EDIT: I'm editing the review because David called me and we had a conversation about his and Wolf's services (new comments after the ------)
So, Dave and Wolf built the loft around a week ago, and after evaluating everything, I think it's time for me to leave a review.
The bed itself is...decent. We ordered a queen size for our tiny studio in Oakland, and the loft certainly does what we were hoping it would; make more usable space in the apartment.
Physically, though, considering the cost of the thing, I expected a little more. I ended up paying $725 all things told. For this, I definitely got a sturdy structure, but the javelin-like splinters and rough construction overall were very disappointing. I've spent several hours since going over the rough cuts with a rasp, and I'll be going over some of the other surfaces with a belt sander as well. In sum, I'd give the loft itself probably a 3/5, because it is a very sturdy base for a finished product, but it definitely doesn't feel finished. It would get a 4/5 if the price had matched what we were actually getting. I would've suggested maybe $100 less.
The real trouble was with Dave and Wolf's professionalism. In addition to delaying the installation twice (once due to the Warrior's game -- apparently one of them was afraid of bringing tools over to Oakland because he was worried people around the Coliseum would riot if the Warriors lost), they showed up on the eventual installation date several hours late, and displayed...well, I would consider it very unprofessional behavior, personally. Yelling, arguing with each other over things like measurements (even though at the initial visit those were supposedly nailed out), and generally just being...well, to be honest, kind of obnoxious. They also managed to illegally dump a pretty good amount of excess material from building in front of our complex. In the end, we were both fed up with the two of them being in the place, so when they asked if we wanted them to finish the bed (hanging up a thin wire that was supposed to hold a curtain), we said no, just in an effort to get them out of our house.
It also doesn't help that as of today, Dave still has yet to actually deposit the check we wrote him, which is very annoyingly screwing up my finances in some interesting ways. I won't go into detail, but I can imagine if Dave always takes 1w+ to deposit the payments, he's probably found a bounced check or two in his day.
Because of all this, the rating goes from its potential 4/5 to the 3/5 we've decided to actually give it.
I'll admit some of this was our fault. We probably shouldn't have said the new date was okay, especially after not wanting to come because of the Warrior's game, but there was a time crunch on our end, and we expected a little bit more polished of an operation, so at the time, we expected that it would be worth it. After all this, I'm not entirely sure it was.
Overall, if you're at all handy yourself, you can build something near identical to this in a weekend, especially if you've got a little help and some work space -- and it probably won't cost you $700+ to do it.
I don't want to be too hard on the guys. It's cool that they have a 3 person shop building what I do admit are very sturdy structures -- but the business has a long way to go before I'd recommend it to a friend.
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First of all, I was there, for a large portion of the build process. I was out in the parking lot (less than 10 feet away from my back door) and could hear what was going on inside. My boyfriend came out and told me it was probably better to wait till they were done, given the small size of the apartment and my sensitivity to loud noises without ear protection, before I came in. Second, after I sent him images of the overall state of the lumber and pointed out the physical condition of the work, David admitted that more care could've been taken to remove some of the more egregious offenders.
I stand by what I said about the professional quality of the services, though. David and I agreed that while it was a "perfect storm" of things going badly, and not all of it was in their control, their behavior as representatives of a business needs to be re-examined and improved. David reached out and explained what was going on with the sidewalk dumping and with Wolf's apprehension of coming over during the Warrior's game (they did lose, by the way, with apparently fewer riots than expected). As long as David took some of my criticisms to heart, I'm sure new customers will find their experiences go much smoother than mine did.
If anyone has questions about the specific circumstances surrounding this review, I'm prepared to go into whatever detail is so requested. read more