It is with great pleasure that Melissa and I write this Letter of Testimony for Joel and his staff. From the first time we met Joel and Liz, they had our best interest in mind. Liz was so accommodating and hospitable to open her home for us to tour and witness the quality construction and attention to detail that C.E. Rensberger provides to each home that they build. Joel led us through the planning, designing, and construction process with ease and professionalism. He is honest and a man with integrity. Even when issues arose with the permit process and pandemic, Joel continuously communicated and eased our worries.

Jeff and Jim made the actual building process a delight. Jeff worked with us for the foundation and grading. When we ran into some grading issues with the walk out basement, Jeff had a solution. Jim’s keen eye and attention to detail are amazing. I have never met such a talented and thorough Project Manager. We have worked with several custom remodeling companies in the past and have never experienced the level of quality that Jeff and Jim provided in our new home. We often couldn’t wait to see the updates on the C.E. Rensberger website or visit the house in person. This team provides a solid, well-constructed house that will withstand many generations of living. Their expertise is unsurmountable!

Chuck walked us through the financial aspect with ease. He was quick to respond to emails and phone calls when questions arose. He always provided professional financial guidance as we worked through the process of purchasing our new home.

We are excited to spend many years in this one of a kind, custom home. We have received many compliments throughout the building process and know that more will come. It has been a true pleasure to work with Joel and his team and would recommend C.E. Rensberger & Family Builder to anyone looking to build their dream home!

Sincerely,
Steve and Melissa W.

We had the privilege of ALMOST building a house with Joel Rensberger. We knew Joel didn’t have the “typical” builder philosophy the first day we met him. His passion for building a high quality home that both he and his client would be proud of was obvious in every conversation he had with us. Just as important was his desire to build a genuine relationship with us, to make sure he understood the needs we have now as well as in the future. It was refreshing to work with someone so honest and knowledgeable about the process. Unfortunately, our situation changed throughout the months of planning and we had to put our building plans on hold. However, we feel compelled to write a recommendation for Joel as he was such a pleasure to work with. We are still hoping to build our dream home some day and there is no doubt in our minds that Joel Rensberger will be the builder we choose.

I am happy to recommend Joel Rensberger and his work crew to anyone. They have done a lot of work for us and we are always so pleased with the finished product that we hire Joel again. His work has been good quality and he has always helped us keep within our budget. Joel has built us a deck, built a pergola over our patio, remodeled a bathroom and a half-bathroom and built an entirely new bathroom. When we have a new project, we will call Joel again.

Earlier this summer, we began the arduous process of finishing our enormous 1600 square foot basement. We made appointments with several different contractors in an effort to obtain estimates for the job. Two of the contractors simply did not show up and then made no attempt to re-schedule and/or inform us that they weren’t coming. The two other contractors provided estimates that were severely overpriced. Ultimately, we reached out to a fifth contractor who was interested, but didn’t perform work in our geographic area. This contractor did take the time to refer us to Joel at C.E. Rensberger Builders. Along with his referral came an excellent reference for the company.

We reached out to Joel and he promptly set up an appointment to look at the basement and prepare a job estimate. At the first meeting, Joel was on time and very personable. His knowledge and understanding of the building code was readily apparent as we showed him around. In addition to discussing what we wanted done, we asked for Joel’s professional opinion on several different points related to the job.

Several days later, Joel returned to our home with a well-crafted estimate and explained it as we walked around the basement. Not only was the estimate meticulous and all-encompassing, but the cost was very competitive. We accepted the estimate and Joel immediately got to work. He kept us apprised as to each step of the project, gave us advanced notice on the delivery of materials, and always made sure that we knew which members of his crew were coming; when they would arrive and what they would be working on. Joel kept to the deadlines that were written in the contract and if there were any issues along the way, promptly notified us in order to keep us up-to-date on the progress. Joel also came by to check on each stage of the project to ensure that everything had been done to perfection and with the utmost attention to detail.

Despite the enormity of the project, Joel took it on without hesitation and did a superb job of completing it ahead of schedule and to our complete satisfaction. We are quite pleased to have been referred to the C.E. Rensberger Builders Company. Joel has earned our trust & our business for life. It is our pleasure to unequivocally recommend C.E. Rensberger Builders for any forthcoming home improvement or building projects.

We bought our home through Liz Burrow who represents C.E. Rensberger homes.  It was a great experience dealing with her.  If anyone is looking to have a home built or is looking for a new home I HIGHLY recommend taking a look at what C.E. Rensberger builds!  No other home builder within Lake Linganore comes close to the quality of his homes and Joel, the Owner, was AWESOME to work with!

We would like to recommend C.E. Rensberger & Family, L.L.C.as a quality home  builder. We have known Joel Rensberger, of C.E. Rensberger & Family, L.L.C., for the past 18 months while he has acted as the home  builder for our new home. The actual  construction phase of our home began September of 2012, but Joel was consulting during the last phases of the architectural work. He was also involved in the required land development changes prior to construction starting.

