Gulf Coast Kitchens II Inc

The bathroom renovation started off OK, but then the projected work schedule got delayed. There were several missed work appointments. Eventually, the project got done, after a lot of pestering and phone calls and e-mails on my part to keep them on task. The overall quality of the work was acceptable. But the BIG problem is, I called one of the subcontractors earlier this week to do another small job, and he told me that he had NEVER BEEN PAID. It's been two months, and I paid Jim King (the head guy of Gulf Coast Kitchens II) promptly at the completion of the project. And he hasn't paid his subs. Now, I have to worry about lein law exposure. I've heard that he's going out of business.

There were a number of unexplained delays in the work. He wasn't always punctual. However, all the work was done well and in the end I was quite satisfied with the results.

Jim King is the owner of Gulf Coast Kitchens. We contracted with him to remodel our kitchen. We were told that it would take about 8 weeks from signing the contract to have the Kitchen cabinets built , cabinet doors & veneer ordered and shipped. Once these items were available, it would take 5 days to install. I played "devils advocate" with Jim as I guessed that installation would take somewhat longer but he insisted that it would take at most 5-10 days to install. So we signed a contract on September 12 figuring that our kitchen remodeling project would be completed most likely by Thanksgiving or by the beginning of December. Terms of payment were 50% at contract signing, 30% at start of installation and 20% at completion. On Nov 7 Jim starts removing our existing cabinets as well as the microwave and stove.....we were thinking that the new cabinets would be installed as soon as the old ones were removed......dumb us.....we didn't ask that question!....after half the cabinets had been removed and microwave & stove carted away, Jim was ready to start removing other half of cabinets as well as dishwasher & sink. when we did ask that question.....Jim's response was that cabinets should be ready "in a few days" so that meant that we wouldn't have use of stove or microwave for a few days.....and now he was ready to tear out sink and dishwasher! We told him to stop removal until the new cabinets were ready to install as we couldn't afford to be without a functioning kitchen sink (not to mention not having a microwave & stove!). The new cabinets weren't installed and ready for installation of new appliances until Dec 18..so that was 6 weeks without a stove and a microwave! ...thank God we had a gas grill to cook on! The question is: "Why didnt Jim wait to tear out the old cabinets until the new ones were ready to install? His answer was that he thought the cabinets would be available in the "next few days" doesn't wash because he is the person who was building the cabinet boxes!..he should have known! His excuse was that he had to order the doors & the veneer to cover the cabinet boxes from an outfit in Pennsylvania and that they wouldn't provide him with delivery info! I think the real reason that he ripped out the cabinets on Nov 7 was to get his next 30% progress payment.........more on that later. Jim also said that he would install our new microwave, stove, & dishwasher......Well he did install the microwave and the stove but his employee didn't install the dishwasher.....so I rewired the electric and attached the relevant water/drain hoses to get it working in time for Christmas. Remember when Jim said that the cabinet installation would take 5 days? Here is a log of the dates that someone was on site working on the installation (by the way, they usually arrived about 10:30 AM and left by 3PM so we usually got a half day at most of work). Cabinets ripped out Nov 7 Cabinet install Dec 14, 17, 18, 20, Jan 16, 22, 23, Feb 18, March 12, April 8 Incredibly, it took 7 months for the project to be completed! Jim rarely answered the phone when I called him for status updates.....after repeated calls he would call back with apologies, excuses etc. (he didnt get our call, his cell phone was out of range) and then set a date to come out to work on project......there was a 50% chance that, when he gave you a date, he would not keep it. My opinion is that Jim is a one or two person operation with multiple simultaneous projects.....he can't afford to turn business down so he responds to loudest complainer.......he does a little piece of project A, then a piece of project B...just enough to temporarily satisfy them.....another issue is that I'm guessing that he has cash flow problems which could impact delivery to him of vendor items......he once told me he had to use his credit card to pay for items which indicates that he does not have open credit lineswith his vendors......hence his reason for wanting to rip out my cabinets (Nov 7) before the new ones were ready.....I'm guessing he needed the cash. I also notice that his cell phone rings a lot when he was on site working but that he wouldn't answer it......he sheepishly admitted that "I wouldn't get any work done if all I did was answer phone during the day" So how did the installation turn out? The new cabinets & countertop met our expectations. They look great although the finish in a couple of areas needs some adjusting. Jim, when he is available to work on-site does try hard to please.....but since we made the final payment, we have unsuccessfully tried to have Jim come out and fix a couple of minor issues.....wouldnt take him but 30 minutes to fix.....once again, he gives you a date he will visit and then never shows up! Its exasparating! I would NEVER do business with Jim again! And, in general, I would not deal with a one or two or three person organization!

