B C Construction

D S.

Professional and precise. Great job Ben for the drywall repair, plastering and floor replacement. Got all the areas patched up and we are so pleased with the end result to the bathrooms, dining room and kitchen!!

Luis M.

Ben isn't the worst contractor I've ever had. That being said, the worst contractor I've ever had was arrested mid-job for domestic violence. While Ben got much of the job done, his verbal aggressiveness and persistently sloppy work were problematic throughout the project.

Ben's Yelp reviews show that he sometimes has a hard time keeping appointments. In our case, he requested a follow up appointment so that his electrician could view/bid the kitchen remodel job with him. We set a time/date, but the evening of the appointment, we were all by ourselves, waiting. Later, after we called Ben, he and the electrician scrambled over.

We observed the verbal aggressiveness on day 1 of the job. Two members of his demolition crew arrived on bicycle. Ben felt their transportation was unprofessional, and berated them over it. On the day of our first inspection, Ben got into an argument with the City inspector. He later explained to me the importance of putting the inspector in his place so that future inspections would go more smoothly. I do not know if Ben's strategy is effective, as I am not an expert in the construction business. I do know that we were left with a five item ""punch list"" of corrections to his work after that inspection, and another (smaller) punch list after final inspection, and that the punch lists required us to spend time/money making ""fixes"" to our home that had nothing to do with the kitchen remodel.

Ben's aggressive style showed up with other contractors involved with our project, and with us when he'd ask for payment or complain about our nitpicking. Ben doesn't view himself as aggressive; he views his style as ""normal"" for the trade.

Are we nitpicky? Check out the photos I've posted and decide for yourself. Paintwork (interior and exterior) was thinly applied, lines between colors wiggled back and forth, and plaster and stucco were spattered over wide areas, including over newly installed flooring and cabinets. Crewmembers scuffed the living room floor when they dropped tools installing some of the electrical. After a fix to a sloppy plywood countertop installation, he had to return again to address the fact that the shims he installed as part of the fix extended outside the wall and into the living room. More irritating than damaging, his crew left our master bedroom closet a mess after going through the floor hatch to access the crawl space.

The sloppy style applied to the worksite as well as the work. Piles of construction junk remained in our back yard throughout the project. Worse, his crew left bottles, cans, and foam cups, sometimes taken from our refrigerator (though they left the contents of our refrigerator alone after we complained).

The worst damage was when his crew ripped holes in our newly installed floor, and attempted to hide them by covering them with newly installed appliances. We had the floor repaired and the installation of the appliances corrected by another contractor. Ben paid for the repairs, though he complained about the cost.

At the end of the day, we have a beautiful kitchen and Ben was the primary contractor. He wasn't the right contractor for us, but he might be for you.

Lauren G.

If I could give no stars I would. My husband and I had set up an appointment with Ben to get an estimate for a project. We set a date and time and when that date came Ben never showed up. No call either. When I contacted him asking where he was he stated that I had sent him a text canceling our appointment. I had never once contacted him via text. If I had canceled our appointment, would I really be calling him to ask him why he wasn't at the site? We gave Ben the benefit of the doubt and rescheduled. He seemed sincere enough with his apology. Flash forward to our rescheduled meeting time and guess what?!? Ben doesn't show up. Not a single phone call stating he was running late etc. When I called him inquiring, he said his guys wanted to go to lunch. I was so turned off by the utter lack of professionalism I told Ben to forget it. I understand if you are a contractor and you are at a site and something comes up, but you have a cell phone! I cannot attest to the quality of work this company does, but based on their total lack of respect for potential clients and professionalism, I'd choose someone else to do the job.

Kristen H.

Ben and company were great to work with. We have a historic home in California Heights in Long Beach. He had a lot of solutions to problems that came up as we started our renovation. We ended up renovating our Master Bath and Kitchen and flooring in various parts of the house! We painted our existing cabinets, put new hardware on, butcher block countertops and painted and the kitchen looks awesome! Even better, we just sold our house and every person who walked into that kitchen, loved it! Thanks Ben!

Chris F.

Called on Saturday to get a quote on a kitchen remodel. Guy said he'd call on Monday and come over that night. It's Wednesday. Never called. Never showed up. How can you trust someone to do work for you when they don't call or show up for the first meeting?....scratch this guy...next

Tony R.

