In all sincerity, I hate leaving bad reviews for companies. My preference is to fix issues ahead of…read moretime. In this case, I've tried but haven't been able to get anywhere.
Based on a realtor's referral, I chose to use Allies to renovate my upstairs bathroom. This was the second contractor I attempted to use for the renovation, as the first company turned out to be a bit of a scam (I have supporting emails and reviews from their "victims"). The first contractor completely demoed the bathroom, and I already had all the materials (tile, mirror, paint, etc.) that were needed to complete the renovation.
Allies said they'd take over the job and get it all done within a few weeks, which was a relief after my experience so far. My contractor was Chris. He had great reviews for roofing work, which makes sense considering that not much communication is needed between the contractor and client. I didn't learn until much later that this was Chris's first indoor renovation and client-facing job.
Chris told me his least favorite thing about a job is "talking to clients." He also told me that sometimes clients have to beta-test the subcontractors they use. So, this kind of sets the scene for my experience.
When remodeling a bathroom, a lot of communication is needed, especially when Allies subcontracts most of the work. My wife and I were generally happy with how the work was going in the beginning, but then Chris started acting strange and pushing back or trying to charge us for minor changes or unexpected work that came up as the job progressed.
Things continued to become strained between Chris, my wife, and me to the point that we got into more than one argument or tense exchange about what was covered in the contract versus what work would be an extra charge. When the tile work for the shower started, the subcontractor added a metal trim that we hadn't asked for. Chris said the trim was standard for tile jobs, but it was not covered in the contract, so we'd have to pay extra for it. When we pushed back, he wrote a list of all the "extra" work that he hadn't charged us for, and made my wife negotiate with him on who would cover what.
Toward the end of the project, we gave Chris a list of items that needed to be done to complete the renovation, essentially a "punch list" of small fixes that is normal to provide to a contractor before they finalize the job. Chris started arguing with us about reinstalling a towel holder that had been removed at the beginning of the job. He also yelled at us about all the work we were trying to have him do that wasn't covered by the contract.
I was so upset that I left in the middle of the argument, so things didn't escalate between us. My poor wife stayed with him and was able to "calm him down." Although he attempted to apologize to me, I was so fed up with his behavior by then that I told him in not-so-nice terms that I was done speaking to him and that my wife would be his point of contact to finish the job.
Chris's partner, Steven, ended up calling me about the situation. During the job, Steven had made it seem like their company was on the client's side and would do the right thing. During the phone call, he informed me that Chris was upset because he had underbid our bathroom renovation and had since been trying to make up for it in additional charges for work that wasn't explicitly in the contract. Keep in mind, we were paying a very large sum of money for the renovation, but Stephen told me that he would have charged much more and that, because the work they do is high quality, they generally charge more than other companies.
Steven ended the call by telling me to "never speak to his employee like that again." This is after his employee, Chris, had yelled and been antagonistic to my wife and me that day and throughout the job.
We had very minimal contact with Chris after the argument because of how upset we were at that point. Chris seemed happy to be finished with the job and didn't attempt to do much of a walk-through to review any issues with the work.
Instead of cutting the tile properly, they tried to mask it by putting a ton of caulk, but you can see jagged edges where the caulk doesn't completely cover it.
They also left nails sticking out of the side of my house due to an in-wall medicine cabinet they installed (my siding is also falling off). Their carpentry is also garbage. They installed a "slow-close drawer" in my vanity that requires a hard push and then a shove to close it. The pocket door they installed doesn't close all the way and slowly slides open on its own.
I contacted Stephen several months later to try to resolve these issues. He admitted to me that they fired the guy who did my tile, but fixing it is not covered under a "workmanship warranty," which, per our contract, Allies offers for one year after the job is complete. If you Google "workmanship warranty," it is supposed to cover poor workmanship, like my tile. Stephen refuses to fix it
