HBR could write a case study on how to provide outstanding service based on my experience with Marin Lumber. We ordered doors for a project and only realized that we mixed up the handing after they'd been delivered (pay special attention to their handing chart -- it's different from what I/my team is accustomed to). This was a mortifying mistake and could have really turned out badly. Douglas talked me through everything on the phone that afternoon, accepted the doors back the following day, and had them rehung and redelivered the day after that. He didn't even charge us even though this was obviously my mistake. The quality of work is high and they can customize most doors with surprisingly quick turnaround, but the service is on another level. I'll be ordering again in a few weeks. read more

Downright rude. I came in person to find a passcode latch for a wooden gate. They said Rob handles that, but he's not in. I called a few days later, asking which type of latch I would need for my gate. The person on the phone said "he's not the right guy and that Rob knows more. I asked to speak with Rob. They did not put Rob on the phone and told me to do my own research and find the model that I need for the gate and then they can order it. If they can't help me find the right solution to my problem, I'm not exactly sure why they exist. I wanted to support a local business, but instead, I'll do my own research and just use amazon.com read more

These guys are my favorite. Not a fancy showroom, and a no-frills vibe, but friendly, straight-shooters. They carry a good range of brands and their work ranges from affordable mid-range to, as far as I can assess, the highest-end custom work & materials available in Marin. Our contractor turned us on to these guys (and we worked with and purchased from them directly) and they seem to be a tradesmen's favorite. We've used them on 3 projects over the past two years and each time the transaction is complete, I think, "I ought to write these guys a review" so here it is: On our first project, we purchased a suite of interior doors in a custom configuration (some with frosted glass, some without) and what locked us in with Rob at Marin was both his friendliness, and to be honest, the price - we shopped around and Rob was the winner there. We had some construction delays (my fault) and in spite of how busy they are, and their space constraints associated with that, they held the doors after prepping them, for FAR longer than anyone could have expected. Since then we've purchased a glorious front door (a Simpson Nantucket that we are in love with), and a couple more interior doors for other areas of our home. The service has been excellent, including addressing requests, such as my returning to them with two bypass doors that needed channels added to the bottom - it was a pleasure dealing with them on all. I've learned that this is a generations-old, family owned small business, and at different times I was dealing directly with guys in the woodworking shop instead of the front office, and in all cases, the service was straightforward and friendly enough! There are more projects upcoming on "this old house" and we will go them for our doors ongoing. I just wish they did windows too! read more

Marin Lumber - Simpson Nantucket - Building Supplies Near Me - San Rafael, California

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They provided the personalized service you just can't find with on line shopping and when problems developed with a door I ordered from them, they waived the purchase price which I felt showed high ethical standards as well read more

Ok, this is my first review of a business. This company deserves no stars ! A friend referred me to Marin Lumber as I needed to replace to replace my front doors after 20 years. They have a direst exposure to the sun and the elements. I requested weather proof doors. Marin Lumber recommended Simpson doors and not knowing doors from hockey pucks and trusting their expertise, I ordered them. I paid for them in March of 2019 , promised delivery in 60 days but didn't receive them until October after repeated phone calls ! I had the salesman come out to my house and with my friend who knew them . I asked him again, "are these doors weatherproof and I was reassured they were and that is why they are more expensive". Doors wee finally hung in mid October and I had them sealed and painted. In June of this year I started to notice cracks in the doors by the upper panels made by Simpson. The panels were coming apart. I don't know doors from hockey pucks but I do know I paid or weather proof doors. The owner, Diedrich, came out after many phone calls , and inspected the doors and said "these doors aren't right". He said he would contact the Simpson door rep and have him come out to see the doors. When they came out they had rehearsed their act. They put a mirror under bottom of door and informed me that I hadn't sealed bottom edge so it was my fault. At NO time did they tell me about this before they hung the doors as relied on their expertise. I said these doors are only waterproof if I waterproof them ! I asked for replacement or repair and Diedrich referred to small print on sales receipt and LAUGHED at me ! Doors were hung and they claimed moisture came through bottom of doors. Funny thing, it hadn't rained in months and the damage stated in the top part of doors, not the bottom. So I hired a professional to come out and hopefully repair doors. He took one look and told me the doors were never finished properly and were defective. The moisture did not come from the bottom ! In fact when he took door handles off there is cardboard in the $4,500.00 doors. Please see photos and note hack job done by installer. Bottom line, if this review prevents one person from experiencing the terrible service and treatment I experienced this review was worth it ! I, read more

