P & P General Contractors Inc.

My wife and I were looking to finish the basement at her parents home. We were very involved in building our current home, as well as an extensive renovations in our previous home and rental properties. I have a decent amount of knowledge and experience re: framing/drywall/plumbing/electrical/tiling. I have worked with many contractors/tradespeople in the past and consider myself to be above average in terms of knowledge and experience. Based on my experiences in the past, I have a healthy skepticism for what contractors promise up front and what actually happens on the job site.

For the project, we developed a detailed scope of work and uploaded the project to Homestars, sending it out to 10 or 12 contractors. We had formal bids from 4 companies, who came on site and evaluated the project.

I hired P&P General Contractors for the following reasons:
- Quote was reasonable. Not the cheapest, but far from the most expensive.
- Natanael (head contractor/owner) was very knowledgeable and experienced. His suggestions in terms of tweaking the scope of work was very helpful to maximize space in the basement. For example, he suggested a better solution to the stair configuration than I had proposed, he minimized the location/size of bulkheads for ductwork, he proposed an efficient solution for managing the ill-placed sewer stacks, and he optimized the electrical panel configuration. All his suggestions improved the finished space and decreased or were neutral in terms of cost changes. The estimate was detailed and fair, and was produced very quickly.

After signing the contract and paying a deposit, the work was scheduled for 3 months in the future, which was a good sign the company is in high demand. When work began, the project was completed on time, and on budget. There were essentially no surprises. This was due to the competent initial assessment of the project by Natanael, but also due to the fact that the basement was unfinished, so there was nothing to 'discover' as there might be in a basement where drywall needs to be taken down, etc.

- Mauricio (head foreman/owner) is very competent, extremely polite and explained things very well in terms of construction decisions and work progress. He managed the on site work better than anyone I have worked with. Can't say enough good things about him. I was very impressed.
- The quality of work was excellent. Framing/waterproofing/insulation, plumbing/electrical and the HVAC work was excellent. Great drywall finishing, even in areas which technically couldn't be seen (eg. ceiling in closets and around recessed windows).

Overall impression:

Fantastic company. Honest, competent, hassle free. Wish I had found them sooner for many of my past projects. Keep in mind that I am not some naive client who knows nothing about quality workmanship, but gushes compliments on this site because some contractor was nice to me or whatever.