The folks at Korts & Knight are delightful people but unfortunately their excellence is in front…read morework, not in execution. In my experience, once we fell in love with our proposal and signed on the dotted line, the problems started...
- The contract happened to be switched underneath me - We received one copy in email, but I was presented another to sign, which I didn't notice until 3 months later when expensive things weren't installed and I wondered why!
- It took over 6 months for the project to finish! Towards the end I had to email them EVERY SINGLE DAY to ask them for status and try to get them to come and finish.
- Additional items exploded in price once work was underway. E.g. I was told a support beam for our countertops would be easy, and would probably cost around $150 to add in. Once in contract without it documented, it was $629. This was not a change order. This was just a change in our negotiating position: We had already hired them.
That said, they're really friendly (seeming) people, their pre-contract prices are reasonable, so you may be tempted to use them. If this temptation swings you, please please please at least follow these points of advice:
- Make sure the contract encourages prompt completion of the project and follows California laws. In my case, only $446 was to be paid upon completion, the bulk paid before the cabinets even arrived on-site. Consequently, it took over 6 months from the date of the contract until completion - probably because they already got their money!
- THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!! Bring a copy of your draft contract and make sure it matches the contract you sign at Korts & Knight. In our case, around $1000 of internal pull-out drawers went mysteriously missing, and since I signed the contract without it, I had no recourse. You may even want to print the drawings yourself, review them thoroughly at home, and sign those.
- Do not use Korts & Knights for anything besides cabinets. You will have a much better experience if you handle or your general contractor handles countertops and appliances: Things will be scheduled promptly and/or in tune with the general construction, you won't have he-said-she-said problems when it comes to property damage during delivery, and the price you're quoted will more likely match what you pay. In my experience, we were ordered countertops for $5800, documented VIA EMAIL, they were delivered one month late (due to Korts & Knight mistakes), and ultimately the invoice came in at $7200 because Korts ordered a different countertop than we asked and didn't inform us of the price difference. (We paid $6083 in the end.) Additionally, the appliance installers damaged our entryway and floors, but Korts claimed it could have been anyone, so we had our GC fix it for them. And the appliances weren't even installed right. The fridge is tilted forward so it's hard to close. There's gaps around the range hood.
- ALSO IMPORTANT: Follow-up all verbal conversations with emails with confirmation. You're going to want documentation to cite when things go wrong. (But do be aware that they'll often site conflicting "phone calls" or undiscoverable "emails" that you didn't make and they can't reference to their defense... so documentation only goes so far.)
As you can see, much of this comes down to me over-trusting Korts, signing a contract which favored lax execution, and getting what I agreed to. This is my fault. This does not have to be your fault. Fortunately, Korts does have some ethics, and is a long-standing company, so they did eventually get my project done according to the contract I unfortunately signed. But I wish I had done things differently, including hiring a different company.
If you have any questions or would just like to talk, feel free to send me a Yelp message. An investment like this is a huge deal and I'll be happy to respond.
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Some notes responding to Spencer's critiques:
- Interesting to note that he does not dispute that the contract was switched out underneath me. And I do have a printed contract, directly from him, that includes roll-out cabinets and other improvements, for exactly the same price I paid.
- He offered that I come with him on a Saturday to build trim pieces for the kitchen he's responsible for assembling. And this is a favor? For me to do his work for him? On my weekend? I did it, because it needed to be done, and Spencer wasn't going to do it himself.
- I did insist on paying $6083 for the countertops, and not pay him a penny more, because he said they'd cost $5800. It's disgusting he even attempted to profit for overcharging me by $1300. And you have no idea how he tried to sneak this past us...