Awesome job! I bought a very old 1960s condo that needed lots of attention. Ben was great working within my budget and completing it on time. I highly recommend his company.

Tony

Marietta M.

The best! I found Ben Carr Construction online and read wonderful reviews. I met with three contractors, including Ben. This was for a complete remodel of our kitchen. Our 2-story home was built in 1907 and the best we could tell the last time the kitchen was remodeled was in the 60's. It was in sore need with sloping floors and ceilings, main drain pipes from the second story that had to be moved and accommodated in the kitchen, one wall removed and somehow everything had to look like it blended well with the old house. We went through months of architecture and engineering revisions and all the while Ben was patient and came to re-bid when the job changed, as it did. In addition to the aspects of the job mentioned above, all the walls and floors were taken down to the studs and one ceiling had to blend with another. A very complicated job with several ""unexpected"" aspects. Ben was very helpful in keeping costs down wherever and whenever possible without compromising the beautiful design and intent of the room.

Whenever people asked me how the construction was going, I was so pleased to be able to say that my contractor was the best! He and his crew were there every day they said they would be, always kept a clean and orderly job site and were a pleasure to have around. Since I'm retired, I was on site most of the time they were working and they were more than tolerant of my questions and curiosity of how and why things were being done. In fact, they made me feel that they appreciated that I was there. Even my husband, who is a businessman, says Ben Carr and his crew were very talented and congenial.

My kitchen has been completed now since the end of April. They did the complete renovation in only FOUR MONTHS! I've been living with it for a while and every day I'm so grateful for the beautiful new and most important part of the house. Thank you, Ben, Jordan, Luis, Wally and the other people brought in for specific parts of the job. I will also add that Kitchen Kreations was recommended by Ben and I am so glad we decided to use them. I have written a review of their amazing work elsewhere.

Mark W.

Ben and company were awesome. The solicited multiple bids on our project and Ben was very price competitive. The project included a room addition, concrete work, and roofing. All were done within the timeframe quoted with minimal overrun on the quote (there are always things that come up unexpectedly). However, Ben kept us informed every step of the way giving us insight and options to address any issues.

As a side note, he and his team were also very clean. Whenever there was a possibility for construction dirt/dust to enter the main part of our home, his team was very meticulous in covering the entry or covering furniture.

Staci B.

I would have liked to get an estimate and maybe hire him for my kitchen remodel since he has such good reviews, but he refused to come and give me an estimate when he found out I was getting estimates from other contractors as well. He was willing but then said that was a problem when I mentioned I was scheduling everyone for the same day. I might add, none of them had a problem with that! He said he was ""too busy"" to come out if he had to compete for the job. Business must be good indeed.

Anthony B.

We hired Ben to do a major remodel of our kitchen and a minor remodel of our family room. We got 3 bids and like previous reviews, Ben's was in the middle, cost wise. Our biggest concern was getting the kitchen done by Thanksgiving. Ben thought that he could easily do that depending on the cabinet delivery schedule. So, we started the process on Oct. 2nd of demoing the family room and the demo of the kitchen the next week. We worked with Marcie from Kitchen Kreations to design and order cabinets and counter tops. Working with her was a fantastic experience as she knows her stuff! She also hooked us up with the Tile Zone store for tile and kitchen flooring and with Carlos from Friedman's appliances for ordering our new appliances. Through Marcie we saved thousands of dollars!

Ben's biggest strength of having competent and hard working craftsmen (Luis-painter/plumber, Phil, who built us a beautiful fireplace mantel and did stucco and cement work, and the electrician Jose), became a weakness for us at one point, because of sickness. What I mean by this is that Luis caught the flu around the construction mid point and had to miss a few days. Because he was sick, some of the others couldn't do their work as scheduled as they were waiting for him to complete his. The schedule started to slip and even though the cabinets came in we had to delay the installation a few days, which looked like it was going to compromise the Thanksgiving completion. But Ben and Marcie's crews worked late and on weekends to make up for the lost time and we were up and fully operational on Thanksgiving day.

We had family in for a 15 year family reunion and they all loved the kitchen and family room. The remodels were a complete success. We have a 60 year old house, so we ran into more than a few problems (electrical, plumbing), but Ben was able to figure out a solid plan forward at a reasonable cost.

I almost forgot to give a shout out to his floor guy, Julian. Julian was able to put in high grade distressed wood flooring and carpeting at a great price. Go with Ben, you'll be glad you did!