Martin’s Home Improvement

Martin is honest, reasonable, and gets the work done well. We have hired him twice now and have been happy both times. Just after we bought our house, he put hardwood floor in our bedroom, replacing old carpet. He gave us a reasonable quote and stuck to it.
For our second job we had some work done in the basement including a new ceramic tile floor. The tile looks great, he helped us find a good grout color to go with the tile we chose, and he charged us exactly what he said, even though it unexpectedly took extra time to level the concrete in a spot hidden by the old floor. Sometimes it takes a bit to get in touch with him but it is worth it! I never felt like he was trying to sell us something we didn’t need (unlike most of the other guys who came out to estimate the job), and to top it off he was great with our dog. If we have other projects, we will not hesitate to text Martin again.

I made an appointment with Martin and he never showed. I called and texted him after an hour of waiting and he never responded. He has yet to call, email, or text to reschedule so I took my business elsewhere

Martin relocated our washer and dryer outlets. He took care of the plumbing and electrical work, and also the dryer’s exterior vent, drywall repair, re-​painting, etc. The work and finish are of very high quality and we had zero problems throughout the project. Martin turned up when he said he would, worked thoroughly, and took care of everything. Even did a great job color-​matching our paint and cleaning up after the work was complete.
While the work was ongoing, I broke a paving slab in our yard, revealing a hollow space under our path. Martin repaired this for us with no advanced notice and did a great job.
The project came in at the estimated cost, which was very reasonable.
Highly recommended.

I have never written a Unilocal review before, but felt compelled to review this business to save others from having the negative experience we had. We contracted Martin to do the large scale job of renovating our home on Capitol Hill, DC. Martin was extremely unprofessional, constantly missing deadlines, asking for large amounts of extra money, working extremely slow and was unreachable for the entire month of December, not doing any work on the home and refusing to answer calls or texts. Martin also keeps a deplorable job site, and these conditions permanently damaged expensive finishes in our home, which must now be replaced (see photos of permanent wood stain spilled on marble counter and tile floor, as well as paint/​compound on new hardwood floors).
After another two weeks of no work being done and Martin avoiding phone calls, We finally decided to take the large financial loss, terminate his contract via text (which he never responded to) and hire a new contractor to finish the work he did not complete. The attached photos of the condition he left our house in speak for themselves.

I read previous posts that said Martin may take some time to come to your house but it’s been a month and he has never called to schedule an appt. I called and tried to leave a v/​msg on 11÷3÷13 but the v/​mail was full so I sent a text as the business # appears to be a cell #. On 11÷5÷13 Martin responded with a text saying that he would call me on 11÷6÷13 and that he would try to schedule a time to come by my residence, time permitting on 11÷6÷13. On 11÷5÷13 I responded with my address, as requested, and phone availability. It’s 12÷2÷13 and I have heard nothing else from him, despite following up with a phone call on 11÷14÷13 and leaving a v/​msg. I understand that we are all busy. However, I don’t believe it was too much to expect a return phone call, even if the phone call was to schedule an appt 3 weeks out.

I’m won’t waste time by repeating at length what everyone else has said. Martin is awesome. After purchasing a home in project home Bloomingdale, I came to realize that I’d gotten in over my head with the amount of work required to make the home livable. In total, I used 5 general contractors before the property was finished with Martin being the best of the bunch.
He’s honest, creative, and talented. You can roll the dice with another GC, or you can use Martin. The only thing I would caveat this review with is an advisory: Martin doesn’t have multiple crews. If you need help quickly, he may not be the right G.C. for you. People are willing to wait for him services, so there are times where a wait list will develop. Call him and ask and he’ll let you know where things stand.

If you want QUALITY work at a fair price, do not hesitate to contact Martin! Very reliable & professional. Best part is that he doesn’t mind if you hang around while the work is being done… that’s SUPER!

We were hesitant to hire Martin since his quote was much lower than his competitors’ and we just fired another contractor who bid low at the beginning and ended up charging more for low quality jobs. Yet we decided to give Martin a try. And he turned out to be awesome! He does a lot of work himself without having to subcontract out so he has excellent control over costs, time, and quality. He actually cares more about the quality of his work than we do, a true perfectionist. Our row house quickly changed from a construction site into a nice residence after we hired him. He is so skillful that he even customized our IKEA corner cabinet to fit an odd angle and saved us some bucks. So glad that we found him and will not call another contractor before calling him in the future.

Came in did a great repair of our extremely thin apartment drywall after a big party. Awesome service, great work and good prices.

If you are looking for a contractor who is honest, reliable, and exceptionally skilled, look no further. Martin is it. We wanted to finish our basement, to add a room, bathroom, and mud room/​laundry area. We live in an older home, which made the project even more complicated and challenging. Plumbing had to be re-​routed, major appliances relocated, walls had to be put up, ceilings with tricky spacing had to be built, and concrete had to be dug out. Martin has a great sense of design, and clearly wanted the end product to look great. But he also always kept in mind the practical, making sure that the space was as user friendly as possible. His common refrain when going the extra nine yards was that he wanted to build it as if he was going to live there. What more can you ask for? Nothing, really. But you will get more. Martin is a genuinely nice guy and interesting to chat with. He is great at keeping you updated, he’s very responsive on e-​mail (literally at all hours of the day), and does walk throughs with you at the end of each day to make sure everything is up to your expectations. He is very clearly proud of his work and enjoys showing it off. He is always on site, and works just as much and as hard as his crew. Speaking of his crew, Martin has a small group of regular assistants who have been with him for some time. They, too, were all very friendly and hard working (started very early in the morning, finished as late as you (and your neighbors) will let them go), wanted to make sure we were satisfied with their work, and were just all around great guys. Oh, did I mention working weekends and around holidays to get the job done on time? I could go on and on. Suffice it to say, we are very happy with Martin and his company, and we have no doubt you will be too.

Squeezed me in the same week for a small drywall repair in my ceiling. Lowest price and very courteous. Martin sent someone else on his behalf as he was busy on another project, but he made sure I knew who to expect and his qualifications. Highly recommend.

Martin did a wonderful to replace some old rotted wood on the outside of my house. He pointed out other areas that need to be fixed. He is very reasonably priced and very honest.
I would hire him again.

I asked several contractors (including Martin) to provide estimates and quotes for several jobs around my place.
Martin’s quote was substantially lower than the other quotes, but that’s not because he was cutting corners. When I confronted the other contractors, they lowered their quotes as well, indicating that Martin was the only one who agreed up front to an honest price.
I was also very impressed with Martin because he flagged a number of issues that the other contractors did not notice, and also identified several problems with quotes provided by other contractors. For example, one insulation contractor mentioned he would wrap frayed wires, but Martin noted that wrapping wires is against the code as a fire hazard.
Lastly, Martin communicated well throughout the process, and was frequently in touch both by phone and by email with helpful suggestions about the project, including photos, design plans, and alternatives. No other contractors provided any suggestions or advice.
I eventually wound up selecting a different contractor who I had already retained to work on a related project, but Martin was very professional when I told him the news. I regret not choosing Martin, because the contractor wound up screwing the job up. I will definitely use Martin in the future.

I hired Martin and his remodeling team to do some major renovation and remodeling on my basement. My basement at that time was not up to county code and Martin did great job fixing everything properly up to county code including electrical wiring, plumbing and drywall and painting. What you get with Martin is an expert who knows almost all aspects of construction which makes things go much quicker.
My basement was a major job because Martin had to fix all the things that the previous contractor did wrong. If you want someone who is reliable and really cares about helping you then hire Martin. If you want to increase the value of your home then hire Martin. You can’t go wrong.