After a bad fill valve on a toilet flooded a bathroom and portions of the partially finished basement below, Jose was one of a very few contractors who went all the way from visiting and assessing the project to putting together an estimate. We were thankful to be on track to getting a significant part of our house back.
Now more than 5 months since we signed a contract, we're not there yet.
Our bathrooms were finally restored to full functionality 69 days after the "on or before" completion date on our contract, but we're still waiting on a few last items to be completed, now 83 days past that date.
We understand that project delays are real and that this has been a tough stretch in which to operate a business. But the way this project has proceeded for us-- a piece here and a piece there with a level of (non)communication that we can still scarcely believe -- has been an experience we wouldn't wish on anyone.
First work started 16 days after it was scheduled to begin. There was no communication that the project wouldn't start as anticipated. It's just that no one no one showed up. We called and emailed and left messages and got no response. And this has actually been how things have gone the entire time.
We once had a 19 day stretch during which we didn't hear anything from Jose.
I can recall only two times in 5 months that Jose picked up the phone. Of the dozens of voicemails I've left, only two have gotten a prompt call back.
Text messages? Jose has sent a few to me; he's never once replied to one I sent him. Emails? Not a single one since we signed the contract.
The main upshot of this is that we never know who might be coming to our house on any given day to do work. Several times Jose has laid out a plan, but it's rarely borne any resemblance to what actually happens-- which is that no one will show up for several days and then someone will knock on the door out of the blue.
Since we made our penultimate payment, 90 days have now gone by.
We've had folks working at the house for parts of just 20 days in that span.
In one 21 day stretch there was less than a half hour of work done.
That was the time that a plumbing crew came for 20 minutes, did a few things (leaving the rest undone) and didn't come back again for 27 days. There was no followup communication from Jose about what happened there, of course. We only learned what was happening when they returned nearly 4 weeks later. That day again they were in and out, and they still haven't finished the job 63 days later.
At the moment, we've been asked to settle for a tub spout that is a different color than the rest of our trim because that was all they could get that was compatible with the way they'd already done the plumbing, long after the tile had already gone in. All entirely avoidable if Jose had been in communication with them about the fixtures we had already purchased for the project.
Jose has, of course, turned up several times--and unfailingly when a payment is due-- but these visits don't happen nearly as often as they're promised by the folks working for him.
When Jose himself says he's coming by later that day and then doesn't we can give a more precise name to that sort of communication: lying.
We actually went without seeing Jose at one point for 62 days!
The work has been good, for the most part. But it's certainly not so good that I can't imagine you'd not do equally well with any number of other contractors. And it's hard for me to imagine that things could be any worse as far as knowing what's happening.
The communication is simply terrible, and I'd urge you to value your life and your time enough not to hire Stonybrook Remodeling.
If our experience is any guide, you are not going to know what's happening on a day to day basis in your project, which will just go on and on and on with no end in sight.
And that's a pretty crappy feeling. I have to believe, even in these crazy busy times for contractors, that you can do better. read more
