Previous Indian Hills Subdivision Contractor Survey Results
Last month we requested that you, the residents of Indian Hills tell us who painted, roofed, remodeled, etc., your home and how satisfied you were with the results. The response was exceptional, and in all cases, the following attributes were mentioned: Quality work, integrity, Well-mannered workers, and Respectable price.

Now, for the results: Preferred Contracting, Inc received more accolades than all of the organizations combined. This organization does home remodeling, glass/screen room additions, bathrooms, kitchens, basements, custom designed decks, painting, and unique yard projects.

I don’t know if I can say enough great things about Gary Gelinas.  The quality of the work from design to construction to clean up was superior.  He started the job when he said he would, and kept to his construction plan. You can set your watch based upon his arrival at the job every day. He stays on the job until the job is complete to both your and his satisfaction. He does one project at a time. When changes were required, Gary went above and beyond to ensure that we were dealt with honestly and fairly.

Gary designed and installed a tongue-and-groove bead board ceiling for us that he had specially milled for the job. The grade “A” wood was milled after he had hand selected each and every piece at the lumber yard. I do not know of any contractor today that takes as much pride in his work as Gary does. The ceiling is beautiful. He pays unbelievable attention to his work- if he sees a potential problem that was unknown or hidden from us to begin with, he brings it to our attention along with a number of solutions. Gary wants only to do quality work that will exceed your expectations.

He removed our existing screen room and constructed a beautiful 60’ x 24’ sunroom and screen porch. He also designed and installed a multi-level deck with a hot tub inlaid inside of it. This incredible addition has enhanced our property and created a great living space for our family. We continue to have Gary “work in” special projects for us: cedar closets in the bonus room, interior painting, custom trim work in the dining room and foyer, and special detailing as we redecorate the house.
Above all, we have gained a very dear friend in Gary.

“The things that I have loved about working with Gary Gelinas over the years:
1) His focus on my job- He was not distracted by trying to complete other jobs at the same time.
2) His communication skills – He always kept me informed about what he was doing, when he would be here, and when he wouldn’t.
3) He also kept me informed about and kept great records of, costs and additions to the original agreement
4) I trusted him to tell me what he thought even if it was not necessarily in his best interest. For example, he told me I didn’t need a three-season room even though that project would have generated more work and money for him.
5) Finally, I have always appreciated his high standards and superb quality of workmanship I never felt like I had to micro-manage any of our projects to get exactly what I wanted. I have always had extremely high expectations, and Gary has always met and exceeded them all.

We love showing our home off to others and watching their faces each time we show them the before and after pictures of Gary’s work. We interviewed many other remodeling companies but chose Gary and Preferred Contracting because they were able to make the changes to our home that we needed. And they did…92 changes in fact to our original contract!

We moved our entire kitchen from one part of the house to another, raised our ceiling to 18 feet high, removed 4 large interior walls and rebuilt our interior stairway. Since our home is overlooking a golf course, we installed several large custom designed picture windows along the back wall of the house to create a beautiful panoramic view of the golf course.

The scope of work that Preferred Contracting completed was from installing new kitchen cabinet, custom designed tile backsplashes, incredible lighting design work, beautiful tile floors, installing new appliances, installing tons of sheetrock, Corian countertops, new windows, new plumbing and electrical, re-supporting and levelling our entire floor system, remodeled our garage and complete interior painting. They also provided “special touches” too numerous to mention.

We also decided that we could add a small bathroom next to the new kitchen, so we did. Everything they completed is absolutely gorgeous!

My mother became ill during the renovation and I had to go out of town for over two weeks. Gary had full access to our home and even fed our dogs. He was on time each and every day for over 7 months. Gary became, and still is, part of our family.

Thank you, Gary!

After living in our house for several years, we began to think of improvements to make our home even better. Just where do you find a contractor and how do you know he will be good? We were fortunate to come across one of Gary’s brochures in 1986 at a building supply store. Our first impression was the quality of the brochure. Not just a flier listing items, but something that reflected his work. That first impression turned out to be a true picture of the quality, creativity, and concern for detail that is Gary Gelinas.

