Kerr Construction Design Build

Our home renovation project with Kerr Construction involved completely updating and modernizing a mid-1930's bungalow while retaining its character and charm. It was a true team effort, with my husband and I working with our "team" from Kerr Construction - Eric Linzmeier, Dave Sillmans and Mark Austin as well as Anja Henche (independent design consultant.)

Eric and Dave guided us through the early stages and stresses of designers, permits and cost estimates and continued to meet with us weekly through the year-long, active construction phase. At these meetings, we discussed week-by-week progress and problems which allowed us to make timely decisions based on collaborative solutions.

Mark Austin came on as project supervisor after the project was several months underway. He quickly grasped the scope of the renovation and the inherent challenges of renovating an older home. An able carpenter and technology-savvy, Mark showed extensive knowledge of construction and available products and had good contacts with supporting independent tradesmen. He fit in well with our team approach and was a major contributor to weekly onsite meetings. He also showed admirable patience working with and mentoring his junior crew.

As our design consultant, Anja Henche brought her considerable expertise and modernist sensibility to the completion of the project. We worked well together finalizing new kitchen and bathroom layouts and finding the right balance between traditional and modern in products and finishes.

The Kerr team - Eric, Dave, Mark and Anja - were all unfailingly polite and professional throughout. They brought their considerable experience in the industry to the successful realization of our renovation project. Now 3 1/2 years after moving back in, we can attest that our house is a continuing pleasure to live in.

Very happy with the result. The Kerr crew was very responsive and provided great advice. This was our first major home project and they provided expert suggestions from start to finish. Job was completed on time and on budget, the quality was top notch. We love our new kitchen and bathroom.

We have no hesitation in recommending Kerr in any renovation, big or small.

Kerr Construction has provided excellent advice, expertise, workmanship to our family over three years and two homes. We are always impressed with their professionalism, kindness and genuine hard work. The team of contractors and staff at Kerr have earned our trust and loyalty.

Kerr's designers did an great job discussing the potential new configurations with us before drawing up the plans. Very few revisions were required, and the layout turned out perfectly. The building crew foreman did an excellent job keeping on the schedule, keeping us aware of any difficulties or changes, and also ensured that we got high quality workmanship.

Mark Austin was a exemplary contractor, and carpenter, and designer - professional in all his dealings with us during this long and complicated roof repair.

He was always courteous, on time, and kept us well informed as to the progress of the work.

We would recommend his work and look forward to working with him in the future on new projects.

Derek and Nisha provided great guidance through the design process, offering experience-based recommendations on our bathroom and basement renovation. We had a lot of difficulty selecting an accent tile, and Nisha found a great sample that became the foundation for the colour scheme of our two bathrooms.

Steve worked in our home for 3 months, and was always respectful of our family needs as we lived through the project. His attention to detail on fine woodwork, such as our new banister, show he is a craftsman. We had a couple of quality issues from a sub-trade and he worked hard to make sure our, and his, standards were met for the project.

We considered several contractors for our project, and went with Kerr based on their experience, comprehensive fixed-price contract, and team interaction.

We have already recommended them to friends and neighbours.

In early 2015 we hired Kerr Construction to renovate our very old and outdated bathroom. This was an extensive reno with an internal wall being removed, walls stripped back to the studs and floor ripped up. The original layout was poor and through the design process with Kerr we came up with a compact and functional layout. All fixtures were moved as everything from the sink, tub/shower and toilet moved location. I love the finished product and I wouldn't change a thing. Kerr was very professional throughout the process and very respectful of our home and the impact renovations have on your life. Since completion there have been a couple of items that needed looking after or replacing and the customer service I have received from Kerr has been excellent. I feel we received very good value for our money. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

We used Kerr Construction for both of our home renovation projects and are completely satisfied with the workmanship. Mark Austin was the site supervisor for both projects. They went quite smoothly. mark was very easy to deal with; reliable and honest and kept us up to speed on how the job was going. At the end of both there were a few minor problems but were dealt with and haven't had any problems since.

I had mold in my bathroom, which I was quite concerned about. I called Kerr Construction to do an estimate on dealing with that and some other problems. They were very prompt about giving me an estimate. They were knowledgeable about the problems I was having and helped by giving different suggestions and options of how to handle it. Because they were so friendly and knowledgeable, I gave the job to them. The man who did the work showed up on time, was friendly, polite, professional and most important, very good at what he did. The job was completed on time, on budget and delivered everything they promised. I would not hesitate to recommend this company, and indeed have recommended it to friends and clients, and they in turn were happy and impressed with Kerr.

