PINE VALLEY TILE INC

He was efficient, on time, and very professional.

So far as I can tell, Pine Valley Tile is a very small company. It consists of just one, really amazing and awesome guy -Darrell. The fact that I found Pine Valley Tile at all, was a stroke of luck. I was cold-calling tile companies from the phone book. I had contacted several of the big (and overpriced) flooring/tile companies with colorful, splashy ads, and decided I should try to call some of the smaller companies too. So for some reason I randomly started in the middle of the alphabetical listings at "P" and called Pine Valley Tile. Darrell, when he showed up for the bid was very meticulous. He was the only guy that actually measured, I mean *really* measured, not just the shower, but every room that I said I wanted tiled. Some of the other guys breezed in and breezed out, half listened to what I said, slopped their tape measure across one way, estimated the square footage and gave numbers that were at least 100 sq. foot or more off. Darrell, on the other hand, was very exact. His attention to detail is crazy good. This was also reflected in the bid when he dropped it off promptly the next day. Everything was itemized. I mean, everything. He had the cost of labor broken down by the shower and then by the floor of the main house. But he also had the cost of materials broken down, even to the exact number of baseboards and wood strips he would need to mount the shower backing. It was really refreshing. I knew exactly where the money was going. There was very little guesswork involved as to how much materials would run. It was all there in black and white. The only thing I needed to do was pick out tile. In addition, Darrell was very good at giving me advice / guidance. As a single female, I am overseeing some massive repairs at my grandpa's house. Because my family couldn't afford a General Contractor, I am acting as my own, coordinating several contractors. New to all of this, I was really confused as to who did what first with regards to the plumber coming in and doing new fixtures and putting a new shower pan in the shower. How did that affect the tile job? Darrell was very good at explaining to me the order of operations, he also cautioned me to look out for stuff plumbers might do to cut corners. During the course of interviewing numerous contractors, and changing my mind several times, I asked Darrell to modify his bid like three times. He obliged without complaint. He also gave a list of numerous references when I asked. When I finally decided to hire him, it was of course, last minute and I needed him to come in and tear down the plaster walls of the shower before the plumber came in the following week to modify the pipes. He started right away. Unfortunately once he started tearing down the plaster, he discovered that the wooden studs behind the walls were severely termite damaged. He showed them to me and said it would be a bad idea to tile over them - they might not support the weight of the tile and backer board. At this point, I was a little freaked out cause I thought I would have to scramble to hire a carpenter or builder, and I'm sure at this point, another tile company would have told me to do just that, or simply tiled over the damaged wood. But Darrell likes to do things right. He was very reassuring and offered to reinforce the wood studs for what amounted to basically little more than the cost of materials. After watching him reinforce a few studs, it was clear he knew what he was doing. Obviously, he's been around construction and knows how to do more than just tile. It was like I had hired a super combo tile guy / carpenter. To make a long story short, Darrell had to come in several long days back to back to rebuild the crappy shower walls which had all been munched on by termites. During the process, the ceiling of the shower caved in (again because of termite damage), nearly hitting him. :-( He offered to fix that too for very little money. With regards to the actual tiling, Darrell was very helpful in explaining the difference between porcelain and ceramic tiles and the different quality grades of tile. He also gave good artistic advice too with regards to size of tile, layout and grout color. When I showed him a few tile samples, he encouraged me, suggesting I could probably find something of similar quality at a better price. He gave me good leads on where to find inexpensive tile. He knew I was on a severe budget. His overall work demeanor is very polite and professional. He would give me a courtesy call everyday, thirty minutes before he showed up. Sometimes I was late meeting him at the house. He never complained.Though mostly quiet, when you get to talking to him, Darrell is a very cheerful and jolly guy. He was exceedingly patient with my zany neighbor who wandered over one day and tried to convert him to Buddhism. Darrell occasionally whistles, and he likes to listen to the radio while he works. Everything from country, rock, hip hop, jazz, 80s and easy listening. It was a pretty cool mix.Though I'm sure he would have turned it off if I had asked him to. It was comforting to have him around, because while he was tiling, I would be working on other areas of the house. When he saw me struggling to patch a giant hole in the wall, or nail in baseboard, or try to get a new door knob to fit properly, he would usually stop what he was doing and help me, free of charge. He also showed me how to replace a window in a door. He was full of good advice on how to fix things and what to do. Overall, his tile work was excellent. Very clean lines and cuts. When one of the doors didn't clear the tile floor properly, he trimmed and sanded it down for me. The new shower and the new floor looks great and makes the house look 100% better. And his price is exceedingly fair and reasonable. Thanks Darrell!