Adam Sherman & Nicholas Walker

We hired Cottage Industries to renovate our unfinished basement in Wayne to serve as a multi-functional space for our family of four, including a play space for our two young children, unfinished storage space and closet pantry, kitchenette with mini fridge, an exercise area, and a desk space. We could not be more pleased with the finished product! The process from start to finish was very smooth, including the initial estimating and design process, the kick off meeting, selection and ordering of materials, and the day-to-day work. We really appreciated that we were given multiple design options up front to help maximize the floor plan and work around HVAC vents, sections of the basement with lower ceilings, etc. The Cottage team seamlessly brought on and managed all of the individual subcontractors to complete the water proofing, egress installation, HVAC, flooring, dry wall, electrician, etc. They recommended a vendor for our kitchenette design and materials (cabinets and quartz countertop) who we were very pleased with (responsive, reasonably priced, good selection of materials, etc.). In addition to the kitchenette, Cottage also helped us design a built-in desk area that we could both use when working from home. Cottage was also very flexible allowing us to bring in other vendors if we wanted, such as the painter, who our project manager worked with directly to coordinate scheduling. They were also wonderful liaising with the electricians who installed our new generator that finally arrived in the middle of our renovation after months-long delays. Since I was working from home and pregnant during the project, I really appreciated how much care they put into keeping the rest of the house clean and dust free. We could not have had a better project manager: Jim was on site every day of the project to oversee and actually do a lot of the miscellaneous work himself. Jim’s friendly demeanor and project updates at the end of each day were greatly appreciated. Lastly, we’ve seen enough home renovation shows to know to expect the unexpected with a basement renovation of this scale. When various issues were discovered along the way, the Cottage team immediately informed us of the issues and gave us different options and costs to remedy them. This enabled us to stick to our schedule and original budget as closely as possible without having to worry about these unresolved issues surfacing down the road. We highly recommend Cottage Industries for a basement project like ours or any other complex home renovation project!

Our experience with Cottage was excellent. They were super professional, the quality of the work was outstanding, but most importantly, we really felt like they just took care of everything. The project manager, Russ, consistently went above and beyond to ensure we are happy, to resolve surprise problems, and to be on our side when sub contractors had issues or tried to cut corners.

In 2016 my wife and I embarked on a full house renovation of a 6100 sq ft, 1893 stone Victorian home. We interviewed several design and build firms and chose Cottage because they seemed to care as much about restoring the home as we did. Nick and Adam were very professional and demonstrated their expertise in historic renovation from the very first meeting. The home had been vacant for 2 years and needed everything redone. It had been broken up into 3 apartments and they helped us piece it back together to make it one home again and as close to the original layout as possible. They were with us from the initial design and budgeting phase all the way until a few months after we moved in. We replaced the heating system, added central AC, restored all the hardwood floors, built a new kitchen into a room that wasn’t a kitchen when we bought it, moved a first floor powder room, installed a mudroom, renovated two full bathrooms, took down walls, built new walls, built a master suite, added second floor laundry, structurally rebuilt a failing porch and porte cochere. They did all this work with extreme care to protect the historic integrity of the home and with skilled craftsman that take a ton of pride in their work. Russ, our project manager was excellent and the carpenters were amazing. They were clean, meticulous, professional, reliable, and did everything they said they would do and more. It was a huge project and they exceeded our expectations. We’ve been living in the house for a couple of years now and all of their work is standing the test of time. This review is long overdue and having dealt with other contractors for smaller jobs over the years and seeing my neighbors do the same I can say with confidence that these guys are some of the best around. I will be using them again as we undertake other projects around the property.

After interviewing several professionals, we engaged Cottage Industries to undertake a whole home renovation. We were impressed by their commitment to honoring the "old home" nature of our 100+ year old house. During the design phase, they were patient with us as we worked out different options to address some pretty tricky design elements (e.g., a kitchen with 5 doors). They listened to our concerns, and we developed a plan with which we were very comfortable. Throughout the renovation, we were impressed by Cootage's commitment to doing things the "right way" and good communication. We are very pleased with the end result! It's still a beautiful old home but very functional for modern life. We would do it again.

