“We started our inquiring about remodeling costs around 2021 when COVID was at its peak (and everyone was redoing their houses). It wasn’t until 2023 when we hired JEM, and while all the other design-build firms increased their labor and supplies cost ~2.5x, JEM was still reasonably priced and agreed to perform the work within our budget.

They say that house projects are quick at the beginning, then slow down as you continue along (due to permits etc), but for us it was first slow then a bit quicker…let me explain. We had a big project: building an extension to the house, doing a full kitchen remodel, and redoing all the floors. The first step was to dig the lawn up. It took over a 1.5mo just to dig because the lead of the team took ridiculous amounts of breaks, worked a couple hours every day, and get this-drank on the job!

Like many other companies, they have a group of workers on a tiered system: A, B, and C team. Maybe our budget only allowed her to hire the lowest…

Soon after that fiasco, everything was going up to speed. The next group that came was focused solely on construction and was by far the quickest and hardest working team I have ever seen. They worked from dawn till dusk with great teamwork and really pulled their weight. I asked them to custom build me various items for the house and we worked together to make that into fruition.

Even though our experience improved as the project went along, I think the workmanship for actual remodeling was a bit “Mickey Mouse”. Because of our budget, understandably some of our materials were not top-tier. However, things like odd placements of electrical wiring, misalignment of kitchen drawers and poor placement of hinges (some cabinets rubbed against each other if they both weren’t open), etc shows the execution was not thoroughly thought out. After our project was done, I had to contact them many times to fix or redo certain things.

Looking back, I would use them again only for construction purposes-building walls, roofs, platforms, etc, but no installations inside the house. Even if I had a bigger budget, the actual assembly has to be precise down to the inch. Overall, JEM’s lead contractor was very nice and professional (even replaced a few things for free), but it really depends on who the workers are that are hired for your particular project.”