Smiley Renovations, LLC

After completing everything and reflecting - would I use Smiley again (or would I recommend them)? Short answer: NO Long answer: Every project has its ups and downs and ours was no different. We had a major issue relatively early on and I thought that the way Smiley addressed it was reasonable. They verbally admitted to the issue and committed to rectifying it. And to some degree they did give some concessions. But my major mistake was not getting verbal commitments in writing. And there may not have been malice or dishonesty in the agreement, these projects are so long that each person's memory of a conversation will be different. But this wasn't the only reason for the poor review. They have major turnover, of staff and in the office and this lead to major project and bookkeeping issues. We had 5 different project managers and we would have to correct and correct things because of the turnover... Something similar seems to be going on with bookkeeping. And this is major. Bills appear out of the blue. One of them appear over 6 months after completion of the project after seemingly everything had already but squared away. And the paper trail on expenses is non existent. The designer associated with the company I will say was great, organized and always responsive. And she was there the whole time! In the end we got there. And I think the construction work is actually to a good standard. But with all the headaches and issues within the company, the poor documentation and communication, and poor bookkeeping, I would have to recommend against using this company.

Smiley Renovations LLC has non existent communication, poor workmanship, and they pay no attention to detail. I Hired Smiley 2 years ago to complete a first floor renovation which they said would take 3 months. Of course with supply chain issues I assumed it would take longer and was patient with them. They eventually stopped all communication with me and abandoned the contract.

Over the last ten years we have used Smiley for three different projects in two separate houses. They completely remodeled a kitchen in our old house, and created an open layout (knocked down a wall), remodeled a kitchen, and remodeled two different bathrooms in our new house. In all cases we have been extremely pleased with Smiley. They were reasonably priced, we really liked all of the workers (contractors/sub-contractors/project manager) that they use, and any concerns we ever had were addressed immediately. Further, in all cases they kept to the anticipated timeline. Two thumbs up :)

We contracted the services of Smiley Renovations LLC in November 2016 to add on to our house in Cabin John MD and to renovate the entrance. Daren Smith coordinated the planning in a thoughtful and careful way, making us feel comfortable to discuss our desires and concerns and benefit from his experience and expertise. He walked through the existing house with us, helped us envision the possibilities, and brought everything smoothly down to the “nuts and bolts.” His architect, Tania Bruno, joined in the process very productively. We were never hurried along or pressed to do more than we wanted, and the time and effort were worth it. We ended up with an addition even nicer than we had imagined, not only in its design but in the quality of the workmanship. The Smiley lead carpenter, Matt, was on the job every day and could troubleshoot along the way. He was pleasant and polite. No matter how many questions or worries we had, he was ready to sweat the small stuff. His knowledge of all phases of the project and his working relationship with the subcontractors were top notch. The teams worked steadily, but took all the time needed to do a top quality job. And the job was completed on time and within budget. We recommend without reservation the services of Daren Smith and his firm, Smiley Renovations LLC.

We've used Smiley for three different projects. The first and largest project was in 2010 when we added a two story addition that doubled the square footage of the aboveground portions of the house. A few years later we had them renovate an bathroom from the "legacy" part of the house, and we are right now (Spring 2017) in the midst of doing a 3 room ground floor in-law suite to move my parents in with us so they can "age in place." Smiley is absolutely wonderful to work with. They were not the cheapest contractor we talked to, but came highly recommended and rightfully so. We were so happy with the results and with the experience all around and felt we got the best value for our investment because we LOVE our house now. The fact that they are a "design/build" company I think really makes a difference because you don't have an outside architect who designs something you fall in love with but that the contractor either can't build or that will be out of scope financially. The whole process with Smiley was really great frankly and we think the architects they work with do an outstanding job, and then Smiley made our dream a reality. The employees are so considerate and respectful, and clean up everything thoroughly at the end of each day. The final walk through went very smoothly, and any little things we discovered afterwards, they came and resolved quickly. Daren Smith is an incredibly honest, professional, friendly, trustworthy guy who we ADORE. You really need to have a contractor who you can trust and we absolutely feel that way with Daren. One part of the equation is finding a great contractor but the other part is BEING a great client. So I will say that we had a great experience in part because we worked hard to be ideal clients. We were clear and specific about what we wanted and didn't want, but we were NOT unreasonably demanding clients! If we had questions or concerns, we were direct and polite about asking. Sometimes we would simply ask them what they recommended and go with that because we recognized that in some areas we didn't have their expertise and we wanted to take advantage of that. We communicated regularly and clearly and precisely. We did OUR assigned homework (all the decisions you have to make -- paint colors! appliances! tile! etc) and did it in a timely fashion because I knew that if we dragged our heels on stuff, that it would put them behind and then it screws up their schedule and then that would only hurt us (they were good about letting us know things like "we need you to pick out paint colors by next Wednesday and we need to get the fridge delivered by the end of next week", etc). We forged a trusting and very respectful partnership with Smiley because they deserve trust and respect, but also I know from my own experience working with clients (as a software account manager) that I do my best work for great clients!

Smiley Renovations completed a total kitchen renovation in our home. Smiley owner, Daren Smith, oversaw this project and was one of the most pleasant and professional people we have ever encountered in this business. He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful with each phase of the renovation--responsive to our inquiries, honest about potential costs of work order changes, and creative in his ideas about how to solve the problems that inevitably appear in remodeling a 1950 vintage home. The design consultant included in our contract was very attentive to how we wanted to use our space and our desired esthetics; she was an excellent creative guide and helped us navigate the most critical design decisions. Throughout the project, the Smiley workmanship was excellent: the carpenter who did all of the cabinet installation was a real craftsman; the tiling and electrical sub-contractors performed top-notch work. Along the way, Daren and his and crew made helpful suggestions and got back to us quickly whenever we wanted more information about a particular process or product. Although our project was small compared to many of Smiley’s renovations, we never felt like a second tier customer. The only major problem we ran into was in the replacement of our old (1952 vintage, circulating hot water) radiator with a modern flat panel radiator and a new boiler for the house hot water heating system. The new radiator didn’t work and the remedy took considerable time and effort to troubleshoot. The final solution to this dilemma was expensive but the Smiley heating sub-contractor completed the work at no additional charge to us, most likely incurring substantial costs that they absorbed. Smiley and the subcontractor stood by their commitment to get the radiator working and we appreciate that level of integrity. We highly recommend Smiley for home renovation projects of any size; trusted friends recommended them to us and now we are happy to do the same to others.

