Green Bay Remodeling Inc

Bathroom Remodel – Disappointed I am very disappointed with the performance of Green Bay Remodeling (GB) on my bathroom remodel. Fundamentally the problems were: poor workmanship, blatant errors, lack of attention to detail by work supervisors and project management, and an inability to recognize problems and/or report them to me in a timely manner. Some examples are described below. This impacted schedule, cost (for GB, not me), the end product, and my overall mental health. There was a continuing pattern of doing poor quality work, assuming it was okay, and then fixing it when I complained. Mistakes (tile, grout, grab bar, temperature limit stop damage, cleanliness, etc.) were never admitted, and apparently it was hoped I did not notice them. This reduced my confidence in GB as the job progressed. The estimate to complete was 3-4 weeks but ended up 11 weeks. A major issue on this project was that I had a poor work crew that was replaced after 5 ½ weeks. But there are, in my opinion, as you will see, other underlying issues that compounded problems and created problems of their own. Based on my experience, the problem Is not just one worker, or a single crew, or a single manager, but more systemic in nature. Green Bay: I like their business model. You sign a contract and they commit to price before they see the complete design. I purchased and designed almost everything independently and GB installed it. They do have a large showroom from which you can purchase. They were no price-related issues throughout the contract. No hassle, no back and forth, etc. Plus you get a 1-year labor warranty for returning the completion survey! After receiving the initial contract to sign I nearly quit and went elsewhere. This was because the contract was a nine-page “pilot” which was poorly written, with many typos, really not an enforceable document. It even had language that contradicted our initial discussions, in my favor. Scary. I spoke with one of their current clients and requested the same format, 2-page contract, and I was satisfied with it. Some of the reasons for the delays were: - Workers did not show up for entire days or only worked a couple hours a day - Did not pass two city inspections, had to redo and await a total of two days for the inspectors to revisit - Two holiday weekends - The crew was changed after 5 ½ weeks, long after the problems starting occurring. - It took 3 days for a new crew to come on board. It was then I learned I learned of critical issues with the first crew’s work. The workers apparently made mistakes early on, 3 weeks into the project, and the project manager (PM) either did not recognize them or did not identify them to me until after the new crew came on board some 3 weeks later. The mistakes were with the shower floor and surrounding tile. I did have questions about peaks and valleys in the floor, but these were dismissed. The concrete shower pan and tile had to be removed and redone, ordering extra tiles at a premium with express delivery. - Damage to the temperature limit stop of the shower mixing valve during an unsuccessful attempt to diagnose a problem created by the installers. I needed to order a new part which took nearly a week to arrive. At times, PM seemed inexperienced, over-confident, and not very knowledgeable about construction practices. I attribute some problems to being accustomed to doing things a particular way, but also to a lack of construction knowledge/experience. Your only interface is with the PM so it is important for them to be knowledgeable about the construction details of the project. Recessed lighting is provided free by the contractor and I was told not to worry even though I complained that the selected lights were not appropriate. My bathroom is open to the bedroom. It has an 11 ft+ sloped ceiling. The proposed lights were wide angle (they would illuminate the high ceiling and not the room below) and also they did not gimbal, so because of the sloped ceiling they ended up pointing to the bedroom not the bathroom below. I identified gimballed, narrow-beam lights, that were indeed news to the PM, that were more appropriate, and we used these. The first crew ran out of tile, even though I ordered 6% more than the 10% overage that was initially requested, and they had to use scraps for what they thought was finishing up the wall tile work. I complained about how the shower tile was chipped around the shampoo niche and the window and was told that was the best they could do. Maybe it’s the best anyone can do, but it does look sloppy. Ultimately, I identified some wall pencils to cover the chipped areas around just the window, which they installed and it looked ok in the end. I requested that my grab bar be positioned 34 inches above the finished floor. The posted design drawings and associated text on the submission to the City reflected this. But after all the tile was installed I find out from the construction progress photos that the stud that was installed behind the shower wall tile was installed too low to meet this requirement. Granted, only an inch but I am old and tall and it makes a difference. Too bad, this was such a simple thing and there was plenty of time to correct it before the wall tile was installed. Another detail missed. I specified the best possible one-coat paint and Green Bay paid for it. The initial paint job was so poor (bare areas, light painted over) that I requested a second coat, for which I purchased the paint for both trim and walls. Vinyl plank flooring is generally laid in a random staggered pattern. This is recommended by the manufacturer and included in the installation instructions. When questioned the PM seemed to have no understanding of this. This is just something of which you should be aware if GB installs floors for you. There were problems with the shower mixing valve. Plumbing personnel spent 6 hours trying to diagnose and fix the problem without success. It was reassembled in an odd manner, not looking like the manufacturer’s