Testimonials

S.A., WAYNE, PA  ›  FEB. 21, 2010

We were incredibly impressed with the professionalism, responsiveness, high quality, and thoroughness of RKA. I guess that is why we used them for my new office, and why we recommend them to everybody we know who is contemplating doing an addition, rehab, or considering new construction. And this includes us. In the next two years, we are planning to rehab our third floor. And we will of course do this with RKA. Repeat business is the ultimate endorsement.

THE PROPERTY

After searching for an old house in historic South Wayne for over three years, we purchased our house in 2003. It was 100 year olds, had three floors plus a cellar. We liked it immediately because it had “good bones” - 7 bedrooms, 10 foot ceilings, large and leaded windows, base-board trim, hardwood floors throughout, plaster walls, grand foyer, winding staircases, paneling, covered porch, stucco covering bricks, stone foundation, and three stories plus a basement. What also made it special is that we would be the second family to occupy the property.

THE PROBLEM

House did not flow well. It was like living in a bunch of dead ends. Furthermore, it seemed like the previous owners had done very little structurally. What they did do was cover up bigger problems. For example, they added two drop ceilings to hide leaks in the roof and the radiator. They also covered the hardwood floors to avoid having to polish scratched floors. Finally, the rooms were small. We wanted a great room, a larger kitchen, a breakfast room, a master suite, a laundry room, a rear deck, and a finished basement. In 2007, we decided we needed more space.

THE PROJECT

In 2006, we decided to have RKA to present a few plans for a high quality, two-story addition with a crawl space, and a rehabilitation of the existing house. We had initially planned to add 1,000 square feet (in total), and expected the cost to be $200/sq. ft., and $75,000 of rehab work. The total expected cost was $275,000.

RKA believed that we underestimated the space needs, and overestimated the costs. The option we settled with over doubled the footprint (from 500 sq. ft. to 1,000), and replaced the crawl space with a finished basement. It also included 650 square feet of new decks, a second stairwell, slate roof, high ceilings, a new driveway, and a large third floor expansion space. 1000 sq. ft. became 4,250 of usable square footage for only slightly more than we originally thought!

The project was completed in seven month, faster than we thought! And the overall quality blew us away. Were there any problems? Not really. Nothing that my wife and I ever detected. Andy Kerns would show up every other week and correct minor molding problems.

Four years after we started the work with RKA, and 3 1/2 years after moving into our “new house”, our lives are forever improved. Our house is the center of our kid’s lives with. Every weekend, at least one of our kids will have a few friends sleep over in our basement. Each day, the kids will have a few classmates over to work on school projects in the study. The family eats every meal in one of three places - the new kitchen island, the dining area of the new great room, or the refurbished dining room. We now have three movie watching areas - all with big screen TVs: Great Room 52" home theater system with six surround-sound speakers, Master suite 48" home theater system, basement home theater system. We also have a TV system in our laundry room.

– S.A., Wayne, PA


See the entire project here…