Gaspar’s Construction

I have had several weeks to calm down prior to writing this review — which is good because I was extremely aggravated there for a while.
I would not recommend this outfit to anyone needing design/​build services. Overall they are a nice group of people, but their bid will likely be on the high side — at least ours was. In order to get an accurate bid for our small-​medium sized kitchen project, we were asked to sign a design and feasibility agreement to pay them for their time. We discussed the scope of the project at length and agreed on a budget goal prior to signing the design agreement, but be forewarned this number is basically meaningless. For our project, the final bid was more than 40% over our initial goal budget, and we ultimately decided not to move forward with them. Of course, I was still stuck with the bill for their time during design and feasibility. This money is due, regardless of whether or not a project moves forward or if their bid is anywhere close to the agreed upon preliminary budget. The bill for this ran into the several thousand dollar range — money lost.
As far as the reason why the bid was so off, nothing was provided beyond the general, «things ended up costing more than anticipated» rationale. Frustratingly, our faucet choice was cited multiple times as part of the reason for the budget overrun, though even if its cost was thrown out entirely, the bid was still over 40% off the initial goal we agreed upon at the outset. It is worth noting here that at no point during the design/​feasibility phase, which lasted several weeks, was there any mention made to us that the original budget might not be attainable.
Previously we had worked with this company for a small bathroom renovation which turned out quite well (though it too was expensive) and we have been happy with the outcome. We also worked with them for a few small scale home projects through their handyman division, also with good results.
Unfortunately however, after this experience of wasting thousands of my dollars and lots of my time on a kitchen project that will not be built, I will no longer work with them and cannot recommend them to anyone.
Bottom line: They do good work, but you will pay a premium for it. I will always go elsewhere now.

Stopped in to inquire about services and five guys were inside unable to put together an ikea cabinet. After waiting around for help I decided to take my business to a competent business instead. Hard pass.

We tried to have Gasbars (Mike) bid a job twice. Gasbars was a no show both times. Shame on us — friends and Realtors told us to avoid and we should have listened. Forget gasbars. 0 stars.

I hired them to clean a deck. The price was extremely high for cleaning services and the results were very poor. Polite but not anywhere close to a good job or a good value. Includes 2 extra stars for courtesy. See the photo.
Brian

update: i received a heartfelt letter of apology from gaspar’s with a check enclosed to cover the cost of the light fixture. from the explanation provided, it sounds like it may have been the perfect storm of unfortunate variables culminating in my negative expericence and it sounds like the company is taking steps to prevent this from happening in the future. i appreciate gaspar’s effort to make things right; not all companies would have done the same.

We had a small porch that we wanted screened in and Ken came out to do the job. He built new screens and frames and managed to find a way to match the color of the wood trim. The work was done quickly, the budget accurate and we’ll definitely use them again for our next project.

I had such a positive experience with Gaspar’s! Our charming 1920s condo was in need of serious plaster repair. Within two weeks, Ted and his staff arranged to have a site visit where a quote was given on site. They not only completed a massive plaster repair project, but they also painted (with extreme attention to detail). They were quick, detailed, and ON BUDGET.
Home renovations are tough. They are expensive, stressful, and exhausting. Thankfully, you can trust this company to do good work.
We will definitely use them again in the future.

We had an absolutely terrible experience with Gaspar’s. It sounds exactly like other reviews here. We hired Cathy Gaspar to help us make a «plan» for renovating our house. We wanted a plan that we could do in stages, over multiple years. She agreed, was all nicey-​nice, and then proceeded to do do nothing that we asked her to do. She would ask us to come to many meetings (Where she charged us $ 80/​hour). She was never prepared. We were charged for numerous hours of «meetings» she supposedly had with an «architect» ($ 120/​hr for the architect and $ 80/​hr for her). What came out of these plans? No «plan» for the entire house, only a plan for a kitchen and bath remodel. The plans were not even accurate, and my husband and I spent another expensive meeting with her, correcting all her wrong measurements. Then came the big news. The bid for a very basic small bathroom remdodel: $ 40 – 60 K! We then told her that her bid was not reasonable for us, and that we would choose to go elsewhere. We asked for pdf’s of her «plans». She refused. (I will say that 6 months later, when we called again and more forcefully demanded them, she gave them to us.) Her initial tactic, though, was clearly to intimidate us into staying with Gaspar’s. The bill for all her «services» and nearly useless plans? Over $ 4000! We hired a different contractor for the bathroom remodel, who did the work for $ 23K.
We were very upfront about our financial situation with Cathy, and I feel like she completely took advantage of us.

