I am so sick of seeing people on forums asking for the "best" renovation company because the truth is that the entire industry is built on smoke and mirrors, and I learned this the hard way after hiring a firm with flawless Google reviews and a fancy showroom. I thought I was paying for peace of mind, but what I actually bought was a nightmare where the "Senior Project Manager" I met during the sales pitch disappeared the moment the deposit check cleared, replaced by a guy who showed up once a week and spent the whole time smoking on my porch while the subcontractors installed the tile crooked... it makes my blood boil just thinking about how they claimed to be a "full-service design-build firm" but in reality, they just subbed everything out to the lowest bidder who clearly didn't have a license.
The biggest scam was the "fixed price" contract which turned out to be anything but fixed, because as soon as they opened the walls they started hitting me with vague "unforeseen condition" fees—I mean, how is it unforeseen that a 1950s house has old wiring?—and suddenly my budget was blown by 40% because of these predatory hidden renovation costs. And don't even think about relying on the BBB rating or those "Best of Houzz" badges, because those are basically bought and paid for; the only way to actually protect yourself is to scrutinize the renovation contract red flags like a lawyer, specifically looking for the clause that lets them charge a 20% markup on materials they pick up at Home Depot.
I honestly wish I had just acted as my own General Contractor because at least then I would know who is coming into my house, instead of having random strangers showing up at 7 AM demanding payment for work that isn't even finished yet. If you are about to hire someone, please, for the love of god, ignore the sales pitch and check a proper vetting contractors guide to learn how to check their insurance and bond status yourself, because if you don't, you'll end up like me: suing a contractor who has already dissolved his LLC and started a new one under a different name.
