DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen

My wife and I love our DreamMaker kitchen and bath. It has transformed the feeling of our entire home. Our kitchen looks right out of a magazine. It’s magnificent. We love every detail, most especially the herring boned floor, gorgeous countertops, and beautifully subtle tile work. We would give DreamMaker our highest recommendation to friends and family. With contractors being in the home for weeks, trust was a big deal for us—and initially how DreamMaker stood out. From the moment we met Fred we liked him. He was straight forward and honest. He helped us cut costs where it was possible, and had a dedicated team who delivered outstanding workmanship. Their entire team (Alex, Matt, Frank, Angel, etc) were great guys that made us feel at-ease with them in our home, frequently without us. We hope to do more work with Fred and DreamMaker in the future.

The remodel went very well. We ran into some problems along the way, however, Fred and his team were very responsive and flexible. We were able to negotiate in a professional manner when it came to change orders. The construction took longer than expected, but because the house was old there were unknowns which are not uncommon and we were not surprised.

I have to say that ANY kitchen remodel is going to be a horrendous process and there were some times when this project was driving me crazy, but if I had to do it all over again I would still pick Fred Chapman and his team to do the job. The end product was a beautiful kitchen and laundry area. After the initial plans were drawn up and changes were made, Fred helped us through the process of picking out our cabinets, flooring, etc. He is very knowledgeable as a contractor and is very picky when it comes to the small details of making sure that everything is just so. The work that was done was very good quality. His workers were such nice guys, always very respectful and pleasant to be around. Fred was very easy to work with and always responded to any communications in a very timely basis. Fred didn't use many sub contractors to do the work, but the ones that he did were also very good. The tiler was very meticulous in leveling our floor ( our home was built in 1927) and doing a beautiful job in laying the tile. We addressed any issues that concerned us and Fred was always happy to discuss possible changes to our plan and solutions. Two months or so after the project was totally completed, I had an issue with a kitchen door handle which was loose. I called Fred and he had someone come out to fix it very quickly. I greatly appreciated that as a contractor he followed up and stood behind his work.

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They came out and took measurements and never gave me the drawing. The man who came was knowledgable.

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The provider cancelled two appointments with us. The first time, we were more than willing to reschedule (even though they called the day before the appointment to ask to be rescheduled). The second time ALSO occurred the day before our next scheduled appointment. This time they asked to meet the night of the day they called to reschedule (same day!). Most of us are very busy in our daily lives, and have to juggle a lot, including schedules. Two cancellations is a bit much. We considered their communications to be quite unprofessional, and would not want to work with an organization who does business this way. Overall, a major disappointment and our first negative experience on Angie's List.

Design went well, contractor listened to all our issues and concerns and had great ideas and solutions. Very professional.

We were able to get great ideas/drawings, as well as a detailed scope of the project. The informed and practical input we received from Fred on what we could do with our bathroom has been extremely valuable in this brainstorming stage. He listened to our needs and ideas, and we are hoping we can move forward with the remodel. If we are able to, our first call will be to Fred.

What a great experience. Very professional, great ideas of what to do with our kitchen and how to solve some issues with our space. Very quick comprehension of the space and options. He answered questions and took the time to come up with an interesting plan that included wall removal, refinishing of our fir floor and sanding of the subfloor as well as new counters and cabinets. He has a quick grasp of small details as well as the big picture

Fred was very patient with us, no pressure, very informative, gave us the designs along with websites where we could go to view images of finished kitchen and island ideas. Overall it was a very positive experience and would highly recommend their services.

Representative explained process & options. Provide his professional option regarding current design to best design for resale.

Master plan garage makeover to great room. They are a good kitchen planner builder firm.

Fred Chapman the owner of Dreammaker Bath and Kitchen came to my house for our first meeting. He spent a good hour plus and we discussed ideas for my kitchen remodel. He took measurements and notes from our conversation and drew some pictures of the project. He committed to having drawings for me in about 3 weeks. I was out of town for 2 weeks and unable to meet with him until yesterday. I met with him at their Walnut Creek offices and Fred showed me final drawings and we discussed in more detail price, timeframe etc. overall I was satisfied with services performed and felt like I received my monies worth. I was not convinced that the amount of cupboard space would be adequate for my needs, especially after coming home from our meeting and looking at my existing cupboard space. Also, the price is really more than I am comfortable with. Fred came in with a price of about 8k more than the top end of my budget I gave him at our initial meeting. That being said Fred was prompt, courteous, knowledgable, professional and easy to work with. An enjoyable experience.