We hired Gulf Coast Kitchens II (Jim King, the owner) to renovate 2 of our bathrooms. They started the project in December of 2012 and has not finished it yet in June. We are not happy with the quality of their work. Almost anything they did required rework/improvement: - Tile work was awful, and the part of the floor needed to be redone. Grout cracked in many places and when they tried to repair it, they just pasted it over ? the cracks are still there. - Paining was dreadful and we needed to change the paint type because your painter had not had experience using it.Lower bathroom niche needed to be re-plastered and even now it is not professional quality and needs to be redone - Gulf Coast Kitchens II ? Jim King?s people damaged our wood floors and when Jim King tried to apply some cosmetic repair, it did not remove deep scratches. - Jim King put soft closing drawers for one bathroom, that do not close to the end, but he did not put the same mechanisms in the other bathroom. - We agreed with Jim King that the project would be finished in December but it is still unfinished in June. Jim constantly lied to us about various reasons why it cannot be finished. - Jim King?s communications with his clients (us) have been very unprofessional: we had to call/text/email him many times before he give us a status of you work. Almost always the status was unsatisfactory. - We can go on and on. All of it is very unprofessional. - At the end Jim King told us that he quit the job and that he does not want to continue any longer, emailing us that we are too demanding. Yes, we had to demand to improve almost anything Jim King did, because of the very poor quality. - We intend to hire somebody to finish what you have not finished, who can do it more professionally. At the end of the work we will bill Jim King by the amount of repairs of his work we will have to perform. We truly believe that people should avoid Gulf Coast Kitchens II ? Jim King?s services. It is a very negative experience for us. We found Jim King on Angie?s list and he had good ratings. Obviously it was misleading.

