We hired Eugene to perform a remodeling for our 3 bathrooms. His price was lower and he was able to start working right away. Plus we saw his work at our friend's house (not in details) and found it OK.
The work took much longer than they promised because of disorganization and too much things they did and had to fix:
1. They let us know they need a bath tube at the same day they needed it. We were not able to get it the same day and they had nothing to do for couple of days without it.
2. At the contract Eugene did not tell us that the price he gave us is for so-called "basic work". After we purchased tiles, toilets and trims, he told us that tiles and trims we bought are not simple to install and took from us another $1K for "change of design".
3. We purchased new Toto toilets and they told us, these toilets demand some extra installation steps, like floor drilling, so they wanted to charge us extra. We refused to pay that extra because found that demand unfair. At least, he could tell us ahead not to buy the toilets which are not "easy" to install.
At the final stages, we figured out that even "basic work" they cannot perform well. Here are few examples:
1. The floor at some places is not flat at all, as well as the walls. Even the way they put the silicon between the walls and tiles or at shower doors is unacceptable after it dries out.
2. At the vanity they disordered the drawers, so the upper drawer could not be completely closed because of the sink. Instead of figuring out they put it in a wrong order, they cut the back side of the drawer, so it could fit. The cut they did also damaged the look, so I had to go to Ikea in order buy another vanity set to take a drawer from there. They paid for it, but still... time and gas are on me.
3. The frame around the shower shelf was done the way where tile cubic was cut in the middle, so it looked like a fissure, we forced them to remove the frame at all. They said it was a tile with difficult pattern.
4. Same difficult pattern made them to install tiles around the sink ugly, so the corner looked like my 9-year old daughter put it there. We asked them to re-install it. They were not able to do it properly, until my wife came after work and literally held the tiles to help the guy to install.
5. The second floor vanity was installed the we we could not open the drawers because they hit the door ledge. Instead of moving it, they put some dict between the vanity and the wall, so it will allow the drawer to be fully opened.
6. The shower pole which hold the curtain was installed too far from the bath tube and too close to the toilet. They did not even ask us where we want it to be installed. After we asked to replace it, Eugene refused. I took it off by myself and found that the reason they hang it there is because they did not want to make holes in a tile, so they did them between tiles. But even that was too hard for them, after removing the pole decorative covers, I found on one side several holes instead of two. Looks like they tried several times and "forgot" to fix the extra holes. Also, they did not use the concrete insert, so the screws were just in the grout.
Eugene's plumber failed on everything. I would describe his work as a professional crime or sabotage(looks like they did not even test their work, which points on overall work quality):
1. When I used a master bedroom shower for the very first time after the remodeling, the water dropped to the first floor shower through the lighting spot. They had to open the first floor shower ceiling to figure out what is wrong, then they opened the floor on the second floor to fix the pipe. After they put the floor back, it was not flat anymore, but here came not only the beauty aspect, but the fact that the tile edges will be felt by our feet. We asked them to re-install it, but instead they just put the grout the next day (why to put the grout if they had to fix the floor???). Finally, they fixed the floor, it looks better, but not flat. Eugene said, if we can not see the defect from 4-5 feet, it is acceptable. Unfortunately, the bathroom is not as large, as his acceptance code says.
2. A HUGE problem with bathtub on second floor. We found out, that when we use it, the water leaks(more exactly - flows)down to the ground. It was visible from outside only. We had to hire another contractor to fix the problem(we did not believe Eugene's plumber anymore)and had to open the external wall and replace the pipe, which was probably damaged by Eugene's workers (we also saw many nails in it). On the way, we found out, that the new bathtub did not match old p-trap, so plumber instead of telling us to buy a new one(~$20),forced the bathtub and broke p-trap and drain, which caused another leak from the first floor shower ceiling.
Now we are about to start a legal process with the company, because of financial disagreement. HUGE disappointment in the work and in Eugene's personality. read more