Buyer Beware!
Job 1 (Spring 2015) - Window Coverings. Great job, most of the coverings were done to perfection. The only issue is one set of drapes was measured 1/2" too long and the owner/designer, James Becker, asked if we could just keep them as-is so he doesn't have to redo them. We agreed. Window sheers for french doors are the best. Reasonable pricing.
Job 2 (Spring 2015) - Custom Interior Door Installation - Great job. Door created beautifully and project done on time. Reasonable pricing.
Job 3 (Spring 2015) - Interior Painting & Crown Moulding - Mediocre work performed by angry contractors who did not complete the work on-time and also damaged some appliances. Paint crew arrived and immediately balked at the size of the job because James Becker told them the job was half the size it actually was. My husband indicated to the Lead it was an issue he needs to discuss with James. The paint selected by the owner/designer James was god awful. It was the only paint he selected in our entire home and it was terrible. To have a 400-square foot room painted the shade of pale Santa Fe peach circa 1988 was atrocious. After some haggling with James, the room was repainted at no cost to me. A bathroom was painted and the painter did not remove any of the hardware so there was paint all over the base of the towel rack mounts, on the toilet paper holder, etc. The painter didn't even remove the paper blinds in the windows and painted the window sills with the blinds in and there was paint all over the paper blinds and some paint missing on the sills. Also, the painter painted our laundry room and decided to stand on our appliances and the top of our 1-year old $1500 dryer is covered in pock marks. James said he would purchase us a replacement panel if we sent him the model and part information. We sent it to him, followed-up and still no replacement part. Regarding the crown moulding, there were issues in dealing with the installation crew. Besides the fact they peed allover our bathroom floor. There were gaps in crown moulding that were finally addressed after my husband took a lot of time walking through the home to inspect and then had to explain to the crew that the gaps are not supposed to be there and had to prove his engineering experience before they relented to add a few more nails and caulking to address the gaps. Had we not pushed, we would be dissatisfied with the crown moulding like our neighbors are, who used the same crew.
Job 4 (Fall 2015) - Custom Cabinetry - TERRIBLE. A 2-day job ended up taking approximately 1-month to complete. We allocated 3-days just in case and were assured that the job would not take longer than 3-days. The cabinetry installed represented the conversion of a standard closet into a built-in cabinet with drawers, open shelves and shelves with cabinet doors. The crew arrived late every day of the initial 3-day installation and on days 1 & 2 left early. On the third day, the crew spray painted all of the wood for the cabinet "inside" the room where the cabinet was being installed. I realized the painting was going on when lacquer fumes were being pumped through the entire house as the ceiling vent in the casita was not sealed properly. We had five cats when this issue occurred. Two were kittens recently rescued and they had some medical issues. Three are seniors and one had cancer and some other serious medical issues. This work was being done during a week of an Indian summer and it was very hot. I had nowhere to take the cats and ended up opening all of the windows to try to air the house out. The Lead carpenter tried to reseal the vent but it didn't last. When I questioned why there was spray painting going on in the casita (a furnished room with brand new wood floors), he told me that he had been so busy that he forgot to prep all of the wood at his shop so he figured he would just do it on-site. Later on that night we had to purchase a number of fans from Target to get the air to circulate through the house with the AC on. The Lead left us one floor fan to put in the casita to help with the smell and told me the smell would be gone by the next day. I had a masseuse renting the casita two days a week and she had clients the next morning. Needlesstosay, the fumes were not gone by the next morning. I lost my rental income from the masseuse as she had to cancel all of her clients for the remainder of the week. We also had to rush our cat with cancer to see his internist because he was behaving differently after the paint fumes and took him in for 3-unscheduled visits the following 2-weeks. James did not want compensate us for any of the issues related to this job. The only thing he agreed to was paying for the fans we had to purchase which cost less than $100. He wouldn't even discount the remainder of the invoice and, instead, threatened not to finish the job if we did not agree to pay the final balance. read more
