Raven Builders

We can’t say enough good things about Darren and the work he has done (and will continue to do) on our house. In March we bought a beautiful little Craftsman exactly between Ladd’s and Colonial Heights. The house needed a little bit of love and we found Darren through our realtor Chylese Austin (who is also amazing). The catch? We were still living in NYC. Every decision had to be made via email and phone. We selected paint colors, built a bathroom, refinished floors, added light fixtures, repaired built ins, fixed windows, repaired ceilings, EVERYTHING via phone. We put our total trust in Darren and his guys. His enthusiasm, honesty and transparency when it came to cost was so reassuring that we knew he was creating a beautiful home for us. 6 months later we showed up, haven’t seeing the house in transformation at all and I walked in to our beautiful home and cried. It was perfect. Amazing, if you consider that every decision the three of us made was sight unseen for two of us, the place was perfect. Every detail down to the decorative knobs he installed on the built ins. Everything was so well done, the painting the breakfast bar he built, the cabinets in the bathroom he built… not to mention the entirely new bathroom. We’ve now asked him to renovate our basement and when that’s done the exterior of the house. As far as I’m concerned Raven Builders will be our go-​to company anytime we need a renovation spearheaded buy an idea man. His ability to create beautiful pieces that compliment the already existing space is paramount. I’m actually a little apprehensive to post about him on Unilocal because I don’t want his schedule filling up but he deserves to have a packed schedule for years to come, he’s one of the best people I have ever worked with in any situation. You’d be lucky to have someone care and be as invested in the potential in your home as you are.
As an aside, I should mention that while our home was being renovated by Darren, construction had begun next door on a giant «home». The contractor took advantage of the fact that our house was unoccupied and on more than one occasion Darren stepped in and told the guy to have a little respect for the owners of the home and that just because we weren’t currently living there didn’t give the contractor next door the right to treat our property badly. This struck me as so important. How often does someone you hire to complete a task go above and beyond like that? He also had someone come and clean up the yard, mow and trim the bushes for when we arrived to the exterior wouldn’t look like it had been neglected. He didn’t have to to any of those things and we would still have loved working with him. But he DID do those things and that’s a special kind of person you don’t see frequently.
Raven Builders rules!