Bashert Contractors

Very professional contractors who stand behind the quality of their work. I highly recommend Scott Smith /​Bashert Contractors.
The scope of my project was a complete renovation of my master bathroom and a second half bath. The job included installation of a rain & steam shower with a separate electrical line for the steam unit.
I asked to see an example of their work prior to preparing a quote. Scott arranged for me to see a similar project in the Lakeview neighborhood (Chicago). Accompanied by my friend who works in the industry, we were very impressed by their work as was the owner who welcomed us in his home. Very gracious.
The quote was thorough and quite reasonably priced. So, I signed the contract and we began.
The onsite contractor was Rene Herrera supported by Chuck and Lauren. They were so respectful of my home, committed to the quality of their work, and very communicative of the process and steps involved in the project. I had a strong vision which helped, but Rene is very meticulous and was a pleasure to collaborate with on design. He is a true expert and helped enhance my vision. The tile work is flawless — please see pictures attached. I purchased most of the materials, but there was no up charge on any purchases they made on my behalf. Please keep that fact in mind when you receive quotes from other contractors. It may explain fluctuations between quotes.
In addition, they are quite punctual. Arriving when stated or phoning me if delayed with a revised time. How respectful and so very much appreciated.
In summary, Bashert Contractors are competitively priced contractors who are committed to both the quality of the product and the customer’s satisfaction. Include them in your bid process — you won’t be disappointed.

My experience with Bashert Contractors was, overall, terrible. I had contacted Bashert based on a recommendation from the home inspector I used for my home purchase, as there were several projects my wife and I wanted to have done soon after moving in. The experience with Bashert started off well enough, we walked through the space and explained what we wanted done, and they said ‘no problem’ for all of it.
But then the actual work started, and it all went downhill from there.
The first noticeable issue was their electrician. For one, he had no experience terminating category cables, and was not able to follow the simple instructions even when watching a YouTube video of how to complete it. Beyond that, even with high-​voltage, he worked on what seemed to be a process of elimination, connecting random wires and tripping circuits until he found the right combination that worked.
The second issue was with one of the simplest tasks I had asked Bashert to complete — replacement of two support slats for a futon, as the slats had become damaged over many years of use and several disassembles and reassembles. The slats involved only providing a piece of wood of the same dimensions, and boring four holes at each end for the screws and anchors. Scott said ‘no problem’, and the proceeded to lead me on over the next two months, providing three attempts at replacement slats that looked nothing like what I had given him, and in the process also ruining one of my original slats. Finally Scott sent an email stating «sorry to mislead you, but we’re not furniture builders».
The final, and most important problem that we ran into was communication, both between Scott and his crews, and between Scott and myself. Though Scott was the manager/​owner, was the person on the walk through when I described everything we wanted done, and was the only person I had a contact number for, he was very rarely on site, and left out significant details when informing his work crews of what needed to be done (e.g. we wanted an outdoor light installed with a switch to control it — the installer was only told about the light and just hardwired it in without a switch so it was always on). This created a number of delays and reworks.
The even more significant problem was communication between Scott and myself. As soon as Scott had received our checks for the majority of the project costs, but while several significant items were still incomplete, he started ignoring my calls and emails. I had to resort to calling and leaving a voicemail every 45 minutes through most of a day for him to finally cave and call me back, and from then on he completely ignored my calls, and only sent me one-​sentence cryptic emails every few days that contained no details of when we should expect the remaining tasks to be taken care of.
In the end, there are still outstanding items that were never taken care of, and my wife and I have just cut our losses and found others to complete the work satisfactorily. I would never recommend this company for any work, no matter how limited, and would definitely suggest to anyone that does have to use them, to not give them more than 25% of the costs until after the work is fully completed.