Plum Projects LLC

We engaged with Plum in 2020 to remodel our 80s-modern house near the Arboretum. I highly recommend them for design, build, and fabrication. Our remodel was extensive -- converting a 2-car garage to living space, turning a concrete backyard into an oasis, relocating and building a new kitchen, electrical upgrades, gas installation, newer bigger windows, office and foyer built-ins, etc. From the get-go, we were pleased with the professionalism of Plum's owners, their openness to discuss ideas, and their guidance through the remodel process (our first). We ended up engaging with an outside architecture firm and hiring Plum for the build. Plum did a thorough job of finding any problematic existing conditions, bringing them to our attention, and walking us through the options. Most unexpected work was covered in the initial budget. The change orders were clearly stated up-front and documented (COs are a reality of remodels, as there as so many "unknown-unknowns" relating to general wear and shortcuts in previous remodels -- always budget an extra 10%). Build quality is stellar. Their network of subs made for a smooth construction schedule. Plum's cabinetry shop did beautiful fab and install work. Three years later we haven't had any problems. Thank you, Plum!

This is a review for a 2014/2015 add on bedroom and conversion of a garage to a dining room and bathroom. Plum was awesome to work with from the very beginning. They met with me several times to understand what my needs were, what my budget was, and to establish a project timeline. I was hampered by a small budget and Tyler and Drew worked with me to design and build within my budget. I met with Plum regularly throughout the project to check in on progress, review the budget and where we might need to cut costs or think about cutting parts of the design down to stay within my budget. It was a collaborative effort from all sides and Plum helped me stay on track, on budget and within the timeline that they set. I could not have been happier with the end results and nearly 10 years later, everything is holding up really well and looks good as new!

We couldn’t be happier with our Plum remodel! They were able to help us take our vision and make it reality, with thoughtful and creative design and beautiful craftsmanship. Plum has great connections to resources and subcontractors, and did an excellent job of communicating about price and schedule throughout our project. we have recommended Plum Projects to neighbors and friends and all have been thrilled after working with them.

This is a review for a 3rd floor attic conversion - remodel project. Pros: 1) Passion: When I first met co-founder Drew in December 2021, I was encouraged by the enthusiasm that he had for our house and our project, including aspects that make our house unique that we loved and wanted to build on rather than replace (SIP vaulted ceilings held up by exposed beams). 2) Construction: The founders, technical staff, construction crew, and sub-contractors have deep technical construction and problem solving expertise and I feel confident in the quality of construction as a result. Our house’s unique structure has made for many unexpected complexities and they have managed to find ways through these where other contractors may not have been able to. Everyone I have worked with on the construction site has been very friendly and clearly does their best to move the project forward. 3) Custom Work: The fabrication studio has been a pleasure to work with: quickly understands requests and provides useful design suggestions. 4) Ownership: In response to earlier project management issues and ongoing budget and timeline issues, the Plum owners have become much more involved in the project, which appears to have helped move the project along more effectively in the last few weeks. Cons: 1) Budgeting and Timeline: The contract we signed put the construction budget at $524K and time to complete at 4-5 months from start. It has now been ~8 months since project start and we have paid $626K to Plum towards construction so far, paid $35K for fixtures that were originally part of the Plum project scope, and have been told that we will need to pay at least $75K more to complete the project, which is currently forecasted to take another 3 weeks. All in all the cost to us for this project is currently estimated to be $213K over the signed budget. This is despite my removal of 4 skylights from the scope, removal of planned work from the harder to access vaulted side of the ceiling, and taking on most of the fixture ordering management myself, which I have calculated to be valued at >$60K. 2) Communication: We now understand that this project has been more complicated than expected because of how our house is structured. There also appears to have been some key miscommunications between our architect and Plum and ourselves regarding discrepancies between what was covered in the signed budget in late August and the final designs shared in early September. That being said, our key concern is that these issues didn’t begin to surface until over 4 months into the project and overall forecasted costs for the same scope have increased multiple times and been hard to follow since January. Final note: given a number of miscommunications and misalignments between the contractor and architect, it seems possible that communication around the budget and timeline may have been smoother if we had used Plum’s end-to-end services instead of a separate architect.

Great personable team who was in regular contact through out the build. Our project had a few unforeseen challenges, and Plum was able to handle the adversity without missing a beat. And the challenges affected the budget minimally.

While house hunting, we saw an early example of Plum's beautiful work in Seward Park. When it was time to remodel our home, we knew Plum would do a great job. We asked the Plum design team led by Corey Kingston to completely remodel a large, complicated 3-story house to better fit our growing family. From Concept to Design, we felt we were in good hands. The entire process was well organized with a clear timeline and deliverables. Most importantly, Corey and her team listened to us and worked to meet our expectations even when we didn't have a clear vision of what we ultimately sought. The resulting design is thoughtful and incorporates a deep appreciation of what we want our family home to embody. We can't wait to work with the rest of the Plum team to see our home take physical form.