Interior

• Kitchen Remodeling
  Ideal Woodworking LLC, in its 24th year of business, is a local residential building company in Northwest Connecticut. It has extensive experience in all phases of residential building, with its main emphasis on carpentry of all kinds. Ideal Woodworking LLC. also has a complete shop setup for cabinetry and custom millwork. Its manager is Rick Utenis, is also the lead carpenter, and has 30 years of experience in the field.
• Door Installation/Replacement
• Framing
  Rick is a local man who grew up in Woodbury and has worked all over the Northwest corner. He and his wife Karen have been married 20 years and reside on the Norfolk side of Winchester Center. Rick’s’ whole life is about building and carpentry. He started as a cabinet maker, has been featured in a magazine, built a 32 home subdivision, hundreds of custom homes, and has run a framing crew on a 45,000 square foot apartment building. He is also active on the building team at his church that travels to other churches and locations to help others with building projects. He and his crew also do subcontract carpentry for other local builders such as Wentland Builders, Riccio Builders Inc., Bohlen-Reis,Inc., and Freestone Inc.. He has also spoken at construction seminars. He also has a special interest in complex roof framing and radius millwork projects.
• Tile Installation
• Fireplaces
  The first thing to consider is the cost. This must not be the only requirement for your decision. It is definitely true that you get what you pay for, many times this lesson is learned the hard way. Many people call and want to know what we charge per square foot, and the answer is always the same. We cannot give you an accurate price because there are so many variables. For example: 1. windows – wood with aluminum clad exteriors or an all vinyl unit with grills between the glass; 2. fireplace – masonry chimney with real stone or a metal insert with a Metalbestos pipe through the roof; 3. kitchen – custom cabinets with granite tops or stock cabinets with a laminate top; 4. shower – tile shower with frameless glass door or a fiberglass unit with a shower curtain; 5. insulation-
• Cabinet Installation

Construction

• New Construction

Landscaping and Fencing

• Landscaping
  Finally, there is other feedback you need from your contractor candidates to make an informed decision. Do you feel comfortable with the starting date and is the completion date realistic? Many things can change the completion date along the way. (changes in the scope of the work, weather, strikes or material shortages.) If the move in date isn't flexible you need to be confident that your contractor is completely aware of it. He doesn't want any surprises from you either. There are always things customers want to change as projects move along. This is completely normal because it is hard to visualize everything off the plans. Your contractor needs to be flexible and fluid to accommodate you. He needs to be up front with you if there are extra costs or if there will be extra time needed. You must remember that if there is a major change the cost will involve materials, labor, overhead, and maybe other costs for interrupting the flow of an already planned construction sequence or schedule of subcontractors. Once in a while problems will occur. For example you hit ledge at 2' while excavating or you drill the well and get a dry hole. I could give you specific examples from our experiences. The key isn't that problems have come up, but whether or not your contractor can handle it, and come up with a cost effective solution. This is a great quality of an experienced construction professional. Another concern is inspections. It is important to keep in mind that the inspections from the bank are only about progress completion not about the quality of the work. Inspections from the building department are about code issues, which are basically safety not the level of craftsmanship. Keep in mind that the building code is only the required minimum. You can save money by doing some of the work yourself. The most common homeowner tasks are painting, clean up and removal of all debris, planting the lawn or landscaping. All of these can be large projects. Be sure not to underestimate them. The most common is painting. Anybody can paint the ceiling and the walls, but when it gets to the windows, doors, baseboard, or nail filling, staining, sanding or heights it becomes a very large project. Before you begin you should have a legal contract, and make sure you have a copy of the contractors liability and workers compensation insurance certificate. Your contract should have a payment schedule based upon progress of the job. Remember your contractor is not the bank and will really appreciate prompt payment. He needs to pay his employees, subcontractors and material suppliers along with all of his insurances and overhead costs. Don't forget about discussing the need to have a site toilet on the job. It can be an uncomfortable discussion but it's better to have it first, rather than three months into your project.
• Driveways
  Sprayed in Icynene or fiberglass batts; 6. siding – painted clapboards or 4/4 vinyl; 7. plaster or Sheetrock; 8. heating – geothermal or electric base board. These are a few extreme example of the difference in quality and as you can imagine the difference in price. Another examples of square foot fraud is who you ask and what they are including. Realtors will speak of the cost of an entire property (land, structures, site improvements); builders will talk of the cost of the house (not including land, driveway, septic, well); modular home dealers typically quote only the cost of the house delivered to your site.

Exterior

• Window Installation/Replacement
• Siding

General

• Painting
• Carpentry
• Insulation
• Masonry