JRL Design, Inc.

We hired JRL to design and build a custom bar room in our home that involved breaking down a wall between our family room and formal living room. We solicited several bids and decided to go with JRL because they assured us it would be completed by Christmas. As of today, it still has not been completed. Up until less than a week before Christmas he insisted it would be completed. It never was. If he would have been honest with us, we could of scheduled Christmas dinner at another family members home. The entire process has been a nightmare. Broken promises, no shows, excessive overcharges for items that should have been part of Jim’s architects drawings (he hires his own) but conveniently left out so when you find out you need them (like GFI’s, proper lighting), he can overcharge you. He will come in lower but price the lowest level of product – you need to be very careful here with him. This is how he comes in lower. Also, you DO NOT have to pay $500 for a quote. Do not let him talk you into this. He will tell you that he has this super duper design software package that will enable him to walk you through the design, open and close cabinets, etc. When actually is your basic CAD software that he doesn’t even know how to operate and almost every general contractor has. If you are duped into paying it (like I was) he will then try to sneak in another $200 - $300 for an engineer that you never agreed to and should be his cost. He will sell you his services based on his expertise and accreditations. However, after the first check is cut, you will not see him again, ever unless you insist he shows up! He has a much less experienced person show up at your home to manage the job. ALSO, if you do for some reasons decide to go with JRL, PLEASE have an attorney review the language in his proposal/contract. Make sure you take out any language that pertains to paying his legal costs, paying for supplies he has ordered if HE cancels project (read this condition carefully), eliminate broad clauses that he has that allows him to upcharge you for increased costs, trash removal, take out no internet purchases for fixtures, buy your own fixtures and appliances, JRL marks them up considerably. By the way, I have never had to sign such a one-sided contract/proposal on any remodeling projects in the past and I have had several large ones. I should have known better but the promise of “done before Christmas” sucked me in. Do not agree to pay him weekly as “his” bills come in. There should be a percentage paid as the project progresses as other contractors do. DO NOT pay him the last installment until all the work including your punch list is completed. I held back an agreed upon $300 for completion of punch list. A week after my check was cashed; he filed a legal complaint for the $300, plus $6,000 in legal fees and damages due to business HE lost. I am a single women home owner with little knowledge of home repairs and remodeling and fell prey to JRL and Jim Lebair. I hope my experience and review will help other people in the same situation.

We hired JRL Design to do a complete remodel of our outdated kitchen. This required deconstructing the entire room, new plumbing, electircal wiring, spray foam insulation, etc., and creating a new, high end, stunningly beautiful kitchen that is more efficient in every way. There were challenges throughout the job because having been built in 1890, nothing in our house is square or level. The owner, James Lebair and his Project Manager, Marty DeRocco, are two of the finest people I’ve dealt with as contractors. Jim and Marty were very responsive to suggestions and questions; they were available by phone, text or e-mail, days, evenings and weekends. Jim even worked during his vacation. They pride themselves in quality work; they are very customer service oriented, personable, and professional. They communicated effectively, kept the job on schedule and followed up to ensure we were completely satisfied. They are expensive but I guess the old adage of “You get what you pay for” is true in this case. I think if you were to walk through the kitchen door, you would say “Wow!” I still don’t know how all the design features, colors and textures came together, but they did. The flow and efficiency of the kitchen is greatly improved. I would definitely use JRL Design again because, as they say on HGTV, our kitchen went from “crappy to happy”.

Jim's concept of "High Performance" covers it all. You want your project to meet these standards in all aspects from initial meeting to design, to material selection to completion of a job that should be everything you hoped for and then some. I love this focus and wish all contractors followed JRL's philosophy! Kim Engstrom KE & CO.

JRL Design remodeled our kitchen, which included re-designing the layout of the kitchen, deconstructing our old kitchen, insulating the kitchen and putting up new drywall, supplying and installing new plumbing fixtures and re-plumbing the water supply and drain lines, supplying and installing electrical devices (including under-cabinet lighting), supplying and installing new cabinets, supplying and installing quartz countertops, installing new appliances, doing tile work, and some re-trimming work on the windows. JRL Design did great work on this project. We are very happy with the outcome. Jim took care in the kitchen design and in the selection of cabinetry that works well with the style of our older home. The end result is a pleasure to work in and is a nice blend of modern and traditional which is what we were hoping for. Marty and Jay did very good work. The cabinet and kitchen fixture installations are excellent. Marty, the project manager, was a good communicator throughout the project and provided good advice when decisions had to be made. One reason we feel confident in recommending JRL Design is that we found Jim and Marty very willing to work with us through any issues that came up until we were happy with the outcome.

