We built a new 4-season porch addition to our 20 yr. home in summer 2013. I contacted McDonald Construction because they had built our first home which had some problems, but McDonald stood by everything and made things right. Our porch addition couldn’t have gone better from the design to construction to the cost (on budget). We had some very stringent design goals:
•Our home is traditional with high hip roof. We wanted a four season porch, which was more of a modern, Asian design with wide eaves and huge windows, modern ribbon fireplace, with granite window sills, fireplace mantle. All this needed to be integrated into our home making it feel more like part of the house than an addition. The windows had to be large to integrate our back yard which overlooks pond and have spent years landscaping ourselves [wanted to bring the outside to the inside so we could enjoy the wildlife and enjoy our labors].
•The design also had to integrate the two architectures seamlessly, making it look natural, not contrived. This all had to be done on a tight budget, otherwise our project would not be realized. If we could not afford to have it done the way we wanted, there would be no reason to go forward.
From the onset, McDonald guided us after we discussed the general parameters of the project based on a budget of cost per square foot. The draft person/designer did an excellent job of pulling our requirements together, and the construction went on schedule. Since we were doing some of the interior work ourselves (laying hardwood floor and millwork around floor and deck door), also interior painting, we were given a spreadsheet outlining the schedule for construction. McDonald maintained the schedule like a bible. Let me say our construction supervisor was indispensable helping with the many incidental problems, and choices we had to make along the way.
The workers/subcontractors were incredible craftsman and dedicated to their jobs/customers. One such example -- Framing: While the workers (2) were finishing up the framing and roof late one afternoon, my wife and I left just before quitting time to see our grandson play baseball. When returned towards dark, I saw the lead worker’s car in front of our home and saw movement in the back. As he came down from roof, I asked if he had run into a last minute problem, noting the long day he had just put in. He said he had gone home (some 20 miles away) and while eating dinner had noticed on the local news that there was a 60% chance of showers that evening. He said he could not leave that roof unprotected based on that high a prediction. He drove 20 more miles back to our house, finished putting the shingle underlayment paper down, then drove back home that night. He left at 10:00 o`clock that night and was back at 8:00 the next morning. That is the kind of dedication we saw at each stage of the project. I could not be happier with the craftsmanship displayed. Another example – we had lapped siding installed with a variable-width reveal. I watched the workers cut those boards, all with only a single cut – each one would not have required caulking they fit so tightly (but of course they did).
Today my wife and I almost live in this one room which is filled with light and warmth (no drafting from those large windows) and a warm fire in that fireplace. I still don’t believe how those large windows were hauled manually up and installed with such precision; they were extremely heavy and bulky.
Thanks to McDonald all was completed on time, on budget, and done with superb craftsmanship. All workers were very courteous and customer-conscious; we are extremely happy with the project, and therefore would like to complement McDonald on a job well done.
