Construction Client Testimonials

Joe and Susan Wileman

Highlander Construction has done a great job making our dream retirement home a reality!  We had a very unique design and phasing in mind.  Highlander stepped up to the challenge by developing a collaborative design that balanced our wants and needs with practicality.  During construction, they resolved multiple major unforeseen issues with professionalism and efficiency. At the same time, they were caring and understanding. Thanks to Highlander, we are done the first phase of our dream house and love it!  We look forward to continuing our relationship with Highlander and constructing Phase II in the future.

Chester and Natalie Van Tyne

The people at Highlander Construction are caring, considerate and thoroughly professional. Their dedication to exceptional workmanship was a very welcome change from our prior experience with home remodeling contractors. Of note, were their design ideas, their attention to detail during construction, the information supplied about the project on a regular basis, and the tidiness in leaving our property in a reasonably clean and uncluttered condition each day. We would recommend Highlander to others seeking to remodel or add a renovation to their homes. It was a pleasure to work with them.

Tim and Maggie Pratt

We chose Highlander to build an addition to our home and have been very pleased with that decision.   We love our new sunny living room and all the space added to help us to age in place.  Jamie Oliver, President of the company, LeeAnn Francis and Eric Sealander, and the other members of the team were honest, pleasant, friendly and efficient in all of their dealings with us.

We worked on the design with Jamie for a long time as we knew what we wanted and he was very patient and thorough in exacting all the fine details and explaining the pros and cons of our choices. The construction work was carried out with as little interruption to our daily lives as they could manage, showing concern for our well-being throughout. The site was kept very clean and tidy and our egress was never an issue even when they were working. Also their response time to questions was very fast which we appreciated. They were very good about following up with some issues that developed during and after completion of the construction. The matching to the original part of our home is excellent and our addition looks as though it has always been there. The project was completed on time and under budget and we are delighted with the outcome. We would have no hesitation about using them again if needed and wholeheartedly recommend their services.

Major Donnie and Kimberly Adkins

We would highly recommend James Oliver and Highlander Construction to anyone needing estimate work or construction. James personally came out to our house to meet us; his professionalism, knowledge and candor were unprecedented.   James and his team were instrumental in assessing our homes damage and quickly put together a complete and accurate estimate.  This gave us a clear picture of the work we needed, along with a detailed itemized cost list.  James made himself readily available to answer any questions or concerns we had. We also requested James to assist us in a civil court case and testify to the damages which he provided the estimates for.   Because of James’ credentials as a class A licensed contractor, and also having served as the Regional Vice President of the Home Builders Association of Virginia, the court recognized James as an “expert” witness. The level of integrity, and expertise that James and his team brought to the table, certainly gave us peace of mind.  We can say with without a doubt our experience with James Oliver and his company has been exceptional. We plan on doing business with Highlander Construction now, and for any of our future construction needs.

Paul and Kathy Spurgeon

When Paul and I realized that we needed to move to Southwest Virginia from Ellicott City, Maryland in 2012 for his employment, we initially looked at existing homes in the region. There were very few ranch-style homes available, so we decided to build after we found a large, beautiful lot in Abingdon. Finding a builder that could build based on our time schedule was even more difficult. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend or waste on the construction process.

We were quite lucky to have received a nice packet of information from James Oliver of Highlander Construction in Redford, VA, who asked for a chance to bid on our project.  Building a new home from another state can be daunting especially since we didn’t know the area, but Jamie is the most organized and detailed contractor we’ve ever met. He understood our need to get underway quickly so we could relocate within 7-8 months. Because he stayed in touch daily via email or telephone, and had a website that we could visit to see the progress being made on our home, we felt very comfortable building at a distance. Every detail of construction was outlined and scheduled along the way. Each week we knew what his crew would be working on.  And photos were posted on the website of the progress.  It was amazing and was such a relief for us living back in Maryland while our new home was being built.

The entire building experience was fairly stress-free and quite easy due to Jamie’s attention to detail and the great team of workers he employs:  from Eric the site supervisor who had to deal with the day-to-day schedule, and any issues that came up suddenly; to Lee Ann his Director of Marketing & Sales who kept in touch with us frequently on interior finishing choices.  We’ve been in our new home just over one year now and we love it as much now as the day we moved in.  Thank you, Highlander Construction, for a job well done!

General Tim McHale, President, Homes For Our Troops

I wanted to drop you a personal note sending my sincere appreciation for your support of Home For Our Troops.  I know it was a very challenging build assignment but you persevered and successfully finished the home. You and your team did a great job and you bore many challenges that normally do not come with the build. Thank you for your patience, professional support, patriotism and compassion. You and your team made a significant contribution to our Country. All the Best. God Bless.

Ryan and Cynthia Hagan

Highlander Construction completely remodeled the basement in our house and added 1,200 sq ft of awesome living space. The first phase was all about getting to know us. They started with a consultation to talk with my wife and I about our lifestyle and what we wanted from the basement. They came to the house to take detailed pictures and measurements of the current basement and talk to us about the current house and what we liked about it and what we didn’t like about it. Finally, the last stage of planning was to create the site plans and architectural drawings. Again, they were very patient and spent a lot of time making sure we got exactly what we wanted.

Next, was the legal phase. They gave us a contract for the work and recommended that we go over the contract with a lawyer to ensure we were happy with the contract. They happily negotiated changes on the contract until we were satisfied and explained things about the contract in more detail if they couldn’t make a particular change.