website. I was told that they would come by the next day to open up the wall behind the valve to check it out. No one looked at the installation instructions and no one called the manufacturer. But I did. The manufacturer told me it was likely only a cartridge issue and gave me things for them to check. A different plumber came in the next day and sure enough got it working halfway decent in an hour, basically using the manufacturer’s guidance. He told me, and showed me, that the temperature limit stop had been damaged at some point during the installations. I ordered a new part to replace the one they damaged. More plumbing poor workmanship. Of the two faucets installed, there was one leaking drain and one leaking trap. They do a poor job with grout. I could not get the color grout I wanted because I was asked the day before it was needed and it was not available. In the end, color choice actually did not matter because the finished, sealed, grout was, tile-to-tile, a variety of colors, a variety of textures, and maybe 10% of it close to resembling my chosen color. Again, disappointing, considering that my 1989 house has 100 feet of gray tile grout that is all the same color. Ask for color seal for your grout to assure consistency of color. They used color seal of my requested grout color and it turned out fine. They did a very poor job of maintaining cleanliness: My bathroom has bottom and top openings opposite the bedroom where I slept for the project duration. The bottom was covered and zippered but not the top during the demolition and dry wall work. Dust was everywhere. When I complained, the PM pointed to the top open area and said that’s where the dust came from. No further attempt was made to cover this area for several days. I became so disappointed that got a plastic tarp and covered it myself. Even after this, every night, after the days on which they worked, my routine was to sweep out and vacuum the bedroom. In my yard, I complained multiple times about the same cleanliness issues but the same things kept happening. It was like repeatedly having to ask your child to make their bed. They made a mess of my stone patio – residual cement, concrete and quickset covering 50 sf that they were not able to completely remove. They did try a power washer which ended up removing the stones from the concrete aggregate. I demonstrated a technique using household vinegar and a wire brush that was completely effective; this was the last thing the PM tried and it worked best, but not completely. There was no crew, only the PM to clean the area, which was unfortunate. The PM never seemed to have enough time with me for my liking, but was around almost every day the crew worked. I was told multiple times, “trust me” but I was let down. It seemed that schedule had little meaning on this project - the published schedule available to me on Buildertrend had few details. It would show basically the next day’s activities only, if that. From what I was shown, it was not used to manage the project but was just for show. Bright Spots: Buildertrend is a great application for communication. I only wish it was used to its full potential. GB coordinated the custom fabrication of my countertop from MSI. This worked out great and seamlessly. I even got some complementary cut leftover slab pieces for use around the home. Shower doors – GB connects you with an installer who is experienced, helpful with design suggestions, and efficient. He changed my mind from swing doors to sliding doors. In the end I got a product that I was mostly, but not completely, satisfied with. But it should not take so long, it should not be so stressful, and you should not have to monitor performance so closely to get what you want. Edit: Part 2 of the previous review based upon recent developments: Update for my review: Green Bay Remodeling closed my job after final payment, leaving a shower drain that leaks to the subfloor, incredible as it seems. In the interest of full disclosure, some 3 weeks after a bathroom remodel project completion that was 8 weeks late, I went to clean the hair collector in the linear drain and observed an 3/16 inch gap where the linear drain was offset from the drain pipe. Water was free to leak through this opening and into the subfloor space. It took 21 days for Green Bay to fix this problem. And they fixed it without griping. But according to the City inspector, this is not something the CIty inpsector checks. Again, as I experienced throughout this project, a simple attention to detail by the project manager could have caught and corrected before leaving the job. Either he knew and did not tell me or was not aware of this very simple thing, either way very poor performance. Think twice about hiring this company, they are not 4-stars, regardless of what the reviews state. No 4-star contractor would let problem after problem drag on, nor tolerate employees that concluded this job with a shower that leaks into the subfloor, nor tolerate an project manager and supervisor that hide, obfuscate, and refuse to admit the company did anything wrong. From my experience with Green Bay Remodeling, my problems were not just because of one crew, or one project manager, or one supervisor, but rather there appears to be a systemic problem at the company: little attention to detail at the project level and not being transparent with the client, and a mentality on up the management chain where everyone says the same mantra: “you have a fantastic bathroom, what’s the problem?" I do not have fantastic bathroom, even though that is at Green Bays tells me. I did not get everything I wanted on this project. Green Bay seems eager to honor, and respond to, and repair, warranty problems such as mine. However it took 3 weeks before any work was performed to address the latest problem. With Green Bay you will eventually get pretty much what you want and a quality product, but you have to be very careful. Watch them, and preferably have someone on hand with remodeling experience for over sight.

