There is no such thing as a "perfect" renovation, especially not at the scale we were involved in along with all the complications fully gutting and renovating a 100 year old home and adding a 24 x 20 foot full addition (basement, main and 2nd floor @ 480sqft per floor). So why am I giving Chris and the good guys at Woodsmith Construction a 10? If everything was straight forward, then all we would be talking about is price, timelines and quality of product. IMHO, that is the bare minimum... How you deal with the suprises and unforeseen problems is really what definines the character and ethics of a Contractor. Sure there were issues and suprises and we've seen many articles and TV shows about the horror stories... but the main reason I stick to a 10 rating is that Chris ALWASY made it right. If there was something we were not happy about, Chris found a way to make it right, either by correcting it or finding an alternative.
I probably have over a thousand E-mails and easily thousands of minutes of talk time with Chris. Chris was never "out of touch" and we talked many times a day. When Chris says "Hey, I want you to have what you want" he means it in the most genuine way and has shown us in action for the past 1+ years of working together. Chris is exteremely flexible with arrangements and allows you to source various solutiions as needed and does not force you into a fixed or "Woodsmith" only solution.
Chris is very knowledgable with many years of experience (despite his young appearance) and definitely contributed to some of the design of our project even though we came to him with architectural designs completed and permit from the city - ready to build.
We know most of Chris' workers and subs by name and have enjoyed working with the bulk of them and in fact we are still completing our basement as I write this and a detached garage will also be completed in the future.
One final note about Chris is that he is genuinely "helpful" and wants to and I'd say even likes to help and educate. I was talking to him months before we signed the deal and he was never unavailble to chat, give pointers and educate me even though I may not have chosen him. Chris wants to educate the home owners and won't stand for artificially inflated prices that a lot of subs and other contractors push just because you live in a popular area.