EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY
One of the reasons we selected Bowers was because of its experience in the industry. We trusted that you had designed and remodeled enough houses to know what you were doing in order to deliver on time while also ensuring the least stressful experience for us.
We saw you as professionals who treated your employees, as well as your clients, with respect. We appreciated that your employees were employees – with benefits and timecards – not just random people you picked up off the street each morning.
We trusted that you were experienced enough that if you told us the project would take X amount of time, barring unforeseen craziness, it would take X amount of time – as long as we did our part on time, too.
You knew the State and County codes and how to work with the County to get the variance for our garage. You were able to guide us through the design process for the house and garage knowing what would and would not be allowed so we did not waste time or money on designs the County would not approve.
COLLABORATIVE EXPERIENCE
We always felt as if we were working together with Bowers on the project. You never tried to force your ideas or designs on us. Our house feels like “our house”, not the architect’s or designer’s.
You listened to us and understood how we wanted to live in the house, how we wanted the house to look and feel. You didn’t try to force popular design concepts (e.g. giant combined kitchens and family rooms) on us.
You thoroughly explained and educated us on how to make the best architecture, design, and selection choices. It was a collaborative experience where you guided us to the best choices for us without making the decisions for us.
We felt comfortable with Bowers – you knew what you were doing so we could relax. You felt / feel like family. You took our project as seriously as we did – it didn’t feel as if it was “just another day at the office” to you.
ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN AND SELECTION-MAKING SKILLS
This dovetails with Experience, but having full-time staff dedicated to help us with architecture, design, and selections was great. They helped narrow down what manufacturers carried the best products that matched our design ideas and what stores and showrooms would have the products on display. Having them go with us to the stores and showrooms was great because they could quickly show us alternatives and give us the pros and cons of the selections.
Also, having an architect and designer who could recommend period details that kept the addition looking true to the original house made a huge difference in keeping the addition from looking like an addition.
All of this saved us time and kept us on schedule with making our selections.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Being managers ourselves, having a detailed schedule with a comprehensive list of decisions and selections that needed to be made, with deadlines and dependencies, was great. This helped keep us on track and made sure nothing fell through the cracks. There were lots of decisions that needed to be made, but being able to look at the schedule then organize our thoughts around in what order we needed to make decisions, which showrooms we needed to go when, etc. made a huge difference in keeping us from getting overwhelmed. We could then plan our weekends or know when we would need to take time off work to go to a showroom.
The schedules also showed us the repercussions to the schedule and the budget if we did not make decisions on time or made changes.
We were able to make as many decisions as possible well in advance of work starting. This allowed us to then focus on the building of the house and enjoy watching the designs become reality instead of being distracted by having to pick out a faucet.
TRANSPARENCY
We felt that Bowers was realistic with its commitments and provided us with realistic schedules and costs. There were no “gotcha’s”. We were able to stick to our budget without having to make tradeoffs because some item was missed or forgotten in the original quote.
I realize you may be worried about showing a client a large up-front cost; however, having a realistic number up-front and feeling confident in Bowers’ ability to estimate an accurate cost allowed us to plan appropriately and feel confident we would have the house we wanted within the time allotted in the schedule.
CLEAR AND FREQUENT COMMUNICATION
We appreciated all the design meetings we had early in the process and that schedules and costs were always part of the discussions. We felt those meetings helped us all reach the best conclusions for the design of the house and helped develop the best schedules and cost estimates.
Throughout the project Bowers always kept us informed of what was going on and responded quickly to requests for meetings, e-mails, and voice messages.
DEDICATED, FULL-TIME STAFF
Having a full-time, onsite Team Lead and full-time, onsite and off-site Bowers support staff made a huge difference. The primary Team Lead and off-site support staff provided consistency and we always had single points of contact who knew every detail about our project and were dedicated to its success. The full-time, onsite support staff also knew our project in detail and could support the Team Lead with handling the subcontractors.
We always trusted that there were Bowers team members at our house all day every day making sure all the work being done would meet our expectations.
USING QUALITY / KNOWN SUBCONTRACTORS
We trusted that the subcontractors used by Bowers were the best in the business. We knew you had built long-term relationships with these subcontractors, which ensured they would send good employees to work on our project, try to meet the Bowers schedule, and do quality work at a good price in order to keep getting work from Bowers. We appreciated that we did not have to be part of selecting subcontractors.
CRAFTSMANSHIP / ATTENTION TO DETAIL
Having been to several Bowers’ projects, we knew you appreciated quality craftsmanship and would pay attention to details. These were very important to us and you did not disappoint. These are the things we still see every day and remind us why we chose Bowers and why we continue to recommend Bowers.
