David did a very good job. His passion towards the work is remarkable - its hard to find such a dedicated person to its work.

 

Excellent work and service! We hired Beyond-Basements to finish our basement because they offer special drywall-free finishing system option, but all options were on the table and we could choose the most appropriate for us. The price was reasonable and responsiveness to requests and changes was great. Took time to plan everything and communicated layouts several times before even signing a contract. No high-pressure contractor - took about a month from the first contact when the owner David came out to do the estimate, to signing a deal. Service was great - when it became obvious that the furnace room will need 2 lights, David added a light in the far end of the furnace room for free even though the contract did not specify it. The job started a week late, but to make up for it, they worked some Saturdays and I think a Sunday once too. Initially we did not include finishing staircase, but halfway into the job, I wanted to get a quote on that - they gave me a reasonable quote and to make up for starting late, they also did not charge me for the work to build the ledge and finishing bare area of concrete in the staircase. I do not think a lot of contractors would be that conscientious in regards to my time and would work on weekends and give several hundred of dollars of free work because they started a week later than promised. I am very happy with how the basement looks and with the service I have received from Beyond-Basements.

 

In today's world getting good service is questionable, but there is no question about the value of service received from Beyond Basements. I like to refer to it as Beyond Service. Beyond Basement finished my basement about 2yrs ago, recently I had some concerning issues that prompted me to call David for repairs, knowing that the solution would incur some cost. Within a week David came out and after two visits the issues were resolved, AT NO COST! That's why I defer to them as Beyond Service! Again, Thanks for your attention and flexibility!!

 

FROM ANDREY L., NAPERVILLE, IL: Excellent work and service! We hired Beyond-Basements to finish our basement because they offer special drywall-free finishing system option, but all options were on the table and we could choose the most appropriate for us. The price was reasonable and responsiveness to requests and changes was great. Took time to plan everything and communicated layouts several times before even signing a contract. No high-pressure contractor - took about a
month from the first contact when the owner David came out to do the estimate, to signing a deal. Service was great - when it became obvious that the furnace room will need 2 lights, David added a light in the far end of the furnace room for free even though the contract did not specify it. The job started a week late, but to make up for it, they worked some Saturdays and I think a Sunday once too. Initially we did not include finishing staircase, but halfway into the job, I wanted to get a quote on that - they
gave me a reasonable quote and to make up for starting late, they also did not charge me for the work to build the ledge and finishing bare area of concrete in the staircase. I do not think a lot of contractors would be that conscientious in regards to my time and would work on weekends and give several hundred of dollars of free work because they started a week later than promised. I am very happy with how the basement looks and with the service I have received from Beyond-Basements.
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Dave
Thanks for the check...not too many contractors who see a billing error would reimburse when no one would know. You are too honest! Feel free to post on your website.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Dave, the owner of Middlebrook Design/Build stop by several years ago to replace some rotten wood siding on the front of the house. The job turned out to include removing some structural framing members in the floor. I picked him because I saw his work and he lived just down the street. His work and knowledge is superior and I completely trusted him as evident in this story.
Unforeseen items like this were made aware to me in the quote. He told me we probably would have some rotted wood. But the pricing could only be estimated.

Sure enough we did. Not only was the work done to the utmost quality (it looks great and we haven't had a problem in the 2 years since) but Dave actually dropped a check off to me a week later for $180, as he noted that he miscalculated the extra charges for the structural framing in my bill. Everyone talks about integrity. This is proof that this guy really abides by it. Seriously, how many contractors would go back to a customer a week later, after already being paid, and say “here is some money back. I made a mistake on those extra materials.”
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Hey Dave
i’m very happy with the basement. glad i took steve’s suggestion to move the laundry to the back. makes a world of difference. u do great work and u definitely take pride in your work. i enjoyed working with u and the boys were nice to me and i appreciate that thanks again Dave
kathy

Things look great Dave. Very pleased.
You did a nice job and equally as important, we enjoyed working with you. You’re a nice guy and you do excellent work and you stand by your word. For that we are appreciative.
Steve & Kathy
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During late 2006, I decided to finish my basement and looked at various options. The standard dry-wall construction did not appeal to me because of the usual problems associated with dry-wall dust propagating throughout the house during construction, the potential for mildew and replacement issues if ever there is flooding in the basement. I was impressed with the [competitor name omitted] method of using fabric-over-foam. However the [competitor name omitted] solution offered only one color choice (a rather dull looking color at that) and there was very little flexibility with respect to panel width and length. This is when I came across David Luciano and his Beyond-Basements Solutions. David offered a solution somewhat similar to the fabric-over-foam of [competitor name omitted] except that it was totally flexible and tailored as far as dimensions and choice of fabric (practically unlimited).