We have done several projects with Gary over the years and each time we have been impressed with his amazing ability. Because Gary is a “hands-on” person, doing most of the construction himself, his work reflects the pride of the individual. He is a true professional and one that we would highly recommend to anyone looking for unsurpassed quality at a very fair price.

“Anyone can build, but artisans create through their manual skill, which is an important extension of our landscape design process. Preferred Contracting’s high standard has always fulfilled our expectations as well as our clients.”

“Why we prefer Preferred – CREATIVITY: They conceptually enhanced our basic plan with creative and imaginative ideas. INTEGRITY: All their work reflects highest standards of excellence. They will not sacrifice quality by cutting corners. FLEXIBILITY: They’re very willing to change or add to plans as the project develops. PROFESSIONALISM: All plans and costs carefully itemized prior to construction. Any agreed on change in original plans also itemized. No surprises at the end. DEPENDABILITY: They start projects on time and finish on time. They do not begin a new project before the job is completed. HONESTY: They’re up front about what is doable and what is not and will not accept a job unless quality results can be assured. FOLLOW THROUGH: They promptly return phone calls and act quickly to make any necessary additions or corrections after project is complete. VALUE: You get what you pay for – a first class job! (P.S. in addition to loving what they’ve done to our house, they’re just awfully Nice Folks to have working in your home.)

“We have dealt with a number of contractors over the years and have been dissatisfied with all of them until we hired Preferred Contracting, Inc.! They have worked on several jobs for us and have been fair, honest, and very professional both in quality of work and their interactions with us. Their attitude and interest in doing the job right is quite refreshing: they don’t take shortcuts. We trust them to the extent that we no longer ask other contractors for estimates. We know Preferred Contracting will be fair in their price and do the best work possible. We recommend them to everyone!

” Preferred Contracting is the BEST! There isn’t even a close second. The quality and creativity of Gary’s work is simply unmatched. He shows up on time, communicates any changes and completes and surpasses everything he says he will do. Gary has completed several large projects as well as lots of interior and exterior repair work for us over the years. We are always confident the job will be done right! This is the company you want for your project, They are the BEST!”

After many disastrous experiences with home repairs, remodeling and general “upkeeps” of our home, we discovered Gary Gelinas!  Since our discovery in 1985, no one but Gary has stepped across our threshold to do any work.  There have been several times when we would even go on vacation while Gary would be working on the house—we trust him that much.

He finished off our 1,840-square foot basement, adding lots of big windows and doors, tile floors, custom cabinets, and bookcases with marble walls, an “in-wall and ceiling” surround sound system and custom built TV console.  He completely gutted and remodeled our existing master bathroom.  This consisted of a new Jacuzzi tub with Corian top and backsplash, a new glass shower unit with 6 shower heads and a steam unit.  The vanity cabinets, mirrors, and Corian top were all custom designed and installed beautifully.  The tile floors were 16” tile pieces with small diamond shaped insets, all installed in an angled pattern.  They then installed new crown molding, a stain glass window and then completely painted the walls, trim, and ceiling making our new bathroom simply unbelievable.  Gary removed our old fireplace and installed 2 beautiful 6’ x 6’ picture windows and a 6’ glass French door unit leading out onto a deck he also built.  Gary constructed a 20’ x 16’ cedar screen room with 2 back decks, installed new cedar siding and painted the whole house.  He also remodeled our garage and entry foyer, painted the entire inside of the house, installed a new roof and constructed and designed 3 large walk-in closets throughout the house (the kitchen is next).

Needless to say, Gary has turned our entire house into a delightful respite for family fun.  Gary’s creativity, honesty, responsibility, accountability, and talents have made him unbelievably easy to work with and has alleviated the usual anxieties and “upsets” of home remodeling.  He’s absolutely trustworthy, and all the work he has done for us has caused our entire family to use his services. We constantly refer him to everyone we know!

We had a sunroom that was built before we purchased our house.  The owner at the time chose the lowest bid and received a poorly constructed product that eventually started pulling away from the house.  The overall condition of the sunroom got so bad that we did not feel safe spending any time on it.  We met Gary Gelinas through my wife’s parents.  They had had extensive amounts of work completed on their home by Preferred Contracting beginning in 1985 and extending to the present time.

