Testimonials
I am pleased to recommend Mark Owens as a general contractor. I was referred to Mark through Direct Buy after a really bad experience with a contractor who did not honor my contract, produced poor work not to code, lied to me, and cheated me out of a lot of money. Mark was a lifesaver for me. I would not have been able to move into my house if it were not for Mark. After working with a contractor for over 6 months who originally told me the project would take 2 months, was over budget, and unable to pass inspection I decided it was time to begin looking for another contractor.
After interviewing several contractors, I hired Mark to complete some of the unfinished work and bring some of the work my prior contractor had done poorly up to code. In today's construction industry it's really hard to meet good quality and honest contractors. While mark didn't produce the cheapest bid, his prices were competitive and I was willing to pay a premium to ensure my project was done right, on time, and in budget. My experience with the contractors who came in with low bids was that you would actually end up paying more in the end because they would hit you with all kinds of change orders and cost increases due to things they label as "unforeseen items". Mark, on the other hand, spent so much time on the front-end creating a detailed proposal that there were no unforeseen increases in cost or change orders that had to be initiated. Mark was able to get my permit within one and a half weeks and finish my project in under a month, before scheduled, and within budget.
Both my husband and I were extremely satisfied with the high quality of mark's workmanship, integrity, and professionalism. I had every confidence that Mark made decisions in the best interests of our project and budget, rather than other contractors I had worked with that made decisions based off what would yield them the most profit. Mark was ethical and honest and never attempted to create change orders for unnecessary work. Mark was responsive, courteous, and a pleasure to work with.
Mark maintained continuous communication with me throughout the project and proactively anticipated my needs. He also acted as a design consultant and helped me pick the best materials and layout for aesthetic appeal. He understood the importance of the details to me and always took the time to ensure he had an understanding of the look I was trying to create. He was a great help with design decisions throughout our project. But what perhaps impressed me the most was how clean and orderly Mark would keep our site. He cleaned up every day and always removed waste materials.
As mentioned above, I have had the unfortunate experience of working with contractors who were unethical, dishonest, produce poor quality work, and didn't comply with their schedule. Mark was the polar opposite and exhibits all the positive traits I was seeking to find in a contractor...friendly, honest, experienced, and proactive. I would wholeheartedly recommend Mark Owens for any construction project and look forward to working with him again. Mark created an aggressive project schedule which he actually completed early.
We very much appreciated the involvement by Mark guiding us through this somewhat traumatic experience. I'd recommend Mark for any construction project, but particularly for those who have had a bad experience with a contractor. He will do everything to fulfill our needs and definitely help change your perception of contractors in a positive way. I am positive he will exceed your expectations. He is trustworthy, efficient, experienced, and reliable. We were more than pleased with the results and have nothing buy gratitude for the services Mark completed for us.
Letter of Recommendation for Mark Owens, General Contractor
For many years I planned to do a very extensive redesign, remodel and addition to my home but continued to put it off because of the extent of the work, having to move out while the work was being done, my fear of the process after hearing so many remodel horror stories and my inability, after speaking to over a dozen contractors, to find a good general contractor, who I felt I could trust and who would be a person of their word with regards to budget and timing. From my first meeting with Mark Owens, I knew I had finally found the right person for the job and I couldn’t have been more right!
The scope of the project was considerable and consisted of gutting the entire home, an addition of 295 square feet, which included a 3 rd full bathroom as well as reconfiguring the layout of the master bedroom, master bath, kitchen, great room and hallway. This included new exterior stucco, siding, shingles and paint, new roofing, new walls, new interior drywall, texture and paint, new wood look tile and carpet flooring, new doors, new windows, new fireplace, new custom baseboards, doors and window moldings, new appliances, new electrical and plumbing, new recessed lighting, new fixtures and new custom cabinets in all 3 bathrooms, hallway, TV wall unit/shelves and master dressing room.
From the bid process throughout the entire project Mark was conscientious, knowledgeable, prompt, courteous and professional. He also had the patience of a saint, answering all my questions and educating me on the building process and design challenges allowing me to better understand the decisions, changes or modifications that needed to be made along the way. Not only was Mark at my home every day promptly at 6:30 am, to the pleasure of my neighbors and I, the jobsite was left immaculate at the end of each day. Mark’s subcontractors were also a pleasure to work with and like Mark, were masters of their trade, extremely articulate and respectful of myself and my home.
