Duane Bluemke
From: duane bluemke [mailto:duane@bluemke.name]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2016 11:31 AM
To: Sam McCullough <sam@durangobuilder.com>
Subject: RE: The mccullough group
Hi Sam, I don’t mind at all giving you a little positive testimony on our working together to build our house in Durango.
We actually met through my phoning you after seeing one of your signs that said you would build as required on a site another of your clients had. It turned out your client didn’t want to sell the lot but we met and discussed the concept Dorothy & I wanted to use to build a new house. You visited our existing house and we spent a lot of time together and you ended up understanding what I thought I wanted and how that fit into what you could do.
We discussed many of the details and you secured a home designer and had the designer put things down on paper. After some changes we decided to go ahead after which I required some very difficult reworking to accommodate a 2nd floor tower to be able to look over the Animas River and the purple cliffs, with an elevator and inside stairway. I know that you personally spent a tremendous amount of time after reviewing my rough sketch and I think that was the point I knew I selected the right contractor.
Since the tower made the hallway much longer than initially, I really needed the hallway to be wider than as designed and you were very cooperative in moving walls, etc to accommodate the wider hall. You also will recall that one feature of previous McCullough homes was the curved wood beams in the ceiling of the family room, which I wanted badly, and this required you and I to work very closely to get the lower ceiling beams of the entry to properly visually tie into the larger family room beams.
There was also a considerable effort you put into incorporating the stained glass windows into the stone wall separating the entry and hallways from the family room and installing the stained glass windows in the stairway to the lower level. All in all, Sam. This is a unique feature and you spent tremendous time and effort in understanding my ideas and making the final result excellent. There were other special rooms such as the screened porch that came out very well as a result of your efforts and ingenuity.
You were always aware of budget restraints and together we chose most components and detailing that were good quality and design that reduced the costs greatly compared to a contractor that simply chose materials and components by brand names that the clients would know and accept. This applied to hardware, cabinets, trim, doors and most components. While our house was not cheap, I feel together we saved hundreds of thousand of dollars this way. The house was completed several months ahead of schedule.
I believe your contractors like to work with you because despite you being very demanding, they know exactly what is required and know they will be paid the right amount on time. There were only a couple of subs such as the bathroom tile setter that were slow to follow through after construction was completed where details needed to be corrected. We have a spectacular heating and cooling system provided by Trane that unfortunately I believe Trane did not furnish the HVAC contractor with enough information for a proper installation. And because we are not at the house most of the time it took a long time to really make work properly. I was very pleased you stuck with the problems until they were solved.
Of course I was not in town during most of the construction but would appear periodically and criticize or complain and Sam and I still managed to be on the same page most of the time and get excellent results. I do believe this was caused by Sam looking at the product and deciding if it was satisfactory or needed some changes as if it was his house, which allowed us to work together very well. Also, the accounting and billing was very well arranged and allowed for virtually no problems in making periodic payments.
All in all, we have an excellent house and Sam McCullough still is willing to help me with problems as they develop and assists greatly with them personally as well as making sure the sub contractors also respond.
I would definitely have the McCullough Group and Sam McCullough build another house or commercial building for me and I consider that I made a good friend in Sam and his family. My experience was excellent.
Duane Bluemke
From: duane bluemke [mailto:duane@bluemke.name]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2016 11:31 AM
To: Sam McCullough <sam@durangobuilder.com>
Subject: RE: The mccullough group
Hi Sam, I don’t mind at all giving you a little positive testimony on our working together to build our house in Durango.
We actually met through my phoning you after seeing one of your signs that said you would build as required on a site another of your clients had. It turned out your client didn’t want to sell the lot but we met and discussed the concept Dorothy & I wanted to use to build a new house. You visited our existing house and we spent a lot of time together and you ended up understanding what I thought I wanted and how that fit into what you could do.
We discussed many of the details and you secured a home designer and had the designer put things down on paper. After some changes we decided to go ahead after which I required some very difficult reworking to accommodate a 2nd floor tower to be able to look over the Animas River and the purple cliffs, with an elevator and inside stairway. I know that you personally spent a tremendous amount of time after reviewing my rough sketch and I think that was the point I knew I selected the right contractor.
Since the tower made the hallway much longer than initially, I really needed the hallway to be wider than as designed and you were very cooperative in moving walls, etc to accommodate the wider hall. You also will recall that one feature of previous McCullough homes was the curved wood beams in the ceiling of the family room, which I wanted badly, and this required you and I to work very closely to get the lower ceiling beams of the entry to properly visually tie into the larger family room beams.
There was also a considerable effort you put into incorporating the stained glass windows into the stone wall separating the entry and hallways from the family room and installing the stained glass windows in the stairway to the lower level. All in all, Sam. This is a unique feature and you spent tremendous time and effort in understanding my ideas and making the final result excellent. There were other special rooms such as the screened porch that came out very well as a result of your efforts and ingenuity.
You were always aware of budget restraints and together we chose most components and detailing that were good quality and design that reduced the costs greatly compared to a contractor that simply chose materials and components by brand names that the clients would know and accept. This applied to hardware, cabinets, trim, doors and most components. While our house was not cheap, I feel together we saved hundreds of thousand of dollars this way. The house was completed several months ahead of schedule.
I believe your contractors like to work with you because despite you being very demanding, they know exactly what is required and know they will be paid the right amount on time. There were only a couple of subs such as the bathroom tile setter that were slow to follow through after construction was completed where details needed to be corrected. We have a spectacular heating and cooling system provided by Trane that unfortunately I believe Trane did not furnish the HVAC contractor with enough information for a proper installation. And because we are not at the house most of the time it took a long time to really make work properly. I was very pleased you stuck with the problems until they were solved.
Of course I was not in town during most of the construction but would appear periodically and criticize or complain and Sam and I still managed to be on the same page most of the time and get excellent results. I do believe this was caused by Sam looking at the product and deciding if it was satisfactory or needed some changes as if it was his house, which allowed us to work together very well. Also, the accounting and billing was very well arranged and allowed for virtually no problems in making periodic payments.
All in all, we have an excellent house and Sam McCullough still is willing to help me with problems as they develop and assists greatly with them personally as well as making sure the sub contractors also respond.
I would definitely have the McCullough Group and Sam McCullough build another house or commercial building for me and I consider that I made a good friend in Sam and his family. My experience was excellent.
Duane Bluemke
Proudly powered by Weebly