Initially, although David’s solution was very appealing in concept, I had some qualms as he had just started this company and this method of basement-finishing was a new concept. As a consequence, I viewed going with David’s solution as a gamble with the feeling of being a guinea pig to some extent. However, there was something about David that told me that he was passionate about his work and that he was committed to delivering high quality work. Trusting that judgment I went ahead and
David finished the 1700 SqFt basement within four weeks. This included six different fabric colors/textures, raised ceilings, furniture railings and a full finished bathroom. I can definitely say that my instincts proved correct and am very pleased with the result. In addition to the advantages mentioned below, there were additional significant advantages over the dry wall systems. The cloth and foam walls provide great heat insulation – so useful during the cold Chicago winters. The sound insulation is so good that it feels like the inside of a music studio. The walls now stand in virtually the same condition as when it was first installed over 4 and 1/2 years ago. There were very few adjustments needed post-installation which were duly taken care of by David who continues to pay visits periodically to make sure everything was perfect. I would be more than happy to recommend Beyond-Basements for anyone’s basement solutions and to answer any questions.
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I have a very attractive soft wall fabric basement system from Beyond Basements in my house; installed by the previous owners. We need to make some changes to the system and the beyond basements crew were more than helpful in accommodating us even though some materials had become hard to find since they were installed years ago. The owner went out of his way to help us.
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David and his team built our attic for us. That statement should speak volumes without me having to say another word.
For those who have had their basements finished, kitchen or bathrooms remodeled, finishing an attic is a notch above in terms of planing, difficultly and execution. We surveyed multiple companies and contractors and it was hard to get anyone to commit to the work. David worked with us over a period of six months and only when he was sure that it could be done - he took up the job. He committed to scope, cost and time prior to even starting the work and also provided an upper bound for the
contingency.

I had built in nearly a 50% contingency in terms of cost and time but David kept the overages to less than 25%. I cannot stress on the complexity of the work and how David managed to overcome several obstacles along the way. He also was an excellent advisor along the way and guided us through decisions. From start to finish was a lot smoother than I expected. The finished product looks spectacular and my kids love the new space. I would recommend David highly even if, rather - especially if, the job is complex. David and team will work through uncertainties and adapt to change in plans as long as you are focused on the outcome and work alongside him and his team to manage costs and scope. He will guide you though the decisions every step of the way.

Thank you David and team!
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I actually had hired David' business Middlebrook Design/Build to redo a master bath a couple years ago. His attention to detail prompted me to call him for our roofing needs. Since he was several months booked out I asked for a referral and started to pick his brain. He guided me on the type of questions I should ask of a roofing company and also info on types of shingles and ridge vents so I avoided unnecessary and misled information from less reliable firms. In the past 22 months I have gone
to David multiple times in which he offered consultative advice and only charged me for relevant guidance. I will always call David for our future remodeling needs and eagerly fit into his schedule. He is worth the price
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We had decided that drywall was not the way to go with our basement. So after doing some research we called Beyond-Basements up. The owner, David, personally came out and all he did was talk about our design and his ideas. What a change from those other systems! All they did was try to get you to sign a contract. David left without even giving us a price. In fact it wasn't until after many more meetings and design changes that he put together a final contract. Even then, at our request, he
even emailed it to us. Talk about low pressure. Needless to say his designs were spot on and his workmanship is second to none. Our basement is (well was, see below) a beautiful, sound controlled, mold free basement that looks better than every other room in our house. This was 5 years ago. I just recently called him up to ask a question about a bath remodel I am doing (I live in Texas now so David can't do it unfortunately and we have no basements here otherwise I would fly his company out
to do it). His passion is so great and his willingness to share his knowledge is unsurpassed. He has another company Middlebrook Design/Build (I hope I spelled the name right David!) that does regular construction work. We had some questions about our current contractor and wanted David's opinion. He said he just recentlydecided to get on the social media bandwagon and asked if we would write a review of our experience with his Beyond-Basements company. We were only too eager. So
a few years late but better late than never
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Amazing contractor. Gutted and remodeled our kitchen. Meticulous with the details and craftsmanship. Very fairly priced and went above and beyond. Took the time to plan thoroughly and made fantastic suggestions. Love our new kitchen!
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This is a long review but being a business owner of a successful insurance company, I know how important referrals are and David and his companies deserve it. He started out as our contractor. He ended up our friend. I also want to get very specific to help as many people as I can. That is the point of these reviews after all. Saying, “he did good work” doesn't have any bite. The more detailed, the better.