I wasn’t even able to receive an estimate. Several attempts at emailing Lilly failed, likely due to a full email inbox? I had to double check the email twice with their office and had it right – it still bounced back. Every time I called to talk to Lilly she was in a meeting, no one to talk to there?
Since I was not able to get an email bid – Finally I requested that they send someone for an estimate, they told me it would cost $ 85.00 to get an estimate. Nearly ¼ of the price of the whole project (as generally quoted by Lilly over the phone).
Here’s a red flag – Lilly was not so interested in repairing my project, and insisted in replacement. If you advertise handyman service, you should be adept in making repairs. She claimed it would cost similar in price on labor to replace with new — perhaps she should consider the material cost too. I would wager money they mark that up.
Also, the condescending tone of everyone I have talked to on the phone needs some attention. I directly oversee the maintenance and management of 105 homes, and Gaspars has lost my business due to their rude phone demeanor, lack of effort a «we’re better than your project» attitude, and their charge for an estimate. RUDE people.

I’ve worked with Gaspar’s Handyman division on three separate occasions now and have been extremely happy with the work. The projects that they have worked on have ranged from securing a dryer vent to replacing a rotten window. The wide range of knowledge that each of their handymen has allows for them to take on such a wide range of projects. Additionally, the handyman «division» is part of their larger, full-​scale remodel business, so they have access to a lot more stuff than the smaller handyman companies.
What I am most appreciative of, besides the solid workmanship, is the oversight and scheduling that the handymen receive from management. Gaspar’s has a full support staff for scheduling and estimating. They were so quick, professional and friendly – I never felt like I wasn’t being taken care of.
I plan on using Gaspar’s for an upcoming (soon, I hope!) kitchen/​attic remodel – it is going to be a lot of work and has some crazy design elements, but Gaspar’s has a design team too! I am so excited and wouldn’t hesitate to ever refer to Gaspar’s for anything.

Again, I have Gaspars go out to a clients house and do some work, updated electrical, updated plumbing, they continue to do outstanding jobs for all my clients, Thanks Gaspars. I recomemnd this company daily. You get a highly professional company that is not afraid to ask for what they are worth. I just inspected a deck yesterday and he said he went for the lowest priced contrator, well 2000k later a useless deck, and unsafe. Paul with Gaspars would not do a thing. When reading these poor reviews on Gaspars remember these are the 1% of there vast amount of happy costumers.

All I got from Gaspar’s was an over-​the-​phone estimate but the estimate was so frighteningly high I suggest everyone stay away from these guys! I called to get a bid for a 10′ x 10′ deck installed — no railings, just the support beams, a couple of cement piers and the decking as it is less than 20″ off of the ground. They asked a ton of ridiculous questions «How many estimates am I getting» «What is my budget» etc. etc. By the way, never tell a contractor what your budget is if you want them to come in under it… I made sure to not give any firm answers so that they would give me a reasonable number, not what they thought I would be willing to pay.
So anyway, the guy says that will be $ 8,000-$ 10,000. I repeated the number back, thinking he meant to say 800‑1000, but no, he meant 8−10k. Even using the nicest materials, that means they would charge us a minimum of $ 7k in labor for what would take an experienced handyman less than a day. Stay far, far away from this shady company.

This is an update to my ⁴⁄₂₈ post. I had Gaspars handyman service out to my house again to fix an issue (well potential issue) with a gas pipeline that was rusting. During the project the service tech came and found me to apologize for dripping 4 drops of some paint looking substance on the floor. Frankly, I would not have noticed and many contractors probably would not have mentioned it. He not only mentioned, apologized profusely, and offered to comeback and clean up the spot. I told him not to worry it is 4 dots that I would never have noticed tucked away by the furnace if he hadn’t brought me over to show it to me. My family is safe now that the work done. I have absolutely no qualms about recommending Gaspars. While I hope not to have to have a Handyman I know who I will call next time an issue pops up around the house.
Regards,
Adam
On time and on budget is what I prefer to cheap… In this case you get what you pay for. I knew a previous employee who suggested Gaspars unfortunately we went with someone else at the time (This was in 2007). We had to have someone from Gaspars come out last year to fix the errors of our prior work (the friend hasn’t worked at Gaspars since 2008). When looking for contractors I believe there are three things you look at cheap, knowledgeable and fast… PICK ANY TWO. Knowledgeable and Fast read more «is not going to be cheap. Besides the repairs of the other contractor’s mistakes we needed a handyman to come out and install gates and anchor shelves to the wall plus patch a hole in the ceiling where a previous contract had damaged while installing a fan. They said it would take under 2 hours… They charge for 2 hours so rather than just leaving when the work was done they asked my wife and I what else we had been meaning to get to and we gave them our short list (which Paul the person we spoke to prior to having them come out) had recommended we prepare. They finished half our honey do’s. We were so pleased that we are having them out again to take care of additional work. I am not sure where the bad reviews come from. Paul is the guy to talk to… Rather than focus on my honey do list I play with my 1 year old and they make it a honey done list.

