
Serving Lynnwood, WA and surrounding areas
Approved
In business since 1994
Free estimates
Warranties offered
"Executive summary: Vic is a skilled, responsible, fair, self-employed general contractor / carpenter with an excellent work ethic, great attention to details, and a pleasant manner. He respected our home, communicated with us through the whole project from bid to completion, did what we asked him to do, got the work done within the timeline we specified, kept the cost reasonable, and left us with a 100% complete project and a clean space. You really can't ask for more.
We first contacted Vic in mid September 2014. He finalized his bid at the end of October. We were impressed by the level of thought he put into the bid process. His was the most thorough bid we received, and included a detailed proposal of how he would approach our project.
We had already hired a separate engineer for this project, who was supposed to be responsible for drawings, structural specs, and getting the project work permitted with the city. I wish we'd used the engineer Vic recommended instead -- our engineer ended up being pretty unresponsive. However, Vic took the initiative to address unresolved details himself and verify structural details with the city inspector. Building plans were finalized and permits issued in mid November. Work started on schedule (December 8, 2014), and was completed within our specified timeline despite things that "came up" during construction (such as some foundation issues that he couldn't have known about in advance).
Vic did everything himself except plumbing, electrical, some detailed brush painting, and carpet. He coordinated and managed a licensed plumber and electrician. When he felt he got a too-high bid for the plumbing, he went and got another plumbing bid and saved us $1,500 by doing so. Detailed paint work was done by an assistant. Basically, I didn't have to think about any of these details, nor deal personally with any subcontractors or inspectors. Having a competent general contractor to handle this stuff was a HUGE stress reliever. The only thing I had to schedule myself was a carpet installation (but I knew that before we went into the project).
Vic did not sell us on fancy fixtures or expensive upgrades. He used quality, durable, sensible materials and fixtures. I really appreciated his practical, no-nonsense approach. Sometimes I had no idea where to start with picking some fixture (such as choosing the bathroom vanity cabinet & countertop), and he helped us select a good quality product at reasonable price.
Vic works on one project at a time, which means he focused on our project exclusively for its entire duration. It was so nice to feel like our questions and comments were being heard and acted upon. Things did not get lost in translation or forgotten, as I expect they might if we'd gone with a big company or tried to manage a mess of subcontractors ourselves.
The original baseline bid for the job was about $32,000. Additional (discretionary) work and more expensive fixtures added about $3,000 extra. (Up front we'd assumed we'd probably add $3,000-5,000 to the baseline bid to get exactly what we wanted.) The building permits plus some building inspector requirements led to an additional $2,000 of cost. Issues that were unknown at the time of the original bid (but needed to be addressed as part of this project) let to another $2,000 of extra costs. We paid for the engineer and carpet separately (neither of those expenses is included in the $40K figure, as we handled those apart from Vic's work). Considering the work scope and the quality, we feel the final cost was fair.
It is AMAZING to walk away from a major remodel feeling like we got what we wanted, work was done when we needed it done, we paid a reasonable price, and we don't have a huge mess to handle. Another thing -- Vic was great about my kids. I'm a mom with two little ones (ages 2 and 4.5), and I can easily imagine remodel nightmare scenarios involving my kids. We never had any problems from this project. Vic was great about controlling dust / debris, always on the ball about locking up the house, and very courteous about my daily realities (kid chaos, can't have water shut off right now, need my washer/dryer functional through the whole project, etc). I would definitely recommend Vic Steiner to family, friends, and neighbors."





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