Anyway, we saw a sign posted about a basement finishing system. This is September of 2011. We had previously called another “non drywall basement system company” but they were a complete joke. See review under [competitor name omitted], the ones who wasted two hours of our lives!

So even though we originally called Beyond-Basements, we ended up contracting with Middlebrook Design/Build. They are both owned by David Luciano. It also didn't hurt that he lives 5 minutes from us and even gives his home address out to, I guess, all potential customers. He made a joke about Toilet Papering his house if he screwed us and how we should report him to the BBB, Attorney General, and post flyers to all his neighbors not to use him if he didn't do a good job. This kinda came about because we had been screwed before by contractors and after hearing the [competitor name omitted] “time share” sales presentation, we were very leery about other contractors.

Well it took us until March of 2012 before we made a decision to hire him. We very particular and my wife and I saw his house where everything was done solely by him. I saw his outdoor kitchen, his exotic wood floors, his unique ceilings, his custom cabinetry. I saw the detail and I saw an owner of a business who actually can do work...excellent work. His attention to detail and his non pestering is what sold us. (He sent perhaps two emails in this 6 months. No sales calls. Just one or two emails
asking if we were still interested. How refreshing!) He framed the basement out in July. He patiently waited several more months while we decided what we wanted to do. He worked some more. We waited and he worked some more. We had more design meetings with him and then he continued on. The result: a basement with a fiber optics concrete countertop, custom cabinets for the bar, accent lighting all over the place, a custom tiled basement shower that believe
me is better looking than any master bath in our entire subdivision of $800K plus houses.There was never an issue about pricing. There was never an issue about quality. Any questions or concerns he took care of without question. You really have no idea how horrible so many contractors are until you deal with David and his companies. I guess ignorance is bliss.
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My wife and I had our basement finished by Beyond Basements a few years ago and absolutely love the results. David is a very low pressure kind of guy, which is refreshing in this industry (some of the other basement finishing companies out there made us feel like we were at a high pressure time share presentation when getting quotes). He worked with us to customize our basement to be exactly the way we wanted it. For example, we wanted high ceilings, but our low hanging duct work prevented that. He came up with the idea to move the ducts to be suspended in the trusses, allowing our ceiling height to be over 7 feet. A great idea that the competitors didn't think of. He also built a custom cover for our sump pump so that we didn't have to build a closet around it (it really helps the room feel bigger). As for his finishing system, we went with the hybrid of the MGO panels on the bottom half of our walls (so that they won't need to be replaced if our basement floods again) and the acoustic paneling on the top half of the wall. I'm a musician, and the sound control of the paneling works so well that I can play late into the night when my wife and son are sleeping, and they don't hear a thing. My favorite part of bringing someone into our basement is seeing the look on their face when I tell them the walls are covered in stretched fabric, and not painted drywall. They look that great. You really have to see David's system. Highly recommended!
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We hired David in May of 2018 to remodel our basement. He was great! He had so many design ideas for us, he really went above and beyond for us. He is very detailed oriented and stands behind his work. He did an amazing job, we love our new basement!
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I saw the work he did on his own house and knew he was a smart person. I didn't even consider him at first because I thought it would be better to go with someone who specializes in kitchens. I was going to do the work myself but just wanted to order kitchen cabinets. After seeing my quote from Costco, he came in with cabinets of the same quality, perhaps even better, and saved me about $10,000. But he took it to another level. He modified these semi custom cabinets into full customs. The stain matches exactly and he also offered so much design work at no extra cost. A year later some of the factory bought doors had the inside panel shrink somewhat, exposing some unfinished wood. Very slight but David spent countless hours getting them replaced. Evidently there was a bad batch of doors shipped in and more than a few customers had this same problem. I do not hold him accountable in the least and if anything, this just reinforced his customer service. Plan on using him to remodel my master bath and install a new front door.
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David Luciano and his team with Middlebrook Design/Build redesigned our basement living space and really blew us away! They did a very good job and payed attention to the details which were so important to us. We were able to expand our family space and get so much more out of our space! David is such a knowledgeable professional and his expertise really insured our peace of mind because we know that the proper foundational things were taken care of, like electric, insulating, detail toinfrastructure. We have another project in our pipeline and we are excited to solicit Middlebrook Design and Build for the job! We know they will do it right.
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Hired David and his company Middlebrook for several projects over several years. He put in windows, roofed our house, did other miscellaneous construction jobs, and redid our kitchen. His work is so far above the quality I have seen in any of my neighbor’s houses that I truly thank my lucky stars that I found him. It started with his presentation. Rather than get turned off, I actually appreciated his confidence. From the onset, he told it point blank, “I am the best.” He then proceeded to show me how bad all the previous construction jobs I had were. This guy sees everything. Cocky or not I knew right then David was so far above anyoneelse I could find. And his integrity, passion, and design ideas are also a tremendous plus. This word is thrown out a lot but David really is a perfectionist.
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They put a bathroom and converted an office into a bedroom in our already finished basement several years ago. Had a garbage disposal go out in the kitchen so Ithought to call them. They were nice enough to come out last week and replace a garbage disposal. You know you have a good contractor when you call them up 4years later for something totally unrelated to what you originally hired them for. Good job!
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Called Middlebrook on recommendation of a neighbor. The owner, David, came out. He is very passionate about his business. He did a kitchen remodel for us. He gotus a tremendous deal on cabinets. But since they were such a good deal, our selection was very limited. He custom made additional cabinets and add ons (wine rack, island) and stained them perfectly to match. While not the cheapest around, definitely not the most expensive. However, for what he does, I would say your value for your dollar is far greater than anyone you could get. As David puts it, I am not giving you a $30,000 car but I am giving you a $200,000 Ferrari for $100,000.

