Wow, where to start? We hired Greencast (Barak) to remodel our kitchen, laundry room, and replace the flooring throughout the house.
Before we even signed the contracts, we informed Barak of our daughter's asthma and that we needed the construction areas to be sealed off with plastic. He agreed to seal off the work areas and put plastic with zippers for access. Fast forward to day 1 "demo". They didn't seal anything and needless to say, our house was covered in dust & debris from our 1950's house being demolished. Who knows if lead or asbestos was present, because they didn't test for it.
The only licensed subcontractor they brought in was the electrician (BlueMan Electric). All other workers were handymen or hired laborers. If you check their license on the CSLB (Contractor's State License Board) website, you'll see that Jakov Golan is a sole proprietor and he has ZERO employees, therefor he carries no workman's comp. insurance for anyone working on your property (including Barak and Lenny), so if anyone gets hurt, it's on you.
We paid for recessed lighting (as stated in the contract) yet they put in surface mount lighting. They said it would be a "change order" if they would fix their "mistake" and give us the recessed lighting that we paid for. After contacting the electric co., I found out that it was cheaper to install surface mount lighting.
They were doing things out of order, then having to go back and try to patch/fix things which just made it worse. For example, Barak scheduled the drywall to be done on Monday, yet the electricians weren't coming until Tuesday to move some outlets and run wiring. Rather than holding off on doing the drywall, they came and did their thing. The next day, the electrician made a bunch of holes in the new drywall. After about a week or so, a handyman came and patched the holes. So now you can see patch marks in our new drywall.
The job was supposed to take 8 weeks, but as they were rushing things early on, Barak said they were going to be done in 6 weeks. We're now on our 10th week. We haven't seen or been able to reach Barak or anyone at Greencast in over a week and a half. They've walked off the job without finishing. Unfortunately we paid them all but $4,000 so now they don't care to come back and finish. I'm now having to take them to arbitration (which you will have to sign and agree to before they start work). I've since discovered that arbitration disputes do not show up on the CSLB website, which is most likely the reason they make you sign the arbitration agreement.
To make things worse, I referred Greencast to a customer of mine (when things were going good early on in our remodel). She's an elderly lady (all by herself). They charged her $23,000 more than me, even though her kitchen is a third of the size of mine, and no laundry room.
HERE'S SOME FREE ADVICE: CAREFULLY READ THE WHITE COPY OF THE CONTRACT "STATUTORY NOTICES". IT TELLS YOU HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM MECHANICS LIENS. "YOU CAN PROTECT YOURSELF FROM LIENS BY GETTING A LIST FROM YOUR CONTRACTOR (GREENCAST) OF ALL THE SUBCONTRACTORS AND MATERIAL SUPPLIERS THAT WORK ON YOUR PROJECT". DO NOT SKIP THIS PART. MY WIFE AND I HAVE ASKED FOR THIS A DOZEN TIMES AND HAVE YET TO RECEIVE IT. YOU NEED TO DEMAND IT BEFORE YOU ISSUE YOUR NEXT PROGRESS PAYMENT. THE ELECTRICAL WORK THEY HAD DONE NEEDS TO BE FIXED. THE UNDER CABINET LIGHTING DOESN'T WORK AND 2 OUTLETS DO NOT WORK. I FINALLY REACHED THE OWNER OF BLUEMAN ELECTRIC AND HE INFORMED ME THAT BARAK HASN'T EVEN PAID THEM YET, SO THEY WILL NOT FIX THE ELECTRICAL, NOR WILL I GET A WARRANTY FOR ALL THE WORK DONE. THE FLOORING HAS ISSUES AS WELL, AND AFTER I SPOKE TO OSCAR FROM THE FLOORING CO. HE TOLD ME THE SAME THING. HE HADN'T BEEN PAID EITHER. THERE ARE ISSUES WITH SOME OF THE CABINET DOORS AS WELL AND SOME CABINET CROWN MOLDING THAT (STILL) NEEDS TO BE INSTALLED . AFTER SPEAKING WITH RHOCHIE AND BENJAMIN FROM MTD KITCHEN, THEY TOLD ME THAT BARAK STILL HAS AN OUTSTANDING BALANCE WITH THEM AS WELL. GET THE LIST OF CONTRACTORS AND SUPPLIERS AND DEMAND MECHANICS LIEN RELEASES BEFORE YOU ISSUE PAYMENT. THEY CAN PUT A LIEN ON YOUR HOUSE, EVEN IF YOU PAID YOUR SHADY CONTRACTOR (GREENCAST)!
AVOID THIS COMPANY! THEY ARE DISHONEST AND HAVE NO INTEGRITY!!!
Unfortunately, I can't post pics in this review but I will be posting several pics to show the "quality work" that Greencast provides and the mess they left in front of my house and in my driveway. I've received several quotes to haul away all the construction debris (that according to our contract, was supposed to be done by Greencast) so far the cost is between $450-$750. read more