A KITCHEN & BATH BY JAMES

It went good.

It has taken nearly 11 months to install and address issues with this small bathroom. A) I will start out by saying that the company employs some great workers who take care and pride in their work. They were very friendly and easy to work with. The carpenter, tiler, plumber and electrician did excellent work as did the shower installation crew that was finally called in. B) What I liked: I did allow the owner to suggest options for the shower, sink, cabinet, windows, fixtures and floor. I did like everything that he selected. Carpenter did a super job of reinforcing the old wood and installing the floor such that all of the junctions/seams of the wood floor were hidden beneath the cabinet or commode. Plumber did a good job installing the commode and moving the plumbing for the shower. Electrician was great, checking the height and position of switches with me, etc before installation. Since this was the first time I had work done like this, I may take part of the blame, but will present the issues in as factual a manner as possible. C) Issues: a. We were called on Friday for a Monday start. We had set a tentative date of first weekend in August; I unexpectedly had to go out of town but as I had not heard from AKBJ, I didn't think we would be starting the first weekend in August. Had to prep the bathroom for demolition in very short time and we weren't home for the start of the demolition. AKBJ indicated it would be difficult to reschedule everyone. b. wrong faucets ordered and installed - I did notify AKBJ but not until later in the year. I also notified them that what was installed was fine. c. painter left bare wood on the edges of boards - when I reported this, I was told that they weren't using that painter anymore. I did not request repair for this and it was not offered. d. shower leaked - from day 1 the shower leaked from a particular corner. AKBJ sent out one of their repair men (not a plumber or bathroom fixture installation expert) to repair by caulking. We voluntarily stopped using the shower to allow it to dry before this was done. The repair didn't work. Sent same person out to caulk again and this time AKBJ did not want to wait for the shower to dry. AKBJ commented that they never should have gone with something "out of the box" (and apparently had no experience with installing). Also, the person who installed the shower walls and door did the job by himself. The instructions clearly stated that it was a 2 person job, but only 1 was allotted for the task. e. shower still leaked - AKBJ offered to send out a professional shower door installer to remove the shower stall (not the back and bottom) and replace with a new set of walls and doors. We were again inconvenienced while this was done. Began discussions to replace shower arm so that the water did not have to be pointed at the corner of the shower in order to get into the shower without getting water on the floor. f. shower continued to leak. AKBJ did visit to see leak in action but it was a slow leak so tossing a cup of water onto the corner of the shower did not show the leak. Sent professional back to look at work. Professional recaulked. We were inconvenienced while shower dried before and after treatment. g. shower continued to leak - shower professional came back at least one more time before deciding to remove side and door and reinstall. We were inconvenienced while shower dried before and after treatment. h. shower appears to have stopped leaking. Requested installation of new shower arm so that the water would drop vertically rather than at an angle which required pointing the shower at the troublesome corner. We asked AKBJ for suggestions but the suggestions sent were not viable options. We had to do the research to find a suitable shower arm. AKBJ ordered the shower arm. i. shower arm arrived in the wrong finish - after several weeks, the new arm arrived to the shop and when the person came out to install it, discovered that it was the less expensive chrome finish, not the more expensive brushed nickel finish that was used throughout the bathroom. I do not know if the wrong finish was ordered or if the supplier shipped the incorrect item. j. correct shower arm finally arrived. We were informed that the plumber would be out to install it on Friday (June 23). The plumber did not show up and no one from the office called to check on this. I was unable to call on Monday but office still did not call to follow-up. I called on Tuesday and AKBJ apologized for the confusion, etc etc. I was told that they would send a plumber on Friday, June 27, 8 am. On Thursday, June 26, one of the workers (not a plumber) showed up bright and early to install the shower arm. k. Overall configuration of bathroom is poor. When the bathroom was designed, the shower stall had doors that opened within the shower stall (that is, did not swing out over the floor). This worked well space wise with the location of the toilet and did not get water on the wood floor. The new shower stall has a door that swings out which, by its nature, does drip some water on the wood floor. The door could not swing towards the toilet as it would have hit the bowl so it had to swing away from the toilet. As such, there is not enough room to get into the shower without opening the door fully or nearly fully (can't get between the door and the toilet). If the bathroom had been PLANNED for this type of door, it would have required moving the commode. But since it was not planned this way, this is now a permanent defect in the design of the bathroom. l. Commode - the one thing that AKBJ did not select was the commode. We opted for a Kohler with assisted flush. When AKBJ called from the supplier house to confirm that we wanted assisted flush, I asked what it was, he asked the supplier, and was told it was a pressurized assist for flushing, helped to use less water. I agreed that this was the concept we wanted. Turns out this feature sounds like a small freight train and vibrates the floor with each flush. it is not possible to remove the assisted flush accessory; the whole toilet would have to be replaced. I take some responsibility in this as I did not research the item. I did expect AKBJ to know what they were installing. When I raised the issue, I was told that they couldn't know about every product "out there." I was disappointed that they would install something without understanding the item. No recourse was offered. So, I now have a very expensive bathroom with a commode that sounds and feels like a freight train and a shower that is too close to the toilet and drips water on a wooden floor when the door is opened and closed. The shower does not visibly leak but I am keeping an eye on the ceiling below. Every day, though, I worry and wonder if the shower is leaking somewhere that I cannot see. AKJB said that they have never had so many things go wrong with a single job. I paid a lot for his 20 years of experience but I do not feel that this job was done well or timely. It's hard to write this review as I think the carpenter, tiler, electrician, plumber and shower installation folks were great to work with and good at what they do. Unfortunately, so many things went wrong, many of which (in my opinion) could have been avoided if AKBJ had A) experience with all of the items installed and if he didn't have experience, he should have researched before installing and B) used the shower installation team in the first place (instead of someone who didn't normally install showers). AKBJ was recommended by a friend and AKBJ provided two other references. One never called back. The other raved about how great AKBJ was. Turns out that the person who gave a great review was actually a neighbor of one of the workers.