I started researching companies in August to do our kitchen and master bath remodel. I found Roger here on Yelp and noticed that he had all five start reviews. However, there were only a handful. Oh well, I chalked it up to people just not being good about circling back to leave reviews after a long project, and had Roger come meet me.
When his bid came in and it was 10% higher than all of the others I had received, I thought maybe it was because his skill (which he boasted about quite a bit at our initial meeting) was just going to cost extra. Not trusting my gut, I hired him. The bathroom demo started on a Monday and by Friday the hot mop and finished tile had been completed. However, during this week he sent me at least twice to leave work early and rush to the plumbing store to buy parts I had assumed would be provided by THE PLUMBER. There was no forewarning that I needed to purchase these myself.
The contract said it would not include materials. Not a problem, I assumed I would pick up the cost for the tile and fixture myself. However, being on a budget, I picked out the cheapest tile I could for the shower (subway tiles for the walls and ceramic penny tiles for the floor and niche). I was expecting maybe $300-400 for the materials. Nope. Bill comes back at $1145. Why? Because the thin set, mortar, and other items I could not identify on the various invoices he gave me were also rolled down to me as a separate charge. It would have been nice to have a heads up about this - especially after I expressed that I was on a limited budget. At this point, I was super frustrated, but he again went on vacation for two weeks, so I had time to cool down and decided it was easier just to have him come in and finish the countertops and finished plumbing v. hiring an entirely new contractor.
My cabinets were installed, all with the exception of the bathroom which had to be repaired. Roger came out to do the forms for the kitchen countertops and got back to me with a message that the raised bar was out of level. When I asked what I could do about it he said to call whoever installed it. Yeah, that was Lennar back in 2004. I asked him if leveling it was part of the install and he said no. I was super frustrated because he wasn't giving me any viable options for fixing this and spoke to my cabinet guy when he came back out to install the bathroom vanity and he volunteered to call this guy to figure out what was needed. So when my cabinet guy calls Roger, Roger tells him he is too busy to fix it, and that the cabinet guy should just do it while he is there. When my cabinet guy asked who was going to pay for his time, Roger told him to just bill me. WHAT?! Just authorize people to work on my house and then bill me? So after that I had my father-in-law come to the house when Roger was there so he could get an explanation of what was needed. Turns out we had to remove all the boards from the raise and replace them as they had bowed under years of tile and grout sitting on top, but why he couldn't explain that is beyond me.
When they did install the countertops they bashed out segments of the sheetrock that we had already repaired to put up backsplash tile. He also cut one of the outlet holes too small to install a face plate and instructed me how I could fix it myself. I asked him to come fix it.
I got home that day and despite "all finished plumbing" being included on my bid, he did not replumb my sink and garbage disposal. When I called him on it, he said he would send someone out. When the plumber arrived he was not able to locate the gasket to the garbage disposal so Roger sends me a text asking if I want him to buy a new one (garbage disposal, not gasket) and I could pay him back. First of all, the disposal was only a month old, and just the gasket was missing - no reason to buy a whole new disposal. So I told him no, just put together as much as you can. I got home and the disposal was sitting in the middle of my kitchen floor. At this point I had had it with this guy, so I never bothered to call him back on it. I did ask about the drawer that my cabinet guy installed (a pocket flip out door in front of my sink). He had decided it was too large to accommodate the sink, so he removed it and threw it on top of my laundry room cabinets.
Remodeling is stressful enough without having to rely on someone who communicates this poorly. The things I am not happy with are not even worth discussing with him because I am afraid it will just create more problems. My countertops in the kitchen fall just under 2" for the overhang, but my small bathroom vanity looks like it is wearing a floppy hat. When I called him on it he said it's 2" with variances. Give your business to someone who cares if you are happy with the finished product. read more