Leff Construction Design/Build

This is really a 3.5 star review. But I had to choose, so I chose 3 stars.nnWe have a custom-built mid-century modern house built in 1950, that needed some overhauls and updates. We contacted Leff, who had a designer come and look over the house to get a sense of what we could do with our budget. We were assured at the time that the basics, including a new roof, new electrical system, new floors, and other required work to bring the house to a “livable shell” would take up about 2/3 of our budget, and would leave plenty of room for kitchen and bathroom renovations, and other extras, so we engaged with them to do a feasibility study.nnThey were generally very nice to work with, friendly, and usually responsive (there were times, early on, and at the very end of the process where they were not.) We understood that these kinds of projects didn’t always fit neatly into budgets, so we were prepared to be somewhat movable on it. We understood that there were things we’d have to compromise on or spend more money on. Later in the process, we were assured again, this time by the owner, that we would be able to get our “livable shell” well within our budget. That said, we wouldn’t have been surprised to get a final estimate that was 25% above our budget.nnJust before the final presentation, we were sent an email asking whether wanted to continue the process, because the sub-contractors were coming in with bids that were much higher than they expected. Given that we’d already sunk almost $7k into the feasibility study, we felt we should keep going, and get all the final information we needed, so we could make a decision. We anticipated that we might have to scrape together more money than we anticipated.nnHowever, on the day of the final presentation, Leff gave us a number that was at the low end, more than twice our stated budget. We could simply not afford to do the renovation with Leff. They stated that the issue was primarily the sub-contractor estimates. For further information, we have since gotten quotes from different subcontractors for the same exact work, and those estimates have come in substantially less than the estimates Leff gave us. Two of the estimates were approximately one-half the estimates of Leff subcontractors. This is not to blame Leff, but it just seems strange. And as our project now progresses, it is clear that we will be able to accomplish most of our original goals well within our original budget.nnWe really liked the work that we’d seen that Leff had done for other projects, and we felt good about the design process we went through, and we learned a lot about the process and our options. And our house did have features that are unusual.nnIt seems in retrospect, Leff’s approach, which is very detailed, comprehensive, has lots of hand-holding, and absolutely by-the-book, means that it is going to be much more expensive than your standard renovation approach. I would say that if money is no object, Leff is probably a great option. If you are doing a full-house renovation, even if your budget is on the average to above-average end, which ours was, they are likely going to be too expensive for your project.

We've worked with Leff on a few projects now and they have all turned out to be very high quality. We appreciate how much attention and effort they put into construction and kept us informed throughout the process.

We had an outstanding experience with Leff Construction who did an addition to our house! We highly recommend Leff for whatever your needs are.

Leff Construction built us the most perfectly beautiful house I could ever have imagined! The team was so helpful in guiding us through the process of rebuilding after we last our home in the Tubb’s Fire. I don’t think there was ever a week that there weren’t crew members and subcontractors here on the building site working hard to get the job done. Morgan, the project manager, assured efficiency and communication. And Candice, the designer was a dream come true in guiding us through all the finish choices. Thank you Leff Construction!

The entire experience was very positive. All team members were polite, reliable, and competent. It was a pleasure to work with them.