We hired Rapid Ready ReDos through the recommendation of a family member. We were told that Diana could be difficult to work with at times, but she'd get the job done. Ultimately we decided to work with her on a 2nd-floor master bath remodel and 1st-floor ceiling repair.
The months following our initial consultation and agreement turned into a challenging and sloppy project until we opted to take a loss and cancel our contract. I think it's important to share the challenges we experienced working with Diana, as I'd hate for someone else to get in this same situation with RRR:
Project Cost Line Items Withheld: Diana provided an initial, high-level project estimate that we moved forward with. When we requested line item costs to track against our estimate, Diana told us it was "extremely complex to extract line items." She then said that it would cost us an additional $500 if we wanted to do so. This response led to a mistrust of the quotes she provided because she could essentially name her price. Eventually, Diana told us that we were her "smallest client", and she made us feel insignificant for requesting information regarding her estimate and costs.
Extremely Poor Project Management: RRR's design, selection, and review process was never detailed in the contract or communicated by Diana. In her first visit, Diana highly encouraged us to request tile options from her until we found the right fit. When we wanted to tweak the second set of tiles she provided, she expressed frustration and no-call/no-showed for two follow-up visits. Diana never returned to our house after her second visit. After we had to cancel the project, we realized that Diana just hoped that we would choose everything in the first round.
Scheduling Miscues: The upstairs bathroom was to be demoed before the downstairs ceiling repair. But, they ended up changing their scheduling abruptly and doing the ceiling repair first. As a result, they ended up cracking a hole in the previously fixed ceiling when they were demoing the bathroom. Diana gave us the option to pay additional costs to repair the damages to the ceiling incurred by her crew. While we understand these challenges happen in remodels, this could have been avoided had she planned and led the project appropriately.
Bait and Switch of design and materials: We purchased a design option that included a master shower entry without a threshold. When we got to implementing the design, the tiler said that the threshold wasn't possible. Diana sold us a design that would be impossible to implement. We were also sold a custom, high-quality shower pan, but then it was to be swapped out last-minute with a lower quality fiberglass one. Diana never notified us of the shower pan change, we found out through our plumber instead.
Improper Disposal of Materials: RRR agreed to dispose of excess and hazardous materials. However, we were left with the subfloor "hidden" on the side of our house, with nails exposed.
Unprofessional, erratic behavior: Diana sent extremely unprofessional texts and emails multiple times, only to later apologize or completely refuse to acknowledge what she initially sent. Diana communicated that she'd come by to drop off materials and walk us through samples, but no-called/no-showed for both scheduled instances. Diana would not respond to emails for weeks at a time. Eventually, she stopped communicating entirely.
These are the main points that we'd want to let potential clients know before moving forward with a RRR engagement. We lost months and thousands of dollars in canceling the project, but it was the best choice we could have made, given the situation. We ended up hiring a new contractor who was trustworthy, responsive and completed the project in a fair manner based on the contract.
If you do choose to work with Diana, we'd recommend you:
* Make sure you have a good buffer in your budget.
* Plan to approve the first round of designs, tiles, and materials she gives you.
* Don't expect to hear from her for weeks at a time.
* Go out of town while all work is being done so you don't have to question her "process."
* Hire an accredited/well-reviewed contractor to finish the project and clean up the mess RRR leaves behind. read more