kind words *blush*

“Dear Scott, 

When Pete and I realized that we needed substantial home attention after the BIG hail storm there were a number of major concerns. #1) Money, #2) timing (surely we’d have to wait till spring/summer which would totally mess up our plans to landscape our back yard, #3) our friend’s horror stories about working with construction people with the delaying tactics, messy work, etc. #4) having work done while we were at work and couldn’t oversee, and #5) choosing the color of the siding- I mean, going from GIANT white snowball of a house to an attractive abode was nearly too much to even think about. Where would we start!!??? (Just start with Jay Yahn!)

So, to put it mildly, we were overwhelmingly PLEASED, SURPRISED, THRILLED, at the work that you, Jay Y., JJ, Matt, Paul and Ken (and the roof and gutter guys who came and went so quickly that we never met them) did for us. Scott, the work you did with State Farm made the crucial difference between us being able to do this project and still send our son to college (he was really glad). Thank you especially for all those phone calls.

Jay Y. was wonderful in helping us choose the roofing, the gutters (the covered gutters are Pete’s favorite part) and most of all, the Driftwood grey siding. He and I stood at various points around the house with the little 3″ square sample (next to the peach colored brick, next to the black door, etc.) and calculated how it would look from the street – it turned out beautifully. As my son said, “It looks like a house should look, Mom – Sweet!” Countless people traveling down Old Sauk Road have told us it looks great.

As to the guys, they were all knowledgeable, informative, and great craftsmen. Matt explained everything, and Paul was a genius (he told me to tell you that, and I told him I would). All  weird balcony bits and porch oddities and siding measurement… didn’t faze any of them. They did a super job. And, they had to deal with snow and cold, and working around the holidays…

They tidied up, nothing was left undone, the workmanship looks great, the project add-ons that had to be quickly decided on seemed reasonable and everyone was courteous, funny and, well, like family. And the entire job was done in like two weeks! Now our big old  white snowball with moss growing on the north side is an eye catching, warm (insulation was amazing), quiet (no more Old Sauk “raceway”), lovely grey structure in the pines. Certainly, if we had to sell it we finally could, but now we wouldn’t want to sell it, ’cause it’s so lovely.

So now, whether we’re at the grocery store, the library, the Union, etc. and we overhear someone say, “I’ve got this roof that needs fixing…” we pipe up, “CALL FREY!” Have a great  2011. Thanks for everything.

Yours, Peter Fowler and Michaela”