Granite Specialists 1, LLC

unknown

This is the best granite installation company in Tucson. Angela came to appointments to look at slabs with me, even going to a supplier that she didn't normally use. She worked out all of the designs that I wanted. Everything was installed on time and professionally. When I wanted a special granite from Northern California, they arranged to have it shipped and stored it without complaint. Rich and Angela worked hard as professionals and were professional about their work. If you work with them, you will be pleased and proud. They always treated us with respect, patience and gave us their support and perspectives. When I read about the person who complained about them, I was shocked. They deserve an "A" rating. The installation is perfect. Our countertops will still be here when the dinosaurs come back.

The countertops look great. They have remnants available for smaller jobs. They have state of the art equipment for cutting the granite, Very good selection of graniite to choose from. Workmen were punctual, informative and polite. Workd effeciently. All cut outs were perfect. Installed new sunken sinks, They suggested I have the new sinks delivered to their shop for the cut outs so I did not have to pay a trip charge for them to get them. They do not hook up sinks. Would use them again.

unknown

It was a very HORRIBLE and FRUSTRATING experience working with the new owners, Rich and Angela! At first, they seemed very nice, but they quickly proved otherwise. As new owners, they have a lot to learn. This kitchen was to be our dream kitchen, but due to Rich and Angela's inexperience, shoddy work, numerous mistakes, and difficult personalities, it has been a nightmare! They do not return phone calls in a timely manner. One time, we literally waited several days for them to return our call to no avail. We had to keep calling them. Rich, the owner, lost the measurements to one of our counters, called me, and insisted that I measure the counter for him. I told him that I was not comfortable with that, but he was rude and insisted that I do it. He did not make a template which would have prevented serious issues to follow. Angela, the other owner, is disorganized and could not give specific dates/times in advance as to when the install would happen. The best that she could do was say it would happen sometime in a certain week or so. We usually did not know when the installers would be coming out until a day or two beforehand. Rich had the granite to a counter cut in the wrong direction so it did not match the counter next to it. This is the counter that he did not do a template to and lost the measurements to. One counter's granite ran from side to side, while the other counter's granite ran up and down. Since the counters were only 3 feet apart, it was obvious that the granite did not match and looked ridiculous. Even his installers said it was wrong. When I called Rich to tell him what happened, he was rude, hostile, and blamed me for his mistake, claiming I should have told him that I wanted the counters to run in the same direction. This statement floored me for anytime you look at counters, they always run in the same direction. I insisted that that granite be cut correctly. He was again rude and hostile to me. I talked to his wife, Angela, and expressed my concerns about his temper. She admitted that he has a temper and apologized for him. In addition, Rich, the owner, made a big mistake in measuring the counter in a small, guest bathroom. He did not place the sink cutout in the middle of the counter as where the previous sink was. Instead, he placed it off center near a wall. When the door to the bathroom was shut and you tried to stand in front of the sink, the door's handle would hit you in the hip. It was completely unusable. Again, Rich refused to admit that he made a mistake, even though his installers stated that it was done incorrectly. He again tried to blame his mistake on me saying that I should have told him I wanted the sink centered. If I had known how inexperienced he was, I certainly would have. It is ridiculous to place a sink in a new location where it is up against a wall and unusable. I again asked for it to be done correctly, and again, Rich was very angry, repeatedly screamed at me, and insulted me. In all my life, I have never been addressed so rudely. In addition, my husband works from home. He is on the phone with customers and cannot have loud noises in the background. We repeatedly expressed these concerns to Angela who assured us that the installers would NOT ring our doorbell and cause the dog to bark. She promised that the installers would call every time before coming over. Most of the time, they showed up at the wrong time, unannounced, and rang the doorbell. One time, the installers showed up over an hour early, repeatedly rang the doorbell and caused all sorts of noise. I was not at home and my husband was on the phone so could not answer the door. This continued for over 20 minutes. Not once did anyone call my cell phone to see what was going on. Again, Angela, refused to admit her mistake, blaming it on everyone else. She refused to apologize even though she knew that her incompetence and mistake could get my husband written up or even fired. We had spoken with Angela two times the day before to confirm what time the installers would arrive. She knew that I drove our daughter to school and would not be home at a certain time. She was well aware that the installers could not ring our doorbell, but she had them do it anyways. We find it very suspicious that the installers arrived minutes after I left. The installers said that Angela told them to be there at the incorrect time which was over an hour early. After the 2 counters were redone, the installation of both of them was unprofessional and incorrect. The bathroom sink was not properly caulked and there were large holes, one over 2 inches across. The installers also damaged a brand new cabinet by causing a small chip. A wall was also damaged causing a loss of paint and a hole. The installers also left 3 screws on the floor, glue on several areas of tile from installing the counter, dirt, sticky stuff on the lid to the toilet, as well as white drip marks on several areas of our cabinets. I expressed these concerns to Rich, who refused to apologize for it or address it. The other counter was installed so it was NOT level. Visually, it is obvious that the counter is not level. A level confirmed that it was off by about a 1/4 inch. The installers had placed wood shims under the counter so it was their fault, not the cabinet installer. Again, Rich refused to admit a mistake had been made and said that he could not fix it without running the risk of cracking the counter. Since he had previously cut my granite incorrectly, there was no extra granite in case it broke. Rich then demanded to be paid for it. When I said that I would not pay for an uneven counter, he yelled at me, threatening that he was going to rip out the counters unless I paid him right then, He stormed out of the house, slammed the door, and went to get something out of his truck. I was in fear of this very angry man, who was screaming and threatening to vandalize my home, so I locked the door. I was about to call the sheriff when my husband, who works from home, came to see what all the commotion was about. Rich violently pounded on our door. When my husband answered it, Rich got within inches of his face and screamed at him as well. Rich refused to fix the faulty work, screamed rude and hostile things at us before tearing off down our driveway. He ran over several pieces of moldings that were laid out on one part of our driveway. During this whole experience, both Angela and Rich, who recently bought this business, made elementary mistakes, refused to acknowledge their mistakes, refused to apologize, and were repeatedly very rude, hostile, threatening, and hard to work with. We refused to pay them in full until the job was done correctly. At this point, we owe them only a very small portion of the bill. Rich refused to finish the job at our home and fix his mistakes unless we first paid him in full BEFORE he started work. This was unacceptable to us for we do not trust him or his work. We have no idea where things stand now. Before he tore off down our driveway, Rich screamed at us to enjoy our "free" counter. It has always been our intention to pay, but not for unprofessional and shoddy work. We tried to work with Rich to fix his mistakes so we could be done with him, but he refused. At this point, we have a counter that is obviously not level. Due to Rich's mistakes, we do not have any extra granite to fix the uneven counter. This granite has been discontinued, so we can not get any more. We are very disappointed and frustrated that we will have to live with this shoddy work! This was to be our dream kitchen but this whole experience with Granite Specialists has been a nightmare. There are lots of fabricators in Tucson. I would highly recommend going with someone who is not new to the business and who acts professionally, both in their quality of work and their relationships with clients. Granite Specialists used to be good. These new owners are not.