Work was done well. Staff at all levels were professional in interacting with homeowner. The foreman (Mr. A.) was very knowledgeable and detailed with his work, apprentice was a bit rougher with his quality of work.

The foreman listened to and addressed homeowner questions and concerns.

The foreman coordinated well with homeowner's engineer.

Final cost was at the higher end of the estimate spectrum, hoping it would be more at mid-range, but was not over the spectrum.

Overall experience is good, I would recommend Kerr and the foreman assigned to my job.

Kerr was excellent at outling the scope of the work. This was very detailed and their final costs were very accurate. This also included budget allowances to enable decisions on upgrading materials and finishes. Their estimator was knowledgeable and well informed. He made some good suggestions on the scope of work and options we should consider. He was helpful in sourcing particular hardware and directing us to several resources. He also provided us with several supplier options with different levels of pricing and quality. On his recommendation, we visited and met with one of the door manufacturers.

Their site supervisor was very clear and easy to communicate with. The actual construction time was quick and the workmanship was excellent. Our house was clean every evening, after their work. We have young kids so we appreciated any issues (including safety) being marked and identified.

We noticed a problem with one of the doors which they installed - a small crack in the glass. Kerr immediately investigated and addressed the issue. They completely replaced the door without any problem.

We would have preferred to have the old doors, etc removed from site a little sooner, rather than being left in the garage for a few day, but that is a minor detail.

This is the second project with Kerr and we have been very happy with their work, from start to finish. They are very professional in all aspects. We would not hesitate in using them again or recommending to other people.

Remove and replace garage floor and investigate and fix water leak. Replace siding and replace all interior doors.

I was very pleased with the quality of the finished projects and the communication throughout the project.

I was very please with the end result of my renovation. Although it took somewhat longer than planned to complete the renovation most delays were outside the control of Kerr and due to materials not arriving on time. I liked that Kerr offered a fixed price contract so that there weren't any surprises in the end.

The Construction Manager, Mark Austin, and the Designer, Nisha MacNeil, were both excellent. Nisha made the design process easy, was able to understand my tastes and make great cost effective recommendations. Mark made sure all work was done to the highest standards, was always prompt in addressing any of my concerns and a pleasure to work with.

Overall I would highly recommend Kerr Construction.

I have done many renovations in the past, and this was easily the best managed project I have worked on. Mark is a great hands-on manager with a very can-do attitude. Whatever I wanted done, he found a way. He also made valuable creative suggestions, drawing on his extensive experience. He is a good communicator and helped me to foresee potential problems and guide me through solutions before making final decisions. He was always contactable if I had queries. Wherever problems arose he responded immediately, remained unruffled, and sorted them out to a high standard without delay. So I always felt 100% confident that the job was in good hands, and am thoroughly delighted with the high quality outcome.

We hired Kerr Construction to tear down our 25 year old bungalow right down to the concrete foundations, and rebuild it 50% larger as a Craftsman-style house. From demolition to move-in was only 6 months(!). Job was done cost-plus (our choice) and it was very well managed. No headaches, no big problems. And at the end our new home (3400 sq. ft) won a Georgie Award when it was finished! We loved it!

This company has made so many mistakes on our renovation, I really would need a book to describe it. We eventually had to get one of the partners to come in an manage the job as no one else apparently had the authorization to deal in a full, frank and fair fashion. In point form:

-put the footings for two structures in the wrong spot

-put the siding for the entire house on wrong (even the manufacturer would not warranty the installation...we had to argue with them to redo it correctly

-they did not dig out the crawl space to save time and money, but when it came time to give a credit for the work not done, they then said, "we were never going to dig out the crawl space". We had to fight them for it and it was CLEARLY written on the quoted plans. They finally gave us a credit of $7000 after we refused to pay them anything further and threatened them with mediation through the home owners protection act.

-they failed to insulate the new floor up to code. One worker told the inspector that he had done it properly. However, when we and the inspector checked...it clearly was only half of what code required. We again had to have them rip up the floor and put new insulation in (since there was no crawl space).

-they altered plans without our authorization

-they are unable to manage their sub trades. All of which made mistakes that we, as homeowners, had to supervise ourselves.

-they have misquoted their contract so utterly and completely that the job could never had been completed as signed.

-we were supposed to be done in July....as we are 4 months, going on 5 months overtime, they now are saying we have to pay for a heated tent for them...even though they are the ones that are late??!!!!

I cannot stress enough...DO NOT USE KERR CONSTRUCTION. I will try to update this again if we ever do get finished!