Enough said. I would highly recommend him. I also did use his consulting services for a roof replacement. I paid him for 15 minutes of his time and he looked over our roofing quote and told us to use synthetic roofing felt (not on there) and to explore the option of a ridge vent (not on there) and to make sure the roofers "dubbed" the corners of the shingles going into the valley. I guess no one really does that even though you are supposed to. I have my contractor for life.
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To Whom It May Concern:

The company Beyond Basement designed and supervised the renovation of our unfinished basement in April 2011. The owner, David and his crew did an outstanding job right from the start. The work they performed included refinishing the basement from scratch, as well as installing a new full bathroom where they had to complete the pluming, sewer, and electric lines. In addition to the basement job, he also remodeled our other bathroom and installed our new water heater. All of the above work
was done in a professional and timely manner. David's eye for the aesthetics of the project never let us down; we have received many compliments on our finished basement. Furthermore, David is an excellent owner and skilled designer who contributed ideas that no one else had. He was patient and helped us in picking the right design, styles, fabric for the basement, and accessories such as paint, vanity, mirror and faucets, etc. His ability to find solutions to unexpected problems is commendable. He is extremely detail oriented and hates to do a sloppy job. Over and above all of these he is very reliable, punctual, clean, and trustworthy. We have three kids at home and they also enjoyed when he was working in the house.
All in all, we are very happy and satisfied with David’s work and his professionalism.
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Thank-you so much for the beautiful basement! Our teenage son loves the bedroom that you built for him. We will enjoy the additional space you created for us for many years to come. You had a very large selection of fabrics to choose from which allowed us to customize our basement to our particular taste. We really liked the fact that your system kept our house much cleaner during the renovation process as there was no drywall or plaster dust and no smelly painting. Your employees were very polite and considerate. They were always willing to answer whatever questions we had and cleaned up every night before they left. Their expertise in their individual fields was very refreshing with some tricky obstacles that preexisted in our basement.

Thank-you once again for the lovely space!!!
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We had another company come out. Saw their ads in Clipper magazine and went to an open house. The product seemed interesting so we scheduled an appointment. What a joke. The high pressure, the relentless price cutting, the open ended questions, etc. When we finally got them to leave (so glad we didn't fall for that) we started doing more research and found Beyond-Basements. They explained that they offered the exact same panel system this other company offered. In fact, David was so forthcoming, that he told my wife and I that this was something anyone could purchase and install, as long as they knew how. He explained that it was no different than saying there was a great, new product for bathroom showers called ceramic tile!
Finding a company to then install this was no different than shopping for a painting contractor. However, Beyond-Basements also offered us another option of their fabric wall finishing system. This is completely unique to them. David also said he could combine the two. However, after seeing the soft wall finishing system, we decided to go with that. We have not actually hired them yet as we are waiting to repair some foundation cracks and waterproof the walls, but we would not hire any other non-drywall basement company other than Beyond-Basements.
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Kits and your check came in today's mail, thank much for following up. I had some friends over this weekend, one an owner of a major court reporting company and another is a major real estate broker, they were very impressed with the basement, their estimate of the cost was $75,000! The main comments were on the wainscoting, sound insulation quality, and the design of the bar. Also several comments on the quality of the ceiling and the carpet installation.

