I'm just fully and utterly disappointed. This review is coming months after my project was "finished" because I don't believe in reacting in anger. But I can't sit in my tub or stand in my bathroom without seeing the mess that I paid good money for. This company is called top notch and yet I received some bottom rung remodeling work. Michael was referred to me by a friend who had his company do work in her house. She assured me that he and his team were the best in the business when it comes to tile work and remodeling. But it has become clear to me that I was sent the B team on my project. I'm sure in their world my $20,000 project wasn't worth the time because someone was probably spending more than that, so their efforts went there. Let's start by the false promises made. I hired Michael in September of 2022. Michael told me that they couldn't start my project until March of 2023. I immediately said, no I can't wait that long because another clown of a contractor already messed up and my bathroom was in ruins. To get my money, Michael promised he could move things around and start in Jan/Feb. I really wanted to work with him based on the recommendation so I agreed. The project was started on March 13th, so I ended up waiting anyway. The 2 workers in my house that did everything, tile, electric, plumbing, painting, etc were very nice but clearly are handymen and not professionals in any of those specific fields. Every single fixture in my bathroom has leaked since completion of the project - sink which ruined the vanity and they had to replace it, toilet the first time I used it, drain under the tub which leaked into my living room ceiling and ruined it, and the shower door that leaks out water every time I open it. You might be thinking, oh, that's the door that's a problem, but it's not. The curb from the shower is angled out so the water pools at the door and then floods out when I open it. The leaks were seemingly fixed but Michael didn't even address the improperly angled curb. He ignored it which means I just have to live with it I guess. The tile work is incredibly sloppy, with black grout from the floor smeared up the sides of the walls. The ceiling and wall drywall are messy and have cracks and lines in them. I'm basically waiting for the next thing to fail. My living room ceiling that was ruined from the tub leak was patched horribly. The workers also wanted to just paint the patch they made. I had to force them to paint the whole ceiling to make it look somewhat presentable. And, before they even fixed the ceiling they tried convincing me that the leak was from something else (my chimney, a tree root?, me being too rough in my tub and breaking its seal with Michael throwing in a dirty and inappropriate sex joke). Michael had the nerve to ask me to book another bathroom remodel with me in tears while his crew was tearing apart my living room. Michael is a schmoozer. He talks and smiles and pretends to care. I never was fooled by him but I let him make his over the top gestures all the while thinking, who cares, if he does the job right? But the job wasn't done right. And to top it off, he got into a screaming match with my friend who stood up for me and called him out on his BS. Instead of profusely apologizing to me for what he put me through, I haven't heard from Michael since. Think long and hard before spending thousands of dollars with this company. My bathroom is beautiful, thanks to my design, but it is tainted every time I see their shoddy work. read more

Mike and his crew did an excellent job on the remodel of our main bedroom bathroom...so much so, that we had them come back and remodel our second bathroom. I wish I had know of them when I remodeled my basement when I first bought the house The ARE TRULY TOP NOTCH! read more

With a new baby coming we needed more space in our house. We knew that our loft would have to be turned into a bedroom. My husband called top notch and Mike was very helpful. He returned my husbands call right away and set up time with us to come give us a quote. Mike is very professional and had a lot of knowledge and very personable. The whole process was great he fit us in right away and a few days later work was started. Jack and Andy were great and made our loft a beautiful bedroom for our upcoming baby. They were also very professional and personable. I am in love with the bedroom and would recommend this company to anyone. Thank you so much top notch. Kelley and Nate read more

The owner Mike Kennedy is very unprofessional. Do not recommend using this company. He has angry outburst for no reason. Please find a different person for your remodel. read more

The worst ever. Unkept promises. Looking for payment for unfinished work. Says he's a man of his word and he's anything but. 4 week kitchen and bath remodel now going on week 12. Would give Bill ZERO stars if possible on Yelp. read more

This was our first remodel project. We interviewed and accepted bids from 5 contractors. Mike not only made us feel comfortable, but he came up with ideas around the project that improved the outcome. Top Notch completed the project two weeks early and were extremely flexible with our life and schedule. Mike and Chris (the owners) are genuinely good guys who did right by us. I will not hesitate to use them again! read more

Owner Mike came out to give us an idea of what we can do, spent a great deal of time with us and really worked hard to keep us on budget. The team that he has coming into the home is very professional, quick, clean, and does an excellent job. Everyone I had a chance to deal with professional and pleasant to work with. They were able to finish our bathroom in 7 days and we look forward to using them for future projects around the house. read more

I have already reviewed Top Notch. They did a great job and finished about 3 months ago. A small part of the job, they installed a fan we had purchased but after using the room (and long after the project was done), we decided to switch out fans. We hired a guy who just does lights and fans and who we had used before. He switched out the fans and told us that one of the wires coming out of the ceiling was not working right. One of three neutral wires must have been damaged or loose and occasionally it would cause the fan not to work. I quickly called Top Notch. Within a few hours their electricians came back, found a loose connection in one of the outlet boxes and fixed it. That's what I call standing behind your work! read more