I had never done a remodel before and Green Bay made this so painless that I am now considering more projects. Their project manager Joseph Mahlof was not only a valuable design consultant he kept the project on track and took care of every little detail. All the workers who came to the house were courteous, professional and did a great job cleaning up after a day’s work. I would highly recommend their services.

My wife and I hired Greenbay Remodeling to do a complete bathroom remodel earlier in the year. We interviewed several contractors and although Greenbay was the most expensive, we felt that they understood our needs the best and had better design ideas. Daniel and Jessica were the project managers. The quality of the work was excellent and the design input was outstanding. However, we felt communication with us about some aspects of the project could have been better. All told, we would recommend Greenbay Remodeling.

I recently completed a dining area expansion and kitchen update project. Green Bay Remodeling was great to work with, including my project manager Danny Lebowski. From the initial meeting to discuss what I wanted done, the development of a plan and the implementation of the plan, Danny was available each step of the way. He brought in the appropriated workman for each step and ensured they understood what needed to be done as well. I am very happy with my updated kitchen/dining area and would highly recommend Green Bay Remodeling.

I hired Green Bay after feeling a huge amount of confidence in my project manager Allen. One bath had water damage and Allen brought up issues that no one else mentioned. Both remodels went very smoothly and turned out beautiful, on time and on budget. I liked having a project manager, as I had only one point of contact, including the design and shopping. Not only was Allen onsite everyday, he was always available. I would hire Green Bay and Allen again for any project.

I would recommend GreenBay to others. They helped me to decide what would look best in my space. The managers Zack & Joseph were key to a good experience. They were always available to me to answer any questions and help me make decisions. It was a positive experience.

My kitchen was in real need of an update. I contacted and met 4 contractors, including Green Bay Remodeling. After talking to Adir, I knew they were the right choice. Adir really listened to what I had in mind, and had great suggestions when I wasn't sure what to do with some items. I even decided to broaden the scope of the project and included flooring, lighting, painting and few other things across from the apartment. I wasn't home during the day when the project was ongoing, but I was regularly getting updates from Adir by texts. Jesus and his team moved at an incredible speed and kept the place as clean as possible. I couldn't be happier with both the process, and the final product. Everything looks just like I wanted. I'm definitely calling them back for my next project.

Project was built on time and within budget, which rarely happens on construction work in the Bay Area today. Company was very responsive to any needed changes. The quality of the work and workmen was excellent. Many of their key workers are company employees which ensures work is done well.

