The Kontopos family of Loveland turned to TMC Construction Services (TMC) to transform their home and it changed their lives. By Chuck Gibson at Loveland Beacon
A larger upgraded kitchen with some personal style headed the list of what V (Mr.) and Amanda (Mrs.) Kontopos were hoping for when they called on Brian Martin and TMC to make some improvements in their Loveland home. They were familiar with the quality craftsmanship of TMC having seen several home improvement projects they completed for some close friends including an outdoor living space and home office just over a year ago.
“They’re getting their kitchen done next,” said V Kontopos. “It says a lot they’re having TMC back, not just one time, but several times.”
It made the choice easy when it came time to plan and design the remodeling for their home. They knew the quality of work and the level of satisfaction TMC brings. Still, TMC takes it to another level making it personal.
“Above all trustworthy,” V Kontopos said describing what stood out about the TMC team. “Friendliness. They became a part of our family watching us get the kids off to school mornings.”
The Kontopos’ have two boys. They are at “that age” where they are constantly running from one thing to the next. Both are active in sports. TMC started the remodeling job in mid-August and completed the work in mid-November. So, they were there for about three months – like trusted members of the family. They were working late one evening when V needed to run their youngest son to a choir concert while an electrical contractor continued working.
“The TMC people, I really knew,” said V. “It was okay, I feel good leaving Adam here, I can go take my son to the choir concert and Amanda was taking our other son to soccer that night. They locked up. We felt like a family member was here watching the contractor.”
It is often said: “The devil is in the details.” and with TMC the Kontopos felt like no detail was missed. They felt like the TMC crew heard what they said and responded.
“They listened,” said Amanda Kontopos. “They were very good about things specific to our family. They listened and created solutions to our problems.”
With two boys active in sports, they needed multiple solutions to accommodate their athletic shoes and fill water bottles. There is now a charging station in the mud room – no wires on kitchen counters. They built a custom shoe closet in the expanded mud room where the old laundry room was. A filtered-water station was custom built into the custom beverage center where the old pantry closet was. An active family also means lots of laundry. Amanda told them they could not lose the washer and dryer while construction was going on.
“They listened,” she repeated. “We never lost the washer. The hooked it up and moved it multiple times. They tried to keep things as normal as possible.”
It was a big project. Amanda ran down the list beginning with the kitchen addition, increasing the size and moving the laundry room to the second floor, creating a bigger functional mud room, adding a bigger half-bath while converting the old bathroom to a pantry and the old pantry closet to a beverage center with a custom filtered-water station. The laundry room was an eye-opener for V. right from the start.
“I would say the laundry room was the first part because that was the first thing that got done,” V said. “That was eye-popping to me. They took a space that wasn’t being used for anything upstairs. TMC came up with the concept to make that the laundry room. I would never have thought of that. It was a great idea. It was one of those things, like wow, these guys are really, really good.”
He used words like trustworthy, reliable, caring, pride and craftsmanship when describing their work. The TMC team gave the Kontopos family confidence their project had the full focus and effort of the team.
“They take a lot of pride in their craftsmanship,” said V. “You can tell they are more than just job-to-job, they take a lot of ownership. There was a long wait to get started with them. It was very worth the wait. You knew they were giving you 100% attention and they want to do that to the next client.”
It was not just creating a solution for a second floor laundry room and a custom shoe closet in the expanded mud room, but the special touches like the cabinets and handmade custom counter top in the new laundry room.
“Their work is amazing,” Amanda said. “Not everybody is going to go the extra mile. Our project was kind of big in scale and we were also still living here.”
The whole first floor was pretty much torn up. Tarps covered the dining room. Furniture was packed into the front room. Where the kitchen addition and dining area is now was completely cleared out. Keeping things clean and livable is often an issue during a remodeling project of this scope. The Kontopos’ said that was not the case citing the extraordinary measures TMC went to cleaning up daily.
“They cared for the things they weren’t touching,” said V. “Anything they moved, they tarped it off.”
It was more than that.
“The one thing that really impressed me too was they cleaned up every single day,” said Amanda. “It wasn’t just putting stuff in a pile so it was out of the way. They vacuumed floor to ceiling and polished things.”
Amanda launched into a story about having family in for Halloween and concerned about getting things cleaned up for the guests. The TMC crew was still working and she needed to leave to go pick up the boys. When she came back, they were polishing all of the furniture in the dining room – a room in which they were not even doing anything. V told how they blew the leaves off the driveway every day and said his garage has never been cleaner. Three months together like a family.
“They take their time with you to do it right,” V explained. “You don’t feel like you are part of a checklist. You feel like they are going to finish your job and then move on. I like that fact. They are all hands on deck on this job. They are fully committed to you. They are not multi-tasking. We felt it. We felt we got their full commitment.”
Giving the customer their full attention is the commitment of TMC. The Kontopos home has been transformed. Listening to Amanda and V, walking through the house with them, looking at the quality craftsmanship and design work completed, you can see the transformation carries beyond the physical home and into their daily lives. Sure when they were going to knock out an exterior brick wall, there was some nervousness. It takes a lot of trust to let someone knock a hole in your house. In the end, Amanda talked about the things they did to make it unique to the Kontopos family. Kitchen lighting and tile finish on the island and the wood accent wall helped create their personal style.
“It was exciting. It took a lot of trust,” Amanda said. “They are a class act. They are like family. I miss them. I want to know what’s going on in their lives.”
They’ll be back. The Kontopos’ are already talking to TMC about their next project.