Tim Ruffing started roofing in 2003, managed construction in the military, at The Ohio State University, and a private company. Andy Carlisle Leider started as a trim carpenter in 2013 and moved into renovations shortly thereafter. After progressively larger renovations, Andy looked to whole custom home build to exercise his attention to detail and building technique. Tim and Andy started Carlisle & Ruffing Construction LLC in 2023.

We have our general contracting license in Columbus, Ohio. This is the proper license for most locations in Ohio and we will obtain whatever is required for your locality. We are bonded and insured and carry builder risk insurance specific to your property and build starting the day we break ground on your project.

We specialize in custom, well-built renovations. Doing what's best for the customer is what drives all our decisions. We are proud to provide a superior product and let our work speak for itself.

Yes! If you already have plans we are happy to use them in your home. If you don't have plans we typically have useful design suggestions and prefer to work with you and one of our talented architects during the design process. We have a flexible process so bring us what you have and we'll come up with something together.

You can choose any features, options, and upgrades you like. We are happy to provide input on every aspect of a project but leave the final decisions to you. We will discover your goals together and help you find a solution to meet them.

Please call us before entering the active construction zone. We'd like to be there with you for safety reasons. We provide hard hats and know what times of day to avoid dangerous work being done. However, sometimes it's not possible to walk through portions of the project due to hazardous conditions like holes in floors or the ground, overhead work, etc. We believe a well informed customer is a happy customer and a big part of that is seeing and understanding the process.

It depends on the complexity of your project and how quickly and timely decisions are made. Our goal is always to be complete in 8 to 12 months.

When the project is complete we will do a final walkthrough with the client and come up with a list of remedies the customer wants to see (called a punch-out list). We aim to do multiple walkthroughs before the client does to minimize punch-out items. We are typically the most stringent eyes on the construction site and we will not leave the client with an issue that would bother us in our own home.

We don't do "gotcha" change orders.

Occasionally, we intentionally exclude certain work because it’s unlikely to be needed and don't want to charge the customer "just in case."

If we write up a change order it is because the customer requested it or there was something extremely rare or unlikely discovered during the project.

Cost plus contracts are common on larger construction projects where the client pays the costs of material and subcontracted labor plus an agreed upon percentage for profit for the general contractor, usually 20%.

Most clients and banks prefer the guaranteed quote method because they want to know what to plan for up front. A contractor's non-binding estimate is less precise than a guaranteed price quote.