The Remnant
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- Jun 11, 2009
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OK...I live in Va. I found a great house on the water at a steal and bought it about 150K behind assessment. House needed a face lift bad...1979 throughout...nothing really done to it since new...4800sf...closed Jan 15th, moved in 1 Feb and painter arrived 5 Feb for an interior paint...
Kitchen was horrible...tiny for a house of its size,boxed in, non vented electric stove and years of neglect...decided to start here and in the spring move outside for a hardscape and pool refurb...
Got a very competent General Contractor, very dependable one-two man operation who has consistently delivered exceptional workmanship, on time and almost always on budget (LOL)...
We decided to take out an L shaped wall to open up the tiny formal dining room, the living room and kitchen into one big common area with the kitchen as the center piece...budget was estimated to be about $60K, we then consulted a kitchen designer and came up with a very nice layout and design.
Appliances were to be GE Monogram exclusively, 48" 6 burner range with grill, 30" double ovens, Trivection Microwave, 48" Built In Fridge, Warming drawer and Dishwasher...
Cabinets were to be of a Shaker/Mission style in Quarter Sawn Oak and stained a deep walnut...
Counter Tops were to be Granite...Seinna Bordeaux about 102 Sq Feet of counter top in all...Granite guy came highly recommended and he was also a one stop shop for cabinets as well...sounded like a win-win...during the bidding process he stated he could get a very nice imported "box" cabinet in all hardwoods (Portugal) for @ $12K OR he had an exceptional cabinet maker across the street he had been dealing with for years whom would make my kitchen cabinets a truly custom job for @ $15K...after some changes to the cabinets (options) the price rose to $17K and after some haggling we came back down to almost $16K...on March 6th 2009 a 50% deposit was made on the cabinets with a 4-6 week completion date...3rd week of April...Cool...I'd rather keep the money locally, a cabinet guy is slow due to the housing market and the economy...I'm patriotic...lets keep it local, hire a local guy, keep the $$$$ in the local economy vs over seas and get a better product too...Right?
Early April comes and due to some problems with a structural beam we tell them that we are behind a little...cabinet maker says that's good because he is too...set a date for cabinet set on 1 May...I walk into cabinet makers shop on 1 May to let him know I'm ready for cabinets...cabinet maker looks like he's seen a ghost...turns white, starts stuttering excuses and I look around and ask where are my cabinets...he had done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING...the Qtr Sawn Oak was still laying in a pile on his racks...I go BALLISTIC...go to my Stone Guy (whom I had the purchase order with, cab guy was a sub to him) I calm down and we have a meeting...comes out he's been taking small side jobs and getting some cash flow vs completing my job...I am assured he will expedite and he'll be working day and night to pump these cabinets out...2 weeks and I'll be happy...PERIOD...
Today is June 11th almost 6 weeks after our meeting...
I have 5 single spaced type written pages documenting the absolutely AMATEURISH job he has done on my cabinets...I have been so mad so long I'm almost over it...
BTW...once he installed the lowers, 5 weeks late I had the granite templated and installed...GRANITE IS NOTHING SHORT OF SUPERB....
Some of this professionals mistakes,
1. Mismatched stiles, some too low, some just the wrong damned size, 2.5" butted to next to 3" and mismatched as well.
2. Stain not even close, one cabinet blond butted up next to dark walnut. I have about 14 identifiable shades so far.
3. Cabinet doors bowed and warped.
4. Taking a sawsall to butcher the bracing so the sink would fit after he had the sink specs in hand and the sink to mock it up.
5. 48" Opening for range top inaccurately cut (he had specs to oven in hand)
6. When he finally brought lowers to set he set them in the wrong places and then proceeded to cut electrical outlet holes into the back of them with a jig saw and completely butchered them.
7. Lacquer finish is horrible on almost all panels (he blames humidity, Weather was beautiful back when he was supposed to be making them, hot and muggy now).
8. Horrible job installing kicks.
9. I still don't have a single drawer installed.
10. Of about 20 I have only 4 cabinet doors so far and 3 of them are (see #3)
I can go on AND ON AND ON...
I've had two other cabinet makers come in to estimate what its going to take to "fix this mess" one says at least $8K for him to completely strip every face to original wood, replace any oak ply faces as they cant be stripped and then refinish to a consistent stain color and there's still some doubt as to the end product, no guarantees...the other says let him rip out ever cabinet and start over with new cabinets all while trying to salvage $12K worth of granite and re-install it
What should I do? Upon completion, when he finally does deliver all of the rest of it I contractually owe them the other 50%...