Throughout the building process we have found that Joel’s enthusiasm for our project was different than the other  builders we had spoken with. The combination of Joel’s past work experience and breadth of knowledge played a huge role in convincing us to contract with C.E. Rensberger. His passion for home building truly shines through when related topics come up in conversation.

We have been consistently impressed with Joel’s industry knowledge and construction experience. His contacts and industry partners have allowed him to find reputable contractors to complete the necessary tasks well within projected parameters. We found that Joel’s costs estimates have been on the mark and a large portion of the time he is able to leverage his resources to reduce those costs even more. The overall project is largely on-budget and is projected to remain on-budget for the remainder of construction.

C.E. Rensberger’s time and task management has allowed the project to stay on schedule since  breaking ground.This is especially impressive considering that this has been a very rainy/moist fall. The coordination of different contractors has been seamless, allowing for minimal delays in the construction time line.

C.E. Rensberger’s operations management has been accurate and thorough. The communications are timely, and we are kept well informed on the progress of construction. Joel has responded positively towards any of our concerns, and has worked  diligently to make any necessary adjustments. Joel’s guidance, suggestions, and attention to detail  have been instrumental in seeing this project through to completion.

Overall  we have had a wonderful experience with C.E. Rensbenger as our custom home builder. We have, and continue to recommend C.E. Rensberger & Family, L.L.C. to anyone looking to build a home. Please feel free to contact us if you need any further information.

Before meeting with C.E. Rensberger Builder, our agent, Liz Burrow, suggested we meet with two builders we thought were affordable. After coming away with a lukewarm feeling, we met with Joel, whose houses we had long admired, but felt were out of our price range.

The instant we met Joel, we realized that he did not build houses, he built homes. He sat down, chatted with us and we got to know each other and we genuinely liked him! We told him what we were looking for in a house and discussed a build of his we had seen and had noticed his attention to detail and superior craftsmanship. His quality of work was exceptional, quite different from other houses we had toured. We knew we wanted to build with him, but were concerned about the price of our “realistic dream house.” When we received the quote, we were floored. It was completely within our budget and at closing, the price was still spot on.

From Joel and Liz, to Jeff and Jim the Project Manager, Kelly in Design and Cynthia in Purchasing and Permits, everyone was professional, friendly, helpful and patient. We could not have asked for a better experience and months after moving into our C.E. Rensberger home, we love it more and more each day.

We are truly grateful for the experience and opportunity and highly recommend anyone interested in building a home to meet with Joel and his team. They truly make dreams come true.

We have both always wanted to build a home.  We spent a long time trying to find the right town, the right school district, the right neighborhood, the right lot, the right BUILDER.  We had heard our fair share of horror stories about builders, and were determined we weren’t going to be one of them.

We met with a few builders, looked at different spec houses.  One night, we drove past a C.E. Rensberger Builder sign and decided to look them up.  After a long career of being in the building industry, he had recently left his job with one of the largest builders on the east coast to start his own company.  We figured this wasn’t ideal, but worth looking into. BEST. DECISION. EVER. Seriously.

We first met Joel in one of the houses that he had under construction.  He was very personable, genuine, and was excited to potentially work with us.

We asked lots of questions, “Can we do this?”  “What about that?”  “How does this work?”  “What do you think about this?”

He gave lots of answers, suggestions, and valuable insight.  We left knowing this guy was absolutely the one we wanted building our house.  He was excited to take our ideas and add them to his already existing plan.  He wasn’t caught up in what ‘the options’ were or trying to keep us inside the box.  We got the feeling he genuinely wanted to build us a home, not just throw together a house.  He said, “That sounds like fun! Let’s do it!”, with a very large smile on his face.  This was a breath of fresh air compared to some of the other builders we had met with.  We weren’t just another client, we were people; a valued customer.

Fast forward a few months, after many emails, the changes, the last minute changes (sorry Joel), the questions, and the theoretical discussions; here we are.  We’re in a home we could have only dreamed about being in a year ago, and we LOVE it.  We got an amazing semi­-custom home ­- on-­time and under-­budget – ­and didn’t have to sell one of the kids to do it

We had been interested in Joel Rensberger as a builder since 2018.  We knew we were possibly moving to the area and we found lakehomesbyliz.com.  We were impressed by the craftsmanship and attention to detail.  We talked and met with Liz shortly after and in March 2019 we were able to move to the area.  The moment we knew we were moving to the area, we sat down with Joel and talked about our options.  We were able to design our dream house, at a price that really surprised, us on the perfect piece of land.  The upgrades we chose were done at cost which meant we got a lot of things we really wanted.  I have the kitchen I’ve always wanted and it is all thanks to C.E. Rensberger.

What really impressed us was Joel and his team’s attention to detail.  The base finish is above builder’s grade.  Granite countertops, barn doors, and hardwood floors are included in the price of the home.  Everything from the foundation to the trim to the end product was done to perfection.  They went through the final product board by board making sure every detail was done properly and professionally.  Every cost was transparent and we were always kept in the loop about changes in the plan.  To top off the experience, Joel was under budget and we received the difference.  That in itself makes Joel a builder with integrity and honor.  Not a single corner was cut.