We hired Green Bay Remodeling for renovation of our bathroom. After recently purchasing this house, we discovered numerous ways that the flip company who redid this home cut corners that would have eventually resulted in severe structural & dry rot damage if they were not corrected. Asher our project manager and Julio his foreman pointed out these problems and helped us come up with a reasonable plan to address these issues. Even the first work crew provided me with helpful feedback when it came to purchasing a better bathtub instead of the one I had initially chosen. We had on-site visits and quotes from other companies, but decided to go with Green Bay since although they weren't the cheapest option, they were not the most expensive; moreover, they came with good recommendations. Plus we were under a time crunch as we had family coming to visit and needed a trustworthy company to complete a quality remodeling project in a timely manner. Once we signed on with Green Bay, Asher was quick to obtain a permit from the city. He offered to accompany us to purchase the tile and other supplies which was truly appreciated, since neither myself nor my partner were skilled in this area. The only reason we did not take him up on this offer was due to schedule conflicts. Asher was very responsive to our questions and concerns & kept us informed of the work progress along the way. All in all, I can say we are happy with the finished product. My corrective feedback is that the same color & grade of grout on the baseboard tile should have been used for the entire project; presumably the workers ran out of this initial grout, but we were not notified ahead of time and didn't discover this until the final walk-thru with Asher. Also there were some clean-up issues after the re-painting such as splatters on the windows and light fixtures that were not removed by the workers. However, these observations do not take away from our overall satisfaction with the renovation. Thank you Green Bay!

Green Bay Remodeling was exceptional. I met with Danny Lebowski on my house project and he provided a great summary of all my options while answering all my question. The remodeling was quick and painless. The construction crew were friendly and professional. Danny was very detail oriented and made sure to address any and all details. Very good at keeping customer in the loop and doing quality work. The project was completed on the date projected. The project consisted of remodel of master bedroom & bath, remodel of guest bathroom, and update of two bedrooms. I look forward to future projects with Green Bay remodeling.

When we discovered that we had an urgent need to replace a leaking sliding patio door, I sent contact inquiries to several contractors. The first response came from the office at Green Bay Remodeling. After gathering some information about my project an appointment was scheduled for an evening visit to inspect the project site and advise me on options for the rep[air of the water damage. Danny Lebowsky arrived precisely on time for our meeting and listened carefully as I described the water damage which appeared to be caused by a leak in the sliding door. While we had originally thought of the project as a replacement for the slider, as I talked with Danny I came to realize that a better option would be to erect a wall with a window and pet door. This made perfect sense due to a close-by door opening to the same deck which was outside the slider. Working together, Danny and I developed a scope of work which included a plan to repair subfloor and any structure that was water damaged. The plan was designed to cause the least damage to the existing plank flooring. Our discussion evolved into a contract which listed each item of work and the payment benchmarks. Danny assured me that he would serve as project manager and that work would be continuous once all materials were available. That night I knew that I had found my contractor. Danny provided regular updates on job scheduling while we waited for the delivery of the window. Work on the wall began a few days before the arrival of the window. The crew would arrive every day as scheduled and I watched as they completed their quality work. I was so pleased that I worked with Danny to add two additional projects which would run consecutively: new accent molding around windows and the garage door followed by repainting the full exterior of the house. Again I was very pleased by the craftsmanship of everyone who worked on the project. Danny either visited the site daily or called to give me updates. We are very pleased with the final result of all aspects of the three projects and would gladly have the Green Bay team work with us again.

We had a complete Master bathroom tear down and remodel and matching floors going into the master bedroom. I was initially cautious,not knowing much about the company. Zack was the project Manager and put together a package that included everything. The only thing we had to worry about was picking out our vanities,tiles and accessories- the fun stuff! I have to say that my confidence grew in Zack and his workers as the job went on. Zack was honest, reliable, a wonderful communicator, as were his workers. The quality of work was excellent. I would definitely hire them again and would easily refer Green Bay to friends.

Zack Llinetsky and Green Bay Remodeling did an absolutely fantastic job on the recent residing of our guest house in San Anselmo. Zack is a top notch project manager. He was professional, transparent, and just an overall joy to work with. The team's work was seamless from estimate to completion and we would highly recommend them.

We did our first remodel with Green Bay in early 2018 which was taking down a wall between our den and living room and some other items. Later in the year we decided to do another remodel, our bathroom and we knew from the start we would go with Green Bay due to our previous dealings with the company. We phoned our previous Project Manager Danny Lebowski and he contacted us back immediately. He came out, did an inspection and an estimate and within a few weeks we were underway again. The bathroom was a pretty big job as it was a complete remodel, taken down to the studs and rebuild. The project started and finished in the allotted time, Danny was constantly in contact with us with daily updates, he took care of any dealings with inspectors, the city and with the work crew. The project was pretty smooth and the work was done with quality and care. Thank you again Green Bay and thank you Danny Lebowski for your hard work and dedication to your customers, we enjoy working with you and your company. Keep up the good work!!!

