SGM Consulting, Inc

This has been the most infuriating, depressing and costly experience in our sixteen years as homeowners. Melton measured and evaluated our bathroom on 10/22/13 and we paid an initial down payment on 12/11/13. Work began on 1/13/14. The first problem we had with The Melton Company was the mess they made when they were cutting tile for the shower. They cut the tile inside the bathroom that was being remodeled. Yes, it was winter, but we do have a detached garage that they were welcome to use. They claimed that something was wrong with their saw and that’s why it created so much dust. We moved nearly everything out of our adjoining master bedroom and covered the furniture we couldn’t move, as well as covering all the furniture on our main floor. A LARGE amount of dust was generated and settled on nearly every surface of our main floor. We spent many hours cleaning up after them. The next problem was with Melton’s choice for a plumbing sub-contractor. I have since found out they have an F rating on the BBB site. Their work was poor and their mistakes led to many delays. Their mistakes included connecting a hot water line to the toilet, hot and cold reversed on the sink, the shower valve not working, a leak in a supply line connection, an ice maker valve that was not replaced as promised, an outside hose faucet that was pushed out and twisted from the outside wall during the supply line replacement. I will leave more details for a separate review of the plumbers as I paid them directly for extra work that needed to be done. The next problem we had was with the vanity. Melton ordered the wrong vanity even though I emailed him a link to the exact one we wanted. The one we got was 6 inches narrower than the one we wanted and also included the wrong faucet. The front surface of that incorrect vanity was also scratched in a couple of places during installation. He did apologize and ordered another one, but that meant several more weeks of delay. When the second vanity finally arrived, it was also the wrong one. Melton blamed Home Depot, but either way, that meant several more weeks for another vanity to arrive. In the meantime, the tile shower and floor had been installed. Many tiles on both the main floor and in the shower had to be replaced as many were not level from one tile to the next. Also, three tiles were cracked when towel bars were installed in the shower and were not replaced until I pointed them out. Melton also had a sub-contractor install an HVAC duct in the bathroom and they installed a brown register cover. A small detail, but it is indicative of what it was like to work with Melton. They didn’t ask what kind of cover we wanted and so I asked if I could have a white cover instead of the brown one to match the rest of the trim in the bathroom. Melton said that would be no problem. I asked him four times over the next several months to replace the cover and he never did. He kept saying “Yes, I’ll take care of that”. We never did get the white register cover. The shower door was installed on 4/3/14. A brushed nickel door handle and hinges were installed even though I had emailed that we specifically wanted chrome hardware. In addition, the top edge of the shower door slanted down one inch from right to left. The shower door contractor used the tiles as a guide to measure the door. It turns out that the tiles in our shower were not installed level and dropped one inch from the right side to the left. I brought both of the door problems to Melton’s attention and he assured me that the door would be replaced. I asked repeatedly over the next two months when the new door would be in, but Melton was very evasive and kept saying he was “going back and forth” with the shower door people about getting it replaced. The door was never replaced. Melton also asked me three times for more money - another $850. I declined as we had already paid 82% of the estimate. When it came to paying them, we also found it odd that he repeatedly asked us to make the check out to him personally and not to The Melton Company. We also noticed that his company name had changed from Melton Construction to The Melton Company. Read into that what you like, but we found it odd. While we were waiting for the replacement shower door and for the vanity to come in again and again, Melton wanted us to try the shower. We found out later that behind the tiles, they had added cement board directly on top of drywall. This extra layer of drywall meant that the tiles were set an extra half inch away from the wall studs. This also meant that the shower valve that was attached to the studs was set too far into the wall and therefore the escutcheon plate (The plate that goes behind the shower handle) couldn’t be secured in place. Their first solution was to unscrew the valve from the studs, let it “float” freely inside the wall, and then tighten the escutcheon plate to hold it all in place. That loosened after a few days of use. After I complained, their next solution was to wedge several wood shims between the valve and the wall stud and then to hold that mess together with two screws. This “solution” was also unacceptable as the valve still rocked easily from side to side. The valve was also was screwed in off-center, so when they re-attached the escutcheon, there was a gap between the edge of the escutcheon and the hole they had cut in the tile. Also, again because of being off-center, the handle wouldn’t turn without considerable effort when it got near the one o’clock position as it rubbed against the escutcheon plate. I replaced the shims myself with a small block of wood so that the valve and handle would be lined up properly and securely. After a few days of using the shower (we wiped down the walls and floor with a towel after each use), water would pool up in the bottom of the shower with much of the grout on the walls staying noticeably wet and splotchy. We’d wipe the floor and walls again with a towel and within a few hours water would be pooled up again. We stopped using the shower and it took over a week for the floor to dry out. The grout on the walls never did lighten to their original color. Over the next two months, Melton tried unsuccessfully to solve this moisture retention problem: 1) Re-sealed the grout with traditional water-based sealant. 2) Re-sealed the grout with solvent-based sealant. 3) Cut out and re-grouted the floor, and re-sealed with solvent-based sealant. 4) Cut out, re-grouted and re-sealed the lower portion of grout that was still discolored on the wall tile. 5) Cut out most grout in the entire shower and replaced with a urethane based grout. The wrong color grout was installed. We had requested Executive Gray in an email and Antique White was installed. Additionally, at least 33 tiles were damaged in the process. On 6/26/14 (over 5 months after the project began), we asked The Melton Company to stop working on our bathroom. On 6/27/14, we began getting estimates from 4 other contractors to determine what was needed to correct the bathroom. All four concluded that the shower and shower door needed to be demolished and replaced. These are some of the problems they found with the original installation: 1) The lack of a waterproofing layer (RedGard or similar product) on the outside of the Durock cement board nor a waterproof layer behind the cement board. This likely contributed to the problem of moisture being retained in the grout. 2) Cement board placed over existing drywall. 3) Scratched and/or damaged tiles from grout that had been cut out. 4) Removing the incorrectly colored grout would require the grout to be cut out again and would likely result in more damaged tiles. Additionally, excess urethane grout and a grout haze were left on several wall tiles, which would be very difficult, if not impossible to remove. 5) General workmanship problems including: very uneven floor tiles resulting in improper drainage, shower drain not being level, wall tile not being level, multiple chipped and jagged tile edges. The contractor we hired to replace the shower also found many more problems with the installation when he was removing Melton’s shower including no thinset behind the tiles in the recessed niches and water damage to wood under the bench. He said the unevenness of the shower floor tile was about the worst he had ever seen. He also noted that the tile floor in the main part of the bathroom was incorrectly installed and that it would likely fail soon. Many of the tiles popped when stepped on. Just a few days ago a one inch section of grout broke free at the corner of one of the floor tiles. Additionally, there is an 18 inch crack along the edge of one tile and a 12 inch crack along another. This was a project that was supposed to take a few weeks and in the end, it was over 5 months when we finally asked Melton not to come back and had to get someone else to replace the shower and also eventually the floor. During those 5 months, we would come home after The Melton Company had worked and it would be a game of “well, let’s see what’s not right today”. And then we would have to decide what mistakes we could live with and which ones needed to be addressed and which ones I could fix myself. And now, I’m even more upset since we’re going to be out another $9000 or so to have Melton’s shower and floor replaced and we have heard nothing from Melton since we asked for some of our money back. I should never have paid him so much before the job was finished, but at the time when I had paid him 82% of the total, we thought the work was almost completed. That was of course before we started using the shower and before the floor tiles started coming loose. Even though we may not get any of our money back, if we can prevent at least one person from making the same mistake we did, we can at least say one thing good has come out of this nightmare.