Working with their finance person, Chuck Via, was honestly the easiest loan we’ve ever applied for.  We’ve bought several houses and Chuck made this a breeze, answering every question I ever asked.  He was available via phone and email and very responsive. 

We are living in our dream home at a price we didn’t even know was possible.  The quality and attention to detail are something you’d be hard-pressed to find in another builder.  We recommend Joel Rensberger to every person we can.  Every Rensberger house is unique and the second you walk in the door, the quality is obvious.  The world could use more Rensbergers in it, the world would be a much better place!”

The H Family. 🙂

Our experience with C.E. Rensberger in the construction of our all-brick custom home was very positive.  We got three quotes – two from “traditional” builders and one from CER described as being a “Construction Manager.”  Recognizing that the CER quote was an estimate, and that cost overruns would be on us, we still chose CER.  Joel Rensberger was very up front about the difference between the Construction Manager model and that of a traditional builder.  CER’s quote was well lower than the other two, and we were convinced of the honesty and competence of the CER folks.  Nothing during the construction process changed our minds.  Joel was a pleasure to work with.  The references we called described Jim Kline’s ability to manage the project in glowing terms (one reference labeled him “a national treasure”), and he turned out to be outstanding at delivering a high-quality product in a timely manner.  Every subcontractor we talked to appeared to be in awe of Jim and did not want to incur his displeasure.  So the project was skillfully managed throughout.  This was not a simple project – full custom, architect-designed.  Joel recommended some changes to the plans we gave him (e.g., raise the entire structure to create a daylight basement, enhance the view from the back porch, and reduce construction cost).  The recommended changes were all good ones.  The contractor poured first concrete in mid December 2017, and we got the keys late June 2018, well within the original estimate CER provided.  Jeff Slifer, who worked our modest punchlist of one-year warranty items and handled various other project details, was also great to deal with.  The delivered price was close to the original estimate, with the biggest variation attributed to the lack of a water tap shown as present in the county’s plans – not CER’s fault.  The construction quality was very good overall, and the inevitable items identified as needing correction were addressed timely and professionally.  All in all, we had a great experience and would strongly recommend CER for management of construction of a custom home.

“We met Joel Rensberger and Liz Burrow at an event in Lake Linganore about 1 1/2 years ago. After interviewing several Builder and Contractor candidates we decided that Joel and Liz were the way to go. They seemed honest, versatile, accommodating and reasonable. Our instincts proved us correct this time, after living in my beautiful new custom home for 9 months, I am completely satisfied. Joel and Liz walked us through the entire home building process and made our experience pleasant, enjoyable, and a great value.

Additionally, any and every concern my wife and I had was addressed and resolved promptly. Needless to say, I would highly recommend this team to everyone. They are the good ones and they are still out there!”

We would like to highly recommend C.E. Rensberger as a custom-home builder. We first met with Joel Rensberger and agent Laura Malec in March of 2017 to view a property we were interested in purchasing for our to-be-built custom home. It was apparent from our first meeting that Joel has a passion for building not just houses, but homes based around client needs and desires while bringing industry knowledge and expertise to the process in a client-friendly way. We had met with other builders prior to this meeting, but knew leaving our future lot that day that Joel and the CER team were the right match for us. We quickly formed a professional partnership in which CER was with us through every step of the process–from providing expertise and insight needed as we purchased the lot, to drafting house plans, working through the design of the home with Kelly, to being handed off to Jim and Jeff, as project manager and site supervisors for the duration of the build. We were able to be involved throughout the process of our home-building experience, had direct contact with the CER team throughout the build,  and  were able to confidently trust CER to keep the integrity of the build at the forefront of the project, despite any challenges faced. We are grateful to the entire CER team for helping us get into our dream home as of September 2018. Thank you!

When we first met Joel we had a big dream and a piece of graph paper; Joel and his team made our crazy ideas reality.  Even when we were first married we always dreamed of building a home together but we truly did not think it possible and Joel Rensberger and Builders created a house beyond our expectations.  I think one of the things we have been most impressed with is the true custom build of our home.  Many builders say they are custom but when actual selection time comes, you are limited by their suppliers, etc… Joel told us that we could pick anything in our home and he was true to his word.  Everyone associated with Joel (Jim, contractors, etc…) are all amazing and wonderful people who care deeply about their job and are passionate about home building.   The integrity Joel and Jim bring to their projects is evident in every place you look and they have built our home as if it was their own.  We have been so impressed with the craftsmanship and work ethic of CE Rensberger Builders and thank you so much for the time you have spent making our family’s home!

We have contracted with Joel Rensberger for several large projects. He is always open to working with my project budget and candid about what we are able to do.  The jobs are almost always done on time, the quality is superb. He finishes on budget as well.  One of the things we like most is the ideas Mr. Rensberger brings to us to help make a project go smoother or be even better than we imagined. He is a wealth of knowledge and always willing to talk over whatever is on our minds.  He is candid and fun to work with.  We recommend Joel!!