This is a first for me; I never write bad reviews. But in this case I feel a need to share my…read moreexperience with prospective clients, and also let United Builders know what they need to significantly improve their business.
What sold us on going with United Builders:
- Mike was excellent in creating a sharp 3D rendering of our design, as well as providing good design ideas and information on what would work, and not work well, with what we wanted to do.
- They offered a great 'one stop shopping' arrangement where you go to their L A showroom and choose all your tile, countertop, flooring, trim, vanity, virtually everything. Super easy! We went there and chose everything including vanity color, type and style, mirror frame material, marble countertop, shower trim and backsplash trim for tub and vanity.
- The price was very competitive and they included the vanity and tile for free with a promotion they were having. They stayed within their budget throughout as well.
- They promised daily status reports and on time project completion (19 days or basically three weeks). We allowed four weeks ourselves, just knowing how remodel projects can run into delays for various reasons.
What actually happened:
- We started on March 12 and finished June 2!
- They ran out of tile and were delayed over a week to get more.
- They forgot or lost the vanity style and color we ordered and we had to choose again via phone photos, unless we wanted to go to LA again.
- We provided the mirror (which was in a very expensive frame, for the vanity, which they were going to build a frame for). We thought they would return our frame to us but they thought otherwise and advised we should have been more specific in saying we wanted the frame back and now it was gone. No information as to where it went, just that we were not getting it back. We let it slide.
- We rearranged our schedules to be home for their workers and on a few occasions they did not come when they promised and one occasion was 'No Show-No Call'. When we called them to find out what was happening, there were often no return calls, or returned calls a day or two later. There were certainly no daily status updates and in fact we were in the dark several times during the project not knowing what was going on, why there were delays, why workers weren't here.
- The first countertop delivered did not fit as they had the wrong measurements. Another delay. The second countertop which they installed, was the wrong color and did not match what we had chosen. They ripped it out and then couldn't find the right marble for over a week. Finally, they said we had to go back to LA and choose again, which we did. Another long delay. Of course, the marble we had chosen in the first place, was right there all along so it was never clear as to what the delay was about, and why we had to go to LA a second time.
- After more delays to get the vanity, when it was finally delivered, it was not as we had ordered ( wrong number of drawers, no pull out draw as ordered, and a chip in the top). More delays to take it back and fix. This actually took three visits to repair.
- The mirror frame was also delivered damaged, more fixing, more delays. We were frustrated beyond belief and thought we would never see the end.
Bottom line:
- To their credit Nir (Neal), the project manager agreed to fix, replace or repair everything that went wrong.
- The quality of the work and materials is very good, the bathroom is beautiful and we love it.
What they need to fix:
1. Lack of Attention to detail and follow through (the cause of all of their mistakes and delays, which could have been avoided).
2. Promptly fix mistakes! There will always be mistakes made, but dragging out remedies over weeks makes the client even more frustrated.
3. Improve communication: keep the client informed, show up when when you're supposed to, return calls, don't keep the client hanging for days and even weeks, to resolve problems that the company created.
Would we hire United Builders again? No! We have completed many remodels over the years and sadly, this was the worst experience of all.