James and company were extremely professional. The communication has been outstanding and the entire project has been a wonderful experience. His project manager Marty is outstanding....I will never use anyone else to remodel my home. Could I have spent less by hiring others and leaving me to design and manage the renovations? Sure... but it would have been a nightmare to where all those hats....we met Jim and Marty and never bothered to interview anyone else....if you have a project to do, you must meet these guys...it will be one of the smartest moves you'll ever make.

JRL Design remodeled our kitchen. They provided new kitchen cabinets, new electrical wiring in the kitchen area and lights, new plumbing for the kitchen, new dry wall with insulation on the outside wall, venting to the outside for the stove and oven and installed the new refridgerator, stove w oven, diswasher, ventilation system, garbage disposal, faucet and granite counter top with new sink. Jim did a wonderful job with the design, the project supervisor Marty kept the project on schedule and handled any issues that came up, keeping us well informed of the whole process. We had an issue with the wrong faucet being delivered by the plumbing supply company and Marty took care of it in a professional way both with us and with the plumbing supply making sure we got what we wanted. Any questions we had we could reach out and have them answered quickly. Jay, who did most of the hands on work did a great job as did any of the subcontractors (electrician, plumber and granite installer). If I saw something that I wanted to change as we went or didn't understand why it was being done a certain way, he always took to the time to explain, would change what was dont to make it to my liking if it would not cause a problem, if so it would be explained and another option would be discussed. Jay also was very neat when he worked. We took care of the flooring, painting and tiling ourselves since we have a family member who can do that. They did an amazing job and gave us our dream kitchen within our budget and were done within the time frame they stated. Jim, Marty and Jay were able to guide use with priorities when it came to the budget, how to get the most for our money, where to use it wisely. This is a quality company and i would hire them again.

We were really pleased with Jim and the team. They created a beautiful new Master bath from an empty space that was a little tricky. It's peaceful, elegant and feels like a Spa. It exceeded our expectations and includes all our fantasy features: heated floor, window bench and European-style wall mounted radiator, along with stunning tile, custom cabinetry and plenty of counter space. They also completely renovated our 80+ year-old hall bathroom, and it's restored to its classic, gleaming black & white beauty--only better. Along the way, we asked JRL to tackle some 'while-we're-at-it' jobs, like insulation, replacing extensive sections of old soil lines, and adding electrical functionality. They brought in the best subcontractors for every task and made sure we had estimates on everything before we approved work; we never worried about a thing. I've never seen a business so determined to ensure that the customer is genuinely pleased. Very professional and pleasant to work with at every step, and in the end, after slogging through all the big and little decisions, we have more than we hoped for and at a fair price.

We had Jim design and remodel our basement and kitchen. He and his team did an excellent job. We are very happy with the work.

Jim Lebair and the JRL design team did an outstanding job remodeling our kitchen and adding an upstairs bathroom. They also remodeled part of our master bathroom and added a utility room. We were looking for someone who did both exceptional quality work and had an eye for design. Neither my wife nor I are that skilled at creating stunning kitchen designs, but we knew we could recognize it when we saw it. Jim and the JRL team were just fantastic at filling in the gaps and adding things that we would have never thought of to create what we were really looking for. The quality of the workmanship was outstanding and the team was very easy to work with. I would without hesitation recommend JRL for any intererior remodeling project.

1) Complete kitchen remodel. 2) Removed 27 windows and replaced with Pella Architect Series. 3) Completely restored my third floor to include two new bedrooms and a walk-in closet. The JRL crew were a dream to work with. They were organized, neat, and kept me in the loop during the entire process. Marty and Jay are excellent craftsman and we couldn't be happier with the finished product.

This is the 4th project for which I have worked with JRL Design. The latest project was an update of my house's master bathroom. JRL Design is a small company so I had already got to know most of their employees during earlier projects. They are a pleasure to work with. The demolition was accomplished quickly, and the guys were at great pains to confine the dust and debris so that it didn't get spread all over the place. The quality of their work is excellent. Jim LeBair, the owner, is up to date on developments in materials and green technology. On his advice we added blown-in insulation to the outer walls of the bathroom, as a result of which we rarely even need to turn on the underfloor heating. In fact, as a result of the additional insulation that was used with each project, it costs me only 60% as much energy to heat my entire house than it used to before we started renovating. I highly recommend JRL Design.