Once we were happy with the plan, they began construction by demolishing what was left of the basement and hauling all the debris to the dump. They did everything from cutting the concrete slab to lay plumbing into the floor, to framing the walls, to hanging drywall, to install plumbing and electrical, to HVAC, to painting, and finally to finishing. It was a big job.

In addition to the standard stuff, the company took the opportunity to install a structured wiring cabinet in the basement to make networking, phone installation, and switching utilities a breeze. Furthermore, they had to install electrical for a home theater system, so this was a pretty big job, and not just the standard stuff.

Finally, they did walk through inspections to ensure that we were happy with the work. They immediately fixed things that we didn’t like or even things that just didn’t seem quite right. They also scheduled 30, 60, and 180 day walk throughs to ensure that nothing had broken after they left.

Member Comments:

First of all, most of the work was performed by employees of Highlander Construction. They’re so much more than a general contractor. However, there were things that were done by contractors. Let me tell you, though, that every single person that came into my house, be them employees or contractors, was professional, courteous, patient, and extremely technically competent at what they did.

Things happen during construction, especially when the construction project is a remodel of an existing structure. What separates the professionals from the amateurs is how those problems are handled. When a problem occurred during this project, the person responsible would step up and explain the problem, explain why the problem happened, explain what they were going to do about the problem, explain how they were going to keep the problem from happening again, and explain who was financially responsible for the problem. Seriously, these guys were all true professionals.

During the construction, the owner of the company was onsite almost every day. He also regularly posted to a private project page on their website with summaries of the work and pictures. It was fun to be able to hand out the login info to friends and family so that they could watch what was going on over the web. The last thing that the company did was to throw a party for us in our new space. In addition to being great contractors, they employees at this company are also great cooks. They invited a ton of our friends and brought over amazing food. They also presented to us a photo book full of “before and after” shots of our basement.

Nick Rush
Lifestyle Spirits, Dirty Karma Organic Vodka

When some partners and I started our small organic spirit company we thought commercial success would come quickly because of the quality of our product. What we didn’t count on was all of the issues than can arise if the business is not properly organized and managed. We needed help. I had known Jamie for many years and was vaguely familiar that he performed business consulting for small companies in addition to design construction services. He had recently done a project for one of my partners and he suggested we contract Jamie to help us with our business and marketing plan.

Jamie jumped right into the mix. He redid our organizational documents and partnership agreements. He wrote a new business plan and a new marketing plan. He reorganized our books and helped us for the first time to produce annual operating budgets. He renegotiated the contract with our distillery, helped us find and contract a new distributor, worked with an attorney to trademark our recipes and logos, and he continues to work with the Virginia ABC to keep our product on the shelves.

Jamie did such a great job for us we asked him to become a partner and our CEO. We continue to all work together to build our brand and produce and sell the best organic vodka on the market.

Construction Client
Mr. Joe Kennedy

I cannot say enough about Jamie Oliver and Highlander Construction. Their vision of a quality constructed home was spot on to my expectations, and both the company and the subcontractors were extremely professional and courteous. They took extra care to ensure the house was kept clean and well protected, went out of their way to accommodate my schedule, and always performed follow up audits to ensure I was completely satis ed with their work. Highlander Construction is #1 on my list for new home construction, home improvements, or just contacting a reliable contractor searching for a good plumber, electrician, etc.

Construction Client
Mr. Eddie Baker, EAB Development

Highlander Construction & Development maintained a very clean and safe job site throughout the project; my overall experience with the company has been great. I would choose to work with the company again. Jamie works with you all the way through the process and is open for any ideals that make the product better.

Construction Client
Mr. Tracy McCoy

Highlander Construction & Development completed a personal house for my parents on Grissom Lane in Blacksburg. The project went very smooth from start to finish. Jamie’s attention to detail when it came to finishing the project and following up with final touch-up items was flawless. I would not think twice about using anyone other than Highlander Construction to build anything else for me.

Construction Client
Betty & David Oliver

When we decided to build our retirement home on Smith Mountain Lake we of course first turned to our son Jamie to design and build our dream home but knowing working with family can sometimes be difficult Jamie encourage us to seek out other custom builders for consultation and proposals. We interviewed several other quality builders asking detailed questions about their processes and cost. Ultimately we decided working with Jamie and his company was the only option for us.  Thankfully he agreed, but it took a mother’s convincing.

Jamie personally designed our home based on our needs and wants, the lot we have facing the water, and our budget. He incorporated many accessibility features into the design so that as the years progress we can stay in our home and enjoy our retirement and grandchildren. Construction went very smoothly with the exception of some weather delays which were beyond anyone’s control but the final product was more than what we could hope and as a bonus the project finished on budget. Jamie and his staff kept us informed about the progress of our home in the same ways as his other clients with periodic job site walk through inspections and regular updates on a special client’s page on the company’s website. We tried very hard to avoid discussing the project at normal family gatherings so as not to mix business with pleasure.

We especially appreciated the special attention given to us by LeeAnn during the process of making selections for our home. She was very kind and professional as was the superintendent who was on our site each day managing the construction activities. In the end we feel very lucky that we had a great team to design and build our home and that as a happy coincidence that team was led by our son for whom we are very proud.

Design Client
Mr. JT Smith

Highlander Construction & Development delivers professional assistance that works. We worked together to sort through various designs and Jamie did a good job fostering my initial vision and marring everything together. The communication was great and I would choose Highlander Construction & Development again for its design services.