Recently bought an older home in Walnut Creek and was looking for new flooring. We selected tile from Mount Diablo Tile and Stone in Walnut Creek and were referred to Dreammaker as their office is in back of the store. Fred from Dreammaker came out and measured the job and was very knowledgeable. He had a good understanding of the homes in the area and the subflooring and spent well over an hour with me educating me on tile and how it would look. Was quoted a price on approx 600-700 sq ft of tile that ended up being the best price we received but did not move forward at that time as I was still looking for hardwood and carpet. | |A few months later we approached Dreammaker with a revised tile installation (down from 600sq ft to less then 150 sqft consisting of just 3 small bathrooms and a small living room. Fred's quote for the smaller job came in at over $5k more then $33sq ft to install or 6x the price of the tile. Fred lamented on how it would take over a weeks worth of time and how difficult the job was for a very small selection of tile in rooms that are mostly square. Ultimately I received other quotes to install at about $1k so his quote ended up being 5x greater then competitors. I think honestly he didn't want the job and wish he would have manned up and told as such instead of wasting my time. |

I had some ideas of what I wanted to do to make my bathroom more accessible. This is a one-bath, two-bedroom space. So, a full bath was not going to work. Fred gave me a plan and showed me how to create a room with the toilet, a room for the shower and an open area for the vanity within the local codes. So now the bathroom can be used by three people at once. Then he also gave me an estimate that was reasonable. Thanks!

Tickled pink! Fred arrived and spent a ton of time brainstorming about how to proceed. At the end of the process I had one 3D drawing covering a low-end remodel, and one 3D drawing covering a high-end. He sat and patiently listened to my needs. He brainstormed at great length. And then we formalized two very different ideas. He was professional, personable and engaging. I walked away from my experience with the strong sense that he was trust-worth and is committed to helping people's dreams come true. Once I am ready to proceed, he will be my first call.

2 days to work on the electric circuit breaker box & ground rods 0.5 days in demolition of bathtub surround and tub & toilet and floor vinyl tile removal 5 days to do installation of tub, cultured marble, porcelain tile floor, toilet, fixtures, and wall texturing

I hired Dream Maker Bath & Kitchen to do this work on my parents house in September 2010. They started the job the first week of October and were to be finished by the end of November. Here we are at the end of February, and the job is still not finished correctly. Things started off badly when they came into the property and did the demolition work right away. They completely gutted the master bathroom and ripped up all of the hardwood flooring downstairs. The demo crew did not put up any kind of dust walls or protect any of the belongings that were in the house, so everything was covered in a thick layer of dust when they were finished. I complained to Fred about this and he admitted that it was not professional in what they did. He said he would make things right by trying to clean up the mess, but it never should have gotten that dirty in the first place. Once the demo work was complete, nobody showed up at the house for over a week. The master bathroom, which was only supposed to take 2 to 3 weeks to finish did not get completed until about 11 weeks later. The workers were constantly behind schedule and I was told it was because the tile was on order and took 8 days longer than expected to receive. Well, if that was true, I could understand the job being a week behind schedule, but they were well over a month behind. I had other contractors hired to paint the house and lay the carpet. Both of them had to be pushed back and inconvenienced because Fred couldn't perform as promised. In addition to inconveniencing the other contractors, the conditions that Fred and his workers expected the people living in the house to endure was ridiculous. They had to walk on bare sub-floor with exposed staples for over 7 weeks. There was dust on everything, including the food in the house. At one time, there was only 1 operable bathroom in the house. All of the kitchen appliances were removed and not replaced for several weeks. Basically, Fred and his crew did just about everything they could to make the house uninhabitable despite the fact that they knew that there were multiple people living in the house during this remodel. The main reason for this inconvenience is because the workers did not ever focus on any one area of the job and finish it before moving on to the next area. Had they just focused on one area of the project, like the master bathroom, and completed it before moving on to the next area, the project would have gone much smoother and fewer people would have been inconvenienced. When the project was finally finished in December, there were many problems that were pointed out to Fred that needed to be corrected. The most glaring of these problems was the fact that the grout used on the tile downstairs was multiple colors and did not look right. I pointed this out to Fred on multiple times and told him that the grout had to be removed and replaced because it was done incorrectly. He kept saying that he would do whatever it took to make it right, but kept trying to cut corners and would never fix the problem. First, he tried to remove just one section of grout and redo it, but that didn't fix the problem. He then tried to sand the grout and paint it to match, but that didn't work. He kept blaming the manufacturer of the grout, but the problem was obvious that it was not mixed correctly when it was done. Even his own workers admitted that Fred cut corners and did the grout wrong. They admitted that it all needed to come out, but he wouldn't do that even though he told me on multiple times that he would do whatever it took to make things right. After fighting with Fred for the past 2 months trying to get him to complete the punch list of things that weren't done correctly on the project, my parents have just decided that they want to be done with this project. Even though they are not happy with the quality of work done by Fred and Dream Maker Bath & Kitchen, they don't have the energy to fight over this any longer. I have suggested that they take this matter to court because any mediator or judge would easily agree that the grout problem downstairs is not resolved and does not look the way that it is supposed to, but they just want to move on. Needless to say, I am highly disappointed in how Fred has handled this job from start to finish and I wish that I had never hired him. The hard part is that he comes across as so nice and knowledgeable that you want to believe in him, but you don't realize that he doesn't live up to his promises until it is too late.