Ended up Really Beautiful and surprisingly fast, but I got stressed all along the way - Not really…read moreOld Bay Remodeling's fault, but I get stressed out for silly things and feels much better when things are completed.
1. Materials!!! - After the Job was sold, I was contacted by the office saying they do it a bit differently from other contractors. They purchase all materials up front. As a customer, you get the option to have it delivered on your yard or into their warehouse. The idea was this way, they do not have to stop for buying materials. I did a little research and quickly understood the materials and shipments were delayed and is causing a lot of disruption in the construction industry. Well - it is a good idea to have everything before we start work.
I was right and wrong. Old Bay moved in record pace to get a 550 sqft addition completed in 7 weeks. But I lot my 1/2 acre backyard to materials - lumber, nails, siding, roofing materials for 2 months. The lawn was damaged from materials being on the grass for too long. Old Bay agreed to come back and reseed the lawn, so I'll give it a pass on that.
There were literally 150 bags of concrete lying outside in 2 storms and I lost my sleep. Ended up that it was covered and protected properly. But I got so stressed out!
If anyone is reading this, ask them to store materials in their warehouse and bring it when required.
2. Installers - Old bay had the same crew do the job from start to finish. They only had electric, ac and plumbing guys do their separate jobs. Apart from that - starting at demo, digging, pavers, carpentry, roof, windows, even painting done by the same 4 guys. I don't know how they did it, but they pulled it off. In my line of work, I do the same thing and become an expert at it. I was stressed out again and I hired a third party home inspector to make sure everything was done correctly. Very surprised the inspector also mentioned this is very unusual, but the job quality was up highly recommended. Howard County inspector was also surprised by the pace of things. He has inspected other work from Old Bay and said he has seen them drop off tons of materials in the yard before.
3. Rough Start and Payments - Not sure if this is a problem to anyone else, but we had to pay for all out materials up front. Old Bay promptly delivered the materials to our house and it came from a bunch of vendors. But paying all materials up front on a huge project like this runs into tens of thousands of dollars. Old Bay also sent many people to look at the job - there was an engineer, multiple plumbers, electricians etc. I guess they got many bids from their sub contractors. But I was not a big fan of 10 people visiting my house during the pandemic - They all had masks etc, but just too many people in the house. I called the office about this and I was told they do all the work in the beginning and when they get going, they will move fast. Another reason for me to stress out in the beginning, but was happy at the end.
4. Communication - It was very hard to reach the office and the project manager. Maybe I ask too many questions - I don't know. But when the job started, I would receive 2 calls every week from the office. Would casually check in, give me a run down of what is going to happen next week, ask if I had any questions etc. That was very helpful. It would be very nice to get these calls before the job starts.
I am submitting this review so that the people can understand what is good and bad about this contractor.