Gary came in with some great creative ideas for a replacement solution for our problem.  They removed the old sunroom and departed from the traditional square deck resembling a helicopter landing pad by creating a uniquely styled deck.  They even worked to preserve a large sweet gum tree that now provides ample shade for the deck, even in the middle of the day.  The new sunroom extends the living space of the great room and provides a quiet, relaxing place to read or just sit and watch the wildlife in the backyard.  Gary’s goal with the sunroom design was to create a “tree house” where you could be inside but still feel like you were in the middle of the yard and trees.  The new room has two beautiful 5’ x 6’ solid glass picture windows, one 9’ x 5’ triple casement window, one 6’ x 5’ double casement window, and a large glass door unit.  The vaulted cathedral ceiling they constructed adds a feeling of spaciousness, and the custom-made windows in the gables allow more light into the room.  We also added a fan, recessed can lighting and a surround sound system installed in the ceiling.  Gary’s second goal for this room was to construct it in a manner that a visitor could not tell where the “old” house began.  Gary spent a great deal of time searching for the siding and roof shingles that would match our 14-year-old house.  Based on the comments from our friends and neighbors, I think he accomplished that goal as well.

The project progressed very quickly and smoothly.  I believe this was a result of Gary’s meticulous attention to detail.  They were here every day at the same time and were never late!  If they weren’t here at sunrise, we typically knew why, and when they would return.  They kept a clean construction site, cleaning up at the end of every day before they left.  Throughout the project, Gary kept us up-to-date on the progress and made suggestions for changes and/or enhancements.  He always allowed us time to make our own decisions without any undue pressure.  We appreciated this very much.  He also provided a periodic detailed accounting of the project costs to update us and to show us how the updates compared to the overall budget.  Finally, Gary and his crew were enjoyable to have around our house.  They were always polite, honest, and friendly.  Gary would often take a few minutes to chat with our son and daughter, asking their opinions about how the new room and deck looked.

We could not be more pleased with the end result from all the work completed by Preferred Contracting.  We now have a sunroom and deck that we can enjoy.  We have entertained often since the completion of the project, and the comments from our guests have been extremely complimentary.  Many have asked who did the work for us and we have enthusiastically recommended Gary Gelinas and Preferred Contracting.

If you are looking for someone that is honest, dependable, courteous and extremely capable of doing a great job, and (believe it or not) WILL return your phone calls, Gary is all of these things rolled into one.  Since 1984, Gary has remodeled 3 homes for us.  In the house we are currently in, he has literally remodeled and added to every part of it, including closets and hallways.  The scope of his work has been adding a 1,920-square foot back multi-leveled deck with a beautiful gazebo overlooking the Indian Hills golf course. He completely gutted, designed and constructed a new state-of-the-art kitchen with all the bells and whistles.  Gary also built and designed a new master bathroom which included a cedar sauna, a Jacuzzi tub, and a steam room.  He has remodeled 3 bathrooms, refinished our hardwood floors and added a greenhouse for our plant and supplies.  In 1998 he added a beautiful 36’ x 16’ glass sunroom with custom shelving, a two-level inlaid tray ceiling, and a complete surround sound system and large screen TV.  The exterior and interior of the house has been painted twice, the roof has been replaced, the garage redesigned, gorgeous our stone walkways completed, new windows and doors have been installed, and they even broke up and buried our large in-ground cement swimming pool to create a new terraced garden area.

He has exceeded our expectations on everything he has done for us, but being his parents we might be a little prejudiced.  We are so proud to be able to say and believe these things about our son.

We had Gary Gelinas and Preferred Contracting completely remodel our kitchen and pantry.  We had a large weight-bearing wall removed between our great room and kitchen, our washer and dryer moved upstairs, new appliances installed, new tile installed on the floor and on the backsplash; the laundry room was converted into a huge walk-in pantry, new ceiling lighting was installed, and we had our sliding glass door replaced with atrium doors and custom designed side windows.  We also had him prep out and paint all the walls, ceilings, and trim work as well.  Gary helped us plan the entire remodeling project, gave us prices for everything, wrote up the contract details, started on the day he said he would, and was here on time every single day.  He was always open to the suggestions we had and never pressure us into making any decisions along the way.  We knew all along exactly where we were as far as the expenses were concerned.  I felt very comfortable leaving Gary in the house while I was away.  We even went to Colorado for 9 days and left him working here while we were gone.

