We hired Derick to remodel our rental home. Quotes, negotiations, and initial walkthroughs all went…read moregreat. He is extremely responsive and easy to work out details with. We appreciate that Derick is reliable and stands by his work.
Working with D&E could have easily been 5 stars - pricing and communication are excellent. However, the on site manager for a few main phases of construction marred our experience. Mr. Miao led the external and internal painting of the house and did not do a good job. In addition, he was verbally aggressive (tried to bully us into doing more work), ethically questionable (wanted us to go around Derick for some materials), dismissive (or just fails to listen), and a chain smoker (but he didn't smoke inside the house).
Externally, we needed the walls washed, patched, and painted. This was covered multiple times during our conversations with Derick. On the day of external painting, they washed and painted. It wasn't until we complained about the lack of patching that they went back to patch and paint again.
Internally, we had three paint issues. In large areas, like the ceiling, the paint layers are uneven and in certain light, you can clearly see the uneven paint. Second, despite Derick reminding Mr. Miao that we wanted the same color walls in the kitchen as the rest of the house, he still painted it the original color. Lastly, he painted the water-based paint directly over the old oil-based paint in the bathrooms, doors, and kitchen. This resulted in peeling before the job was even over.
To top it off, we added canned lights to the kitchen. The electrician had reminded Mr. Miao of this, but when Mr. Miao framed the kitchen ceiling, he placed the 2x4's where the electrician wanted the lights. The electrician didn't find out until after he opened the ceiling and then had to open up additional holes in the new ceiling to add his lights. The holes were patched up, but it's aggravating to put unnecessary holes in your new ceiling and have new the lights asymmetrically aligned.
On the positive note, the job finished just a few days after the original schedule date. The delay was due to the Lunar New Year holiday weekend (and the workers took NYE off, too) and window installation was a few days late. Once they arrived, though, the doors and windows were installed quickly and cleanly.
If you choose to work with D&E, make sure you don't work with Mr. Miao. Other than that, you're in good hands. For all the issues we've encountered, Derick had them fixed and has promised to correct any issues that arise.
