Nicole B.
Yelp
By some stroke of extremely good fortune I heard about Embers West about a year ago when we were in the process of purchasing a home that needed a lot of updating. I was speaking with a friend at my children's elementary school at pick up one day about being in the market for a good contractor to re-do our kitchen and family room and eventually an addition, bathrooms, etc...basically everything in time. Another mom who I didn't know well at the time overheard and and invited me to come over and see her newly remodeled kitchen. She said that her contractor (Francois) was top notch and she had been working with him on various projects over the past few years.
Upon seeing her custom kitchen I knew I had to meet this guy. I loved everything about it, the design, layout, cabinetry, style and detail were beautiful. She and Francois had designed it together and as I later found out for myself, he is a creative genius and a perfectionist (almost to a fault ;-).
Over the next several months I worked with Francois on designing my own dream kitchen. We decided to completely gut the existing one and change everything. We decided to move the appliances around, add an island with a farmhouse sink, add a bank of cabinets where there had only been a partition wall giving me extra counter space and a prep sink, raise the ceilings and install a really awesome telescoping door that leads out to the patio. During this process we met up to go shopping for tile, counter tops, fixtures etc. and he was always responsive and helpful anytime I would call or send him a text with questions or to bounce ideas off of him. He helped me every step of the way with the design and his input was always well thought out and on point. The funny thing is, I didn't even know that he had a fireplace business until we were several weeks into our remodel.
As the kitchen was coming along, we decided that the adjacent family room needed to be updated also, mostly because we knew the kitchen was going to be so spectacular. The fireplace was very 1970's and the carpet had to go. Francois and his guys began work right away on this room as well. He helped me to choose a beautiful stacked stone tile that coordinated with the kitchen countertops and a beachy log set that consisted of sand and driftwood in keeping with our home's coastal style.
You often hear nightmare stories about contractors and doing a remodel in general, especially when you are living in your home throughout the process. It can be stressful when you have 3 kids and no kitchen over the period of several weeks but Francois made it as painless as possible setting us up with a little kitchen area in the dining room and checking in on us daily to make sure things were going smoothly and that we were happy with the progress. Also, I was really blown away by all of subcontractors that were in and out of our home during this time. Every single one of them was engaging yet professional and happy to answer all my questions and address any concerns I had (even doing extra work not related to the project at hand).
I also want to share that not only did Francois go above and beyond what one would expect from any contractor with the projects that he was hired for, he made it his business to take care of every issue we had with our house during the time he was working here. As I mentioned before, we had recently purchased this home and were finding that there were issues with pests, plumbing, electrical, and so on and if Francois found out about it, (which he most always did because I would complain to him) he would have it taken care of. I consider myself totally spoiled at this point!
In the end, we have a stunning, custom kitchen that I completely love and is the envy of my friends, and a comfortable and stylish family room that compliments the kitchen in every way thanks to Francois and his team at Embers West. Most importantly, I have a relationship with an incredible contractor who I respect and trust.
I should mention that almost a year later we are working with Francois and Embers West again making over our dining room and living room (which includes re-doing the fireplace) and turning a foyer closet into a mudroom. We are well into the project having added wainscoting, built in bookshelves and corner display cabinets and created a huge built in workspace for my three children to do homework and study. So far things are going smoothly and I continue to be impressed with the craftsmanship and work ethic of every one who works with Embers West.
Francois is an honest, creative, incredibly hard working and visionary contractor. Throughout my relationship with him and everyone at Embers West I have been made to feel respected and that our satisfaction is a priority. I hope to continue to work with Francois on all of our future projects (and there are many) because I truly believe that he is the best in the business. (pictures to follow soon)