When a (granite) company has 5 star reviews, and some of those are from other granite installers or granite fabricators, that should be your 1st red flag.
Here's the story.. Luckily, I had not spent the money directly with them. An acquaintance, whom I was helping install his IKEA cabinets used this business. I have to admit, I'm a perfectionist (OCD) so when I was installing the cabinets (lowers) I made sure to level them perfectly. The customer provided these guys with the drawings and the specs of sink and the 24in cooktop. When the time came to install and the job was finished, my jaw dropped. The opening for the cooktop was done for 30 in opening (which meant that the cooktop literally dropped through the opening. The cut out for the sink was crooked and uneven. This was a u shaped kitchen. When I started looking at the installation, I realized that these guys simply laid the slab on top of the cabinets with absolutely no adhesive. Not even a silicone. Unfortunately,, on the island, my cabinet level was slightly out (yes.. My fault). Do keep in mind that I specifically installed additional plywood on top of the cabinet carcasses so that the granite slab could have a little extra support and room to glue cabinets and the slab together. Not a drop of adhesive ass used. To top it off, I don't know who was doing the job but instead of using ones brain and simply cranking up the cabinet feet so that it'd all be leveled (1/8th of an in), they hammered in shims (again.. No glue) to the point where they split the cabinets box on the corners). When this was mentioned to them later on, their excuse was "you have cheap cabinets".. Are you F... ing kidding me? That's your excuse for a piss poor job?. To further continue, the back splash was cut so badly, that in a couple of places the line was off by 0.5 in with a huge gap.. What's a "pro" to do you ask.. Well shove a half a tube of cheap caulk to conceal the hole. But wait.. There's more.. They re-installed the outlets too.. But as a little bonus, they used clear silicone to attach the faceplates and where the dimmer was, they glued the dimmer too, requiring the full replacement.. Total PROs.. . My acquaintance was literally having a nervous breakdown and to add to the insult, when he started negotiating with them the repair plan, they made it sound like it was all his fault. Luckily, he was able to do a partial stop payment on the check, which infuriated the lady he was dealing with but based on my observations, that was literally the only way to get their attention. This wasn't the end though. The repair plan was even more insulting.. Their the slab had nice veins, which in a normal universe would have been matched where the slab was joined together. They said they'll "fix" the cooktop opening (apparently they suggested they'd fill in the opening, glue in granite pieces to make the opening the right size. , I advised the guy to refuse this half-a.. solution as I'd look like crap. As for the crooked sink cut out, that was the biggest slap in the face. I recommend to do a perfectly straight (rectangular) cut out. They said "it'll cost you an additional $300. They were fighting REALLY hard to avoid replacing the botched slab, because that was coming out of their pocket. After further back and forth, I know it got to the point of lawsuit threat (by my acquaintance). Me being an OCD perfectionist, I provided a simple recommendation.. Completely replace the left and center slab as it was impossible to salvage the badly done job and in the end, that's what they did. When I saw the final job, it was still bad, but for the sake of one's sanity, the guy settled for the poorly done job.
To sum this up.. I'm not a direct customer of this business (thank heavens for that), but I got to see first hand how BADLY the job was done, and even worse.. How horribly they handled it. If you mess up, admit it, own to your mistake and don't blame the customer.
P. S. Above, I mentioned that there was no glue used at all,and the reason I pointed it out is based on how another granite installer did MY OWN countertops in my condo. I also have IKEA cabinets, but there was no "you have cheap cabinets" comments. My installer used drops of epoxy and liquid nails to attach the slab to the cabinet carcasses, walls, so that it's a solid structure. That's what I used as a benchmark. Was it excessive? MAYBE, but I'm confident that my cabinets nor the countertop will go anywhere. A good job. I'll let the photos do the talking and you be the judge. read more