Morse Remodeling & Custom Homes

I have mixed feelings about submitting this review but in the end decided to do it because all other reviews I can find online of this company are glowing, and that is not the experience I had. We had no hesitation hiring them because of all the positive reviews. The personnel are extremely charming and responsive; I actually enjoyed having their lead carpenter in my house because he was so nice. My biggest complaint was that we were told our remodel would take 6-8 weeks (in the contract too). We hired them over a competitor because of this estimate. The work actually took 16 weeks (and they are still fixing some problems a month after that). There were no major changes in design or materials and we were ultra responsive in communication, ordering our part of the hardware, and payments, so these things could not have been the source of the discrepancy. This is not our first remodel, so we have had experience with the process. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong on this project. Some problems were issues with subcontractors, others were not. For example, our slab broke during fabrication; lights arrived defective; mirror got measured incorrectly so it arrived too big; tile that matched the slab was harder to find than anticipated -- delays due to things like this were impossible to anticipate. Others were not. Part of a window was stuccoed over because the subcontractor was not being supervised; plumbing was installed on the wrong wall because the carpenter was not working from the final design plans; woodwork installation was delayed because boards had not been delivered a month earlier (noticed but not followed up); painting was fantastically sloppy - wrong color used, paint everywhere (on receptacles, newly installed cherrywood woodwork, door frame, etc) - it had to be redone (and cleaned up) several times; fixtures that should have been ordered were forgotten until installer couldn't find them; hardware was installed crooked and misaligned multiple times; I could go on but this gives a pretty good idea of what it was like. In their favor: for the most part, my complaints were received graciously and with intent to improve, and all major problems were eventually fixed. Almost everything works in the bathrooms and we are happy we remodeled them. Both the designer and owner told me that only once in a great while do they have problems with a job like ours did. I have to believe them but our experience was so painful that we cancelled another contract with them to do work outdoors. Good thing, too...5 months after signing they still hadn't started design work; also, the designer had quit so we would have had a much longer delay. In the end, I feel our remodel was astronomically overpriced. The cost was not a surprise - we signed the contract - but the experience was. We were expecting Morse to be a high-end remodel firm and thus the process would be smooth and quick. Our experience was the opposite, more in line with what we would have expected with a budget outfit.

We had met reviews with them. The workmanship was good. We had some communication problem with them and we had incorrect cabinets delivered. They did get everything sorted out, but not to our satisfaction. We had to pay for the changes with the cabinetry.

Their workmen and subcontractors were all 100% wonderful! The experience with them was excellent. They started a little later than originally expected (I mean days, not months), but once they got going they moved very fast. The work was first rate. As just one example, the young man who did the demolition was nothing short of heroic. He worked alone most of the time, and I couldn't believe the amount of back-breaking work he accomplished. Then he fabricated a mantel and installed the moldings and doors. What a gem! If I have any complaints they would be: We ran over budget. Probably not their fault - we just didn't realize how much things cost when you use a contractor . I had hoped for their decorator contractor to actually come up with a complete proposal, including room color, furniture selection, etc. In fact, I felt as if we drove all of that. Instead of her presenting a picture of a finished product as she saw it, she just presented us with samples of paint/tile, pictures of furniture/rugs, etc., and we had to go shopping at furniture stores and online and make all the choices and visualize the outcome, but with her coaching. I really had wanted a drawing. Turned out that would have cost many hundreds of dollars more.(see prior complaint.) But it all turned out to be quite nice, if a bit monochromatic. If I had it all to do over again (heaven forbid) there are probably some things I'd change in that regard (maybe a lighter colored floor). All in all we're very happy with the result.

Absolutely outstanding experience. The workmanship was very high quality throughout the whole project. All of the staff involved were extremely responsive, and just great to work with. The job site was always very clean and well maintained. The design was very well done, and they really listened to what we wanted. We are very, very happy with all of the work. We highly recommend them, and we would definitely use them again.