H & S Cabinets and Construction

Horrible. Frankly we expected much better as this contractor had done similar work for us about 10 years earlier. We should have suspected a problem when we requested the tile count ( to place the order for custom tiles) from the general contractor. In 2 prior jobs, the general contractor had arranged for the tile installer to come out, confirm the general's measurements and give us the number of each type of tile we needed to order ( with about 10% extra for cushion). On this job, Norm , the owner, said " We don't do that.The tile store should tell you." Hmmmmm- really. Someone who has never set foot on the property and must work off of your sketch is going to be able to tell us. The first tile installer they sent out gave me the creeps. Turns out my instincts were correct as I caught him going through my husband's workbench in the garage - claimed he was " looking for nails"??!! then he leaves for lunch and never returns. One of the other workers told us later that he was a drunk. Next tile guy shows up a few days later to do the work. He seems like a nice guy, but again, he was not experienced with custom hand made tiles. Told us that 1/16" grout spacing would look best. ( Later learned from several quality tile installers and the tile store that you NEVER use small spacing for handmade tiles as you need to allow for slight variances in tile edges.) He neglected to read the BRIGHT ORANGE LABELS on each and every tile box explaining this. The warning in each box was in Spanish and English so no excuse there. SHower entry ended up at an incline- no even straight and level. Shower walls are bowed and lean out. Makes me want to cry at how poor a job this was. At the beginning of the job, I noted very poor quality tile work and sent photos to Norm/Matt since they were not properly supervising the job. Norm told me to examine the job each night and make a list of mistakes as he could tell the tile guy to fix them. REALLY??!!! You are asking me to do your job for you??!! Matt was useless. Admitted he knew nothing about handmade tiles and claimed they were "defective". This is the same tile company we used on 2 other jobs and had no issues because a competent tile installer was used. frankly if we had known that H&S no longer used Tile N'Counter of Glendale to do their tile work, we would have gone elsewhere. After much frustration, we demanded a meeting with Norm. He made multiple promises, but they were not kept. In July, I had a call with Norm, Matt and Arthur and documented the promises via e-mail after the call. Again, I had to fight with Matt to get H&S to keep their promises. On the morning they were to come and place the bath cabinet in the EXACT SPOT that Norm and I had measured TWICE and marked clearly on the wall- the crew just put the cabinet in the bathroom about 5 inches off center- which then caused the marble top installers to be off. H&S also failed to properly install the vent cover for the HVAC system behind the cabinet despite my reminder to do so. ( In too big a hurry to get out to the next more important job, I guess). In addition, Norm and I discussed that a certain section of the wall should NOT be covered with tile. Communication failed to reach the tile installer who then prepped it for tiles. When his error was pointed out - (by me 'cause no one at H&S bothered to supervise this job properly), Norm had the installer remove the prep work- which damaged the wall. The list of egregious errors goes on and on. After numerous promises to correct the situation and the failure to followup, we told Norm that his company is no longer welcome on our property. The damage they did to our wood floor, plaster walls, wood shutters and the chipped tiles that were installed illustrates why we cannot trust them to do what they should do. We are now in the process of getting estimates from other quality vendors to fix the damage and complete the job. LOTS of wasted hours on my part to do what Norm should have done as general contractor. HUGE disappointment. Wish Angie's list let us post photos 'cause a picture is worth a thousand words. We were always made to feel that our job was not important to them and the poor quality of the work and broken promises clearly confirmed that to us.