02-18-2013 - 2nd walk Through Finally!

Bill made it to the house and we discussed everything I had went over with Jerry. Still no permits from the city so we wait.

Bill was able to bring the samples of the patio stone and bathroom window.  The window sample was the regular size they use and would not have worked.

02-15-2013 - 2nd Walk Through Postponed For the Third Time

Bill called back and said there was no way he could make the rescheduled appointment.  However he did say that permits would be approved soon and we would need to start scheduling .

Up to this point my wife and I were getting a little concerned about the process and the very large deposit check we wrote.  The item that kept us calm was knowing that the permits were the hold up at this point, and there was still good communication flowing.

02-15-2013 - 2nd Walk Through Postponed Again

Bill Called and said that he was out of town and could not make our appointment due to another issue.  We rescheduled for later that day around 4:00 pm.

02-14-2013 - 2nd Walk Through Postponed

Bill called and asked to push the meeting off until the next day 2/15/2013 citing an issue had popped up causing him to be delayed.  This was not a problem for me, so we set it up for Friday morning around 11. No big deal, it happens. Since I had forgot about Valentines day, this worked out perfectly for me :)

02-11-2013 - And then there was Bill

Received a call to inform me that my project manager is now Bill. Not sure why there was a sudden switch, but it is what it is. After talking to Bill, he promised to follow-up on all the items that Jerry and I had discussed .

Setup a walk through on 2/14 around 4:00 pm. At the time, I did not realize this walk through was supposed to be on Valentines day.

01-30-2013 - Walk Through Follow Up Call

It has been a week since I spoke with Jerry.  Part of the paperwork has been submitted to the city for permits.

He did not have my samples yet and no leads on a smaller Window. So I wait :(

01-23-2013 - Walk Through with Jerry

It was freaking cold!  Jerry and I QUICKLY walked outside to view where the patio was going and look at where the bathroom window will go.

Walked through all of the project tasks.  It did seem as if the projects were not fully explained to the project manager before he came to my home.  He was there one day after the contract was signed though, so I cannot complain much.  They probably did not have much time to hand it off.

Jerry promised to get me samples of patio pavers and look into a smaller bathroom window.

01-22-2013 - Second Sales meeting

Max came back out and negotiated a deal with us for all three projects. While talking we expressed some concerns about the size of the bathroom window.  To confirm the smallest size available he called the manufacture and confirmed dimensions.  We were not happy about the size, so we were promised another source would be used to get the size we wanted.

My wife and I talked about pricing from the other contractors and set a range where Builders Unlimited would win the deal. Ultimately we decided that the pricing would be good and after getting good financing we signed the contract.  We cut a check for 50% of total fee, and decided to finance the rest.

I was traveling in two days so Max called Project Manager Jerry to arrange walk thru the next day.  This was really cool that they worked around my schedule.

I think my only complaint was in the paper work.  The drawings were hand sketches and my copy of this was a poorly readable carbon copy.  Being in the IT world, I know there are portable options to accomplish this so it is presented in a more professional format.  This is what I would expect for shelling out multiple thousands of dollars.

01-11-2013 - Adding to the Deal

Called Max and asked what it would take to add a third project, a window in a 2nd floor bathroom.  He promised to include it in the final quote.

01-09-2013 - First Sales Meeting

Max came out and we started talking about finishing the basement.  First impression of Max was that he was going to promise anything that I wanted.  However I could not have been more wrong.  Max knows what he is talking about! Every detail that I was going to bring up as a must have, he beat me to it by saying it was "standard".  Walking through all the custom options was fun to do.

When we got down to it, Max was able to do some calculations and gave us a price.  I did not care for the high pressure "sign now or lose the discount" sales tactic.  I am not going to make a multi thousand dollar decision within 5 minutes of receiving a quote.

Overall we were impressed with the wide range of services Builders Unlimited offered and asked them to quote a paver patio also.  So this will require another appointment to allow Max sufficient time to quote the patio.

01-07-2013 - Cold Call

My experience with Builders Unlimited started with a cold call from their call center.  My wife and I were already in the process of scheduling quotes to have our basement refinished.  It was perfect timing so we decided to give them a try.