Home Renew remodeled my two bathrooms. In the end, upper management gave me a discount for the…read morenumerous frustrations I experienced throughout the project. These were some of them:
1. As the contract was being finalized, several items hadn't been updated to reflect the current scope of work. I highlighted said items, along with the notation, "Looks great. Once these items are updated, I'm ready to sign." The project manager immediately texted back, "I feel like a school child and that you're correcting me."
2. I had it written into the contract no work past 5:00pm. On two days within the first week, the project manager authorized his worker to stay past the agreed-upon time, without first running it by me. When I brought it to his attention, he texted, "That's great! We're trying to get ready for inspection asap!". When it turned out to be an ongoing issue and I again called him out on it, he texted me a screenshot of a thank you card an appreciative former customer gave him.
3. I also had it written into the contract no dumping of dirty drywall or paint water down the storm drain in front of my house (which is illegal anyway). One of the workers is on Ring doorbell video pouring the water down the storm drain in front of the house, in front of a painted sign on the curb of dolphins that says "No Dumping". This left two large white marks on the street for several days before they cleaned it.
4. They forgot to install a corner shower bench in one of the showers. When I brought it to the project manager's attention, he sheepishly grinned and said, "How did that happen? Well, obviously, we won't charge you for it." While they offered to install a shower seat after the fact, I didn't want to deal with the project manager's gaslighting any longer than necessary.
5. They were supposed to remove an old grab bar, towel bar, and toilet roll holder, but said that they first had to check to see if was on the scope of work. A few weeks passed, and the project manager didn't get back to me to say that they were going to do it. I didn't want to continue chasing answers, and hired a handyman to do the work. The next time the project manager was there, he said his own worker had done it and seemed surprised when I told him that my handyman had done it.
6. First final inspection failed due to lack of a GFI outlet and vacancy sensor. The city inspector commented in passing, "And you might want to also make sure all your smoke detectors are up, so next time I don't need to go around the house." I was there when he said this (the project manager wasn't) and the conversation was recorded on indoor Ring camera. When the project manager showed up a few hours later, I said, "Looks like we didn't pass inspection." He shot back, "Well yeah, because you didn't have your smoke detectors up!". There were innumerable other incidents such as this, where the project manager gaslit me on the regular. So perplexing and annoying.
7. After the wall tile behind the toilet was installed, only 9 inches remained between the wall and the center of the flange (not enough space to properly install a 12-inch or even 10-inch rough-in toilet). They were aware of this but were not transparent about it, and did not inform me that they had trouble installing a toilet. Since the toilet I'd ordered had a long lead time, they installed a temporary toilet to pass inspection. The temporary toilet was then removed, and the bolts were transferred from the notches the installer had created, to their proper locations, closer to the wall, leaving space now for only a 9-inch rough-in toilet. I'd been happy to end the project without them installing my own toilet once it arrived (even though toilet installation was included in the scope of work), due to numerous prior issues and negativity from the project manager. However...following completion of the project, my special order toilet was delivered, which my longtime plumber tried to install. He noticed that Home Renew had deliberately created two notches (one on the left, and one on the right, see photos). The bolts had been relocated from their proper positions into said notches, so that the toilet could sit further away (10 inches) from the wall. My plumber said this gerry-rigging provided a quick-fix intended to fool the inspector, but would not have been a sustainable long-term solution, and would have resulted in major complications such as leaks. Home Renew failed to inform me of this issue and left me to discover it on my own.
They have offered to do the repair under warranty, but based on their deliberate poor workmanship and and blatant lack of transparency, I don't trust them to properly complete the repair.