Installation and fabrication of kitchen countertops

I was in the market to do a BBQ island granite top. Not a huge job I know, but important to me nonetheless. I went and looked at remnants here and found several that would work for my project that I liked. They did have a decent selection of pieces of various sizes and colors. The owner was not there though. I was shown around by her daughter and one of the shop employees. They showed me several pieces that would have worked for my project. So I emailed the owner Laurie hours after my visit and told her that I wanted to enter into a business relationship with her company. It took more than a day to respond back to the email. I feel as though I showed I was serious about doing business and spending my money with them. When she did call me, I was ready to schedule templating and commit to do business with her on the spot and to keep my project moving based on my overall timeline for completion. However during this call she was unable to schedule and said she would call me back the next morning to lock in a date/time. I then waited over two full days and did not hear anything from Laurie by phone (at either of the two numbers I gave her) or email. Not a peep except the proverbial crickets chirping. To me it is very frustrating to want to do business with a company and then not hear from them as they promise. I think it speaks to what kind of treatment may come had a contract been signed. To me it also speaks poorly to several core values as well-courtesy, credibility,respect, honesty, responsibility and judgment. Additionally, this company was referred to me by a good friend so this demonstrated lack of core values unfortunately reflects negatively upon my friend who spoke highly of this company. Furthermore, I was not questioned by these people thoroughly enough about my project. Because if they had done so, they would have realized my project was in the sun and laminating granite does not hold up in the Arizona sun as the UV rays will destroy the laminate glue and could cause problems over time. So my experience and review is limited as I can not speak to the actual quality of the work itself per se, but I refuse to have to pull the proverbial teeth with a company to do business with them and be ignored and treated poorly such as this company has done to me by delaying my project waiting for a response as promised. I emailed the owner after switching to a responsive and more professional company to terminate the business proceeding with her company. This was done because of her inability to professionally and properly communicate as she said she would. My email was polite, but to the point. She did respond to it, but did so in a way that her inability to communicate with me as she had promised was somehow my shortcoming in the buying process. I found this to be offensive as a few of her explanations held no merit in regards to schedule someone to "come to (my) area" because she failed to ever ask for my address. But something I pointed out to her in my last reply after she told me that "(I) would have loved their work," I pointed out to her that to "love" their work means requires proper treatment throughout the entire buying process and not just what the end result looks like.