TL/DR: Kevin is a one-man show (not a GC, whether he's licensed or not) who improperly installed two floors of engineered hardwood for us. Paint job appears to be good. Not a great communicator or project manager.
We purchased a recently-built home and needed help with (1) replacing two floors of carpet with hardwood to match the first floor, (2) paint throughout, (3) a few handyman tasks like light fixtures and uninstalling closet rods. This is a very small project for a GC in today's booming real estate climate, and we had a tough time finding somebody. We chose Kevin because he was willing to take the job and had good Yelp reviews.
Engineered hardwood floor -- Five main issues. (1) The floor sounds like we're walking on crackling potato chips with every single step. Walking in our own home makes us cringe with every step. (2) Many planks throughout physically move / dip as we walk over them. (3) "H" joints throughout. When we moved in, we noticed that there were jarring patterns in random places (see pics). A quick google search revealed that these are H joints, which are not only ugly but can cause structural issues longterm. (4) We paid higher material ($/sqft) fees in order to procure the exact wood that was already on the first floor. The wood that was installed was clearly different in color, finish, and distressing (see pic for one area where the new and old wood meet). (5) I just noticed that Kevin posted pictures of our first floor wood and called it his own work. He did NOT install the wood on this floor. This floor was already existing. The only thing he did in the kitchen photo was paint.
Paint & handyman tasks -- No quality issues that we're aware of. Some overspray and excess paint that we will have to razor blade and acetone off over time. We had a broken drawer to be fixed per the contract, and toward the end of the job, Kevin tried to get out of it by saying that it was a more involved job than he originally thought. After some back and forth, he did semi-fix the drawer by reinforcing with additional wood on the inside. It's weird, but it's better than before.
Communication -- Kevin wants to say whatever you want to hear and avoids conflict. When we realized after moving in that there were major issues with the wood floors, Kevin came to check it out and told us that the wood just needed to settle. Weeks later, with the crackling noises getting worse, we reached out to him for feedback and were ignored multiple times. It's now been three months of silence. During the job, there were multiple instances where what was being installed was clearly not "right." Instead of alerting us, Kevin continues on until we have time on a weekend to check-in. Example: Our paint consultant made an error on the paint schedule with the trim and ceiling colors. Kevin painted all the walls a stark white and the ceilings a muddy beige. This is an obvious "wtf something's wrong" moment, but Kevin just continued painting. When we asked to stop so we could clarify the colors, Kevin made it clear that he knew it was wrong but just didn't say anything. This resulted in a 2 week + $5k slip for us. If Kevin just texted/called/emailed/whatever, we would have checked it out on Day 1 and saved everybody involved a lot of pain. This is one example, but there were numerous issues like this.
Project management -- A few different issues. (1) Kevin markets himself as a general contractor, but he is literally a one-man show. Zero support staff. If something goes wrong, it's a 100% schedule slip with just one person on the gantt chart. (2) We received many complaints from Kevin through the process about how complicated our job and floorplan are as an excuse for schedule slip. During the bid process, he had full access to an empty house, and we feel that he should have estimated schedule correctly instead of complaining. (3) His original contract included 14 phase payments for a 1 month job. We didn't have the time to constantly drop off small checks, so we asked to combine payments and fronting costs where needed. He agreed to this and laid out a new plan, which included a larger final payment (lumping the last 3 into 1). This was in the contract we signed. Toward the end of the project, Kevin freaked out about holding so much for final payment and demanded an additional installment. (4) We checked in every 1-2 weeks about when he would be done. He said multiple times Jan 15. We planned cleaners, closet install, washer/dryer install, etc for after Jan 15 which we told Kevin about. When the job ran long (didn't finish until Jan 20), and our scheduled vendors started coming in, Kevin freaked out again because the other vendors were interfering with his work.
Yelp reviews -- After a job, if Kevin thinks you're pleased with his work, he hounds you for a Yelp review. He did this with us until he realized we weren't actually happy. That might explain the difference between our experience and others here. read more