Chicago Custom Remodeling

I recently used Chicago Custom Remodeling for a bathroom remodel. I am more than happy with the beautiful results. I had some vague ideas of what I wanted and Al offered a few suggestions that would keep me within — actually under — my budget while blending in nicely with the rest of the places style.
My interactions with Al and his team were very positive and professional and they were always punctual and cleaned up. I would not hesitate to use them again next time /​if I have a future project.

don’t waste time with this guy. arrogant and doesn’t have business manner. at least, he needs to know what people come from different backgrounds, he needs to learn how to communicate with customers.

Is there a way for zero star? I don’t even want to waste time on writing this, bad service with bad attitudes. Don’t come!

Professional, good work and fair price. I am a happy repeat customer. They just finished my driveway. Great job!

I’ve met with Al personally to evaluate a potential contracting job for a multi-​unit in Pilsen. I’ll be straight off the bat, he’s a saavy and intelligent guy. He’s got the years of experience and a lot of overhead with a large staff of professionals. I spent over an hour talking to him about the business of renovating from an investor’s point of view and trust me, the guy knows the business.
Most of the people here giving him a one star rating, in my opinion, are the kind of customers that seasoned contractors don’t make money off of. I didn’t end up hiring the guy or purchasing the property we reviewed because he gave me some very honest estimates and figures and invested a lot of time with me to explain all the work and costs associated with the project. I learned a lot from him and I really hope to work with him in the near future.

Al was the last stop of many calls I made to try and find someone to do work in my house. I had a flood in my kitchen and needed a contractor in my corner to help me deal with my insurance more than anything. Al helped me with settling my claim. He is always responsive and easy to work with. I would call him again for any future needs as well as recommend him to anyone looking for a contractor.

This company may do good work, but I will never know. I called and requested an appointment for an estimate. I have an apartment building (in fact, I have a couple) and two of the units need new bathrooms. During the call, I explained what I wanted and stated that I was planning to budget $ 10,000 for the project (2 apartment grade bathrooms). Whoever I spoke to told me my budget was unrealistic as it costs $ 4,000 in labor per bathroom. I told him o.k. I have room to increase my budget, being that I am not a professional contractor, I have no idea what a realistic budget should be. I then asked when he could come out and provide the estimate, his response, «this is a waste of my time, I am not going to bother.» He then hung up on me.
After thoroughly reading these Unilocal reviews, I find something very suspect. The comany either has five star or one star reviews, no in-​between. This may be the only company I have come across with such polar opposite ratings. Also, half of the five star reviews are written by individuals who have zero Unilocal connections and have only written the one review, for this company. Avid Unilocal users know those are highly questionable reviews.
In any event, I had two other companies come out and they both came in right around $ 12,000, so my «off the top of my head» budget of $ 10,000 was not that unrealistic.
Now, here is why I specifically noted that I have a couple of 3-​flat apartment buildings in Jefferson Park because, in the event that the owner reads this review, he will know that not only am I an Elite Unilocaler and active member of the Jefferson Park community capable of spreading my personal experience to a wide audience. I also have MULTIPLE properties that will require services from companies like his and I will never give this individual an ounce of business.
Edited to address Gariel W.‘s jackass comment. Considering all of Gabriel’s other reviews for businesses read like desperate lonely hearts ads, it is no wonder half the bars he has reviewed have closed permanently. A word of advice, if Gabriel says its good, run, as the place will be shuttered shortly thereafter. Seriously, his whole goal in life is to approach short Asian women for dates.

Worst. Service. Ever.
I called Al based on the Unilocal reviews. He came out the following day to quote the job. Extremely arrogant — there was another contractor at my home bidding for roof business. Al made a comment to me saying «Do I look like I do the work? If I did the work, I would look like that guy (referring to the other general contractor.» He then proceeded to tell me that he was in a hurry, parked in front of a fire hydrant and had to go. Did not take my email or anything to get back in touch. Meanwhile, this was for a $ 100K+ worth of work!!! One would think that he would want the business?!? When I never heard from him, I text him to give him my email and check in. His response to me was «I’m on vacation and will have a quote to you Monday.» Well, that was two weeks ago and still no quote. WOW. Al is an extremely unprofessional, arrogant person. I would never recommend him to anyone and am very happy with the contractor that I chose :)

Al & his team do fantastic work. He & his team are affordable, knowledgeable, crazy fast, efficient, extremely detail-​oriented, and overall great people to get the job done! We needed our basement put back together after it flooded, and the process was seamless and pain-​free. I’d recommend Al & his team to anyone needing any sort of remodeling work done — jobs small and large!