After interviewing many contractors for our home addition we settled on Smiley Renovations. The project consisted of relocating our kitchen into an addition on the rear of the house and remodeling of the entire first floor. We had heard stories of how challenging projects like this can be especially when the owner chooses to live in the house during the project. We prepared ourselves for a bumpy ride. To our delight "Smiley" made the process extremely smooth. We took advantage of doing both the design and building through Smiley. We worked along with their Architect to come up with the design. They provided us with a google spreadsheet that they had us fill out so that most of the product choices we needed to make were made well before construction even began. This approach kept us all on the same page. And it eliminated the possibility of having to make snap decisions to keep up with construction. When the ground was broken everything was lined up so that there were as few delays as possible. Construction began in late Sept of 2015 and was mostly wrapped by the middle of December 2015. We stayed in our house for about half of the project and then decided to take advantage of having family close by and escaped for the last half. Smiley was on budget and on time. The crew was on site every day. They worked hard and fast. But speed didn't diminish quality craftmanship at all. We had an excellent project manager (Josh) that was our direct contact for any concerns throughout the length of the project. At the end of the day the job site was always in order and it seemed to me like one of the cleanest construction sites I've seen. Even when we weren't at the house we checked in every day. The crew became to feel like family members. It was even kind of hard to say good-bye to them as the last ladder and a handful of tools were picked up. I say "kind of" because it was also nice to be back home and done. We are thrilled with the results. We even plan on going back for a phase II once we find it financially possible. If you plan on entering a project like this we highly recommend you listen to what Smiley can do for you. We are super lucky we made the choice to go with them.

Smiley Renovations recently completed a 2-story addition to our home in Bethesda. We were thoroughly impressed with the team's attention to detail and overall craftsmanship. Their/the design to build concept worked well for us. While never skimping on quality, they worked very quickly and met all deadlines. And, everyone who was on site was very courteous. It was a great experience start to finish.

Smiley Renovations completed a total kitchen renovation in our home. Smiley owner, Daren Smith, oversaw this project and was one of the most pleasant and professional people we have ever encountered in this business. He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful with each phase of the renovation--responsive to our inquiries, honest about potential costs of work order changes, and creative in his ideas about how to solve the problems that inevitably appear in remodeling a 1950 vintage home. The design consultant included in our contract was very attentive to how we wanted to use our space and our desired esthetics; she was an excellent creative guide and helped us navigate the most critical design decisions. Throughout the project, the Smiley workmanship was excellent: the carpenter who did all of the cabinet installation was a real craftsman and the tiling and electrical sub-contractors performed top-notch work. Along the way, Daren and his and crew made helpful suggestions and got back to us quickly whenever we wanted more information about a particular process or product. Although our project was small compared to many of Smiley’s renovations, we never felt like a second tier customer. The only major problem we ran into was in the replacement of our old (1952 vintage, circulating hot water) radiator with a modern flat panel radiator and a new boiler for the house hot water heating system. The new radiator didn’t work and the remedy took considerable time and effort to trouble shoot. The final solution to this dilemma was expensive but the Smiley heating sub-contractor completed the work at no additional charge to us, most likely incurring substantial costs that they absorbed. Smiley and the subcontractor stood by their commitment to get the radiator working and we appreciate that level of integrity. We highly recommend Smiley for home renovation projects of any size; trusted friends recommended them to us and now we are happy to do the same to others.

Smiley Renovations helped us renovate most of the inside of our house when we first bought it - kitchen, bathrooms, painting, lighting, radiators etc. Daren is very knowledgeable and is great b/c he will suggest ideas based on his building and architectural expertise and he can explain structural limitations and come up with solutions. His team is responsible and reliable. The quality of the work is great. We plan to use them again.

We recently used Smiley Renovations for a whole-house renovation, which included turning our traditional house into a modernized open concept, user-friendly home. We had long-admired the work of Smiley Renovations, having been impressed with the quality of their work on other projects we had seen (including a friend's home, as well as beautiful bathrooms at our local health club.) Daren at Smiley Renovations has an extremely good eye for design and is also very creative with suggesting 'out of the box' ideas and solutions. We had not even thought of flipping the location of our kitchen, but Daren showed us how we could utilize the old sun-room footprint to give us a brand new, large and open plan kitchen with a gabled ceiling - it's stunning! The job was started and finished exactly when Smiley said it would be and though we did have some hiccups along the way - mainly because we decided to add a larger deck area outback than initially requested, which delayed permits - Smiley always addressed issues or concerns very promptly. We bought this house, knowing that it had good bones and good karma, and now Smiley Renovations has turned it into the most functional, beautiful home we could have imagined. If you are local and wish to see the quality of work, we are happy for you to contact Smiley Renovations and arrange for a viewing at a mutually convenient time. We love supporting local businesses who do GREAT work! We would definitely use Smiley Renovations again.

Smiley renovated a kitchen for us and added a powder room and screened in porch. They were always very responsive and helpful, and we love the finished product. We appreciated their suggestions and the time they took explaining the different options and completely trusted their work. We highly recommend them.