He is very professional, meticulous prepartation. He had excellent carpenters working with him. I would use him again if we needed to.

I hired Steve Melton for the 2nd time to remove wallpaper in my master bath, and repair the drywall, patch, and paint. The wallpaper was stuck onto the drywall, and required a professional to remove it. Steve took it off and repaired the walls to make my bathroom look new. He also patched the walls in my half bath, and painted that bathroom. I also had him go around the house and patch scratches and nailheads that popped from the ceiling. He also fixed my front door so cold air no longer blows in, he did that without an extra cost. I highly recommend Steve Melton for all my future painting, and repair needs in my home.

They were supposed to show up but delayed several times. Painters did an extremely poor job - no sanding (which was on the work order), drips, poor coverage (they provided the paint). Painters scratched my new bamboo floors because they did not use sliders even though they had been provided. Painters used my kitchen sink for clean up and left scratches on the porcelain. Carpenter was to install a threshold between master bed and bath. I believe he could have picked up a pre-made one from Lowes but he constructed it himself. It is 1" high which is against code. Charge was over $200 just for that. Steve was notified of these issues immediately. He agreed to come 'the next week' to fix but as of yet he has not called or shown up. He also asked for me to pay before the work was done. Be careful of this firm - he seems to be a nice guy but he is not ensuring good quality of his staff.

The whole job went perfect. It took 4 days, Steve Melton showed up on time. They patched, sanded, and painted the area around the new can lights in the kitchen, and then painted the kitchen ceiling and the family room. Steve went around, and patched areas in the ceiling that he didn't have to do, but wanted to to do it. He went out of his way to make sure the job was done right.

The entire experience went well. The painters were punctual, neat, hardworking, and friendly. The job took approximately4 days to complete. I was quite pleased with the whole job.

Prompt estimate, very professional, great follow up, gracious in every way. I will call them again next time I need a big job.

Steve and his men began repairing drywall damage left by a contractor doing a bathroom remodel. There is much more to be done after electrical and plumbing is repaired. I am so happy to have found Steve. The work is so good and his pricing is fair. They get in and get it done right.

His bid was more than double; it wasn't even in the ballpark. He did an automatic calculation of the square feet of the room. Obviously the paint and materials were over stated because he didn't deduct anything for the doors or windows. I was an attorney and I was watching and I thought that his quote was going to be outrageous because he was billing like an attorney. It was all done in a formula. I was able to do lots of other work with the money I saved. I am going to have them paint an upstairs bedroom because I had bid on it at a silent auction. I really liked him and thought that he was very nice. The price difference was just so large. I have no doubt that he would have done a great job. I felt totally comfortable with him.

The project went well overall. We had the additional work done because we found there were structural problems with our 1960s cabinetry after we started the work. This was pointed out by the countertop installer, who works for Home Depot. We weren't happy about the additional cost, but it was fair for the work, as there was plumbing and carpentry involved. The finished cabinets look great and I can't believe that the work was done on time! Also, Mr. Melton is very nice and pleasant to work with. I always felt like we were being treated fairly by him.

Very well. Melton representatives arrived right on time and were very friendly. During the course of their work, they protected our countertops and floors and they were also mindful of sleeping babies in the next room. They even cleaned up afterwards and left us the remaining paint should we need to do any touch-ups in the future. I will use this company again for future projects.