Dressel Home Improvement

Rob came over & I told him about the kitchen updates that I wanted. He is not a supplier, so I was going to purchase the items needed--countertop, dishwasher, garbage disposal, additional plumbing supplies, etc.--and then he would install everything. However, when he gave me the measurements for the new countertop, he gave me the measurements of the old countertop, but the new countertop was supposed to be longer in 2 directions. He also didn't clarify that he didn't want to miter the countertops, that I needed to order them premitered. I went ahead and placed the order and didn't find out until later that I was supposed to add "a few inches" and ask for the miter. The countertop that I got wasn't what I wanted, but Rob had some ideas for shimming it to make it work. I told him that I was glad that he had some ideas, but when I expressed to him that I didn't understand why he had given me short measurements, and that I was frustrated about spending over $400 on a nonreturnable item that wasn't what I wanted, he said he would no longer do the work and could refer me to someone else. I felt that it was pretty unprofessional to start to work with a homeowner on a project, make a mistake, and then just bail out on the project. Another aspect of this experience also leads me to believe that he didn't really think ahead about the work I was asking him to do. While I was waiting for the countertops to come in, I realized that my old kitchen cabinets are shorter than modern standard height, so the top of the dishwasher and the cabinets wouldn't be at the same height. Rob hadn't anticipated this problem when he measured for the dishwasher and told me it would fit. When I brought it up to him, he said he could shim the countertop over the cabinets to match the height of the dishwasher, so it might have ended up ok. However, given his limited willingness to address difficulties that he didn't foresee, this project might have ended up being a complete disaster.