We couldn’t be happier with our new look and the way the project progressed.  Gary paid amazing attention to details and has a remarkable vision on how the project should and will be completed.  It is so difficult to find a contractor these days who is good and trustworthy.  Gary’s honesty, talents, work ethic, personality, and dependability far exceeds any of the contractors we had used in the past.  After hearing so many nightmare stories about remodeling projects from our friends and even going through a few ourselves, we were so honored to come across a man with the integrity that Gary has.  He still makes follow-up phone calls to make sure everything is perfect.  He went out of his way many times to make sure Mike and I were completely satisfied with his work.  We have been recommending him to all of our friends!

I have known Gary Gelinas since 1985 when I hired him to rebuild my back deck.  Over the years we have used PCI for many projects and they have all turned out great.  About 6 months ago, we decided to update our c. 1972 Indian Hills Kitchen.  We contacted Gary and 2 other local contractors to get bids (had to, due to our diligence). Gary was competitive in his bid, as I knew he would be (let me say, if you’re looking for the lowest bid, do not call Gary.  If you are looking for a fair bid with top-of-the-line quality, that is what Gary has to offer).

We gave the job to Gary, and he said it should be completed in 30 days.  From project planning to project completion, Gary did everything he said he was going to do when he said he would.  Gary actually stripped and gutted the entire kitchen to the rafters and rebuilt it from there.  When Gary finished in 28 days, we ended up with new 12 foot ceilings, maple hardwood flooring, granite countertops, tile back-splashes, completely refinished cabinets with new hardware, one less weight-bearing interior wall, new lighting, a beautiful new garden window, stainless steel appliances and a paint job that is flawless.  The kitchen is a showstopper and looks like it was always part of the house.

Gary’s attention to detail and desire to make the customer happy is the absolute best of any contractor I have ever known.  Gary is as amazing as the kitchen.  We would leave him here for days (decided it was a good time to go on vacation) by himself.  Gary is an excellent tradesman with superb knowledge of structural support and all aspects of carpentry.  He is honest, trustworthy, meticulously clean in his work and has a great personality.  After having Gary work on my house for almost 20 years, he still continually exceeds all of our expectations.

Gary is an outstanding and trustworthy contractor.  We first used Gary in 1984 to do some remodeling on our landscape company’s building.  Since that time, he has worked on 2 of our houses.  He added a 40’ x 16’ room addition/music studio, installed an entire new roof, constructed 3 decks, a gazebo (which was entered in the Southeastern Flower Show and won 1^st place), installed new windows, and numerous specialty items throughout our house.

I know of no other contractor who has such high standards of excellence.  His work was done in a very timely fashion with much attention given to details.  We would use his company again without hesitation.

I am pleased to highly recommend Gary Gelinas and Preferred Contracting.  I first hired Gary way back in 1986 to remove and rebuild our large back deck.  Since that time, we have not used any other contractor but Preferred Contracting.

Gary has beautifully remodeled our upstairs bathroom and done major and minor repair work for us over the last 20 years.  The largest project that Gary designed and constructed for us was a very unique 30’ x 16’ glass sunroom.  The room has several 9’ x 6’ double hung window units and a 6’ x 6’ solid picture window with an arched glass half radius attached to the top.  The room design has vaulted ceilings, a sheetrock interior, hardwood floors, recessed can lighting and a glass door leading to a new 2 level wood deck that Gary also built.

All the projects were completed in a very timely manner with top quality handpicked materials and superior workmanship.  Gary’s crews have always been courteous and the premises are always left clean during, and at the end of each project.  Gary has always returned my phone calls, and was never late to the job or any appointments we had together.  As an owner of my own business, I have always admired Gary’s honesty, reliability, integrity and respect that he has for each project.  I would recommend him for any major remodeling project.