Cottage undertook virtually a whole house renovation for us. Our home is more than 100 years old, and we bought it for its "old house charm." However, the house required much attention to make it functional for today as well as to address some fairly pressing areas of concern. Cottage respected that we wanted the house to remain "an old house" and worked with us through several designs to achieve a plan that met what we were looking for. They were patient throughout this initial design phase and brought wonderful ideas forward, including recommending Regina Hoffman to assist us in making design decisions. Once this phase was done and the project commenced, we had the utmost confidence in Cottage's work. As with most old homes, there were some surprises along the way, but we got through them with good communication from Cottage. The project was definitely an undertaking and we are very grateful that we chose Cottage. We would choose them again.

I used Cottage to redo the kitchen and laundry room in my Turn of the (20th) Century house. It was also the house I grew up in, so it was an emotional process for me as well. Everyone at Cottage was professional yet understanding. The first thing they did was listen, and we talked a lot before we even got started. Adam & Nick love what they do and they get along like brothers, which made it fun. They were honest about what would work, and what might not, and they always kept their word. The only delays were caused by me not being able to make up my mind. Their subs were very professional and committed to craftsmanship.

We selected Cottage Industries as our design/build partner for a significant expansion of our 148 year old home including full kitchen transformation, extended footprint and 2+ story addition. Cottage Industries and the partners they brought to the table did a stellar job managing our ambitious and specific vision and very high expectations with regards to client management, including navigating the many complexities that cropped up along the way. There were few surprises, and the work was completed very close to plan in timing and budget. We absolutely LOVE our new space!

My wife and I chose Cottage Industries for a large project in our home. We added an addition to the back of our house, increased the size of our master bedroom closet and basically doubled the size of our master bathroom! We could not recommend Nick, Adam and Cottage Industries any higher. They were just absolutely fantastic. From the very first time we met Nick, we knew we were going to be very happy. Nick and Adam didn't just become our contractors, but became friends and took such wonderful care of us and our home. The process itself is a long one, but they never once got frustrated with us during design changes or small to large changes throughout the project, they just continued to deliver expert craftsmanship. Every single person that stepped foot on our property affiliated with Cottage treated us like their own family. Everyone has heard nightmare stories about dealing with large and small renovation projects, we didn't experience this at all. Not only would we recommend Cottage Industries to anyone and everyone, we will use them again on our next project and use them with confidence! We could not be happier with the end result. We have a beautiful living space and we don't plan on going anywhere. Nick, Adam and Cottage delivered us our dream home.

We are currently in the process of submitting a bid on a house that would require a major renovation. There was a one week deadline to submit offers which included the Thanksgiving holiday. I reached out to Cottage Industries early Wednesday evening, on the eve on Thanksgiving with a rough scope of work requesting a ballpark estimate. That evening I received a thorough response from Nicholas with range estimates and some supporting documentation I could use for reference material for several types of potential renos. He also made himself available for any follow ups. I really thought this was above and beyond given the timing and the holiday. I had followed up and got some general timeline information from him, and really feel much more comfortable going in at our number to this multiple offer scenario. If we do end up with the house I would find it very hard not to use Cottage Industries given their detailed responses and availability for just a hypothetical potential customer.

We couldn't be happier with the projects Cottage Industries has completed on our 1920 Georgian Colonial Revival. Outstanding craftsmanship from a professional, polite, tidy and respectful crew. From big projects, like our ground-up detached garage/apartment and our family room conversion, to a tiny project to restore the integrity of a high traffic hallway floor, Cottage Industries has exceeded expectations. I give the highest recommendation.

I cannot express how happy we are with the work we had done by Cottage Industries. From day one their goal was to help us plan and accomplish making our dreams come true. We went through many options until we landed on the perfect plan, all along considering budget. They were very up front and candid about cost which helped us financially plan as well. We now have the most beautiful kitchen and dining room (that used to be a garage)! They paid attention to every detail that was important to us, most importantly keeping the integrity of our home's character. We would absolutely recommend using Cottage Industries and plan to do more work with this company in the future.

Cottage Industries did a wonderful job remodeling our bathrooms. They were very clean and polite and always concerned about how we were dealing with the construction in our house. They were alway professional and always keep a line of communication going with us so that if we had any questions or concerns, they could address them immediately.