Finish Carpentry in Ann Arbor
Trim, doors, stairs and cabinet install — with the crew and the date named on the bid.
Scope
Six line items. We bid all of them or any of them, and we will tell you which ones are not worth subbing separately.
Send a plan set and we will bid the whole package or the line items you actually need.
The Bid Names The Crew
Every builder we have met has the same complaint about finish subs: the bid is competitive, the crew that turns up is whoever was free, and the date moves twice. So our bid carries a crew name and a start date, and we keep a fourth crew unbooked specifically to absorb the weeks when a job ahead of yours runs long.
That is why we hit the committed date on ninety-four percent of trim starts. It is also why we are not the cheapest bid you will get, and we would rather say that on this page than in week three.
- ✓Crew named on the bid, not assigned the week before
- ✓Start date committed in writing, with two weeks' notice if it has to move
- ✓Fourth crew held unbooked to absorb overruns ahead of you
- ✓Ninety-four percent of trim starts hit the committed date
Four Things We Flag Before The Order Goes In
All four are cheaper to fix on paper. All four have cost builders we now work for a week apiece.
Door handing
Left-hand and right-hand doors specified the wrong way round. It is the single most common error in a door schedule and it is invisible until the doors arrive on site.
Stair rise and run
Framed stairs that will not take the specified tread without breaking the maximum rise once flooring goes down. We check against the finished floor, not the subfloor.
Trim that will not fit the reveal
A casing profile wider than the space between the jamb and the corner. It shows up on the plan if somebody measures; it shows up on site as a change order if nobody does.
Missing blocking
Handrails, closet rods, floating shelves and grab bars all need blocking set at framing. We mark what we need before drywall rather than cutting it in afterwards.
Trimmed In Washtenaw County
Two recent packages. We photograph every job at rough-in and at completion for your records.
Plans To Punch
Send the set
Plans, trim schedule and door schedule. Two working days for most bids.
We bid and flag
A number, a crew name, a start date, and anything we found in the drawings.
We trim
The named crew, on the committed date, with your super in the loop daily.
We punch our own
Our list and the trim items on yours, before we invoice. No change order.
What Builders Say
We run eleven houses at a time and the trim sub is the one who decides whether we close. Merrowvale give us a crew name and a date on the bid, and in three years they have moved it twice, both times with two weeks' notice.
They do their own punch. That sounds small until you have spent a spring chasing a trim sub who will not come back for four hinge adjustments while the buyer is calling you every day.
First job they flagged that our door schedule had six left-hand doors that needed to be right-hand. Caught it off the plans, before the order. That is a sub who reads the drawings.
Got A Plan Set?
Most bids back within two working days, with a crew name and a start date on them.
Three Things We Will Send Elsewhere
Being clear about this up front is faster for both of us.
We do not build cabinets
We install them, scribe them and prep for the counter fabricator. If you need them made, we will name two shops in the county that make them properly.
We do not do exterior trim or siding
Different crews, different weather risk, different insurance conversation. We stay inside the weather envelope.
We do not take homeowner work
We are set up to be a sub. A homeowner calling us directly gets pointed at a residential carpenter who is better at that job than we would be.
Before You Send A Set
How fast is a bid?
Two working days from a complete plan set, in the order they arrive. If the trim or door schedule is missing we will tell you the same day rather than sit on it — those two documents decide most of the number.
Do you bid labor only?
Yes, and it is about half our work. Labor only, or labor and material with your allowance, or full supply. We will tell you honestly which one comes out cheaper for the package you are running.
What happens if the job ahead of us runs long?
We hold a fourth crew unbooked to absorb it. If it is still going to move your date you get two weeks' notice, not a phone call on the Monday. That is the whole reason the ninety-four percent number exists.
Do you handle punch?
Our own, plus the trim items on yours, included in the bid. Chasing a trim sub back for four hinge adjustments while a buyer is calling you is the thing builders complain about most, so we priced it in instead.
Will you work on one house?
Yes. Custom builders on one or two houses a year are a good part of our book. The bid process is the same.
Are you licensed and insured?
Michigan residential builder license 2102198344, two million general liability and workers' compensation on every carpenter. Certificates go to your office before we mobilise.
Request A Bid
Send the plans, the trim schedule and the door schedule. Most bids come back within two working days with a crew name and a date on them.
- Visit us3820 Jackson Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
- Call us(734) 555-0129
- Email usbids@merrowvalefinish.com