California Installation

Even though it has been few months since the installation, I have reminded myself to write a report as it warrant it. There is always sometime more urgent on my time, it took some pushing myself to write it. Michael from California Installation came first time to inspect the cabinets when it arrived. He came on another date to install my approx $18,000 kitchen cabinets. He was systematic, took a lot care with the cabinets and surroundings, checking basic requirements like levelling is met. When there was potential problem due to unlevel ceiling (done by another contractor), Michael highlited the issue, discuss what the nd result would be and provided possible solutions. If you like contractor that give you a head-up, and not end up with surprise, Michael will be good to work with. One thing I look for is that the contractor has all the right tools and equipment, and he did. Most importantly, the worksmanship (transition from one cabinet to another, end joints of moldings, etc) was close to perfect. Michael cleaned up end the end of each day even though he already discard junks in a bucket. If you want a great installation to supplement your brand new cabinets and be able to look at it daily and not have to complain about it, check out California Installation. Footnote on price: I believe you will get a more competitive bid direct from the company. In my case, I have to accept the marked up price from Lowes.

This company (Mike) was brought in to finish the work of a previous contractor who had been fired due to defects in the prior contractor's workmanship. I received his name through "DIRECT BUY" who had a list of contractors. His bid was the lowest and the few references checked out. Prior to hiring Mike, I provided him with a list of the work to be done. The price was agreed upon and the time estimated to complete the job was two weeks after the start of the job. He arrived on the first day on time, handled the confrontation he experienced from the former contractor in a professional manner. He also told me that he would not have to be paid for the entire job until it's completion which surprised me as most contractors I had hired in the past usually wanted payment periodically throughout the job. He had the cabinets installed within a few days except from the toe kicks and some minor detail work. But then he told me he would not be back for several weeks to complete the job and he asked for payment for the work done, about 1/2 of the total cost of the job. Even though that was not what we had agreed upon, I went ahead and paid him as I did feel that was the fair thing to do. I was surprised as I was under the impression that we had agreed on him starting the job and working for the 2 weeks straight through to complete the work. When he came back several weeks later he installed the bathroom tile and floor but did not finish off the grout...and he then did not come back for several more weeks. And once again he asked for partial payment of the work done. He then did not come back for several more weeks to finish off the job. Thus a job that was supposed to have been completed in two weeks was dragged out for several months. Towards the end of the job he tried to get out of doing some of the work that we had agreed would be part of the job. I reminded him that we had agreed upon it being done prior to him starting the work and showed him the list he had agreed to do. So he finished up most of the work and I let him go. The quality of his tile work was not the best with some rough edges, but it was better than other tile work I had done in the past. And when he left the last day he told me that I still needed to put the grout sealer on the tile which I had assumed would be part of the work he was hired to do. Of the 5 contractors I have hired in the past for major home improvement work - new foundation, remodeling existing bathrooms, new deck), he would be in about the middle of the pack regarding price and quality. If I was to hire him again I would make sure the items to be done would be clearly stated, the time to complete the job be clearly stated and a penalty clause included for each day the job extended beyond the agreed upon completion date. His kitchen work was good. And his woodwork was good, especially considering this is a 100 year old Victorian building with lots of detailing in the woodwork. But I would not be too eager to hire him for bathroom tile work. And was not too good in cleaning up the debris at the end of each segment of the job before he left for several weeks off the job.

He did a wonderful job! The kitchen is just beautiful, it was a complete transformation. He is truly a craftsman; paying close attention to detail. He took the time to listen to our ideas and made suggestions to improve upon them. He asked a lot of questions to determine our specific preferences, which was much appreciated.