Our guiding principle is simple. We put quality—and the client—first. This isn't a catchy phrase we print on t-Shirts and business cards. It's the way we do business. To meet our quality and client satisfaction we make sure every job shares these common elements:
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Comprehensive Project Assessment
Ongoing Customer Communication
Commitment to Complete Customer Satisfaction
Comprehensive
Project Assessment
Before
work begins, we must take time to understand your goals and analyze the
situation.
Home safety: Even small jobs can impact the integrity and safety of your home. That's why it's important that your contractor understand larger issues such as structural load bearing, fire codes, proper electrical, waterproofing practices, and more. As experienced general contractors, we consider the context of all improvements we make to your home.
Economical planning: It's also important that we take the time to understand some of your goals—both short and long term. For example, you want new kitchen lighting now, but ultimately you plan to remodel the kitchen. Knowing your plans to add lighted kitchen cabinets and move appliances, we can pre-wire the kitchen when installing your lighting. This avoids duplication of efforts (such as crawling through your attic to run wiring) and consolidates aspects like drywall patching into one economical visit.
Accurate
Estimates
A
contractor's most important tools are his knowledge and his pencil. After
carefully assessing your job and your goals, we prepare a complete and
accurate estimate of the costs involved—before swinging a hammer.
Managing all trades: As a knowledgeable general contractor, we understand all the trades involved in your job—electrical, plumbing, framing, carpentry, etc.—enabling us to anticipate most costs and carefully evaluate the bids of subcontractors.
Controlling costs: Naturally, there are some costs that can not be anticipated. Some idiosyncrasies of your home's construction can't be observed until a wall is opened or we otherwise gain new information. When this happens, we'll pause in our work, advise you about the situation—your options and costs—and obtain your approval before proceeding.
Competitive estimates: Estimating can be an effective process—if all the participants are equal. But beware of low ball bids. Does the contractor lack a complete understanding of the job and what it will entail? Will he take the time necessary to ensure the quality of the work? Does he have the experience you need? Will the estimate be quickly left behind once he begins the job and realizes what must be done? Analyze these proposals carefully to make sure you're getting the same level of service and materials. Our estimate is not always the lowest. But it's always fair, honest, and as complete as possible. There are no surprises with Finish Builders.
Ongoing
Customer Communication
Most contractors communicate well with their customers—when they're
bidding and requesting payment. At Finish Builders we pride ourselves
on communicating with you throughout your job. Outlining the job: We detail
our plans for you at the start of a job. Sometimes this involves educating
you about matters such as the practices of safe electrical installation,
sometimes it just means explaining all your options to you and getting
your feedback.
Proactive approach: Unlike some contractors, WE contact YOU frequently throughout the job, appraising you of our progress. You don't have to chase us down.
Supervising subcontractors: We supervise our tradesmen very closely. We take the time to walk through the project with them on-site—even for simple drywall patches. This might involve outlining complex procedures, or advising them to avoid walking on your white carpeting with dirty work boots. We understand your goals and concerns, and we must communicate those to everyone who works in your home.
Efficient
Scheduling
Project assessment
and communication are essential to efficient scheduling.
Logical order: Following a logical progression on a job means scheduling the stages to ensure timely completion AND to avoid backtracking. It sounds simple, but we've been called in frequently to "clean-up" a job that has gone awry because of poor scheduling and improper implementation.
For example, when coordinating a room upgrade with several elements, you follow this order: electrical, drywall, moulding, painting, then flooring. We avoid duplicitous expenditures to keep costs down.
Paint should be done before your new carpet or flooring is laid to prevent damage from accidental spills or splatter. Moulding also needs to be done before new flooring is laid. It's difficult to install baseboard over uneven tile, or match the crossover from a thick tile to a lower pile carpet.
Experience is the key to minimizing costs and time lapsed.
One Job At A Time: Many contractors secure as many jobs as possible and then juggle resources between them. Not Finish Builders. We try to schedule our jobs sequentially, completing one before beginning another. This allows us to focus all our resources—and attention—on your job until it is complete to your satisfaction. We find that this unique scheduling method promotes better- managed jobs and client satisfaction.
Courtesy and Convenience: We're working in your home and your life should continue with minimal disruption while our job progresses. The key here is communication and awareness.
If we need to shut the water or electricity off, we clear the timing with you FIRST to ensure that the impact on you is negligible.
And if you're having a dinner party on Friday, we need to have work completed on Thursday so we won't be in the way of housekeepers or other party preparation activities on Friday.
We work to coordinate with you. After all, it's your home.
Experienced
Craftsmen
We have more than two decades of experience. We're proud of the work we've
done.
Russ Anderson: (click here to learn more about Russ' experience) Russ has over 25 years experience in construction, most of it here in South County.
Familiar with the area: Experience has given Russ an understanding of the unique challenges of working in this area. City planning (our Nesa Ortega has served as a Planning Commissioner in San Clemente), historical structures, and HOA requirements are all familiar ground for Finish Builders.
Subcontractors: Years of experience has also given us time to evaluate the work of area subcontractors. We know which tradesperson complete a job with the attention to detail we require. We work with the best, and supervise them carefully to make sure every job lives up to our reputation.
Quality
Materials
We work with a wide selection of suppliers—not just the local home
improvement store. That's important. It means that your light fixtures
don't have to look just like your neighbors'. It also means that we have
a source for materials that support your design needs—however conservative
or avante garde. And most importantly, it means that we can provide you
with the best quality available for your budget.
Selecting light, plumbing, or other fixtures can be time consuming, That's why our Nesa Ortega helps source materials for you, and then presents you with possible options for fixtures, moulding, hardware, and more.
We also hand select every piece of lumber we use in finish work, ensuring that you receive the finest available.
It's all part of our dedication to quality. And to you.
Commitment
to Complete Customer Satisfaction
As
craftsmen we take pride in quality workmanship. But as business people,
we know that client satisfaction goes far beyond that.
That's why we also emphasize each of the preceding elements. Issues like communication, scheduling, and estimating are essential to providing you with a worry-free and pleasant home improvement experience.
Delivering on our promise to provide you with that experience is how we've built the trust of hundreds of local homeowners just like you.
