
MASTERWORKS ATLANTA LLC / Cabinet Café
About us
MasterWorks Atlanta is a full service design build comapny. We do all of our desing work in house in order to provide the best price for your complete project. We have 13 employees and use subcontractors in addtion to our employees. We know what makes the best value for our price after 30 years of doing business. For example we know how that having our electrcian and plumber in house is a great way to save money and make ourselves a better value to our customers. We will come to your house free for your first consultation and review your project with you and how we can give you the best solution. We are happy to announce that we willl give any Angies list member a 5% discount!
Business highlights
Services we offer
Additions, Bathroom remodeling, basement build outs, decks, design/build services, kitchen remodeling
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 70% | ||
| 5% | ||
| 5% | ||
| 5% | ||
| 15% |
1. The schedule as provided by MasterWorks is abstract and falls completely apart when work begins.
2. Our final cost was far beyond the initial budget, but we feel this was entirely caused by changes we requested along the way and unforeseen challenges. (For example, excavating for the foundation we ran into solid rock, and that understandably increased the cost by $3,000+ -- no one's fault.)
3. Errors, mistakes, and flaws (inevitable in a job of this scope) were all corrected promptly and to our complete satisfaction. We found the company to be extremely responsive and easy to work with. This type of work requires patience and close cooperation on all sides, which is something we knew and expected before we began.
Overall, we are pleased with every aspect of this work and would go back to MasterWorks if we needed anything else in the future.
"Member, You were wonderful customers to work with. Doing a project this large is a team effort in that we all need to work together in order to overcome some of the hurdles that are going to come up in a project this large. I really appreciate your business! Bernie"
However, when it was completely finished it looked very nice. We have received compliments on the cabinets, floor and design.
"Member signed off on the design we worked 4 months developing with her. She was very sensitive to the cost of the project. We worked hard to redesign the project several times until we had a design that she could afford. She sigined off on the design and signed a contract for the work. We started work and everything was going well. She came home from work and was upset that work we had done that dayh had a small misalignment with a retaining wall that we fixed the next morning. Member called me the next morning and would not let us come back to her house to finish the project. When I asked why she would not let us continue work her response was "I'm just not feeling it"....I tried very hard to understand what she meant and she simply would not communicate about it or pay us any money for work we had completed. I am the one that took her to court since she refused to pay for any of the work completed. The judge agreed 100% with us and informed Member that I could have sued her for the full value of the contract and that she was fortunate that I only asked to be reimbursed for the work we completed. All of the work completed was correct and great quality. Respectfully, Bernie Smith"
"Member, The MaterWorks Atlanta team would like to thank you for being such a wonderful client! You were a pleasure to work with and we all enjoyed how dedicated you were to making your selections during the design phase of your project. Thanks again from all of us at MasterWorks Atlanta!"
The $60,000 renovation of the kitchen and master bath took 13 months from the day the contract was signed. This contractor destroyed a dream renovation with unconscionable delays, sloppy workmanship and cheap products.
There were so many problems that a 100-page complaint about this project was filed with the industry trade group ? NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry). This group, which is trying to change the negative image of contractors, has a straight forward Code of Ethics. They were so appalled at what was happening that within two weeks they accepted the resignation of MasterWorks CEO from the organization. Sadly, this did little to motivate MasterWorks.
Here are some lowlights:
* A building permit was never obtained until 5 months into the project when I was served, at our home, with a violation warning from the county inspector.
* In violation of Georgia law, this company never informed me, prior to signing the contract, about how consumer complaints against contractors must legally be handled. By the way, these laws are very anti-consumer.
* Kitchen cabinetry was so poorly designed by the MasterWorks CEO that the cabinet doors hit the stovetop hood before opening even 80-degrees. He refused to admit fault because he claimed he told me that the doors would hit the hood and that I signed the contract knowing that it would happen. Absurd. Can you imagine yourself agreeing to something like that and still signing the contract?
* Workmen who were sent to our home were often unskilled with little or no guidance on the project. Over the 13 months there were 5 different project managers (they were either fired or quit), four electricians, multiple visits by the painters to fix sloppy work, tile people who didn't know how to install a shower floor (which ultimately had to be removed twice before being fixed properly) and granite fabricators who incorrectly cut the countertops. The depth of the granite overhanging the cabinetry is inconsistent in both rooms as well as around the kitchen sink.
* The quality of product was mostly substandard. I ordered new stock, soft-close cabinets that were on display in the MasterWorks showroom. The CEO later admitted that he did not provide the cabinets as seen in the showroom. Instead the cabinets were installed with drawers that did not fit and had to be mounted with shims rigged with cheap plastic and wood scraps. They were also cobbled together with different woods and assembled leaving gaps at joints.
