We hired Ken Dorian (Dorian Construction) to do a complete gut renovation of our 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo. The experience was very frustrating, surprising and disappointing. We would not recommend Dorian Construction and would never do business with Ken Dorian in the future.
Ken's price came somewhere in the middle of 3 quotes. He seemed like an easy guy to work with and assured us that he did great work and that we'd be happy. We read reviews and all were positive. Unfortunately, our experience was negative!
Ken surprised us soon after the project began with an "up charge" in the amount of $20,000 via email with no explanation, no advance notice, no conversation. Eventually, we were told it was for extra electrical work. Importantly, the job took way too long too! We always expect delays when it comes to construction projects but not like what we experienced with Dorian Construction.
We live out of town and were not at the job site more than monthly but since Ken promised us he'd be there every day, we thought we would be kept in the loop. We were wrong. We constantly had to reach out to Ken because we never heard from him. Countless times, he didn't return calls, texts or emails. Everything was always on his schedule, not ours. We were 1,300 miles away and were forced to track him down because he didn't keep us apprised of what was going on during critical times during the project. That's when mistakes were made.
The incorrect bath tile began to be installed, the kitchen cabinet install had damage, the fridge cabinet door was installed incorrectly, the range hood vent never happened, to name a few. The quality of his subs was average. The tile work was sloppy and we still have an area of the wall in a bathroom that is jetting out. Kitchen cabinets are scratched, there is damage to floor tile. Just not what we expected based on Ken's continuing reassurance that everything was going smoothly.
Ken is not a builder. He is a project manager, and a "hands off" one at best. Our clear sense is that he has too many projects going on at once (even his subs alluded to that). In reading the previous reviews it's clear that our project was more involved. He told us he did our type of project every day so we had confidence that it would be a smooth process. We were wrong! We typically don't write reviews but it'sespecially important to share when the experience is bad. read more
