Get matched with top elevation certification pros in Cambridge, MA

"DO NOT HIRE. If you're looking for a misogynist old man to tell you he did his job when he didn't hire Cowen Associates. The worst customer service I have ever experienced. Fred, the owner refused to give me measurements that he claims were written in his drawing and then called me to tell me it's not his job to give me the measurements. He charged me $200 per hour to then tell me I shouldn't be the general contractor on my own job and that I don't know anything."

"Did a good job on the kitchen cabinets and walls came out good new floor installed came out good kitchen window was installed fine but the wood trim very disappointed when removing wood trim to replace window installation was good but when trim was put back on what a disappointment they put the trim on and siliconed the openings so mwater and air would not come in silicone all over the wood nail holes were covered with silicone instead of wood filler wife and I were very disappointed he was suppose to clean and remove soot from wood and then refinish per insurance estimate he told me he did not put it in his estimate so in order to fix it I would have to pay to have it done the quality of the trim is not professional work see enclosed photos"

"The creative interactions with Michael were great. He has great ideas and good interaction and iteration on the design. However, Michael is not a detail person, something his normally excellent staff properly compensates for. However, he had three staffing turnovers over the course of our project. Not including Michael when he was filling in, we had five project leads, at least two of whom we never met. This led to inefficiencies and continuity problems that resulting in playing catch up once the build started. Which leads to the other issue. Micheal is not good at communication and does not easily admit when he is wrong or unprepared. He insisted that the staffing turnover wouldn't impact the schedule. He presented plans at the kickoff with the builder that, in hindsight, were clearly not ready. He presented changes to the plan shortly after kickoff that immediately ate 40% of our planned contingency budget as they were not the plans the builder based his bid on. Later, another 12% was chewed up because he didn't plan ductwork in a house with a flat roof. The results were livable, but until the end, he insisted he didn't make a mistake despite saying he's had trouble with ductwork in the 15 years he's done residential design "because every contractor wants to do it differently." Every one of his staff that we met and worked with was fantastic. They supplied the detail that Michael lacks. They executed better than I would expect for picking up where someone left off. Unfortunately, they don't have the autonomy you would hope, and Michael doesn't communicate with them well enough to let their judgments stand. On several occasions, he overrode their judgments in confusing and public ways, sometimes after a delay of days."

"I was looking for a surveyor to do some work on our property. As a long time member I've used Angie's list in the past, but haven't had occasion to do so in quite some time. I looked at the companies that were available in our area and considered Grady Consulting. I was somewhat surprised to see that they only had one, brief review. I made the decision to call after viewing their web site. I first spoke with Marianne at Grady Consulting in late June. I mentioned to her that I had found them on Angie's list and was somewhat concerned that they only had one review. She told me that they were not an Angie's list member. Since everyone I had hired was a member, I appreciated that she informed me that they were not. Since we have never had a survey done of our property, I was unfamiliar with how things worked but told her that we wanted to have our property surveyed and the lines staked. We also wanted a plan showing the elevations and location of the house on our lot. I also mentioned that we wanted this information so that we could have an architect draw up plans for a possible, future addition. Marianne was my first contact and thus my first impression of the company came from her. I found her to be a good listener and very knowledgeable. She both asked and answered my questions and responded to all my concerns. She also asked me about my future plans. She was able to pull up our lot on her computer and to let me know that our property had some wetlands in one corner and said that they would also be able to have their botanist walk the property and mark any necessary areas of concern. She repeated back all that I told her I would like to have done and said she would work up a proposal for us. Then, after reviewing the proposal we could decide on what and how much we wanted to do at this time. After speaking with her, I felt that they were very professional in their approach and was comfortable in taking the next step. We received an email that showed our property on a map and were able to see the small area of wetlands that were mentioned. Also, a very comprehensive proposal that listed the scope of services, the estimated fee schedule, the payment schedule and a rate schedule. Out of the 13 listed services we decided to do the first 4. We decided to wait until the late fall, when they would be less busy, to have the work done. In mid November I called and gave the required retainer and said I would bring the signed proposal to their office because I wanted to show them some old plans we had showing a few changes that had been made over the years to bordering properties. I met with Mr Grady who was very polite and professional. He listened to my concerns, answered my questions and then made copies of the old plans. The next day the botanist came and flagged the wetland areas. He spoke with my husband who told me that he was very knowledgable and personable. Two days later two men came and spent a few hours working and then marked the corners of the property with stakes. The rest of the work on the property took place after the Holidays. My husband did have occasion to speak with the surveyor and mentioned that he was very professional and quite jovial considering the extreme, cold weather on that day. We received the progress invoice for the completed work and it was structured so that you could easily see what was done, who did it, how much time it took, what the rate was and how much we were billed for each service provided. The estimated fee given for this job was somewhat higher than the end cost. An envelope containing two copies of the existing conditions plan arrived a week or so later. Since we received a list of 13 services and decided only to do 4, we now have the information for future work we might decide to do."