Please recommend me a good contractor (mason? architect?) in Pittsburgh.

July 3, 2017 5:11 PM

Please recommend me a good contractor (mason? architect?) in Pittsburgh. Angie's List and I aren't speaking at the moment, and I'm without a source for reliable contractor recommendations. Stuff I wanna have done is under the fold.

Problems include but are not limited to: 1.) my garage door needs to be replaced. 2.) All the other parts of my garage need to be replaced. The roof, particularly, is rotten and should really go. 3.) I might like to vent my stove to the outdoors, which might mean bricking up a window. And 4.) I may eventually want to put in a downstairs bathroom, and it'd be nice to have help with planning and so on.

I have utterly failed as a Networker, and all my options for finding reliable people to do this kind of work seem to have boiled down to 'pick a name out of a hat'. So help me, Obi-Wans; you're my only hope.

posted by Sing Or Swim to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Have you checked Yelp? They are pretty reliable with regard to reviews in my experience. Also if your area has Nextdoor.com, try that for very locally focused networking.
posted by ananci at 5:15 PM on July 3, 2017

Adams Construction does a ton of work around Lawrenceville and Bloomfield. They did some work on my roof (installing drip guards which whoever re-roofed before we owned the place failed to do for some reason), but they do all kinds of general contracting, big and small jobs. I was happy with them, they did the work on time and stuck to the estimate.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:16 PM on July 3, 2017

Nextdoor.com is the popular way to get recs around me. You can ask to join and they send a code to your physical address. It's set up by neighborhood. Mine lets me ask mine and the next closest neighborhood or all the neighborhoods close by. I check yelp and check contractors on google which also has ratings.
posted by stray thoughts at 10:07 PM on July 3, 2017

Foster Construction is the #1 that I'd recommend. Doug did my basement remodel and will be putting on a deck for me. The basement, in particular, was a monster job that multiple contractors backed out of bidding. Doug didn't flinch and clearly has familiarity with The goofiness of older homes in the area. The issue will be availability.

I also had a bathroom and kitchen remodel done by Premier Kitchen and Bath. Also very happy with their work. Worked with Greg Luhowiak and he was a great partner on helping with the design. Was not crazy about their sister window and door business -- don't think I'd get cross sold on the garage door.
posted by bfranklin at 7:04 AM on July 4, 2017

My friends/landlords worked with Jason Sauer from Most Wanted Fine Art who, fun fact, is also a general contractor. He and the crew do good work and are just generally awesome people, although (caveat) sometimes their busy schedules preclude a speedy wrap up for non-emergency projects.
posted by helloimjennsco at 9:05 AM on July 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

I am that friend that helloimjennsco speaks of! Jason and his crew did SO MUCH for our house, from plumbing to painting to floors, etc. I would recommend him absolutely, especially for the kind of projects you're looking at.
posted by amicamentis at 10:41 AM on July 5, 2017