Top Notch Remodeling is just that...top notch...in every sense. From their vision during the planning process and ability to brainstorm renovation ideas, creative solutions to storage and flow issues within a home, and ideas to modernize a space, to their craftsmanship, attention to detail, and work ethic, we would confidently recommend them to anyone! We have worked with Top Notch Remodeling on several projects of various sizes over many years at our first house, so when our family recently moved to a new home and we started to amass a list of updates needed we knew who to call! Top Notch is responsive, reasonable, efficient, effective, and just nice to work with. Their years of experience really show in all aspects of their work! read more

Top notch did a great job on our kitchen remodel. Michael developed a good plan from our initial phone conversation, which we revised when he visited. I agree with other reviewers that Michael's ideas made it better. Robert did a great job on the actual remodel. We had a wall taken down to turn a walk through kitchen into full one. He moved the sink, installed new flooring along with a ceiling to make it square, installed the cabinets and appliances. We love our new kitchen. I recommend them and I will likely use them again for our next project. read more

Low quality materials and craftsmanship not top notch.

Top Notch Remodeling finished our basement for us. We had some ideas of what we wanted but Michael's creativity made it even better. During the process I had made changes and they were very patient and accomodating. The crew that worked at our home was very clean and respectful. We were very happy with how quickly everything was done along with the quality of the work. I am a local realtor and have referred them to many happy clients as well. read more

The team from Top Notch was indeed TOP NOTCH! Everyone was courteous and polite as well as incredibly knowledgeable in all aspects of our kitchen remodel. We had an impossible deadline of Thanksgiving Day. Sure enough, they were done on time for us to host. This is the second time we have hired them. Our first experience was our master bathroom. We loved the work then and knew that they were a front runner for our kitchen. Every day we enjoy meals in BEAUTIFUL new kitchen. When we have any other remodeling to do Top Notch will be our first call. read more

We hired them to turn our den into a bedroom and it went great! It was done quickly and the work looked great.

From start to finish, Michael and his team were exactly what we had hoped for in our remodel. Michael brought in great ideas on a plan I thought I already had laid out, was responsive to what I wanted, and worked to find the best solution for our basement design. Michael's team, led by Erick was punctual, thoughtful, and left a clean job site each night. Their work was superb and showed a great attention to detail. I would recommend Top Notch to anyone looking for an easy process in which the owner listens to and understands your ideas, is on top of communication, and expects the best from his team. read more

Let me start by saying that we are happy with the results, the timing, and the overall cost of our bathroom remodeling project. I got a permit for the remodel and inspectors did not have any issues with the work that was done. One inspector even said that the tile work was one of the best he has seen. All work was done by Robert, who did a great job. He was on site every morning, was tidy and polite and we are very happy with the results. If we wanted to change something, he changed it the next day. We got several quotes for the remodel and most of full service contractors wanted $50,000 just to do our master bath, so to do all 2.5 baths would be $90K! With Top Notch we got to pay for the labor, but we picked the materials. The labor was fair for Chicago, I think, and we could have spent less than $50,000 to remodel our master, hall, and powder room if we would have picked lower level materials. What other contractors don't tell you is that in the $50K they include low cost materials, so if you want something nicer, you have to pay more. With Top Notch, I paid for materials I wanted without a separate contractor markup. I did end up paying about 10% more in labor for unanticipated items in the end. Top Notch has contractor discounts at various places, so we did not pay retail for tile, for instance, although Home Depot is still cheaper than after-discount Tile Shop, but HD selections are limited. Do I have any grumblings? Yes, but they are minor, especially compared to $20K to $30K that I saved. Because Top Notch was only providing labor, we had to deal ourselves with the cabinet guy, the quarry to pick a countertop, the countertop installation guy, the tile guy, the glass guys. It was a hassle (in the sense that it required time to go back/forth/make selections/negotiate cost, etc.) ...we coordinated most of the material delivery and installations so everything would come together and I wish there would be more involvement from Michael, the owner, i.e. more direction for someone who has never done a remodel before. Michael's position is more of a sales person as opposed to a project manager; he was very helpful in the beginning, though. I had to measure hall bath and recount how much various tile I would need, for instance, this is where the Tile Shop employees were really helpful. They told me exactly what I need based on my measurements. I did return what I didn't use for full refund, so there is no worry there. Based on my experience, I would recommend hiring Top Notch if you don't mind being a project manager and Robert does the work (I did not meet any other workers). See picks below for the completed bathrooms. read more

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The group from Top Notch Remodeling couldn't have been better. We did a complete gut and remodel of master bathroom. From Michael's help in designing it, to Chris and Robert doing the gut and remodel, everything was on time, on budget (actually, a little below), and cleaned up. Couldn't have had a better experience! read more