Run as fast as you can (don?t walk) from this company! Working with Gulf Coast Kitchens II and Jim King was a horrendous experience that left us exhausted and emotionally and financially depleted. We hired Gulf Coast Kitchens II In June 2012 after reading the positive reviews on Angie?s list and discussing our plans with Mr. King. He quoted us a price and a 6 - 8 week timeline and was very outgoing and reassuring that we would soon have our dream kitchen. Work progressed well at the beginning of the project. We did have to make additional and unexpected repairs that Jim contracted through another company. This work was done well. Then, as with other recent member reviews on Angie?s List, we began to experience the same delay problems and sloppy work. Jim is not a professional and has no idea how to develop and follow a timeline. The work on our kitchen dragged on and on with no attempt on Mr. King?s part to keep to any sort of schedule. We sat with him many times with punch lists and time frames to no avail. He promised over and over to be better in touch and promptly answer phone or emails, but things got worse with each passing month instead of improving. Mr. King is the master of excuses for why he does not show up when promised or return calls and emails. The blame always goes to issues with his subcontractors and their inability to perform their tasks on time. In addition to his unreliability, Jim King is also not truthful. He claimed for months to have ordered and then received our cabinet fronts (for which we had already paid) from a company in Pennsylvania, yet for several months they never appeared. Jim always told us that they were at the finishers (in Sarasota) and that this company was a small ?mom and pop? business and we just had to wait until our turn for finishing. After months went by, we demanded to see the invoice for the cabinet fronts. Jim produced a request for pricing and when we called the company, we were told that the cabinet fronts had never left the company. Jim admitted that he had only put a deposit on them and that he lied to us because he knew we would be upset to learn that after several months they were still in Pennsylvania! After 8 months of excuses, lies and sloppy work, we had had enough and told Jim that we were terminating our contract with him due to his abandonment of the project. At this point we had paid him all but $7,000 of the total bid and were still without cabinet fronts and a punch list 2 pages long of items left to complete the kitchen. Mr. King had the nerve to seek a lawyer to try and claim the remaining amount using the cabinet fronts as hostage. This forced us to hire our own lawyer who immediately determined that Mr. King (representing Gulf Coast Kitchens II) was not properly licensed in construction contracting as no certificate of authority had been filed with the Florida DBPR that would qualify Gulf Coast Kitchens II to engage in construction contracting. His Web site was misleading in that it stated he was properly licensed and insured. All the remodeling subcontracts for our project that included (painting, electrical work, plumbing, cabinets, flooring demolition and replacement, gas line relocation and rerouting water lines were with Gulf Coast Kitchens II and not directly with us. Following this 8-month ordeal we hired another contractor to finish the job and thus began another journey to correct all of the poor workmanship that Gulf Coast Kitchens II had performed including the following: · The granite countertop had been cut wrong leaving a 2? gap at the back behind the sink. The granite man tried to fill it in with a several foot length of granite but it is very noticeable and is a huge disappointment to us as the granite itself is so lovely. · The entire hood assemble had to be removed and cut down, repaired and refinished as Jim had left no room to install the cabinet doors on each side of the range hood. · The granite on the center island is not centered, but this cannot be corrected as the hole for the sink had already been cut. · The paint used by the painter on the new extension was not the right kind of paint and bled through with big yellow spots. We have had to hire a painter to correct this. · Our front and back steps were severely damaged and chipped and the paint removed when equipment was brought into the house. These steps, too, will have to be repaired and painted. · Jim and his hired men seldom vacuumed or cleaned up when they left for the day. We are still finding sawdust in various cabinets. · The new kitchen floor was damaged with a chunk of wood gouged out and the floor was not floated during installation, so it is not level. · Many doors did not fit the cabinets and had to be refitted by the new contractor. · The new icemaker was damaged upon inserting it into the center island. We are now nearing a year for completion of a supposed 6 to 8 week project. The new contractor has corrected many and costly mistakes made by Gulf Coast Kitchens II but we are relieved to have someone that answers phone and emails, comes when he sets up an appointment, who leaves the site neat and clean at the end of each work day, and is honest in his dealings with us. My advice to anyone considering using Gulf Coast Kitchens II and Jim King: ?If you value your money, your time and your emotional health, DO NOT hire this company but seek a licensed contractor, build in penalties if the work is not completed as promised and get a list of subs upfront and investigate their credentials.

. Because of what I stated above, I could not give them a A in all categories. However, as stated the work done was great and I am very pleased with the result.

No call No show No show

Workers left trash and did not finish their workers and not show when expected, they lost hardware for blinds and doors.and never returned to reinstall bifold doors. Just not reliable or professional.

