I'm making an amendment to my previous posted review, as it appears I jumped to conclusion. Additionally in my prior review, I made a few omissions', as I didn't want to mention my negative impressions about the individual's business. I didn't want to mention my negative impressions in fear that it would damage his business, as it's hard enough to make it in a small business. It also occurs to me that being less than honest isn't helpful for those folks, like myself, that depends on these Yelp reviews to reflect the truth and thus make informed decisions. So here's my true impressions.
Let me start by saying Nick, who's Kevin's helper, is personable, a straight shooter, and a very hard worker. In many ways it appears Nick's commitment to the job and doing good work, also serves the functions of covering Kevin's limitations and credibility.
I believe that my jobs shouldn't have taken a long as it has. At this writing, it's taken 18 days thus far to complete 2 jobs. The kitchen still isn't finished. Both jobs were laying ceramic tiles in an entry way and kitchen. The entry is 136 sq. ft., while the kitchen is 223 sq.ft. Other professionals have told me this type of jobs are normally completed in 7 to 8 work days.
Each time I asked Kevin for a completion date he threw out a date but they never came to fruition. Kevin would work a few hours (the longest he was around may have been 5 hrs.) and leave, most of the time he left Nick to work alone. Once he received his final payment, which he was given prior to completion of the job. In fact, throughout the job, I've given Kevin payments, I also gave him a tip of $200.00. The last time I saw him, my intuition said, "You won't see him again." As it turns out, I haven't seen him again, although Nick has been a steady rock and spend close to 40 hours working alone without supervision. He has done a wonderful job given his skill level. He readily admits he's learning the trade and has limited experience putting down flooring. Based on what I saw, Nick will evolve into a very skilled and polished craftsman with more experience. Thanks Nick for hanging in and completing the job the best you could.
On Friday, 4-7, I texted Kevin and asked he return to help Nick finish this job, he replied with a text that he would come over after completing another job. Well, he never returned my call or texted to let me know he wasn't coming, which left me wondering, WHY IS HE FINISHING ANOTHER JOB AND NOT FINISHING MY JOB. He has failed to fulfill his commitment and has been a no show without contacting me on a couple of occasions. I'm really disappointed and frustrated with him, I was planning to have a beautiful kitchen floor, which took me a while to save the gelt for, now I'm left to possibly call someone else to redo the floor, but it will have to wait for now. I've learned a valuable lesson, going with the lowest estimate isn't necessarily the wisest thing to go with. You get what you pay for. That's the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I apologize for my earlier Yelp review and only hope people haven't read them and based their decision on that review. It wasn't the whole picture. In closing, if you decide to hire Kevin, I'd recommend you get a clear contract with completion date and place a contingency penalty (deduction amount per day) should the work not being completed on the given completion date. Also, I'd suggest getting the list of materials needs and purchase them, then give him 10% to start the job and the remainder upon completion. read more
