Palatine Home Addition & Kitchen Remodeling – Joan & Dan R.
“Right from the beginning, we knew Normandy was going to be special. We did our due diligence and shopped around for a builder for our kitchen addition/remodel. We interviewed three different builders. When getting the quotes, the first guy handed us one sheet of paper with a final cost and five different “allowances”, for flooring, cabinetry, countertops, etc. Normandy was the second quote and I’ll describe this experience in a moment. The third guy mailed us one sheet of paper with a final price on it and no allowances at all. Neither of these builders had bothered to even hand draw a quick schematic of the job. Then there was Normandy. We were matched with their kitchen designer, Leslie Molloy. She came to the house and took photos of the space, inside and out. She listened, really listened, to what we were hoping for our new kitchen and what problems the current kitchen was causing us. Then we met with her at Normandy’s beautiful showroom. She had 3 different options waiting for us in full color. They were complete drawings that one could really see how it was going to look. They were three different costs, too, with the first one improving the kitchen without any addition and the last one was the most expensive but also the most functional. We were pleasantly surprised that the Normandy quote was not out of the ballpark. In fact they came in right in between the two other builders’ quotes. Leslie did not pressure us to choose any of the designs over the others and we did not feel any pressure to make a decision in their time-frame. We chose the design with all the bells and whistles. Over the next couple of months, while plans were being drawn up, Leslie helped us with our choice of cabinetry, countertops, drawer pulls, etc. Again, she offered her expertise and suggestions, but the choices were definitely ours. She is incredibly talented at what she does and she couldn’t have been better to work with. Then she handed our project over to the builders and our superintendent Rick. Rick was incredible and efficient. His attention to detail and concern about how the work was going could not have been better. When we had a suggestion for something that hadn’t come up before, he never made us feel like we should not mention it. He was open and honest with us and oversaw our project perfectly. But it must be easy for him to do his job, because the craftsmen that came into our house were top notch. Everyone from the electrician, Scott, to the trim carpenter, Adam, were experts in their jobs. Small glitches were corrected quickly and everything came together almost seamlessly. And the project ended when they said it would. We are incredibly happy with our beautiful new kitchen/dining room/mudroom. I am so glad that we hired Normandy for this important work. I would hire them again in a heartbeat. Thank you Leslie and Rick!”
