Acheson Builders is proud to receive this certificate of excellence from ThreeBestRated®. Chosen one of three best home builders in the greater Ann Arbor area — for the second year in a row.
Criterion for the selection and more information can be found here. Or look us up on the ThreeBestRated® website.
Acheson Builders has also been honored to be chosen as one of the three best rated home builders in Ann Arbor, for two years in a row by ThreeBestRated®.
These are the handpicked Top 3 Home Builders in Ann Arbor, MI. How does ThreeBestRated® find the most highly rated home builder? Its 50-Point Inspection includes everything from checking reputation, history, complaints, local reviews, nearness, satisfaction, trust and cost to the general excellence. That’s not all . . . businesses do not pay ThreeBestRated® to list them. ThreeBestRated® believes that customers deserve only the best!
Acheson Builders gets high marks from me. They were well organized and respectful of my home. Every few days I was given an update of who would be working and what they were doing. If there would be a change in plans Jason, the project manager would call to update me. Their attention to detail in this bathroom project was outstanding – from the first planning visit by Laurén to the final inspection by Jason. They will definitely be the team for my next project.
— another satisfied Acheson Builders customer
Source: ThreeBestRated®
Also see our Certificate of Excellence from ThreeBestRated.
Houzz Rules: Over 40 Million Monthly Unique Users Nominated Best Home Building,
Remodeling and Design Professionals in North America and Around the World.
Acheson Builders of Ann Arbor, Michigan has won “Best of Customer Service” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home remodeling and design. The 45-year old Design and Build firm was chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than one million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals.
The Best of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the more than 40 million monthly users on Houzz. Customer Service honors are based on several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2017. Architecture and interior design photographers whose images were most popular are recognized with the Photography award. A “Best Of Houzz 2018” badge will appear on winners’ profiles, as a sign of their commitment to excellence. These badges help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals in every metro area on Houzz.
“We are honored to be chosen once again for 2018, as one of the Best of Houzz winners, just as we were in 2017. We work hard to achieve the highest level of integrity, customer service, and outstanding designs for our clients”, stated Marilyn Acheson, Vice president of Acheson Builders.
“The Houzz community selected a phenomenal group of Best of Houzz 2018 award winners, so this year’s recipients should be very proud,” said Liza Hausman, Vice President of Industry Marketing at Houzz. “Best of Houzz winners represent some of the most talented and customer-focused professionals in our industry, and we are extremely pleased to give them both this recognition and a platform on which to showcase their expertise.”
Follow Acheson Builders on Houzz houzz.com/acheson-builders
Besides winning the Best of Houzz, two years in a row, Acheson Builders has also been honored to be chosen as one of the three best rated builders in Ann Arbor, for two years in a row by ThreeBestRated®. Celebrating 45 years as a renowned, yet small, family-run business, they have highly acclaimed designers, creative problem solvers, and remarkably talented project managers and craftsman who help bring great ideas to reality. They have focused not just on great buildings, but on building great relationships with their clients, their team, and their community, and this has been the reason for their success.
Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.
Houzz and the Houzz logo are registered trademarks of Houzz Inc. worldwide. For more information, visit houzz.com.
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This was a calamitous event that our client experienced from a windstorm last March . . . a tree fell on their beloved screened porch!
Acheson Builders’ team was called in: we rebuilt and rescued this wonderful space. Our client was happily able to enjoy the three-season porch again for most of the summer and fall. (Now closed up for the winter.)
This is the interior of our client’s fully rebuilt and restored (by Acheson Builders) three-season screened porch. You can see why they love being in this room often, throughout the spring, summer and fall.
Fire broke out, was thought extinguished, then returned at this Dexter home.
Good news! The Dexter, Michigan home that suffered a fire earlier in 2017 is nearly rebuilt and restored.
The fire, which began one night in the living room where a new gas fireplace apparently malfunctioned, resulted in no injuries but wreaked significant damage to walls, ceilings, a large portion of the roof, and to floors throughout the two-story structure.
Fire engines and fire fighters on scene at this home in Dexter, Michigan prior to second outbreak.
The damage that even a small, contained fire can inflict on a house affects more than those portions that actually burn; smoke can permeate all materials and parts of a house, and fire fighters’ water and fire-extinguishing material can cause its own unique form of destruction. This home was no exception.
Crew securing trusses and finishing framing.
