Karl gave us a quote for a sauna for $7140 that was shed-style and had a large window. We said we…read morewere willing to pay more for quality materials and to ensure it was well-built. He told us all about how he was an expert and could make us a "really nice sauna" and found a "great source for cedar" that would keep him within the quote given.
What we got instead was a sauna that needed major fixes, a trash-filled workspace, and gaslighting.
First, Karl is disorganized. He bills himself as an expert sauna-builder, but he's winging it the entire time. At many points in the build process, it was clear he'd never done something before or had little experience with it. The poor decisions he made have led to problems I now have to fix.
Here is a list of issues we had with "Karl's Saunas", as documented in photos:
1. Cracked wood slats on the sauna bench and wall. He chose very cheap wood and told me "that's how he makes his money" when I expressed concern. I told him we would pay more for quality material, but he reassured me it would look good once it was up. When I showed him the crack, he said it was my fault for using cheap materials (gaslighting).
2. The window sagged down out of the frame and exposed a 1" air gap at the top of the glass. The issue is that he purchased the wrong size window and installed it on the side to make it fit. When I asked about it, he said the sagging issue was due to the manufacturer, but it was because the window was not blocked on its side. When I asked him to fix it, he said I was having a "hard time moving on" from the project.
3. He left a large pile of trash outside the sauna and his response to me asking him to bag it was to tell me to go "f" myself. He could have bagged it and moved it near our trash can if he wasn't going to take it to the dump. I hired outside help to clean his mess and still have styrofoam coating my garden area.
4. He offered a "custom door" in his quote and told me to look at Etsy for ideas, but then didn't know how to build the doors I chose as examples. He simply hacked together the best door he could, which is built with a warp and doesn't close properly.
5. He insisted we do a tile floor since it would look cool, then told me it was "his third time installing tile, but I've seen it done a lot of times" once he was knee-deep into the project and covered in grout. Lines are uneven and tiles still have dried grout that needs to be cleaned off. He also splashed quick set on our back doors and left a bucket full of concrete for me to clean.
6. He didn't allow enough clearance next to the lower bench for a sauna heater, so we had to get a carpenter to cut the lower bench and make more space. He knew which heater we had purchased so it's unclear why he didn't figure the dimensions into his build plan.
7. Karl kept asking me for additional payments after I had paid him the entire quoted amount in the bid plus $200 extra for the custom door and another $100+ for PayPal fees. He never mentioned PayPal would incur an additional fee at the start of the project, or I would have used checks. The last time he requested money, he said it was for purchasing caulk (included in his quote). I said I'd be happy to pay once we did a final walkthrough and he sent me an accounting of the additional work, which he was unable to produce.
To top it all off, he stole unused grout and tile I had purchased and was going to return to Home Depot. I guess he decided that was his "final payment"
The only communication I had after that was asking via text if he could fix issues such as inappropriate shims holding up the structure and the inability of the custom door to close....or to put handles on it. He got hostile and sent me the text message exchange in the photos. After that, I blocked his number and felt compelled to warn others. Our street is small and we have security cameras, so I'm sure he wouldn't physically retaliate, but it's still a concern.
I decided not to post against his construction bond or file a legal complaint, either, since he's not worth the aggravation, even with the additional 2K needed to fix the sauna.
My father has been building custom homes for 40+ years and he's never had to deal with someone as unprofessional as this man.
Bottom line:
Work with him only if you want someone "winging it" at sauna-building at your expense, profanity hurled at you after making reasonable requests, and to spend hundreds to fix mistakes he won't address. The photos tell all you need to know.
