He wanted to make sure, due the fact that houses are so close to each other, that no damage was done to our neighbors house or ours with the big machines used he did it himself. He even put up silk fencing before he started at no charge to us. There was a problem with an electrical line missed marked and had to be moved right in the path of the new addition. When digging it shut the job down temporarily, but Joe got Com Ed out right away to move the line. This was not in our budget but we already knew we saved so much when he had to call me at work he was scared. Glad to inform you with him that was our biggest problem and we lost no sleep. By end of the week the job was back on schedule.
We never had to worry about materials not being paid, he did this without asking. When it came time for every payout there were only three. He turned something I thought was going to be a long nightmare into something that did not take much of our time. However the job was big enough Joe explained that what he quoted was able to do extras and not work for free. Not because we were homeowners trying get everything for the cheapest or free. He informed us yes there are bad contractors but there are people that rip them off too. So it works both ways. Joe showed proof of all receipts (which I would never have thought to ask). He also informed us to do the same thing with the other subcontractors we hired that were doing work as well.
I have heard of horror stories of liens being put on homes, we never had to worry. We didn't even have to put a deposit down until the concrete was ready to be poured.
The job came in under budget and was done very professional. He never tried to over sell us anything we did not need. We asked him about heated concrete floors because we heard other people loved them. Most contractors would jump on it and charge a fortune for extras. He told us that it was very efficient but his crew has only done a couple, it is very time consuming and worries about leaks in the line. Instead of trying to sell us on it, he told us get bids. After we told him how much others cost he said he would do it for the cost of labor only if we order it. He spent so much time with the manufacture on the phone and made sure he would not have to rip his new concrete up. He said he has done a couple but has been lucky, not what we do every day. We paid for the system and he only charged us labor but the deal was my husband had to help so they both learned about it. It cost us less than half the bids we got. We love it, the best thing ever got and we were still within our budget.
My husband is a union carpenter whom would work with Joe or recommend him any day. He was very impressed with his work; he went above and beyond what was expected and even threw in a few extras to keep us happy. After the second day I was completely confident I hired the right person. He did a follow up call after the first month, three months later and stopped by just to make sure we were still happy and there were no problems.
This is our second year and have passed his name along to all my friends and family. We are happy to report that we love our addition and have made it the dream house. Its done, furnished and we saved so much we could furnish it. I never thought in million years the project would come under budget. For being the biggest project I ever taken on, without him I dont think it would have went as well. It was well worth the countless hours my husband and I spent with him he acted more like the general contractor. We had enough for a new concrete driveway in the end instead of asphalt. We offered him a bonus since he acted like a general contractor and relied on him so heavily we felt bad but he turned it down. He said his guys deserve it more than him but he could not take it. He said if we wanted to get them any Christmas presents that he usually gets them gift cards for red wing boots. He said he has not been able to do it past few years because of the economy and after the job, they did need them. He still sends us Christmas cards and so do we.
Debbie
If you have any questions you can email me at dschwab18@gmail.com
