New Looks Home Improvement

Caveat Emptor After taking a few months to cool off, I am finally ready to submit a review of my experience with Chris Auger/dba New Looks Home Improvement, Inc./dba Christopher Auger Enterprises, Inc. He does business by many names, like a chameleon. Don't let him confuse you. The short of it: I hired Chris to do a minor bathroom renovation in my 537 sq. ft. apartment. He came with a glowing recommendation from someone at our property management company, showed up on time (with pen, paper and his cell phone camera), and quoted a fair price. His showroom on Tremont Street also provided a false sense of security. Unfortunately, things aren't always what they seem, and it all went downhill from there. We ended up with a project was not done in accordance to the terms of the contract, inconsistent with professional standards, resulted in damages to other parts of the property, and will need to be TORN DOWN and REDONE to comply with building codes and condo association requirements. We have a violation issued by Inspectional Services to prove it, and the subsequent paperwork from fighting it in Boston Housing Court. The highlights: He misrepresented being registered as a Home Improvement Contractor with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations (OCABR), as required by MGL Chapter 142A. I have a copy of the registration he showed me, but it had been suspended and later revoked. He is not a licensed Construction Supervisor, and did not designate one to the project, which is required to apply/obtain building permits, as stipulated by 780 CMR R5. He seeks out favors from licensed Construction Supervisors willing to pull the permits for him, but they do not remain involved with the project to ensure proper inspections. He is only licensed as a journeyman plumber, but we cannot guarantee the work was done up to standards. There were no other licensed tradesmen involved with the work, which included electrical work. He does not keep insurance policies current, and allows them to lapse for non-payment. He presented me with certificates of insurance, but allowed these policies to lapse for non-payment of the premiums. After it was clear that he had caused damage to my property, I contacted his insurance company, and they stated he had allowed his policy to lapse two days before he started working in my property. He never reinstated coverage. The company, New Looks Home Improvement, is registered to a different principal with the Secretary of State. Meanwhile, Chris Auger Enterprises has a record of involuntary dissolution effective June 30, 2017. Chris and his crew -which, by the way, changed almost daily - took THREE MONTHS to complete a job he’d guaranteed would be done within 3 weeks (which included a one-week buffer). Since this is the only bathroom in the home, we had to live elsewhere for the duration of the project. Once whatever skilled laborers he had took off, he was left to complete the work which has been evaluated by several licensed professionals and the City of Boston Inspector who agree on the subpar workmanship. You can probably do a better job installing tile after watching a few videos of This Old House and Bob Vila. In the end, we spent a fortune on tile bought directly from his showroom, which he did not know how to install. He did a terrible job installing all other products we supplied, because he did not know how to use a measuring tape. Most importantly, he did not secure the required rough inspections, and electrical and plumbing inspections, which mean we have to tear everything down and start over. I had high hopes for New Looks, and he knew we were dealing with some serious things with our family. My mom (who lives 1800 miles away) had just been diagnosed with cancer. My fiancée (a US Marine veteran) and I had just moved in together, and had a lot to juggle at the time. He turned what should have been a great milestone in our lives into a nightmare. Do yourself a favor: check very carefully the credentials of anyone you hire to do work in your home. Double and triple-check licenses with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations, the Division of Public Licensure, the Department of Public Safety, and call the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Bureau to check if other complaints have been recorded. Also check the Secretary of State’s corporate records, the Better Business Bureau, and other sites (like this one!) for consumer feedback. I was surprised to find so many other dissatisfied customers with similar stories, but their warnings came too late for me. Do not hesitate to contact me if you want to know more about our experience.

They were fast, polite, and the work was extremely high quality. They were available relatively last minute, sent 3 people, and the job was done in the time frame we had and it was done as well as it could have been. I highly recommend new looks.

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The job was scheduled for 4 weeks (which I assumed meant it would take 6). It took them NEARLY FOUR MONTHS to complete the job. There are few aspects of the work that I was happy with, and many things had to be redone repeatedly. Their work was consistently sloppy. If there was a wall to be painted and there was a nail in that wall, they painted simply painted over the nail rather than removing it. The baseboards were literally smeared with glue, and visibly crooked. They had to be redone several times. The floors had to be repainted at least twice during the duration of the job, and they had to come back again several months later because the paint was peeling up. It is peeling up again now, but there is no way I would have these guys back in my building again. The quality of the work really left me feeling like I was being pranked. Like they actually expected me not to notice the globs of glue left smeared on our new countertops, or the tiles that didn't match up. Also during the remodel several items went "missing", including a digital camera, and a 10 foot ladder. The camera?? sure maybe we misplaced it in the shuffle.... but the ladder???

We were looking to have work done on our condo including a large deck and some bathroom work. Chris told us he would be by at 4:00 PM to take a look. He showed up at 6:30 PM without a call. (this should have been our first bad sign) He reviewed everything and stated we would be getting a quote within a few days. After a week I asked if he had an update on our quote. He stated it would be first thing on Monday. Monday comes and goes and nothing so I call and he states a few things came up and he would have it no later than Friday. Once again nothing. This process continued for 4 weeks. Until finally it was complete radio silence. Every time I would call it would ring 1-2 times and go straight to voice mail and emails were never responded too. I was very patient through the process and understood things sometimes come up. However, the only information I received was false dates of when we would receive our quote. Had they simply stated that they could not get to our quote for a few months that would have been completely understandable. This type of customer service was unacceptable. I am sure they do great work if you can ever get them to provide a quote

Information to craftsman not thorough and poor construction and incorrect execution.

Initially it was really good. They were very responsive. One of the owners gave me a great estimate and we had a good conversation. I felt good about working with him. Once the work started, I wanted to be clear when they would be here they were not here when they said they would be. The crew that was here were not really supervised. It seemed like they were just here hanging out.

New Looks Painting has some several quality jobs for me. The most recent job was painting a wood shingled house in Cambridge. The house hadn't been painted for almost 30 years with a lot of carpentry work, scraping, and bonding needed to get a quality result. The guys at NLP were great! They power washed the house first, scraped and handled all the carpentry as needed. NLP always asked me for approval of any work and did a lot of the little extras. I was most impressed with their willingness to change colors to get the exact blend for the house. We used three colors and used a great cranberry accent which is typically of the Cambridge area.

Chris promised me the world, and I should have known. He said he would do the painting by July. He did not show, and then after I called over and over again he came, walked over my new garden and then began to scrape, and prime. He left tub of primer and paint supplies in my garage. He promised on numerous occasions to return and failed to. He used indoor drywall to repair my rotten exterior trim. Needless to say it continued to rot and I had to hire someone else. Although he installed the fence, he continued to promise that he complete the gate and he never did.