North Star added a new, expanded garage and, above that, an office plus a master bedroom and bath. On the first floor, they built a big family room. The project increased the size of the house quite a bit. We’d had a garage, but it sloped down 45 degrees and was quite a problem when there was ice and snow.

We first heard of North Star through neighbors, who had hired them to do a kitchen or basement. We talked to a number of contractors, but almost from the beginning North Star was the way we wanted to go. It was just a good fit. This was such a big undertaking for us, and we’d heard good things from other people about North Star. Plus, we’d had our kitchen re-done by another firm, and the finishing details had not been taken care of in a timely manner; the job turned into a nightmare and I didn’t really want to go through that again. That was my number one concern.

My father-in-law, an architect, took a look at the design North Star had drawn, made one change in the master bedroom but liked what he saw. The design was good. You can walk from the original house, built in 1913, into the North Star addition and not feel a difference: they matched our old woodwork as closely as possible. The new addition just flowed with house, as we had wanted. North Star had a good grip on what we wanted.

The North Star workers were here when they were supposed to be here and, everything went unusually smoothly for a project as big as this was. I can’t say enough about the men who actually did the work. I’ve had other workmen in the house, before this, who when something would go wrong it would be your fault and the hammers were flying! North Star men were respectful; they did their work excellently; their craftsmanship was superb. I couldn’t say enough about them, and my younger girl especially missed them when they left. We never heard a single cuss word, and if we ran into unexpected problems, like with the foundation, they never overreacted to what was happening. The earth wasn’t ending; every problem was solvable. This was a very positive experience for us working with them.

Some years after the project was completed, we are still very happy with the outcome and the way the project met our needs. We’re happy that we enlarged the old house rather than moved out.