We needed to have a large retaining wall replaced on our property and while the job was either to big for some contractors yet to small for others. Zack at Green Bay was knowledgeable and understanding of what we needed to have done. Along with his team, they were able to come up with an amazing design for our retaining wall. They were able to complete it quickly and with respect to our property and pets. Zack went above and beyond our expectations to make sure that we were satisfied through every step in the process.

County permits took a long time but the actual work went beautifully.

We had a very large and complicated retaining wall to rebuild. We had been turned away by several contractors before we found Green Bay Remodeling. When we met Zack, he was very personable and knowledgeable. He knew what was needed and how long it would take to complete our project. Zack made sure to keep everything transparent throughout the entire project. We were informed and consulted at each stage. Zack Llinesky and his team of highly skilled professionals completed our project quickly and with respect to our property and our wishes. We absolutely love our new retaining wall. We know that with Zacks team of engineers, our wall will last a lifetime.

We hired David Bar and his team to remodel our bathroom and kitchen, add a new closet under the staircase, put in new hardwood floor and tile on the first floor and some other tasks. His workers were very nice and respectful. I would like to think that we got along well. I didn't hear a single complaint from my neighbors about them and they are sensitive to parking issues because our shared driveway is so small. His workers also never gave us any attitude about redoing anything. And let me just say that if there was a website where contractors could rate their customers, I'm guessing my wife would get zero stars. Haha. Great experience overall. David was very responsive and did not shy away from difficult discussions. Would definitely hire again.

My experience with Green Bay Remodeling was perfect. We had just lost our Mother and moved into her house. Since she didn't use the bathroom for a while we found a hole had rusted into the bathtub and we needed to replace it. We shopped around and found Bath Fitters was willing to do the job for $8K and finish it in one-day. We trusted them. It took them 2 months to get the pre-fab materials they used to do the job. Then it took another 2 months to not even come close to completing the job. When the demo day finally came with Bath Fitters, we got a stop work order from the city because they tried to do the job without getting a permit. That caused more delays. When they pulled out the tile they didn't notice a section of the wood that was dry rot. As the project went on with Bath Fitters they continued to fail inspection and used drywall in the shower instead of wet wall. The shower pan was too big so they tried to shimmy it into place with spacers leaving a gap for water to run to the slab. They failed to even get the drywall they put in within 1/4 inch of the shower pan so they had another guy come out and move the drywall. This guy had a bad attitude and moved it so the holes didn't align with the shower fixtures. At this point we were fed up and fired Bath Fitters from the job. After doing some more research we found Green Bay Remodeling on Yelp. They had a great reputation so we called up Zach and asked for a quote. His quote was reasonable so we said your hired! What came next we didn't expect. Zach went to the permit office the same day we hired him to finalize the permit. We didn't think it would happen this fast. The next day he showed up with all the materials. The third day the workers came to start the job. They were very polite and took great care to keep the house clean of dust from the construction. They always showed up on time and ready to work hard. The bathtub and shower tiles were installed in less than a week and they passed all their inspections with flying colors. We are so happy that we finally get to take a shower after 5 months of waiting for the previous vendor to not complete the job. I would recommend Zach and Green Bay Remodeling to anyone I know. They were the best contractors I have worked with and I trust them fully. For our next project I will definitely call Zach at Green Bay Remodeling to work on the job.

I had a kitchen remodeling done by some other company and honestly was disappointed. when it came to do the bathroom i was much pickier and wanted a company that would take my needs and wants and make it happen without cutting any corners. I called up GBR and had zack come out , he was really nice and we connected really well and he was the right fit for me. when it came to choosing materials i had hard time so zack went out of his way to get me a real 3D so i can actully see what the bathroom would like . thank you zack and GBR

It was about time to remodel my guest bathroom, floor and kitchen and I was so nervous finding a good remodeling company. Because I never done remodeling before and I heard so many horrible stories about going bad during the construction. But I’m so lucky that I found Green Bay Remodeling. It’s a reliable and friendly company! I met David Bar who is a product manager, he walked me every step of the way and explained detail of the process for me. He guided me through out the whole process and make it super easy on me. And he was always responsive with any questions and concern I had. And his all crews are very professional and pros and super nice! Overall it’s a very efficient and reliable company and I am very happy with that my house turned out amazing. Definitely I would highly recommend for anyone looking to revamp their house! Thanks bunch!!

