D'Onofrio Design And Construction

Things started well. Sal is a nice guy and we seemed to be on the same page about the design and look I wanted. The job was estimated to take 21/2 to 3 weeks. Well, 21/2 to 3 weeks has now turned to 6 weeks and I could not be more frustrated. I stopped payment on my last installment and have made it clear I will not release these funds until the job is completed to my satisfaction. The breezeway is done. The wall that faces the street looks seamless and fantastic. The wall that faces the back yard is only OK as it is not flush to the rest of the house. The bathroom is a different story. My only bathroom became fully functional only yesterday but is still not complete. The work has been sloppy at best. The rectangular tiles were not lined up and the penny dot tiles on the floor had to be re-done twice. I also have round glass accent tiles and some of them were installed broken and had to be taken out and replaced. No attention to detail at all. The walls have scratches that will need patching and it looks like I will have to point that out because the men who painted them painted right over them and didn't seem to care that they were there. Really? The grout lines between the tile and the walls are not straight or even. I have come home to find all my lights left on all day, no electricity in my bedroom and the unscreened window left open to the delight of many flies who made their way in. But nothing will top me coming home to find no toilet in my only bathroom. When I hired Sal I told him I would need a functioning toilet every day and he said it would not be a problem. When they laid the floor tiles I was told I would not be able to walk on them until the next day. I came home after 11 that evening intending to go straight to bed only to find I had no toilet at all. All the hotels in town were booked but for one rather unpleasant exception which led to a night so miserable that thinking about it still infuriates me. For a time parts of my house felt like they were taken over and it took an angry email to get that cleaned up. I had planned to spend Thanksgiving weekend finishing my unpacking and finally getting settled. What I got instead is construction on 2 of my 4 days off. I have a stressful and demanding job. I really need my down time and this is starting to affect me in ways I cannot afford. When I came home Wednesday before Thanksgiving I was excited because I thought the bathroom would be done at last. It wasn't. I contacted Sal and he, again, told me it would be done "tomorrow" and to "hold on a little longer" and that he understood my frustration. My response was a stop payment on the last installment and letting him know I will not release those funds until this job is completed to my satisfaction. The saga continues. One good thing about being here while the construction crew is here is observing how things are done. I noticed one of the guys leaving and coming back quite a few times. Turns out he was going to the store to bet things he needed for the job. Really? How can they be so unprepared? One of the things he went to get yesterday was a new vanity fixture. The fixture that I had approved and that was purchased weeks ago didn't fit. How do they not measure? Now I'm stuck with a style of fixture I did not want and I'm not happy about it. I'm thankful that water flows through it but I am not pleased with it beyond that. When we initially talked design, we agreed he would install towel hooks and we agreed on the look of these hooks. To my horror, one of the trips to Lowes yesterday was for these hooks but what he came back with is something I would only consider hanging in my garage. I showed him a picture of what i wanted before he left yesterday and this morning I got a picture of hooks that were not even close. I told Sal that we were only 50% there and his response was to have the guy buy them and install them. The guy that came today to "finish" was planning on leaving with a new check. My bathroom is not done so there was no check and there will not be one until I'm happy with the finished product. Maybe now that his pay is tied to my satisfaction with the work he will get this crack team to get it done and quickly. I wish I had thought of this before because I'm sure we would have been done by now. Oh, and the white tub I had installed looks years old from having dirty work boots in it. I bought a white tub and I don't think it's too much to ask to have a white tub delivered to me. I can't wait for this to be over. My next project is a kitchen which, it goes without saying, Sal will not be doing for me. It's going to take a while for me to consider another project for quite a while. I'll update if the job is ever finished. I'm sure it till be "tomorrow".