Ernie Lowe & Son

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He showed up and gave an estimate. His verbal ideas were aligned with mine. He sent an estimate via email. I asked if he could finish the work in 5-6 weeks, when my brother would be visiting. He said, "Oh, yeah. Absolutely." 'With the floor joist repair too?' "Oh, yea, we'll take care of that right when we pull up the floor." Destruction occurred quickly, maybe two days. Ripped apart all walls (including sheetrock around tub, old shower, down to beams, ripped out window and replaced it with plywood. Asked if I purchased fixtures, vanity, cabinet, tile for wall and floor -- I gathered all items and made them available for him. I purchased a beautiful slab of granite that had a blue streak in it. I clearly indicated that I wanted this streak to be maintained in the cut. He taped a rough outline of where the sink would be cut in order to maintain this rich, indigo streak. Long and short, 6 weeks later, the day before my brother was to arrive for a visit, I came home to find my toilet sitting in my bathtub. The floor was not completed, the tile on the wall was not completed. The window was still plywood. He showed up -- or his crew of sons showed up -- 1x or 2x per week. He did not answer his phone when I called, and often his voicemail was full and unable to take messages. The electrical was done in a timely manner, as the electrician showed up. However, someone opted to attach the new wiring to a defunct, old (fuses) box, from which original wiring extended rather than to the new circuit box. Thus, the refrigerator blew the circuit, as did an entire room's worth of outlets that was on the same circuit. Ugh. Beginning of August, the bathroom was finally finished. The granite counter slab had the streak cut out. Tile guy he hired: The tile floor had clumps of grout or dry wall cement on it. The nice, white subway tile on the wall near the shower head had sticky, brown drip marks that did not come out with soap, soft scrub, or a towel. He ran out of subway tile, and Ernie went to my tile store to buy more. He purchased 6" tile instead of 4", then cut it into 2"x2" squares and placed them without consulting me. We never discussed this. I told him to remove them. He returned to the tile store and purchased 4" tile that was slightly off-color from what I had. Worse, the 3/8" glass wall extended to the ceiling instead of to the top of the tile. It reminds me of the prison glass where visitors meet: I should put little phone receivers on each side (one in the shower, one near the sink). He was quick to request more money, but slow to complete any work. Ernie or his workers stomped throughout my house without covering the freshly finished hardwood floors until I reminded him not to. Mind you, I had new windows put in throughout my house, and the guys laid down drop cloths in every room, and vacuumed afterwards. I would never recommend him. A friend researched him after my work started and told me that Ernie's contractor license was 4 years expired. No wonder. I'm sure there would be many liens against him/his contractor number.

Mr. Lowe was recommended by a local realtor, and my first meeting with him was a pleasure from start to finish. He returned my initial telephone call within hours, and we agreed to meet within a day or two. Because everything about that meeting was so preliminary, I can't yet comment on cost or the quality of his work. However, having met with perhaps a dozen other tradespeople about one or the other of these projects, I can say that it was wonderful to be included in a dialogue about what I have in mind, rather than being witness to a monologue about what I need. His listening skills are top-notch, and all else being equal, I would recommend him on that basis alone. In the event I select him for one or both of these projects, I'll update this report.