I had been looking for a decent, reasonably priced all-​around handy «man» since I became a homeowner years ago. I kept finding the «friend of the friend», «the great guy who did work for my mom» etc. You get the idea.
So when I heard the ad for Gaspar’s on KUOW (NPR), I decided… ok. I’ll call someone who is a «professional handy service».
As others have said, Gaspar’s is polite and professional. True. But I was taken aback when they said they’d charge over $ 140 for my initial estimate.
Though totally shocked by this, I still figured, «well, if they’re good, I don’t mind paying for an estimate». As noted it wasn’t cheap and as it turned out, the estimate was not applicable to the work they would do!!! I still hired them. I had already paid for the estimate, I thought. What the heck. The estimator was dressed nicely and seemed to know his stuff. Paying for an estimate is unusual and «sets the bar» quite high for quality, right?
I’m amazed by the rave reviews of Gaspar’s.
I totally agree with the folks who had poor experiences. Without going in to tons of detail, suffice it to say that they had to redo my simple tub re-​caulk and the second time was worse than the first. I found Gaspar’s to be very expensive for the sub-​par, over-​all work they did. When someone is charging upwards of $ 65/​hour, I expect a simple job like caulking to be a breeze and not a re-​do. At least the friend of the friend who does crappy work, is reasonably priced!
Oh, I do get greeting cards from Gaspar’s at the holidays… that will pay for that original work estimate by 2055.

I recommend, STRONGLY, avoiding this contractor.
Our renovation started wtih what I know see was a full-​court sales job, meant to convince me of the firm’s standing and integrity etc. They preach full satisfaction, etc. Well, we found throughout our project that that’s just a lot of talk.
Our bathroom was done late, over budget, and with shoddy workmanship. Gaspar workers were often late, not considerate of our neighbors in their parking and noise and cleanup practices, and once even openly rude. We brought up these concerns to management and were given a total runaround, excuses, promises, amid lots of defensiveness, etc.
As for money, the cost kept creeping up, again with lots of excuses. But at that point our bathroom was torn apart and no other contractors easily available, so what could we do. We had to grin and pay.
At the end, the management was even pushing us to provide positive references so they could get other jobs! Its like they just refused to believe we weren’t happy. Other reviews here make it sound like that’s a running theme with them.
Stay away, far away. There’s gotta be better expereinces out there.

We had a terrible experience with Gaspar’s– please don’t use them for your project! The website looked good and the office was nice, and they were all smiles and nods in discussing our project and budget. They came to the house so we could sign the contract, and the saleswoman went around the house and smiled and nodded as we signed the dotted line next to our budget and handed over a deposit check. After the architect and contractor made an initial visit, we received a phone call to say that it could come in up to $ 150K over our budget. They were unable to give any specifics on an estimate or get any closer than a $ 150K range, even though other contractors had been able to do so.
We decided not to continue working with them since we couldn’t get an actual estimate from them and didn’t want to commit in case it did go $ 150K over budget. They said they’d send back the unused part of our deposit. When we got the check, we saw that they took $ 850 out! They said it was for design work they’d started before the architect and contractor looked at it. Who does that? We’re furious and feel that $ 850 is completely unreasonable– why would you start design work before even seeing the house? They didn’t even get us an estimate, where others charged $ 200 for a consultation lasting several hours, with an estimate at the end.
They have been salesy, flippant, and disrespectful, and I wish there was something more we could do besides writing bad reviews about them on the internet. If you’re looking for an architect/​contractor, our advice is to go with someone you really trust and skip the glitzy design-​build companies– especially Gaspar’s. They only want your money.