One of the more remarkable things that came out of my remodel experience with Mark Owens at the lead, outside of the amazing transformation Mark and his crew performed on my home, was that Mark was not only on budget but he completed my entire project in 3 ½ months when all other contractors I spoke to prior to hiring Mark gave me a 7-8 month timeline. Mark loves what he does and provides a stress free construction experience 2 nd to none. Words cannot express how much I appreciate Mark turning my dream home into a reality and I highly recommend hiring Mark for any job, large or small, if you’re looking for the best.
To Whom It May Concern,
Mark Owens recently completed the remodel of my home. The scope of work was extensive and included an 800 square foot family room addition and powder room, remodel of the master bath, renovation of the guest bathroom, and expansion and remodel of the kitchen, all of which included new fixtures, appliances, custom cabinetry, and granite counters. The rest of the house was also reconfigured and renovated with a new front door, replacement of all windows and sliding glass doors with wood clad energy efficient windows & French doors, new stone flooring and carpet throughout, interior painted, large patio cover built, concrete patios replaced, addition of new walkways, house re- roofed and re-stuccoed, a parking turnaround added and new asphalt applied to the existing driveway.
In addition to the quality workmanship and attention to detail, budget and schedule, Mark provided an outstanding level of customer service which was very important to me. I'm a very discriminating customer that demands value, quality and service and to my delight, Mark delivered on all of these and it's reflected in the beautiful results.
From the initial bid process, throughout construction to post construction support, Mark was prompt, courteous, knowledgible, and professional but personable. He patiently responded to numerous questions/comments, resolved issues that arose, offered good solutions, suggested design options and dispensed valuable guidance along the way. He was on site each morning at 6:45 am with a smile to address any concerns I had, and his strong work ethic meant each task had to be "done right" as he likes to say. The construction pace was quick, faster than I anticipated and the jobsite was left clean and neat at the end of each day.
It was a pleasure working with Mark and I highly recommend him for any job that deserves the best. I look forward to working with him again in the future.
Mark,
I am writing this letter to tell you how impressed my husband and I were over the remodeling of our Condo this past October.
After joining Direct Buy we were given a list of Contractors that we could contact. We did receive a few bids from other Contractors but were very impressed with your bid. You listened to what we wanted and presented us with a Proposal that was exactly what we wanted. You worked with our budget and gave us a time line of four weeks to finish the job. I told my husband that I didn't think you could possibly finish in four weeks. I was wrong! In four weeks my Condo was done, and done right.
You had a wonderful crew working for you. Your tile person went over and above our expectations. Your granite people did a wonderful job. Our kitchen cabinets are beautiful.
You never gave me any surprises. If something needed to be done extra, you always called and gave me a quote and brought over a change order for me to sign. Nothing was hidden from me. You were so helpful when I was ordering my tile from Direct Buy. You actually went over my order with the customer service people and made my job so much easier. You always answered all my calls, and I did have a lot of calls and questions.
You and your crew are an asset to Direct Buy. We would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone at Direct Buy. You were very professional from the beginning to the finish of our remodel.
Dear Fred,
I wanted to thank you for recommending Mark Owens for our General Contractor. We are thrilled with the final results of the major redesign and remodel of our home. Mark is incredibly creative and came up with unique ideas which resulted in a finished product that far exceeded our expectations. He is a skilled craftsman who is passionate about his work and holds his subcontractors to the same high standards as his own workforce. The quality of his work was second to none. Mark has outstanding client service and was always quick to follow-up with any questions or requests that we had. He provided us with absolutely first rate service from the design stages through production.
As a son of a General Contractor on the East Coast, I understand the importance of a professional you can count on – Mark is one of them! We have and will continue to recommend Mark to anyone who is in need of a first rate professional contractor.
We can't wait to hire Mark for our next project.
Thank you again Fred.
This is a letter for the work that Mr. Mark Owens did on our house in Escondido.
We needed a remodel done on our downstairs powder room. Sounds small to most people but my wife and I were very inexperienced in this area. Direct Buy recommended Mr. Owens as a reliable contractor and consultant.
After we contacted him, he came to our house to evaluate and give an estimate. He gave us, what turned out to be, the perfect powder room. His past experience assisted us in making product selections from toilet, tile, paint, and electrical work. Mr. Owens made this a fast and as pleasant as can be, experience for us. His written time line stayed on track, the quality of the work was impeccable (no return trips to fix or correct something). We knew where we were at all of the time. We will use his services again.
He made us feel as though we were the most important people in his lives during this project.