The kitchens in Holden's company houses were mostly not part of the original plan. They were carved out of existing rooms or added at the back later, and kitchen remodeling in Holden usually means undoing a compromise somebody made decades ago.
Had them out after the back steps started going soft underfoot. He came and looked properly before quoting anything, and told me the structure underneath was still sound — so it ended up a smaller job than I had braced myself for. Turned up when he said he would, cleaned up after himself, and the price at the end was the price we agreed. Not much more you can ask for.
Owner replied
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Skyler White
9 months ago
Called on a Tuesday and had someone out the same week. What I appreciated most was being told straight what needed doing now and what could safely wait until spring. No pressure and no trying to talk me into the bigger version of the job. It has held up fine through the winter since.
T
Trevor Alford
2 months ago
The quote came through itemised and the final bill matched it, which has honestly not been my experience with everyone around here. They worked around an awkward driveway without once making it my problem, and left the place tidier than they found it. Would have them back.
K
Kaleb Withrow
3 weeks ago
Fair price, showed up on time, tidy work. No complaints.
Sample reviews shown for illustration.
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Send a few photos and we'll tell you what it'll take — free written quote, no pressure.
These houses were built to standard patterns for a way of living that did not include the kitchens we now take for granted. When running water and modern appliances arrived, the kitchen went where it could — a back porch closed in, a room divided, a corner borrowed from the room next door.
Kitchen partitions and doorways moved to suit a cabinet run
Floor structure checked where the kitchen was added at the back
Closed-in back porches rebuilt with a proper kitchen floor
New openings trimmed to match the house pattern
Quotes made more accurate by the repeating layout
Why Choose Mackwood Construction?
What you get when Mackwood does your kitchen remodeling — and what we won't do.
Free written quote, itemised before anything starts
We get underneath and look properly before quoting — not from the kerb
We'll tell you straight if a repair isn't worth doing
Based in Williamson — Mingo and Logan counties, about an hour out
Straight answers on permits, which differ either side of the county line
Built for this climate: drainage, flashing and ground contact done right
From first call to finished work — no surprises in between.
Step 1
Tell us about the project
Call, text, or send a message with what you're looking to build or repair. No form to fill in and no call centre — it comes straight to us, and you'll get a real answer about whether it's something we do.
Step 2
Send photos or schedule a look
A few photos are often enough to tell us what we're dealing with. Where it isn't — anything structural, anything hidden underneath — we'll come out and look properly before quoting rather than guessing from the kerb.
Step 3
Get a clear quote
You get a written quote that itemises the work, so you can see what you're paying for and what you aren't. If we think part of it isn't worth doing, we'll say so. No pressure and no surprises at the end.
Step 4
We build it right
We turn up when we said we would, work clean, and haul the offcuts away with us. The job gets built to last in this climate — and we'll walk it with you before we call it finished.
Not sure what your kitchen remodeling needs?
We'll come and look, then tell you straight — including if it isn't worth doing.
Because it was almost certainly not in the original plan. Kitchens in these houses were carved out of existing rooms or added at the back later, and a remodel is the chance to fix that rather than fit new cabinets around it.
Should a wall or doorway move rather than just new cabinets?
Sometimes, and it is worth asking before spending. Where a doorway sits in the only good cabinet wall, moving it can cost less than working around the original compromise for another thirty years.
Can you quote more accurately because of the house pattern?
Usually yes. The layouts repeat, so we know the room sizes and roughly where things run before opening anything, which narrows the range and means fewer exploratory openings.
Where would the waste go on these streets?
In a container if one can get close, otherwise out in loads. The camp streets are narrow with limited staging, so that gets settled before the first day and priced in.
Can you match the original detail on a company house?
Usually, and Holden is the best case for it. The houses were built to standard patterns, so the profile you need is generally still visible on the same street. Where something genuinely can't be sourced we'll show you the nearest option rather than substituting quietly.
My neighbour just had the same repair done. Does that mean mine is coming?
Quite possibly. These houses were built the same way at the same time on the same ground, so they tend to reach the same failures together. It's worth a look underneath before it becomes urgent.
The house is dug into the hill and the back is hard to get to. Is that an issue?
It's the normal situation in the camps and it's usually the side the work is on. It affects access and how long material handling takes, not whether the repair can be done properly.
What kitchen remodeling in Holden actually involves
Most people are buying a result, not a list of tasks. Pick a topic to see what we look at before quoting in Holden.
More on remodeling work in Holden
That is why so many of them are narrow, oddly shaped, or have a doorway in the one place a run of cabinets should go. A remodel is the chance to fix the original compromise rather than put new doors on it, and quite often the better project is moving a partition or a doorway rather than improving the room where it stands.
It is also why what is under the floor matters here. These houses are set into the hillside, water off the slope reaches the back and the low side first, and a kitchen added at the back sits right there. We look at the sill and the joist bearings under it before anyone chooses cabinets.
A repeating plan makes the quote more accurate
Because Island Creek Coal built these houses to a small number of layouts, we usually know the room sizes, the stair position and roughly where the kitchen wall runs before walking in. On a kitchen remodel, where most of the cost risk sits in what cannot be seen, that is worth real money to you.
It means the range we quote is narrower than it would be on a one-off house, and it means fewer exploratory openings to get to a number. Where we have worked on the same pattern before, we can often tell you what is likely behind a particular wall.
It cuts both ways, and we will say when a pattern has a known awkwardness rather than letting you find it.
Working in the camps
About forty-five minutes from Williamson, US-119 to WV-44. The streets are narrow, staging room is limited, and the houses are set into the hillside, so the working side is often the awkward side.
For a kitchen remodel that mostly affects deliveries and waste. Cabinets come in as each stage needs them rather than stacked on a street with nowhere to put them, and where a container cannot sit close, debris comes out in loads and that is priced in rather than raised later.
Permitting is Logan County, administered separately from Mingo, and it matters on anything structural, including a partition that turns out to be carrying the floor above.
Homes around Holden
Holden is a planned coal town rather than a town that grew, and it shows in the housing more clearly than anywhere else we work. Island Creek Coal built these houses to a small number of standard patterns across the numbered camps, which means whole streets share a floor plan, a porch detail, and a foundation type. For carpentry that is genuinely useful: once we have seen the failure on one of them we know where to look on the next, and matching original trim and porch detail is realistic because the pattern is documented by the houses around it.
What we see locally
These houses are approaching a century old and were built with untreated framing on block and stone piers, set into hillside sites where drainage was designed for the coal operation rather than for the houses. Water coming off the slope behind a house is the constant, and the damage concentrates at the back and the low side — sill plates, joist bearings, and the porch structure where it steps down the grade. The uniformity that helps us diagnose also means the whole street tends to arrive at the problem together.
Getting to the job
About forty-five minutes from Williamson, US-119 to WV-44. The camps sit up off the main road on narrow streets that were laid out for the era, so the approach is tighter than the drive suggests and there is limited room to stage material. Houses set into the hillside also mean the working side is often the awkward side, which affects the day rather than the price of the carpentry.
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