For this job, Acheson Builders proposed a plan for both restoring and remodeling the house (see earlier blog report on this project), and began work in July, 2017. Initial work focused on removing damaged materials remaining after a previously hired fire-disaster company had removed drywall in affected areas. Acheson Builders unscrewed thousands of projecting drywall fasteners which had been left behind by the prior drywall removal, stripped out all smoke or water-damaged insulation in walls and in the attic, and removed wiring and plumbing that was affected by the fire.
That left . . . the odor . . .
Special treatment was undertaken to ensure that all vestiges of smoke damage were eradicated. This required hiring a company that specializes in deep cleaning to be conducted in multi-step process. First was a patented Hot Thermal Fog™ treatment to open up the pores in the wood (see sidebar “Makeover for Smoke-Damaged House“), followed by thorough cleaning and deodorizing with an ozone and hydroxyl treatment. After this, a sealant was sprayed over everything: all remaining exposed wood, wires and pipes, etc., to prevent any residual smell from escaping. This included the entire attic, where a lot of smell had traveled beyond the burned area.
Yet another company was employed to clear out and certify all of the ductwork, to ensure NADCA standards.
Acheson Builders then re-installed insulation in all areas where it had been removed or where needed.
Then we brought in the crane. Crane? No, we did not employ a large, long-necked bird, but brought in a construction crane for removing and replacing seriously large structural trusses for the roof in the central part of the house.
Construction crane in use during framing and roofing phase of restoration.
(Quite a few remodeling jobs could benefit by a having a crane available but cannot accommodate one, due to site features such as hills and trees; this site was well suited to use of a crane.)
Construction crane in use during framing and roofing phase of restoration.
Now the roofing has been completed, damaged walls re-framed, and new sheet rock fastened on. All exterior work is complete: framing, roofing, siding, paint — all protected and done.
Installation is complete . . . a different brand from the one that malfunctioned and burned the house, thank you very much!
Extra remodeling, not related to the fire, has been undertaken in the basement. The owners decided they may as well have the basement finished (a project that they originally had planned to do a few years down the road) while we are already at the home doing other restoration. New walls are now framed and drywall will be installed by the time you are reading this. Then comes the fun work of installing all the finishes.
Believe it or not, further smoke odor treatment is needed — to the floors and underlayment. Once done, floor finishes can be completed. After that, tile work will be undertaken. And then there is the exterior: follow-through work includes cleaning up garden beds and re-mulching them. Even these areas were damaged by the fire, firetrucks, and initial demolition processes (before Acheson Builders had been called in).
Check this space in the near future for more updates!
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(l-r) Pete Nowakowski, Jim Acheson
In this in-depth interview with Jim Acheson, founder and president of Acheson Builders, Lucy Ann Lance discusses the 2016 Remodelers Home Tour, the Acheson Builders design style, and a particularly challenging older-home remodeling job at 2037 Winstead in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This traditional 1970s home harbored a claustrophobic dinette and u-shaped kitchen until Acheson Builders gave it a new life.
Joining the interview is Pete Nowakowski, Marketing and Communications Director of Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Ann Arbor (BRAG).
The Remodelers Home Tour was co-founded in 1989 by Jim Acheson and is organized by the BRAG Ann Arbor.
Running time: 12 minutes, 45 seconds. Courtesy of Lance & Erskine Communications
Don’t miss Acheson Builders’ entry in the 2017 Remodelers Home Tour: 442 2nd Street, Ann Arbor — A whole-house remodel of an historical home, Old West Side, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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(see Part One of this series here )
Design ChallengesIn undertaking this very large remodeling project, Acheson Builders had many challenges. One good example: we didn’t want to block a feature window that is at the front of the house while adding a new staircase to replace a vintage narrow straight run set of steps (see part one of this series for solution). The homeowners also asked us to create a coat-closet space for that part of the house.
To accomplish this, we designed the new stairs with a turn midway up, so that the upper section of stairs along the front wall could be above the feature window. We were then able to fit a small coat closet under the upper stairs, while adding a bonus hidden storage area under the lower section of stairs. All done in period detail.
When it comes to working on older homes such as this that are considered historic, contractors such as Acheson Builders must hue to the call of the Historic District Commission of Ann Arbor, Michigan. One governing rule of the HDCAA specifies that additions to classic homes in its purview look different than the historic parts of those houses. For this 1840’s home, there were four different styles incorporated, each from a different design era. Although required to have the addition look different, Acheson Builders and the home’s owners didn’t want it to look drastically different — we wanted some continuity, a sense of a unified building after integrating the new with the old. Part of our solution was to use existing ornamentation, seen in the taller front section of the house, as inspiration for the embellishment used on the rear addition.
