I regret that I hired NRG Renovations ("Notoriety Renovations Gurus Renovations"...full name i later found out) to do the work at my in-laws house. The project management (by Joel) was non-existent. He couldn't follow simple instructions, much less manage the project. I would have been better off sub-contracting carpet, tile, paint, plumbing, cabinetry and landscaping and managing it myself, which is what i ended up doing for them. It was too much for them to handle.
Here's the list of issues:
- Project took twice as long as promised
- Wrong paint was picked up after i specified paint color name, code, and brand in a text. They committed to picking it up at Benjamin Moore b/c I didn't want any more mistakes at that point. What he brought was not even close to the right color. They just went to PPG (just ignored what they agreed to) and must have asked for the color by name. PPG "jute" is not even close to Benjamin Moore "jute". That was the very reason i specified so clearly in a text and followed up with a phone call. They had already shown they couldn't follow instructions. They proved my mistrust over and over.
- They were going to deliver different vanity top than we agreed to. I called the day before it was supposed to be delivered (again, so many mistakes i felt like i had to verify). I had to argue with him and then ended up driving 45 minutes one way to confirm that what they were sending was not what we agreed to (had pictures of in a text). When i got there, the stone company showed me exactly what i had picked out and the piece that NRG was going to deliver. He argued with me that it was close enough, but it wasn't. Joel never could explain why he didn't pick up the right one. This was their company, and I had picked based on pictures he sent me, and the company had the right one in stock.
-They installed a bath vanity that didn't fit the space; drawers only opened 3 inches before hitting the wall. They ended up having to remove all the drawers and build a door. Instead of a working full drawer like what was there before, we had to settle on small flip drawers with very little storage. I would have gladly paid for them to custom build, which as the "expert" they should have recommended.
-They tried to strip, stain and put 3 coats of sealant in half a day after i told them multiple times that based on my experience, it would take multiple days to do the job. They didn't start until noon of the day they were supposed to be completely done with the remodel. Because they were behind, they tried sanding when the wood was still wet from the stripping chemical, which you can't do. They pushed on with stain and sealant and made a mess of the door, and they had to completely start over and re-do it.
- They insisted on having "final walk-through" the day they started staining the door the first time and said that the door refinish was the only thing remaining. It wasn't. The old toilet was still in master bathtub. No new toilet was at the house. No toilet holders were put back. Plastic faucets had been installed in the master, which i made them swap out. One sink was draining into a bucket (i had to find it; they weren't going to point it out).
- No one was managing the project. I had to repeat myself multiple times to several employees pointing out items that hadn't been completed. In fact, i sent an email listing items still outstanding 3 days before they were supposed to be finished, expressing concern that they weren't going to finish on time. Biggest issue at the time was the point that the door refinishing hadn't started. Not only did they not finish by that Friday, it was over a week later.
- After they were done, I spent hours cleaning up paint from the tub (paint was down the drain like they cleaned brushes there), counter tops, & floors.,
- We put the house on the market right after they finished and we got an inspection report from the buyer which identified problems with the AC drain. They had simply shoved the drain hose into an open pipe under the sink without any kind of clamp or glue sealing it. So if the drain would have gotten clogged, the water would have poured out the hole and into the brand new cabinet they installed. I called them because we were approaching the option end date on the sale of the house and needed them to quickly fix. They couldn't do it, so i ended up spending hours of my time fixing it myself. The warranty on their work was worthless to me.
- I also ended up patching mortal on the far side of the house that they missed; again, hours of my time doing work i paid them to do.
Just too many other things to list. The bottom line is: every project management mistake was a call to me, and they made it my problem to solve. There was zero project management.
The lesson here is to make sure to get references from a trusted source and don't rely on online quotes or online reference services. read more