Our bath/kitchen project was almost a mirror of the June 2012 Angie's List customer review. So, I'll try to add new or different information - and you can read that review, knowing that we had very similar or identical experiences. Unfortunately - our project took 6 months to complete - rather than the 4-6 weeks Jim estimated at the beginning. Believe me, this wasn't a complex project - and should easily have been completed within Jim's original estimate of 4-6 weeks. That said, Jim was certainly professional and pleasant to work with during design phase and made several helpful suggestions during our pre-project meetings. Couple of lessons learned at this point: - Better to use a Florida licensed contractor & get County inspections - Jim said upfront that he wasn't licensed and inspections would add cost (true, but we'd also have had others reviewing the work to insure quality and completeness) - Get very detailed written description of work AND completion dates for major milestones WITH penalties attached. We were promised a contract would be drawn up, but all we got was a handwritten work summary - which Jim actually never signed - and that summary proved insufficient as the project wore on month after month - so I felt compelled to creating and updating written punch lists throughout the project to try and keep the project on track - not fun and definitely shouldn't have been necessary. Our project began at end of June, 2012 in the bathroom. Jim sent pictures of the initial tear out. The tile sub came in, gave us some terrific ideas for floor and shower tile layouts. He was very good "artistically'. However, first problem - he said shower walls needed to "breathe" - so he wouldn't install moisture proofing of any kind behind new shower walls. I knew this wasn't right and gave Jim some detailed shower wall installation examples re: HGTV, HomeDepot etc. Tile sub relented to my and Jim's orders and installed a 7m moisture barrier ceiling to floor as minimum requested - he should have installed either kurdi or even newer materials, but it appeared to me he didn't know how. When installing floor tiles, he'd originally suggested running them diagonal (really cool) and we OK'd - then he proceeded to install the floor in a straight line.... Had to ask Jim to have tiles reinstalled correctly. Tile sub then tried to take back materials we had purchased to cover his ordering mistake. He also asked me to pay him for his mistakes. We had similar experiences with electrical and plumbing work. Work either wasn't done correctly, or was miscommunicated between us, Jim and subs. Work wasn't completed in timely fashion - the bathroom sat unusable for many weeks longer than needed. We would see someone for a few hours and then not for weeks. It was not fun having to climb stairs to use our second bath, particularly for my wife who has 2 artificial hips and severe arthritis. Jim (to his credit) was always trying to make amends - he added soft close drawer and door mechanisms (we had thought these were included - see my contract lesson above.) He got a second drywaller in to repair the botched wallpaper stripping etc. of the first sub. It's still not a high quality finish, but it's better than the first sub's work.... The counter tops we ordered weren't available when he wanted them - we had to choose an alternate - and one too many plumbing fixture holes were drilled in the quartz when the counter top was finally installed (even though the fixtures were available for months for Jim/counter people to see the number of holes needed). Several trips by subs later (and finally the co. president coming out) were needed to correct very noticeable blemishes on counter tops. Couple of lessons learned at this point: - get list of subs up front, investigate their credentials and # of jobs done with Jim. I found Jim's subs to not have great skills and some were stubborn when either we or Jim called them on obvious issues they needed to address. - don't give up your house key - we did and our home was left unlocked twice. Also, Jim showed up unannounced and at very inconvenient times. We generally felt our home was treated as a "construction site" (in spite of Jim's assurances that he would personally lock up at the end of every workday).... oh yes, he and his subs were supposed to be very clean and professional in doing their work and clean up..... we have permanent carpet stains and numerous cleanups after them to prove otherwise. After the bath was mostly complete - Jim started on the kitchen. He promised to be finished quickly, of course it didn't work out that way. Subs and suppliers showed up inconsistently or not at all.... weeks would go by with no contact in spite of calls/emails asking for notice of when and what would happen next. We had damage to a kitchen wall paper and poor execution of fairly basic work (regrouting the backsplash, damaging mexican tile floor, oversprays of veneer adhesives). Jim again tried to make up by adding a pullout drawer at no charge). The oak cabinets arrived a full shade darker color and much redder than the sample. After several discussions, Jim offered that he would reorder the cabinets - he said the manufacturer admitted they had changed samples and he'd provided us with an out of date sample to choose from. He offered - we accepted - to veneer 2 existing custom bookcases to match the new oak color and just he finished on 12/27/12 (after more than a month). Most recently - to complete the projects I asked Jim for warranty/use and care info on all items he or subs provided - he first provided only 2 spec sheets and no contact info. I then offered to make final payment when I received these items- he faxed 17 pages of warranty/use and care docs on all the items today via fax and I put his final check in the mail on 1/4/13.... Overall: My wife and I like Jim personally and wish him well. That said, I believe he has less skilled, less competent subs and is running too many projects at the same time - our project certainly wasn't well coordinated. Jim or his subs seemed most likely to do whatever was easiest for them rather than what was called for or best for the task. Jim definitely tried several times to do extras he didn't charge for to make up for more and more issues that came up during the project - and the overall work has finally turned out OK. I think Jim's strength is building and installing custom cabinetry. Although, he knows we still have problems with several "easy glide drawers" - most are hard to open/close, kind of counter to the name "easy close".... Also, I had to work way too hard trying to get him and his subs to do work right and finish work, or checking/asserting quality of work standards - so my wife started calling me "the contractor". That's not a good thing. Frankly, I'm also disappointed in Angie's List - several of Jim's lower rated projects didn't show up that would have changed my mind. A final lesson I learned is this - talk directly with a potential contractor/sub's customers - see their work (in person if possible). It's the very best way to decide if the contractor/sub is a good fit for your project.

