We hired ACL Remodeling summer 2025. Carlos (owner) and son Michael came to do our estimate…read more Michael did the primary contracting and interactions initially. He is a good salesman with great people skills. But once the work started Michael was no longer involved and Carlos was who we dealt with, which made us initially feel confident as the older owner.
However, despite contracting a $20,000 remodeling project, we've had many disappointments and push backs from Carlos during our renovation. Also, communication with him was sporadic at times and sometimes we felt pressured to give in to what he wanted to do instead of exactly what we had contracted to have done. And this became a recurring theme during this extensive remodeling process in our Living Room, Master Bedroom, Kitchen Pantry, 4 bedroom closets and a garage storage unit. We learned during the project that their renovation supervisor had left earlier in the year so that may have contributed to our subpar experience.
A summary:
1) Articulating TV mount, wall reinforced - We contracted for them to mount our new flatscreen TV with TV mounts in our Living Room Entertainment alcove with custom cabinets & base unit they would build. Unfortunately, they installed it improperly and the next morning when my wife went to adjust the TV, the wall mount immediately pulled out from the wall, the TV fell on the top of the custom base unit and put a large gash in the top. Fortunately, the new TV was OK. However, they had to remove the damaged base cabinet's countertop, install a new one, reinforce the wall as was originally contracted, repair the damaged drywall, and reinstall the TV mount with attached TV.
2) Incorrect colors for the cabinets & base unit for our custom Living Room Entertainment Center as well as the Custom Desk and cabinet in our Master Bedroom - Originally Carlos showed us pictures on his cellphone of color palate options, but he did not have actual wood samples in the color options. When we objected to the colors of the cabinets when they arrived, he refused to send the cabinets back and get the shade of colors we wanted. He said that he picked them up in Miami and they could not be returned for different colors. He said they had been bought based on the colors we picked from his phone pictures and we had no recourse but to accept them as is. In retrospect this was an early red flag for our satisfaction with their work.
To try to make reparations, they tried to repaint the Entertainment Cabinet base unit and cabinets to the brown shades that we wanted but the few sample stains they tried were never quite the shades we wanted. So, we ended up having them installed as iso and later we contracted with a different vendor to have them repainted to the shades we preferred. For such an expensive custom project we don't believe we should have had to accept them "as is" when they arrived or have someone else remedy their mismatched cabinets and base unit.
3) Master Bedroom Desk - we contracted for a custom desk to be built in our Master Bedroom nook. However, what they built was a custom tabletop with no middle drawer and big legs. Also, instead of an "Independent light for desk" as contracted which we intended to be a hardwired light with a wall switch, they installed a rechargeable, remote-controlled light that they bought at a local hardware store and mounted it under the cabinet for the desk.
4) LED recessed lights - They tried to install battery operated lights with remote controls in one closet and our pantry instead of the "LED recessed lights" as listed in our quote. We did, however, get them to hardwire a light in the pantry but not for the MBR desk.
5) Double hangs in 4 Closets - We wanted to replace the wire closet shelving originally installed in our condo's closets with custom wood ones. And this is what they did. Unfortunately, they incorrectly measured the distance between the top clothes hanging bars and the one below such that shirts and pants hung on them touch the shelf below it and don't hang freely. We've had to buy all new hangers with a very short necks to enable our clothes to hang more freely.
6) Balcony Grill Area - They remodeled our balcony outdoor electric grill & cabinet. However, the metal door they installed is now rusting around its edges.
7) Install 3 filing cabinets in MBR - never done and we completed ourselves.
8) Garage Storage Closet, shelves & dividers - Never completed this project in our condo's garage storage unit.
