I contacted 3 contractors to get bids for this project. One was Advanced Decks, who we selected to do the work, and two other very highly rated contractors on Angie's list for the Kansas City area for deck building. Daren with Advanced Decks was by far the best communicator of the 3 companies. He came out for the bid, and took his time explaining all the options available to us that fit what we wanted to see in our project. He had samples of different decking materials, so it made it much easier for us to visualize and choose what type of materials we wanted to go with. One of the other contractors was very difficult to contact, and ultimately just didn't call us back, and the other contractor's bid visit felt very rushed and he didn't seem like he wanted our business too badly. I'll do separate reviews of those companies as well. <br /> Once we selected Advanced Decks to do our project, Daren and I turned our focus on scheduling the project, and obtaining the building permit from the city of Kansas City, MO. He was very helpful telling me the info I'd need to get the permit from the city. He offered to get the permit for us, for a fee, but I decided it would be good experience for me to do this part myself. Once the permit was issued, our job was scheduled to begin the following Monday morning, only a week after the permit was obtained. <br /> The crew showed up before 7:30AM each day to work on our project. They were friendly, efficient, and listened to my instructions on how I wanted the edging stones laid out, and the river rock to be placed. They cleaned up every day after work was completed. Our project took 4 days to complete, but it probably would have been done in 3 days, the delay being due to the supplier having our decking boards on back-order, and they also delivered the wrong materials on one occasion, none of which was Advanced Deck's fault. The crew re-arranged the construction process to make best use of their time, and the materials they had. <br /> We are very pleased with the outcome of the project. We now have a very nice deck to enjoy, as well as our lower patio being opened up and made to seem larger and more usable due to the suggested re-design of where the stairs land by Daren during the evaluation and bidding process. We did have one of the decking boards that was slightly defective, that I noticed a few days after construction was completed. Again, no fault of Advanced Decks. Daren was able to have the board warrantied through the supplier, and they replaced it free of labor charge for me, even though I had said I would pay for the labor and a new board if necessary. That's top notch customer service, and it was greatly appreciated. <br /> I would highly recommend Advanced Decks to anyone, and we will definitely use them for any future projects!