Jim came on the date that we set. He was very pleasant, professional and talented. Things went very well until we had some delivery issues with cabinet door shipments being delayed or wrong size doors being shipped etc. This delayed the process which is frustrating, however Jim more than compensated me for all of these inconveniences. He installed new doors in the family room by the fireplace, added granite to the countertop there. Paid for new glass installation in double front doors and numerous other things. He was a great find for me on Angie's List. I loved working with him. I really appreciated him taking me to another city about an hour away to pick out the Granite because it was a much better deal. He was extremely patient. Told me to take all day if I needed to. Jim always made sure that I was happy with everything and tried to save me money wherever He could. He gave me lots of items and didn't charge me for them. My kitchen is complete and Beautiful. I get a lot of compliments and I very happily give the name of Jim's company out. I apologize Jim/Angie for this late review but I appreciate all you did for me and would highly recommend you to anyone.

It never got off the ground.

Called Jim in July. He helped us plan our new kithcen. Work was performed in November as promised. He is very professional . It was very easy to plan this project with Jim. He is very knowlegable and made the process seem easy.

They haven’t actually started doing the work yet. Everything went very well with the quote process. So far, it has been very easy and they have been very responsive. We just dealt with one person and he has been very professional, the scheduling has been on time and it has been all good.

We found Jim King and Gulf Coast Kitchens on Angie's List. tMr. King provided a detailed estimate. He made great suggestions. We had thought we would just paint the laminate cabinets and we were not sure about investing in granite since we weren't sure how the paint would hold up. Mr. King suggested that we re-laminate, which put a new spin on things. Then he showed us the high gloss white laminate. That really sealed the deal and made us excited to see the results.It totally updated our 1987 kitchen. As I said above, we added more cabinets (14" high) above all of the existing top cabinets in the kitchen. I plan to keep dishes that I don't use often up there. It was a great use of space. Mr. King and his crew started within a couple days of the time that was first estimated and we were kept informed. They asked us to remove all items from the cabinets since they would be creating a certain amount of sawdust when drilling for hinges and for the new handles that were put in a different place than before. In fact, the new handle placement and size/style were a benefit of relaminating the old cabinets, since that covered all of the holes from before. Jim took us to Brandon to select our granite and was most patient while we looked at everything and looked again. The people who installed the counter tops and sink were pleasant and professional. Overall we had a great experience! Jim was quite personable and easy to work with. We also had an opportunity to meet and talk to his wife about the work, and other things. She was also quite personable.

excellent job all his workers were professional,neat and on time, job well done will definitely hire again, price was also reasonable.