I agree! Had our master bath done in '06. Experienced a leak in the shower that flooded our mud room below within the first year. They came out, blamed the sealer on the grout and resealed. It happened again 2 years later - same thing, blamed the grout. Told me that you have to reseal grout every year, which if you talk to anyone in the tile business is total BS! Flooded again yesterday - this is the 4th time now, not even wasting my time calling them. DO NOT TRUST these idiots with any plumbing in your house - while the finish work is pretty, the bear bones construction/plumbing is horrible and they will not accept responsibility or fix it!!! read more

We had a great experience with Top Notch in in the winter of 2014-15. We were involved every step of the way in making decisions and choices on every element of our new basement. They built a home theater for us using a sketch my husband drew, a beautiful bar with granite and tile backsplash, they installed over 1000 ft of bamboo floors, created a 1/2 bath using existing rough in, a few closets. The basement turned out beautiful. They were not the cheapest estimate, nor the highest. We also had an office space and closet remodel done a few years before by Top Notch. Robert did the entire job and was amazing. It's been over a year on the basement and everything is working great! read more

The best contractors ever !! They did the complete kitchen and two bathrooms remodel in my house. These guys were superb from the first to last day of the remodeling process. Always very professional , on time and super clean. They were very helpful with design and helped me to save a lot of money buying flooring and bathroom fixtures. Highly recommended !! read more

TERRIBLE CONTRACTOR/REMODELING! Don't hire this company unless you want o pay for future repairs or code violations in the future. I hired them to do my kitchen in 2004 and I am still paying for there mistakes! Recently had a electrician over to repair the outlets that were installed and found faulty wiring throughout the kitchen which presented a fire hazord. Cost to reapair $900.Not to mention code violatons. Additionaly, they inproperly installed the kitchen floor tiles using the wrong grout which resulted in all the grout crumbling over the last 4 years. To repair the grout cost me $1200 The kitchen sink was not installed properly resulting in repair costs of $300. They never mounted it correctly and it fell from the temporary mounts they used. Plumbimg in kitchen was also not installed properly . They ran the main plumbing line into my basment sewage ejector pit which resulted in 2 ejector pumps breaking down, raw sewage leaking from pit. Total repair cost $2500 by a licensed plumber. Also under sink pipes were not installed and dishwasher line was installed backwards. Garbage Disposal was washing into dishwasher's clean dishes (bacteria). Repair cost $550. Back splash was installed backwards, they mismeasured my kitchen before I caught the mistake it was off by 2 feet. This is just the beginning. DON"T hire Michael or Chris! They are abusive,unprofessional, they take no responsibility for there mistakes, they do not respond well when you call them out on all there mistakes. Go to YellowBOT and see others who have rated them poorly as well and had similiar bad experiences. They write their own false reviews to cover themselves. They should not have been issued a license to work in any community! read more

We had Top Notch remodel our master bathroom and couldn't be happier with the result. Company owner Michael and site supervisor Chris came to our house to evaluate the space and find out what our needs and ideas were. He took some measurements and verified that what we wanted could be structurally accomplished within the space. Michael offered some suggestions of his own and then worked up an estimate for us. Once we approved the estimate and made all our selections for the bathroom, we were put on the schedule. Robert was the carpenter assigned to our project. He was an excellent tradesman and completed the whole project completely on his own, from demolishing the existing bathroom to rebuilding it to the chosen specifications. He showed up everyday and got right to work, even in the middle of the polar vortex that kept most people confined to their homes! He always put in a full day's work, not just showing up for an hour and then saying he was finished for the day, as we have found with other contractors in the past. There were a couple of design plans that didn't work out as well in the actual space as they did on paper, and Michael and Robert offered an alternative that was even better than the original. Robert took care to layout drop cloths everyday when he came in and cleaned up everyday when he left. In the end, we are very pleased with the work provided by Top Notch and would not hesitate to use their services again! read more

I cannot recommend anyone more than Michael and his Top Notch team. I was selling a second home that was vacant and needed a bunch of work but I didn't want to spend a lot of money that I wouldn't get in return so I needed some professional help/advice on how best to spend my money. First and foremost, at the time I reached out to Michael, I was extremely frustrated with the communication of previous vendors. Some never got back to me or took forever to respond, and then if they did respond, the pricing was outrageous. As I was nearing the brink of my mental capacity, I unloaded all of this on Mike and he immediately responded positively and really seemed to understand what I was going through. Let me clarify now, as of this writing, I have never even seen Michael in person. Everything was over the phone or email and that's pretty much the only way I could have done it. He went to the house and assessed the situation. He came back with a detailed list of all the things that he thought needed work, then wrote a smaller list of what he thought we should focus. He asked me my comfort level on how much I can do (i.e instead of him painting the whole house, it would save us money if we did some of it if we were comfortable). It was refreshing to work with a company that obviously wasn't just there to take the money and run. The work was completed on time and above my expectations. The painting is amazing and all the other things he did were just as promised. Definitely worth at least a call with him as he's also a nice guy. read more