The Situation: My wife and I got married in July 2015, and closed on a condo in early October. We purchased a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom loft-​style condo in River North. It’s a newer unit, but we wanted the following work done prior to our move-​in: (1) enclose 2^nd bedroom by adding walls, two, custom made four-​panel windows, and an extra wide bedroom door (2) hang and install stainless steel pot rack above kitchen island [ceiling is made of concrete] (3) mount flat screen tv on wall in living room (4) install custom designed closet pieces for my wife’s closet [shoe racks, poles, shelves, etc.] (5) install lighted ceiling fan with wall control panel.
The largest task was closing off the 2^nd bedroom. There was roughly a 4 foot gap between the walls of the bedroom and the ceiling. Rather than simply build up the walls with straight drywall, we opted to include two custom made (by Al) four-​paned windows. This would allow natural light into the 2^nd bedroom. After adding the door, this would create a sound-​proof second bedroom for when guests come to town, for studying, for working, etc.
My wife and I depleted much of our life savings for the down deposit on the condo. As a result, we didn’t have a whole lot of ‘wiggle room’ financially, so we couldn’t afford any mistakes in our remodel. So, we researched every single home contractor/​remodeler in the Chicago-​land area. That isn’t to say we wanted the cheapest contractor out there. Rather, we needed someone who would get it perfect the first time around, and would do so at a price that wouldn’t make our jaws hit the floor.
The Decision: We called Al, and it was one of the smartest investment decisions we’ve ever made. His quote was reasonable, his management of the project was stellar, the lines of communication were always open (day or night), and his crew produced magnificent results. Al promised to have all of the work complete by our move-​in date (Halloween), and he delivered as advertised. Not only does the unit look incredible, but Al offered me an education on how to maintain and care for my home (when and how to switch out air filters, clean the garbage disposal, etc). As a customer, I received great work AND an education. You can’t be that.
I have no reservations in recommending Al and his team to others in my building, or to friends and family. If you need work done, and you want it done beautifully at a reasonable price, give Al a call.

Al and his team provided extremely professional, thorough service. Our bathroom ceiling had black mold — which Al diagnosed via a photo — and the paint was peeling. Gross. He originally estimated that the project would take two days for the mold removal, ceiling repaint and bathroom repaint. Instead, he and his crew finished it all in one day. Throughout the process, Al was very communicative about what would need to happen and cared for our safety during mold removal, as that requires harsh chemicals and I have asthma. Luckily, the only side effect we experienced was great work. It’s a relief to know that we’ve got a trustworthy, reliable source for our future renovation needs.
If that’s not enough to sway you, I’ll tell you one more thing: pricing is very reasonable.

After my last project, I called Chicago Custom Remodeling to update my living/​dining/​kitchen space. The work involved converting a wood burning to high end, modern gas fireplace wall; custom built home entertainment unit; refinished and restained hardwood flooring; replace existing lighting throughout with new fixtures and recessed lighting; and, refreshed paint in hallways and living area.
The owner, Al Zamm, takes a consultative approach to ensure the design works and makes suggestions to improve the appearance and functionality.
I’ve had two very successful projects with Chicago Custom Remodeling. It will be the first and only call I make for future projects. Excellent craftsmanship, great customer service and fair pricing.

Holy arrogance! I called him to get his feedback on new hardwood floors and some other renovations in our house. He just isn’t a good person to work with. Based on the other reviews, his work is adequate, but his pricing will be the highest (his claim). In my opinion, life’s too short to deal with someone like this.

OK, Al may do good work, I will never know. He is extremely arrogant. I called to get an estimate for a basement remodel. He promptly told me that he is so good that he doesn’t have time right now, and also that he charges 3 times what others charge so if I’m not willing to pay that and wait at least a few months, don’t waste his time. I explained to him that I want quality work and if he is really that good, I’m willing to pay more to get the job done right. He then said OK, he’d be willing to come out to give me an estimate. I had to practically beg him for a consultation. He instructed me to email him my information, then he would email me back a time for the consultation on Monday. While it’s only Tuesday and I have not heard from him (and I don’t think I ever will), the more I think about it the more I don’t even want to patronize a person like this. So if you can get him to come to see your project, just be prepared to overpay (not my words, his). Based on his other Unilocal reviews he seems to do great work. Too bad his business manner does not comport.