* I felt I was being punished by weeks and weeks of no work or communication simply because I told them when I was not satisfied with their workmanship.
* The CEO, who was also the designer, said I shouldn?t expect perfection when I only asked for work to be done right and in a timely manner. In fact, he refused to take responsibility for most of the major design and construction problems in this project.
In the end, MasterWorks abandoned the job, leaving behind scratches on the new hardwood floors, interior doors and toilet not reinstalled, cabinet drawers that do not work, general touch-up items and cleanup. I will use the small amount of remaining money to hire workers to come in and complete the project. We hope to soon move from the basement, where we have lived for 14 months, bringing an end to this ongoing disaster. You should read www.RenovationHell.org.
"I want to address this review from the companies perspective of what happened with this customer. It is very disturbing to read this review after our company and all of its employees and subcontractors had to endure the abuse of these folks. When you read this you think we are a horrible company, however the truth is that this customer will never be happy with anyone’s work. Please let me explain.... We have a long list of happy customers that we would be glad to refer our customers to. We do make mistakes sometimes and we correct them and stand by our work Sometimes you have a customer that you are never going to satisfy in any way and these clients are in that category. I have been doing this for 30 years and I have had two customers that fall in this category and this customer is one of those two. We had four crews and several subs quit working for me through the course of this project because of these folks. I had several employees and subcontractors come to me and quit ( in this horrible economy )rather than have to go back to this customers house and deal with their abuse. Yes we did make some mistakes but most of the issues with this project was a customer who could not make a decision and when they did it was always someone else’s fault when they did not like it. I can tell you she COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD everything about her design and all of her choices. She understood the layout of the kitchen and was shown all of her selections in the first person with the exception of her kitchen hood which she selected from a catalog. She went to the granite yard twice to select her granite picked it out herself and blamed us for a brown spot on each slab the size of a small dinner plate. She picked it out yet it was our fault she got what she selected. After the granite was installed and she saw the two very small and very slight brown spots (keep in mind this is natural stone and it does vary in color) that the lighting was bad and she could not really see the product after two trips….This happened with most of her selections throughout her project. She would make a selection and once it was installed she would not like it. Not once did they ever say we made a mistake making that selection instead they wanted someone else to bear the financial burden of changing their selection.... This customer is LYING when she says that I admitted that we did not provide the cabinets shown in our showroom. She is showing pictures from a showroom that opened 6 months after we started her project and not the cabinets she selected She was shown everything she selected and is continuing to be abusive to us. In conclusion yes we did make some mistakes and we tried very hard to correct the mistakes we made and we changed a lot of the finishes out in our quest to have a happy customer. What we discovered was that this was in impossible task….."
Quality of sub contractors which Masterworks/Cabinet Cafe hired was at best horrible. Had to have a door frame redone three times to bring it to code. They framed with three 2X4 then placed the door jam in place. This was on a supporting wall of a two story home. Electrical boxes all at different heights some off by four inches. Electrician caught climbing on new stainless steel refrigerator to install pot lights. Tool belts scratch door. Still trying to get Masterworks/Cabinet Cafe to pay for the damage. Cabinet installers had cabinets on opposite sides of the sink off by 2 inches. Crown molding removed and replaced at leat four times due to poor workmanship.
Kitchen ceiling torn down with new stainless steel glass top stove and refrigerator sitting in the middle of tea floor without protection.
Had three different program managers due to first being fired (so I was told) second quit due to lack of support from owner, third did get the job done.
Masterworks/Cabinet Cafe was so slow in paying the electrician sub contractor he was threatening to put a lean on my home. When I called owner she started yelling at me. Her excuses for not paying the sub... I never received the invoices. BS.
Most sub contractors and those that were on Masterworks/Cabinet Cafe payroll had nothing good to say about owner and throughout the day called her/owner every name in the book in front of my wife and me. NO PROFESSIONALISM what so ever.
First PM said he would do extra work not in the contract to make up for the damaged refrigerator yet Masterworks/Cabinet Cafe owner tells my point of contact at the company it was not their fault. Actually, all three PM seen the damage and said I would be compensated.
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND hiring this company.
"Member, congratualtions on the new addition to your family and thank you for sharing your expeirence. We greatly appreciate your business and will work on tweaking our puncuality. We are always looking for feedback on how we can make ourselves a better company and your feedback is very helpful in helping us understand what that is. You and your husband were a pleasure to work with. Thanks again, Bernie Smith"
Licensing
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