Frequently Asked Questions

Here are 10 things that set us apart

1. We are a small, personal company, and value long-lasting relationships with our clients. 
2. We are NARI-certified kitchen & bath remodelers who have guided hundreds of happy clients in making the right decisions for their remodeling projects. 
3. We bend over backwards to make sure your project is done right.
4. We have the experience and knowledge to complete your project on time, on budget, and at the highest standards. 
5. We’re detail-oriented contractors, ensuring no factor goes unnoticed, however small. 
6. We can handle all of your design needs, from simple concept drawings to full-scale 3-D renderings.
7. Financing assistance is available 
8. We’ve won numerous awards for our design and service. See them here!
9. We’re passionate about our remodeling work and turning your vision into reality. 
10. We treat every project and home as though it is our own

While we’ve won many awards for our design quality and customer service, here is some of the client feedback we hear most often:

• “Listened & designed the project to our needs”
• “Makes the process easy”
• “Takes care of everything”
• “On site every day”
• “Handled issues quickly”
• “Detailed schedule; let us know what would be going on”
• “Clean!”
• “Sets expectations & delivers on time”

We begin with an initial phone consultation to find out more about your project. Then we’ll set up a time to meet at your house to review all of your plans, ideas, and dreams. See more about our process.

A bathroom remodel usually takes 5-7 weeks. The timing depends a lot on the choice of countertop and the complexity of the bathroom layout.

Kitchen remodels usually take 8-10 weeks. The more work that needs to be done (wall removal, moving plumbing, etc), the longer the remodel time.

During our initial phone consultations, we always ask our clients about their budgets. Once we meet and review your home, we discuss it in more detail. We want to make sure that your budget is realistic for your vision. There is a big difference in what a $40,000 or $80,000 kitchen looks like. We need to know your budget to design and plan accordingly.

J. Carsten makes sure that you have as much guidance as you need for all of your selections. We offer help with selections such as carpet, tile, wood floors, cabinets, countertop colors, wall colors, window coverings and more. We want to make sure you’re aware of all your options and how those choices fit within your budget.

You will see us every day that work is being done on your remodel. In addition, we oversee the work of our trusted partners when we need them to do some of the “heavy lifting” of your project, like demos, plumbing rough-ins, or cabinet installations.

We’ve had clients say that they miss us when the job is over!

We have been in business since 2003. Initially, we built custom homes and remodeled them on the side, but because of changes in the market, we began only taking on remodels in 2007. Our background in new construction is very valuable, especially for larger projects that involve roof tear-offs, additions, or whole-home renovations.

We understand that you have a dream and that you need help to get there. We make sure that the process is well-managed — from the design stage, through planning and selections, to construction, to follow-up a year later. Our goal is to make sure that in the end, your vision comes to life.

We update a lot of 80’s and 90’s builder-grade kitchens with oak cabinets (common in $300- $700k homes).

We deal with oak on almost every job! It’s often not feasible to remove all oak from a home, so we pick and choose which areas to replace and then choose complimentary items for the floor, cabinets, and wall colors to work with the oak. For a window in the kitchen, for example, we will typically replace the casing around the window. But for the rest of the house, the oak stays, and the new trim for the kitchen butts up to the oak.

Being part of industry associations holds us accountable to higher standards, keeps us on top of industry news and trends, and assures you of knowing we are a legitimate, trusted professional in the remodeling industry.