When we moved into our new home our plan was to completely remodel the kitchen: we wanted to take down a wall between the kitchen and the mudroom behind. In addition we wanted two windows added, new hardwood flooring, new cabinetry and a lot more! We contacted Al Zamm of Chicago Custom Remodeling after a Unilocal search because we were impressed by the great reviews. We have just bought our new home (May) and Al spent three hours with us during the consultation listening to our ideas and advising about practicalities. He was very realistic with us from the start; advising us not to stretch ourselves and get into debt with multiple projects in our home, but to focus on one at a time to allow time to save in between. He suggested we get a couple of other estimates for our own peace of mind — his honesty and integrity was refreshing from the start!
Al informed us from the start of our kitchen renovation project that quality work takes time. We were very naïve about the amount of work that goes into a kitchen remodel, but having watched the incredible transformation — and all the stages in-​between (including complete removal of dry wall and ceiling) — we are so grateful for Al’s perfectionist work ethic, and creativity. He is more than a contractor: he is capable of advising about design nuances that will ensure a superb finished product. We were constantly impressed by Al’s talent; there seems to be nothing that he cannot do. It transpired that the wall between our mudroom and the kitchen was load-​bearing (our home is 120 years old, and Al warned us from the start that he wouldn’t know the exact scope of the work until he removed the wall). This created a lot of additional work, but Al’s solution resulted in an incredible addition to our kitchen: a gorgeous wooden beam to hide the support structure which replaced the load-​bearing wall, and which fitted perfectly into our kitchen design.
Some examples of Al going above and beyond:
Spending hours with us one evening to get the electronic design right for our kitchen prior to commencing the work
Driving a four hour round trip to Michigan to collect our countertop to ensure there would be no seems when it was fitted
Walking our dog in the day when we were out
Adding a gas line outside for our grill whilst he was moving the gas line for the double oven
Helping us with multiple DIY projects elsewhere in the house when our expertise failed (putting up blinds, light fittings, wood trim, shelves)
Working longer hours than any contractor I have ever heard of
Working weekends
Getting to know our style better than we do, and therefore picking out better tiles and window casements that our original efforts
Al is honest, extremely hard-​working, and he has a great sense of humor. He will not leave a job until the customer is 100% satisfied, and his standards and expectations for his own work are very high. Although, Al’s business model is the customer is always right, and to provide excellent customer service, we learned to be realistic with time expectations — great quality work takes time and it is not productive to rush him. Our finished kitchen was 1000% worth our patience to ensure that Al was able to get the best parts from the best suppliers.

Al and his team did a beautiful job remodeling the only bathroom in our 100 year old house. It is stunning! Our pink and green1970s bathroom needed to be gutted. Al replaced all the fixtures, fixed a leak we didn’t know we had, added ceiling lighting and a bathroom fan (how was this never installed in the first place?), and did an ENORMOUS amount of tile work that included white and black hex tile with a custom border, and chair rail height subway tile walls. Al was very reasonably priced compared to other quotes we received. The project went a little over schedule, only because of delays in supply orders and some last minute upgrades I made. I appreciated That Al would send me frequent updates and pictures of work being done. Everything went very smoothly, and I will definitely contact him in the future when we need more work done. Thanks Al :)

Awesome work and fair price! I had to repaint all my walls because there were cracks on nearly all of them. After speaking to two other contractors I chose Al because of the high end paint he used and the fair price he quoted. The price was even significantly lower than another contractor’s who used a lower end paint. More importantly, the lower price did not come with low quality. Al and his team did a really good job in repainting the walls and fixing all the cracks. My walls are like new now. After seeing this I decided to have him replace my carpet in my bedrooms too. Though the price for carpet was not the lowest, I am very satisfied with my new carpet and it definitely worth the price. I highly recommend Al and his team.

If there were more stars to give… I’d definitely be giving them. Al and his team is the absolute best! He came out on a Sunday (first of all who does that?) to give us an estimate on some water damage on the ceiling and wall in our bathroom, was in to fix it by Tuesday, told us it would take four days but knocked it out in one… Seriously, I don’t think I will ever use anyone else for any other upgrades or remodels around the house. Thank you so much guys! You completely exceeded my expectations!
If you’re looking for a general contractor who is honest, great at what he and his team does, efficient, professional, and friendly… Call these guys… They will NOT disappoint!
Thanks again guys!
Just absolutely amazing!

Al did an awesome job installing our backsplash in our kitchen. He was easy to communicate with to set up a time to come and get the work done and when it was time to work he cranked it out all in one day. I would definitely recommend him.

After speaking with 4 other remodeling firms, I chose Chicago Custom Remodeling to re-​build my rooftop decks. They were the only ones who provided a feasible solution for the pitch problems on my roof. Other contractors simply wanted to add more roofing material, which failed in the past.
The scope of the work included roof repairs, installation of new drains, building new upper and lower decks from a high-​quality composite material, built custom storage boxes, refinishing outdoor metal staircase and railings, installing recessed lighting, rebuilding staircase, and complete repair of front door — new weatherstripping, threshold, painting of front door and trim inside and out. They were willing to do a few smaller repairs throughout the house as well.
Al Zamm is the owner and always professional, on time, courteous and willing to complete the job above the customer’s expectations. He and his team are trustworthy; in fact, I gave them my keys to complete the job while I was out of the country.
The quality of the work is outstanding. If you’re looking for a handyman, CCR isn’t for you. But if you want excellent customer relations, great advice on options and are willing to pay for a superior job (they’re competitive), you’ll be glad you selected them.