How we chose our contractor

Of all the decisions we had to make for this renovation, the choice of contractor was the easiest and the quickest. Home building and remodeling books and websites will all say that this should not be the case and that one should interview several prospective contractors and research them thoroughly, check with the Better Business Bureau, call references, check with state licensing and bonding agencies, etc. etc. Then you should solicit multiple bids, bearing in mind that the lowest bid isn't necessarily the best choice.

We didn't do any of that for this renovation.

Instead, we chose the Wagner Company because we have used John Wagner for several construction/renovation projects, dating back to 1992, I think it was. When my husband bought a new building for his rare coin business, he hired Wagner on the recommendation of his banker. That job was fairly complicated, involving adding on a second story to the building where Jon put a small apartment, as well as adding on a large concrete-lined vault room in the back with a banker's vault door and extensive security features throughout. Jonathan's office turned out absolutely beautiful, and it has held up well over the years.

Then when we bought our last house out on the Kentucky River, it needed a lot of work. It was a rather unique building, a contemporary house built largely underground. We bought it as a bankruptcy foreclosure, and it had been vacant and neglected for some years. We had Wagner come in and fix everything that was broken, as well as add a fireplace to the bedroom and convert the sunroom to an all-season room with heat and AC.

And then, of course, there were the two renovations we did in the current house--the master bath a few years ago and the kitchen this summer.

The bottom line is that no matter how big or small the job was, we have never had anything but a positive and successful experience working with Wagner. Many people have horror stories of contractors who start jobs and then disappear for days, weeks, or (gulp) months at a time. That just doesn't happen with Wagner, and we have first-hand knowledge that the work he does is of excellent quality. Better yet, he is terrific on call-backs and follow-through.

So when we decided to pursue this renovation, we didn't even bother calling around any other contractors. There's probably people out there who would've done this job for less money. But we'd rather pay more to work with somebody reliable and whom we can trust to do a terrific job.