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We had heard nothing but good thinks about Marin Lumber...unfortunately, our experience was nothing but bad. We needed 8 doors replaced, but started with one to see how things went. That went ok, although we should of paid more attention to the slow response time to phone messages & emails from our sales rep, Jake Peters. Communication was the biggest problem. Once the remainder of the doors were ordered, calls & emails would go unanswered for weeks. After taking time off work to drive to the shop during their business hours, Jake informed me of the delays. Jake always had some excuse; they all sounded like, "The dog ate my homework!" Jake continuously given timelines that were way off. He ordered 2 doors were incorrectly, and 2 others came with hinge cuts on the wrong side of the door. These had to be reordered with additional timelines that were over due by weeks without communication of the delay. To their credit, they did offer to correct the problems, but, this came with an additional "7-10 day" turn around. All the while, we were living without doors in the house. After almost 4 months (Jake told us to expected about 2 week turn around for the entire job), the last door finally arrived with a huge gouge & incorrect hinge cuts. He told us he would give us a $50 refund (we spent over $3000 with them) so could have our contractor fix the door. Needless to say, we were over dealing with Jake and his misleading statements. We were further disappointed to see this systemic problem comes from the owner as well. We sent an email & voicemail for the owner, Deidrick, who did leave ONE return message to call back. However, despite our many more phone messages & emails never again tried to contacted us. Besides the ridiculous delays (that we could of managed, had we known to expect them), we ended up paying our contractor an additional couple hundred dollars to fix the mistakes of Marin Lumber. read more

When we started our remodel, we sought out local businesses in order to support the small business owners. One of the biggest mistakes we made was selecting Marin Lumber for our doors. The customer service is awful. Even though the prices were higher than Home Depot, we decided to pay a bit more to support our local community. This would have been ok IF the communication and service were suitable. This is definitely not the case. We've had to call 5-8 times, send multiple emails, and forced to physically show up at their shop to obtain a response. I highly recommend d seeking out an alternative vendor if you're looking for doors in Marin. read more

I bought a new front door from Marin Lumber last year and had a very good experience. The process was simple and the pricing was good. The door was ready when they said and it looks great. read more

My wife and I worked with Marin Lumber to get new doors for our home remodel (9 doors total). While the doors that we ultimately received were of good quality the process we went through to get them was extremely stressful and ultimately miserable. *Marin Lumber was consistently absent when trying to reach them - they would literally take days to return phone calls *Doors were promised delivery on a certain day, we had crews onsite to take the doors and start installing - Marin Lumber never showed up and couldn't be reached by phone to figure out what was going on. As a result, we paid for a crew to stand around for an entire day and do nothing. *Only when my wife went and stood in the shop until someone would answer our questions and ensure they would deliver the doors did we finally get a response. Obviously not ideal to have to take time off of work to do so. *When the doors were finally delivered, they haphazardly slammed them up against the newly finished drywall and took out large chunks of the drywall - as a result, we had to pay our drywaller to come back and out fix the damage. To date, Marin Lumber has not returned any of my calls to address this issue or simply apologize. I would HIGHLY recommend not doing business with this company. They seemingly went out of their way to provide horrible customer service. read more

Took a "raw" front door in to get cut and bored to match existing front door. Skilled craftsman did an amazing job (door fits perfectly) and turned the job around in less than 3 hours. Friendly staff, excellent value. read more

Purchased 20 doors from this place through my contractor. The doors seem to be OK, including a $7K front door that is beautiful. The real problem is they tried to charge over $300 per door (on average) for door hardware; just knobs and locks, not hinges. What's worse is I was totally unaware of this price gouging until after some of it had been installed in my home. They refused to take it back because the installed hardware was now consider "used". Now they want a 20% restocking fee for hardware that was not installed. I would never have ordered anything had I known the price up front. I purchased equivalent door hardware elsewhere for 10% of what they charged. My opinion of these guys is that they are unscrupulous carpetbaggers. Beware, get all pricing and scheduling up front and in writing. read more

I purchased hardware for my doors and had several doors bored with Marin Lumber. They are helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. They bored a door and I didn't have a chance to pick it up and they called me up one day and said we will be in the area and we will bring your door to you. Wow... Great service! I would recommend them to my friends, family and neighbors... read more

These guys are terraible baught some doors of them they took forever the owner placed the order himself and was weeks out with his delivery and he even stopped returning calls very bad customer service read more