One somewhat painful decision that the owners had to make involved losing an outdoor sauna. Acheson Builders replaced a badly deteriorating old deck and sauna with a new deck (but no sauna) built on the sunnier side of the house, which also allowed for a larger addition, while at the same time including value-added maintenance-free Azek PVC materials.
One challenge with using Azek materials for the deck and railing, was that Azek does not make a top handrail for stairways that qualifies as “graspable” under the building code. We were able to solve this issue by custom-fabricating, using Azek stock, a top guardrail for the steps that conformed to the code but which also matched the profile of the manufactured top rail used along the level guardrail sections. To fabricate this required handrail, we glued Azek stock pieces together, then milled them for the desired profile. This type of work is quite sophisticated and is only done well by highly skilled carpenters (such as ours)!
. . . and on and on, so forth and etc.; there were a myriad of other issues, both interior and exterior in this the complex design and remodeling process, especially for issues relating to an historic home. Challenging and satisfying — for the homeowners and for Acheson Builders!
— Go back to Part One of this series —
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(Part One of a Two-Part series —go to Part Two here)
This most fascinating older home on Ann Arbor’s “Old West Side” embodied several eras of style:
A Greek Revival settlement-era original from the 1840s, combined with a mid 19th century (1860s or 1870s) practical-but-poorly-built addition, a showy 1890s Victorian era addition, and a 1970’s update on the cheap.
While possessing lots of charm in the details, and a lovely front elevation, the home was awkward and limiting to live in.
Acheson Builders’ design team (l-r): Kimble Wright, Lauren Schaefers, Jim Acheson
Renovation ideas from two different designers hadn’t met the owner’s goals, before the Acheson design team was called in. Creative problem solving, attentive listening, and abundant experience enabled the Acheson team to meet both the homeowner’s goals and local Historic District requirements, as well as Acheson Builders’ high standards of functionality, refinement, and classical esthetics. Relocating and improving the main stairs (see below) turned out to be one of the keys in re-configuring this home to meet a growing family’s needs, and this stairway became an elegant focal point for the newly created foyer area by the front door.
RENOVATIONS INCLUDED:
Graceful and sophisticated custom staircase
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
The original stairs from the 1840s Greek Revival part of the home went up to a second floor which was formerly a large sleeping loft, with no original partitions and no bathroom (they used outhouses back then).
The stairs were incredibly steep and unsafe — with tall risers, narrow treads. and barely 24” of width so that a broad shouldered man would have to go up the stairs at an angle.
The home’s living room was located right inside the front door. It had no coat closet nor enclosed vestibule to block the winter cold. It was also a major pass‐through room to get to all other points in the home. As you can imagine, it was a very awkward location for a living room. By placing the new stairway in this area, these main stairs became part of a newly created foyer space, and the back three‐quarters of the home was then freed up on both levels to reconfigure for more functionally pleasing living spaces on both floors.
Continued . . . go to part two about this amazing project.
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Dexter Fire Department at scene of house fire. Damage was mainly confined to the home’s interior.
Tragedy struck the owner of a new 3000 sq ft home in Dexter, Michigan earlier this year: a chimney fire forced him and his family to flee and damaged much of the house interior before being brought under control by local firefighters.
Fire began in chimney of fireplace.
After the smoke cleared and insurance company assessments were completed, the homeowner chose Acheson Builders to come to the rescue. Work has already begun to completely renovate the great room and other parts of the house.
Fire, smoke, and water-damaged walls and floor around fireplace chimney where fire began
Acheson Builders’ skilled carpenters and workers don’t often don hazmat jumpsuits but are doing so now in order to prepare the site for new construction. Among the first tasks has been to deal with fire- and water-damaged walls. A fire-damage specialist company had stripped out drywall material that had become waterlogged by firefighting efforts. This left wall studs exposed. Ordinarily this would provide a clean slate for installing new drywall, but thousands of drywall fasteners remained, jutting out from every stud where they had held the original drywall in place. Acheson Builders team members are having to remove all of these fasteners by hand, one by one.
After months of traumatic waiting following the fire, the beleaguered homeowner has told Acheson Builders how grateful he is to have his rebuild/remodel job in such good hands and that Acheson Builders had been singularly recommended as “the best remodeler in town.”
How it should look — and will again after Achesons Builders’ post-fire remodeling.
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Recent NewsCASE STUDY: Addition with Kitchen and Bath Remodeling and Exterior ImprovementsAcheson Builders performed an elegant affordable remodeling job on a modest ranch home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Take a look! |
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