Classic Installation Company

Excellent work and professionalism. Quality work.

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After my insurance company remediated the mold damage resulting from widespread flooding by stripping almost everything out from the floor to mid level, I decided to cash in and redo the place. It took from early March to late May to work out the contract during which time Sally Walker, the technical partner, patiently worked with me offering suggestions and pointing out potential problems with the seemingly endless choices I had to make. Their showroom was a useful resource yet Ivone Cortez, the coordinating partner, was happy to incorporate items I chose from the wide selection available on the web. A good illustration of their flexibility was the effort needed to incorporate non-magnetic cupboard door latches. It took more effort on their part to work out how to install these latches as there were subtle and unforeseen glitches but because of their patience, their handyman, Alfredo, with some ingenuity on his part, installed them perfectly. I'm no interior decorator so I benefited from the suggestions of Ivone and Susie. For example, originally, the walls, doors, and trim of my unit was a shade of white which I wanted to duplicate. Ivone suggested that the doors and trim be pure white so as to stand out. The effect really works. I asked Ivone to send a copy of the contract and proposal to my lawyer which she was happy to do. My lawyer gave high praise for the completeness of the proposal as well as the professionalism of the contract. The work began in early June and the contract work was finished by late August when I was able to move back in and have my life return to normal. It was a long time to suffer through but the length of the job was consistent with the estimates from the other contractors for whome I got bids, the insurance company contractor and my lawyer. Moreover, Alfredo often worked on weekends to get the job finished in a timely manor. Things slowed down afterwards when it came to completing some of the change orders as well as making last-minute repairs, but as I had already moved back in to an essentially fully functional home, it just gave me an excuse to delay the final payment—November 07. You may recall in my last review of Classic Installation that my one complaint was that Alfredo installed a door pull off center and I should've complained about it when I finally noticed it but didn't. I finally mentioned it during this job and Ivone volunteered to replace the door at no charge. Moreover, during this job, Alfredo's measurements were all accurate. I guess a few years on-the-job experience makes all the difference. Alfredo worked hard to please as best illustrated with the noisy microwave hood. I called Samsung whose rep said the noise must come from something foreign hitting the fan. Alfredo had already determined such was not the case. Still, To be thorough, he uninstalled the microwave hood and together we determined that the vent was obstructing the damper and the air resistance caused the motor to rev, making the noise. So much for Samsung customer help. Alfredo took the vent assembly back to the shop and fixed the problem. There were a few glitches. Classic Installation installs Waypoint cabinets which are modular rather than custom. I was disappointed that that the cabinets didn't make full use of the kitchen space. I don't know enough about cabinetry to know if this problem is intrinsic to modular cabinetry or whether it's possible to customize the size of the cabinets and drawers while still keeping the doors and drawer faces modular so as to save on cost, but if so, that's what I'd have wanted. The tile are not uniformly level and the grout doesn't completely fill the space up to the level of the tile making the floor a bit h****** a sponge mop since the porcelain tile edges are not rounded. Alfredo claimed that such is the case when installing sharp-edged tile. I've since noticed more carefully other tile work and what I've seen seems to confirm Alfredo's claim. I wished that either Ivone or Susie had educated me about this aspect of tile work. I would've chosen different tile. Finally, I ordered a replacement full-sized rectangular mirror for the vanity to replace a sloppily cut mirror of the same dimension. The new, precisely cut mirror once installed was not parallel to the vanity back splash. The mirror was fine; it was the original vanity that was cockeyed. Had someone accurately measured the vanity so we knew in advance that it was not true, I'd have ordered an elliptical mirror to avoid the problem. As it was, I paid to have the vanity surface redone. Any job as comprehensive as this one is going to have some problems yet given the scale of this project, I'm pleased with both the planning and execution of the job and most important I'm pleased with the outcome. Next time I need work done, I'll turn first to Classic Installation.

After my first visit to the show room, where the receptionist gave friendly, courteous and professional help, I walked out with all the brochures and information I needed to decide what I wanted. My next visit I scheduled for the installers to measure things up, which they did a few days later. The doors took about a month to arrive and the installers took two days to finish the job. After I painted the doors I couldn't be more pleased; a solid "A" performance. I replaced the doors for soundproofing but I was so pleased with the appearance of the paneled doors that several months later I hired Classic Installation to replace my sliding closet doors with decorative paneled doors. The installer for this job was not one of the two installers of the previous job. I didn't ask, but my impression was that he was new on the job. As before, I agreed to paint the doors myself. The installer came, I believe, on a Friday and hung the doors. Monday he'd return to finish up. Over the weekend I painted the doors. After I finished, I noticed that one of the set of doors were hung backward. Since I painted the outside to match the room and the inside white, I had to repaint the doors after he rehung the doors correctly. Argh! About a week after the job was done, I noticed that the door pulls, which are inset into 2 1/4" holes (so they can't be drilled over), on one set of sliding doors were a bit cockeyed. The error amounts to only about one fourth of an inch but, like an either-or optical illusion where once one finally manages to see the alternate image, one can never see the picture without seeing this alternate image, once I noticed the offset, I couldn't help but see it always. Other than this glitch, the doors are just fine and add much to my home's interior beauty. I should've brought this problem to the attention of Classic Installation to give this firm a chance to respond. Since I didn't, I'll give Classic Installation the benefit of the doubt with a grade of "A-" rather than a "B+" for the overall performance for the two jobs.