Our Experience with Lawler Construction

Our house is a Deck House, the plans and basic framing created by Empyrean International. We selected and modified an existing plan, using Michael Meldrum, a local Sedona architect, who was also Empyrean International’s representative here in Sedona. Empyrean furnished the plans, the floor joists, the framing, and the roof structure. All of these materials were pre-fabricated in Massachusetts and shipped to Sedona to be assembled through the efforts of Lawler Construction.

All of this happened as we continued living in Northern California. Michael Meldrum set up several interviews with local contractors. We interviewed four or five contractors. When all was said and done, we believe that any of the contractors could have built our home. However, we selected Lawler Construction. This selection was done mainly for three reasons. In our interview with Jim Lawler, he told us that he could complete our house within two weeks of the date he would set once we contracted with him. Second, Jim revealed that he himself did not get involved with the hands-on activity of the construction work. He believes that his job is to coordinate the activities and subcontractors so that the house is constructed on time. Third, Jim had already built one Deck House and was familiar with Empyrean International’s operations.

These three items set Lawler Construction apart from the other contractors. Additionally, we got the impression that Jim Lawler was very well organized and ethical in his business operations, which as construction ensued, bore out our first impression. After we made our selection, Michael Meldrum informed us that our choice would have been his choice. He felt that Lawler Construction was among the best contractors in the area.

Other than the contractor interviews, we made three trips to Sedona during the construction period. The vast majority of the construction was carried out with us a long way from Sedona. Jim or his supervisors contacted us with every little decision that needed to be made. Each of them was very explicit in describing the situation and the alternatives to resolve the issues. We were absolutely comfortable that what needed to be done was being done. An added plus was having Jim’s spouse, Cindy, involved. She introduced us to local lighting, plumbing fixture, and floor covering suppliers. She was extremely helpful in making us comfortable with these various vendors.

On each of our visits to view the construction progress, we found every subcontractor or Lawler Construction employee to be very friendly and very helpful in explaining what was going on with the construction. Each was open to our questions and suggestions and each was equally open to asking us questions and offering suggestions.
The end result was a house with which we are extremely pleased. With all this said, please understand that everything didn’t work out perfectly. I would be shocked if anyone could say at the end of construction that the whole process happened in an absolutely perfect way, with an absolutely perfect result. However, this process was as close to being perfect as we could expect.

Thanks to Lawler Construction, we have a house and a home that we thoroughly enjoy, day in and day out.

—Roseanne and Mike Haboush