TL;DR
Zero stars - I do not recommend John Christopher Construction Inc or their partner company Coastal Handyman Pros
-Extremely poor work product and service: unsafe practices, performed and charged for work that was not approved by client
-Extremely poor communication: over promising on work product and schedule, unaware of status of job
John Christopher Construction Inc works with a partner company, Coastal Handy Pros, and they both worked simultaneously on my kitchen renovation. Communication with the contractor was poor throughout the entire process. The contractor never specified a point of contact - each time I had a conversation with John, Chris, or Christina, they had no understanding about the scope of the project or what we discussed during previous conversations. Additionally, John typically blamed all miscommunication on his partners or me. This lack of adequate communication caused poor service, scheduling, and work product.
During the time between the initial walk through and the scheduled start construction, I was informed that the scope of work would take 4 days. However, on the morning of the start of construction I was given a contract to sign with an estimated duration of 3 to 14 days. Again, the contractor stated verbally that the work would be done in 5 days or earlier. The construction took 12 days total. The duration of actual performed work was approximately 3 days.
The contractor did not take the initiative to let me know when workers would be in my home. When I would ask, I received vague or untrue answers. Work was never completed as and when promised. There were several days when zero progress was made on the renovation.
The contractor did not take the initiative to let me know the status of the job. I would find out about changes and damages on my own. When damage occurred, the contractor did not initiate communication to inform me or offer a solution. The contractor took zero responsibility for the inadequate communication - the contractor's response to this lack of communication was, "She lives here so she sees what's going on before us."
During and after construction, the work area was left uncleaned with no exclusion zone. There was a regular mess on personal items outside of the work area.
Below are specific examples from this kitchen renovation that show poor communication, poor work product, and unsafe practices from the contractor:
-The contractor provided two different countertop material costs (the second cost was 60 percent more than the first). The contractor claimed it was the fault of Christina for providing the lower cost, and that they would honor the lower price. Then the contractor claimed they purchased the wrong pre-cut slab and would need to purchase a new slab. They charged me an extra transportation fee for their mistake.
-Demo of countertops created damage to existing cabinets and drywall. The contractor argued with me that it was not in their scope of work to fix the damage and attempted to justify this by saying they already gave me a lower cost on the countertop material. The contractor agreed to fix the drywall damage, but the work was extremely poor (pictured). Drywall material and paint was left on the countertop material (pictured).
-After the countertop demolition, a plumbing leak began and was left unfixed for 5 days. The plumbing leak was located next to a live electrical outlet and wires (pictured). The contractor used a small plastic bottle to catch leak, however the bottle would overflow quickly. When I brought the leak to the attention of the contractor, they told me to contain the leak myself.
-When working on the kitchen sink plumbing, the contractor did not turn off water source and flooded the kitchen and dining area. When I asked about fixing any possible water damage, the contractor said that there is most likely no damage without conducting any inspection.
-I requested there would be no countertop "ledge" at the kitchen window facing the living room. After the countertops were installed, there was a 1 to 2 inch ledge.
-We agreed on a full-size bullnose backsplash tile for the edges. The contractor installed partial size bullnose tiles and claimed the full-size tiles do not exist. The full size bullnose tiles are sold at several stores including Home Depot. This change in tile choice resulted in an unpleasing backsplash tile design (pictured).
-The countertop was chipped/damaged during installation. The contractor said the damage would be covered before the renovation was complete, however the damage is still visible (pictured).
-The contractor charged me extra to install a range hood and justified the extra cost by claiming it takes 2 workers to install. He installed the range hood by himself.
-The contractor did a poor job of caulking the edge of the overmount sink (pictured). Additionally, caulk material was left on the inside bowl of the new sink. read more