See the after pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/114280520111794829925/KitchenAfter?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeBpsuc5ZST9QE Overall it was not a pleasant experience. He told me that he could finish the job in 2 weeks (and his reference kitchen was much larger and detailed than mine and they said he finished it in 2 weeks). However that was not the case. They began by removing and replacing my crown molding. I asked them to replace a couple of boards because running miter joins wouldn't meet correctly. They hemmed and hawed and sanded the joins for days, but the joins never looked clean. You need a really good finish carpenter to hang crown, and I think Jim thought he had one. The carpenter used so much caulk around the top and bottom that Jim had to go behind him and paint all the way around. That was a lot of extra work and I'm glad he did it, but it did take time. He replaced my bathroom cabinet doors pretty quickly after that and I thought that everything was going to go on schedule. That's when the excuses started. "I couldn't come out today because..." fill in the blank. I had a girlfriend sitting at my house to keep my dog out of his way, and she sat there day after day waiting for him to come around and every day it was "tomorrow... for sure." He ordered the wrong cabinet doors so we had to wait for some cabinet doors. They shipped other doors wrong (that he didn't order), and so it went. He started refacing the cabinets. This was a rather messy process and with lots of fumes. I would suggest that if you go through this that you get a contractor who will pull the cabinets out of the house and do them outdoors. However, it saves a lot of money to do them where they sit. He made a lot of mistakes in craftmanship and wouldn't own up to hardly any of them unless I pointed them out. I'm still finding cracks in the laminate where he broke it while gluing it down and didn't bother to fix it. The granite guys templated and cut one of my counters wrong and he said that there was nothing they could do. I finally convinced him to get them back out to fix their mistake and it took them about 30 minutes to remove the counter, cut it down, and replace it. After struggling to get through the punchout list, I finally gave up, paid him off and got my key back. I was tired of the process which ended up taking 5 weeks. Most of those weeks he was only at my house for 1 or 2 days and then not for a full day. Most of those days were 3 hours or less. Clearly he has more business than he can handle right now, although I'm not sure why.I did not notice that he is NOT a licensed residential contractor until late in the game. This is my bad, it is clearly displayed on his Angie's list page. If you work with someone who is not a licensed contractor -- they cannot really subcontract work for you. You need to pay off all of the subcontractors yourself or possibly be subject to them coming back to you if they don't get paid. Jim told me at the start of the job that he would provide me receipts showing me where he paid all of the contractors, but he still has not done that (I'm still waiting for the receipt from the electrician). This could end up being a lien on my home and a problem when I go to sell. I don't think this will be a problem, but it is possible. Jim was pleasant to work with and all of his subs seemed nice enough. I just wish he took more pride in his work and made a more finished looking kitchen. I ended up having to caulk and fill areas where the granite replaced the laminate at a different height. There were a lot of little details that he overlooked that we fixed with caulk, drywall patch, and paint. The whole process was very messy. I have been cleaning all of the wood shavings out of my cabinets (and out of my dishes) from where he drilled out the knobs. I have also been installing shelf paper to cover the old worn out cabinet floors. I am really kicking myself for not going for a total replacement of the cabinets. I think it would have been worth another 2-3K to get it all done. I will be buying a fixer-upper soon, but I will be looking for a licensed residential contractor to help me fix it up. Also I have neighbors who watched my kitchen re-do with anticipation to see if they would be using the same contractor. They will not. Here are the pictures of the completed project. I told him on Tuesday, "I am taking pictures for Angie's List on Friday. This is week 5 of a 2 week project." So this shows the pictures at that point, and shows his priorities. He only spent a day and a half at my place between Tuesday and Friday.

It went very well. He is very consciencouss and shows up when he says. I would use him again. He made a custom vanity and he varnished it and did a nice job.

There were many "glitches" along the way; doors were delayed in shipping, wrong doors shipped, not enough/ wrong handles,plumber didn't show when expected, framer moved the 'island' too far into dining area, plumber ripped up the cement floor by hand, sending cement chunks flying everywhere & delaying the progress another day....Jim King was very pleasant & easy going to work with, but with the exception of the electrician, Andy, & his helper, Oscar from Wolf Electric, I don't think the subcontractors were very reliable. On the final day of the project, Jim worked tirelessly to put the final touches on the cabinets, drawers & made sure we were pleased with the results...We are.

They are very good at letting us know what time they are coming. Seems to have good people working with them. We had one incident with a leakage with a faucet, and they got emergency help to us very fast and it fixed the problem.

They did a wonderful job. They had to come up a lot of steps to carry the granite. I can't speak highly enough of them. He went out of his way in taking me to the place where the granite was going to be purchased so I could pick it out. They helped me out very much during the process.

.Did a fabulous and efficient job of solving the problem. He is a true professional. I have no hesitation in recommending him!

I was very satisfied with the experience. His service was excellent. He was very attentive to detail and was committed to ensure that my wife and I were pleased with the end result.

Jim was fabulous as a contractor. Attentive to any concerns or issues with subcontractors. He was totally honest and wanted to make sure we were happy and satisfied with his work. He always kept the work area clean, and most important promptly returned phone calls.

It went excellent. He is constumate professional and extremely detailed. My husband and I have 70 years in the business of higher end construction and home building and he ranked up there with the artison. He was on time and completed the work in a timely fashion. He was also very responsive, both verbally and electronically.

I have never been more please. He is great! They go above and beyond. He does everything he tells you he will do.