I worked with Zack who has excellent communication along with the ability to truly understand the client's side of view. Through thick and thin, Zack and his team took full ownership of navigating the City of San Francisco's stringent permit process to ensure all work was fully compliant. They always showed up on time and performed work with a sense of urgency that I really appreciated. I will definitely be using Zack and his team for my next project.

Project manager was immature and irresponsible. He did not reply to my email. The office person did not reply either. This company is unprofessional.

Even though remodeling can take a toll on you, we had a nice relationship with the contractor Zack Ilinetsky and his team. The friendship we established will continue past this time. The project was an extension of the living room and addition of the new dining room, a very nice improvement of quality of life! The team knows its work and does a qualified job. They worked hard trying to complete the job in a timely fashion.

Our original project plan was to install a 20 x 20 Ft. paver patio behind an existing wood fence and also a small paver area behind an existing in-law unit. There is a raised step and small gate leading to a laundry room door. We also wanted two feet of space away from the wood fence so we could place some planters next to the fence. We did not want that area paved, and we wanted the step to be level with the patio so there would be no tripping hazard when someone stepped through the gate. The Green Bay salesman/project manager came over and I discussed our plan with him, and I told him about the gate and planter requirements. The quote was for $15,000 which I thought might be kind of high, but since this was not easy work I decided to go for it. A couple of days later the salesman brought over his paving contractor, and we talked about the same things I discussed with the salesman. I also decided to expand the area behind the in-law unit to 17x30 square feet, and the quote went up to $26,000. When asked about paver choices, the contractor just showed us a couple of pictures of a previous driveway project on his cell phone. When asked about paver choices the contractor said "just use the same one in the picture". We were not offered any other choices. We asked him to bring some samples of the pavers so we could at least look at them and it was only after my wife's insistence that he finally brought over a sample. That was not what we wanted so we asked for some catalogs, which after some arguing the contractor finally brought some from his truck. We finally chose a style and started to proceed with the project. It was a few days later that the materials showed up and the work crew started the project. During the construction the paving contractor decided my gate latch was not to his liking and drilled a hole in the gate to modify it. Obviously that is not what we hired them for and I was quite upset about that. They were near the end of installing the patio pavers when I came home and discovered that they weren't following the original plan. I could not open my gate, and the patio was two inches higher than the step off of the laundry room. The paving contractor's reply was "just saw off the bottom of the gate until you can open it". We called the salesman/project manager and complained about this, and after some argument they agreed to pull up the pavers to do it the way we originally requested. However, the salesman made me record into his cell phone a disclaimer that they were not liable for any problems with redoing the patio. The paving contractor complained bitterly that we changed our minds too often, and stopped working on the project while we resolved the problem with the step, and only resumed work upon orders from the salesman/project manager. We finally got so frustrated with working with these people we asked them to just finish the basic work and leave. The main takeaways from this project are: - If you are looking for craftsmanship, not just basic construction, this is not the company for you. For the price we paid we expected more than just a couple of rectangles, and could not come up with solutions to typical problems you run into during construction. - When things go wrong they blame the customer first. - They are expensive. I calculated they charge about $165/hour for labor. We got the actual cost for materials by checking with other suppliers. - They seem to want to do things in a quick and dirty way. - They went outside the scope of their work and ruined my gate in the process. - They did not use edge restraints. Instead, they just poured excess gravel around the edge of the patios and were going to pour some cement powder into the cracks around the edge and water it down. Over time the edge pavers will crumble away. Look at many YouTube videos on how to do this correctly. See the photos below to see what they did. - We will not hire them again -ever. More - they were very prompt when asking for payment. We upheld our end of the deal and paid everything on time, the entire project cost. Also, they kept bugging us for a completion form, which we do not wish to sign. No problem, we fired them already. I will most likely have to finish the work myself or hire somebody else to complete the job the way we originally asked for.