I looked at a least fifty homes to buy in Woodstock and Rhinebeck, all to no avail. Last June I purchased a lot in Rhinebeck Village, and my exceptional Victorian influenced modular was finished this month.

 

I’m thrilled with my new home, and look forward to wonderful summers in the Hudson Valley.

 

Deb has been a joy to work with. She is very communicative, and follows though. I highly recommend her.

 

Having lived in our new home for about six months, we couldn't be happier with the finished product. When any issues have arisen, your availability and attentiveness – both during and after construction – have repeatedly confirmed that you are a consummate professional. Accordingly, we have no reservations about referring you for any job, no matter what the size.

 

Thank you for your time and hard work. We look forward to working with you again in the future.

 

Through each phase of the project, you, De, Lynne and all of your subcontractors showed a true desire to do the job right and according to plan. We especially appreciate your diligence in assuring that this project stayed on schedule. We are very happy with the results and wish to thank everyone involved for their contribution.

 

We would most certainly recommend you and Westchester Modular Homes to anyone looking to build a high quality custom home. We are confident that we received the best value for our investment.

 

Building a house in no easy task. However, every step of the way, Big Sky helped us through the process. We were thrilled to see our floor plan “come to life” in 3D at your office. Working with Tom Stufano from Westchester to tweak our plans was quick and easy. Corine Testaverde at the Big Sky office was extremely helpful with paperwork, cabinet and fixture choices, contacting utility companies and working with our town to get permits, etc. Once the work began on site, things moved very quickly. Our lot was a bit tricky because of water issuers, but Robert and crew helped us make the necessary adjustments to ensure that we would not only have a deep basement, but a dry one as well. The bid day, “set day”, was amazing. Everything ran like clockwork. We went from a foundation at 7 am to walking through our house at 2pm. Then, for the next three months, the house was steadily transformed into our dream home. We cannot say enough about how great it was working with Mike Curran on a daily basis. His is knowledgeable, hard working and especially kind. He was there everyday, often 6 days a week, keeping things running smoothly. His workmanship is superior and we are thrilled with everything he did.

 

We cannot be finished without thanking you, Robert. From the first day we met, to you stopping by a month after the house was complete to check in…you have been terrific. It was a long process (mainly due to our issues with the land purchase), but you were patient, positive and willing to do what it took to get our house finished. We appreciated your willingness to give advice on the many choices and decisions that had to be made along the way and recognize they you ultimately let us make the house the way we wanted it. You were always approachable, respectful and truly a pleasure to work with.

 

Thank you so much for everything! If you’d like, we would be more than happy to serve as a reference for you.

 

As you know we engaged in conversations with multiple builders representing multiple modular companies before we met with Big Sky and Westchester. When we met with these other contractors it wasn’t clear exactly what we were buying. There were times prior to our discussions, where I didn’t believe we would be able to:

 

• Build a house at all
• Build a quality house
• Build the house Therese and I truly wanted

All of these concerns quickly vanished with Big Sky. During the design phase you were open to working with the plans we brought. Being novices to the process, you made us comfortable with the challenges associated with the plans, as well as offering solutions that preserved our architect’s intent, but made the element work within the modular process. Most significantly was the reverse gable on the front of the house. Without this gable we would have had a structure that was materially different in the front elevation from our original plans. Perhaps most important to us was that you didn’t attempt to change what we brought to you. Many of the other companies we talked with wanted to change window sizes, move or remove windows etc. One memorable proposal showed the windows in the elevations, but could only manage to provide us a price for half of them. When I asked if that meant the rest were included the quote changed pretty quickly.

 

As we moved into the construction phase, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the prices you quoted was the price we paid. I got a strong sense from the other contractors we met with that this would not have been the case. In addition, we have several friends who’ve built via the traditional stick construction method where the price they paid was very different from the price they were quoted.

 

Another aspect that I must complement you on was your incredible patience. As you know the Potter’s had several chef’s in the kitchen on this project. Each of us at times had our own concerns. It amazes me how available you were throughout the process. I know that I had difficulty getting some prospective contractors to call us back with quotes, yet you were available for even little questions. In addition, your input and ideas on the parts of the project I took on were very welcomed.

 

From time to time over the course of this project we’ve asked ourselves what we feel are some of our best and worst decisions. Invariably we’re unanimous in the belief the hiring Big Sky was the single best decision we’ve made in the project. Moreover, I believe that some of the missteps we’ve made were because we didn’t have you do more.

 

As for those who are considering your company to build their project I would offer them the following advice:

 

• Yes, price matters, but choose a contractor you believe you can trust. You’ll be dealing with them for several months. Much like any relationship if you don’t have trust, it probably won’t be a rewarding experience. In this respect I would rank Robert and Big Sky well above everyone we met with about the project.
• Understand what you’re buying. Way too often we didn’t even know who the company was that was building our house when we met with other contractors. Your contractor can be great, but if he’s starting with an inferior product how good can it be?
• Make an apples to apples comparison. Anderson 400 series windows were important to us. Most of the companies we talked with didn’t offer Anderson as a standard. These companies made it difficult to understand what the upgrade cost. In addition, once we understood the cost we found that price difference became negligible.

 

From our first telephone conversation, we were impressed with your knowledge, communication skills, and energy. You listened to what we asked for. You explained what was involved. You kept us abreast of the progress that was being made. Over time, we developed a mutual trust that made working with you a pleasure.

 

A successful project is not one that has no problems. It is one where the problems are managed successfully. We had to deal with one of the wettest summers in decades and there was a lot of water on the property, but it was excavated, the foundations poured, and the house set on the agreed-to date.

 

We had asked for a number of “extras” that were not part of the basic modular home. This included a geothermal heating system, septic system, backup generator, different flooring, lighting, decorative trim, porch, and custom garage to name several. When your crew couldn’t work outdoors, they did work indoors. You coordinated the work of the electrician, plumber, and carpenters with the schedule of the building inspector so we were able to make continual progress.

 

Any time we called or e-mailed you we got a prompt reply and any necessary action was taken right away. The end result is a home that looks the way we envisioned it. Thank you, Debra.