 

Thank again to your team, Bruce
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David,
I wanted to take a few moments to write a letter of thanks regarding the work you recently performed finishing our basement. It was a pleasure to do business with an honest and reliable contractor who obviously takes pride in his work. The job turned out fantastic! We could not possibly be more pleased. Thanks again for your attention to detail and the quality work. You are truly a gem in the building business.
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I called David, the owner of Middlebrook DesignBuild, because I had seen his work. This guy has done everything in the residential construction business. I am in the trades also. And I call him when I get a very high end customer or have a problem which needs to be solved that others simply can't. All his work is in the upper 5% of every trade I have every subbed out. I don' use David and his guys all the time because they obviously have their own jobs to work on. But I wish I could.
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Called the horrible [competitor name omitted] and saw their Clipper magazine ad and saw $6999. Or maybe it was $7999, or $5999. Saw them all at one point as an “introductory offer.” That was our first RED FLAG! O.K. So you are dealing with a salesman who wants to earn a commission. Then you are dealing with a salesman who really doesn't know much about construction. Can't really learn anything from their website. That bouncing sales rep popup is just an outside agency to get your name and number. Moving on. Not much time with the design. [Competitor name omitted] penciled on a piece of paper. Just filled in blanks for pricing. Oh yea, the pricing: $68,000. After saying no and no and no it became $39,000 when they left. What is so sad is all those positive reviews thinking they got a great deal. Rather than thinking you saved $30,000 how about thinking like this: They obviously could do the basement for $39,000 and still make money yet they were trying to get another $29,000 from us!!!!

Are you kidding me. That's when we called Beyond-Basements. Rather than a salesman coming out, the owner came out. David immediately went to the basement and took measurements and asked what are ideas were. His entire time there was spent designing and asking us questions. He left without ever giving us a price. He emailed detailed drawings of the layout, electrical, and scope of work, where everything was itemized, down to the number of outlets installed. About the same time he called with this finished quote and what we thought (Yes, he did not demand a second meeting to come out, as I said he emailed this to us) [competitor name omitted] had called and made a last ditch effort to get the job. Guess what, the price dropped to $29,000.
I said not interested. We are going with Beyond-Basements. And I am going to give you their info right here so you don't fall victim to [competitor name omitted]. Like David said to me, call anyone up you wish. Just don't sign anything until you have a chance to sleep on it and do your research. I am telling you right now. Call [competitor name omitted] for a quote. But also call Beyond-Basements (630-922-3884) and I think Home Depot even has a company offering these SIP panels. Call them all.
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We had Middlebrook do several jobs for us over the course of several years. Many years ago, they put a new roof on, redid the soffits and fascia and installed new bay and bow upper windows. They also replaced some cedar siding, did decorative drywall work in a bathroom, installed a patio window, and redid our entire kitchen. This included great design work of opening up walls and arching the openings, fixing all the electrical in the kitchen, and redoing the entire kitchen: complete gut, new travertine floor, custom backsplash with niche, and modifications to the cabinets for a total custom look. We have been using them (which is to say David and his helpers) for ten years and would never use anyone else. Oh, did I mention that the owner of the company is the one who does the quote and who actually comes to the job sites with his workers. While he doesn't do the grunt work necessarily anymore, anything high end and elaborate is done by him personally. And nothing is ever subbed out. It is all done by Middlebrook and it's owner, David L. I had Mr. Luciano and his business Middlebrook Design and Build come to my house for several tasks. He was a referral from someone. These jobs were not very big but being in a retirement home, David offered to help personally.
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I had Mr. Luciano and his business Middlebrook Design and Build come to my house for several tasks. He was a referral from someone. These jobs were not very big but being in a retirement home, David offered to help personally. He came out himself and added sun tubes, repaired shingles, removed a water softener, replaced a hot water heater, installed a Pergo floor, painted some rooms, and installed new cabinets for me. He also added a custom backsplash, moved electrical around for the new
refrigerator locations, and added new cable lines. He saved me so much money and is so nice.