Should I lawyer up? WWYD? Would Would You Do?
I've got a $850K house with trailer park cabinets...
Kitchen was horrible...tiny for a house of its size,boxed in, non vented electric stove and years of neglect...decided to start here and in the spring move outside for a hardscape and pool refurb...
Got a very competent General Contractor, very dependable one-two man operation who has consistently delivered exceptional workmanship, on time and almost always on budget (LOL)...
We decided to take out an L shaped wall to open up the tiny formal dining room, the living room and kitchen into one big common area with the kitchen as the center piece...budget was estimated to be about $60K, we then consulted a kitchen designer and came up with a very nice layout and design.
Appliances were to be GE Monogram exclusively, 48" 6 burner range with grill, 30" double ovens, Trivection Microwave, 48" Built In Fridge, Warming drawer and Dishwasher...
Cabinets were to be of a Shaker/Mission style in Quarter Sawn Oak and stained a deep walnut...
Counter Tops were to be Granite...Seinna Bordeaux about 102 Sq Feet of counter top in all...Granite guy came highly recommended and he was also a one stop shop for cabinets as well...sounded like a win-win...during the bidding process he stated he could get a very nice imported "box" cabinet in all hardwoods (Portugal) for @ $12K OR he had an exceptional cabinet maker across the street he had been dealing with for years whom would make my kitchen cabinets a truly custom job for @ $15K...after some changes to the cabinets (options) the price rose to $17K and after some haggling we came back down to almost $16K...on March 6th 2009 a 50% deposit was made on the cabinets with a 4-6 week completion date...3rd week of April...Cool...I'd rather keep the money locally, a cabinet guy is slow due to the housing market and the economy...I'm patriotic...lets keep it local, hire a local guy, keep the $$$$ in the local economy vs over seas and get a better product too...Right?
Early April comes and due to some problems with a structural beam we tell them that we are behind a little...cabinet maker says that's good because he is too...set a date for cabinet set on 1 May...I walk into cabinet makers shop on 1 May to let him know I'm ready for cabinets...cabinet maker looks like he's seen a ghost...turns white, starts stuttering excuses and I look around and ask where are my cabinets...he had done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING...the Qtr Sawn Oak was still laying in a pile on his racks...I go BALLISTIC...go to my Stone Guy (whom I had the purchase order with, cab guy was a sub to him) I calm down and we have a meeting...comes out he's been taking small side jobs and getting some cash flow vs completing my job...I am assured he will expedite and he'll be working day and night to pump these cabinets out...2 weeks and I'll be happy...PERIOD...
Today is June 11th almost 6 weeks after our meeting...
I have 5 single spaced type written pages documenting the absolutely AMATEURISH job he has done on my cabinets...I have been so mad so long I'm almost over it...
BTW...once he installed the lowers, 5 weeks late I had the granite templated and installed...GRANITE IS NOTHING SHORT OF SUPERB....
Some of this professionals mistakes,
1. Mismatched stiles, some too low, some just the wrong damned size, 2.5" butted to next to 3" and mismatched as well.
2. Stain not even close, one cabinet blond butted up next to dark walnut. I have about 14 identifiable shades so far.
3. Cabinet doors bowed and warped.
4. Taking a sawsall to butcher the bracing so the sink would fit after he had the sink specs in hand and the sink to mock it up.
5. 48" Opening for range top inaccurately cut (he had specs to oven in hand)
6. When he finally brought lowers to set he set them in the wrong places and then proceeded to cut electrical outlet holes into the back of them with a jig saw and completely butchered them.
7. Lacquer finish is horrible on almost all panels (he blames humidity, Weather was beautiful back when he was supposed to be making them, hot and muggy now).
8. Horrible job installing kicks.
9. I still don't have a single drawer installed.
10. Of about 20 I have only 4 cabinet doors so far and 3 of them are (see #3)
I can go on AND ON AND ON...
I've had two other cabinet makers come in to estimate what its going to take to "fix this mess" one says at least $8K for him to completely strip every face to original wood, replace any oak ply faces as they cant be stripped and then refinish to a consistent stain color and there's still some doubt as to the end product, no guarantees...the other says let him rip out ever cabinet and start over with new cabinets all while trying to salvage $12K worth of granite and re-install it
What should I do? Upon completion, when he finally does deliver all of the rest of it I contractually owe them the other 50%...
Should I lawyer up? WWYD? Would Would You Do?
I've got a $850K house with trailer park cabinets...