Mel McLoughlin Carpentry & Tiling

Mel did a fantastic job matching the old cabinetry, and even fulfilled a unique request to build a removable, inset cabinet on a hinge that could swing out. This was to provide access to plumbers in the future, as my bathroom tub and sink connections would be blocked by the new cabinetry. He not only accomplished that, but built a hidden, recessed cupboard into the bargain. His carpentry skills are top notch, and he is professional, affordable, and a pleasure to work with. I've had plumbers inspect the swing-out cabinet to make sure the bathroom hook-ups are still accessible, and been given the thumbs up. Other contractors who viewed his work remarked that he did a "fine" job and that we clearly had a skilled craftsman on the job. His work ultimately helped us complete an entire kitchen remodel we've been working on for many years. Mel has also done great bathroom tile work (as well as demolition), when I needed to replace a whole shower and sink, and install floor tile. His ability to do the necessary plumbing work, in addition to general carpentry and tile work make him our go-to-guy for home renovations of this kind.

Mel is professional, the completed work has been done with skill and always in a timely manner. My home is very old and the work can be complicated. He has worked on the house several times always with perfect results. I have always been very happy with the end result and would recommend Mel without hestation.

Quality was a mixed bag. The first bathroom was completed and done nicely but the quality steadily decreased for the other two bathrooms. Project dragged on for months - some due to change in material but mostly due to his conflicts. All this I would have been able to forgive since the price he quoted was not bad. However in the end he left the project unfinished claiming he was going out of business. By that time I had paid him everything but a 1000. I'm surprised to see recent reviews for him in 2014. The original contract was for 1/3 of payment at start 1/3 halfway and a final 1/3 at the end. However after the 2nd third payment he started asking me for a couple of thousand a few times. Because of my inexperience and I thought him to be honest I paid him. When it came time for the final walk through I provided him with a list of outstanding items which included work he needed to complete to meet code and errors he or his worker made. That is when he said he was going out of business and left me with at least 4000 of work and an open permit. Very unprofessional. Lesson learned - for him and any contractor DO NOT pay one penny of the final 1/3 payment until the work is completely done per the contract and permits are closed. Although his quote was in the middle range of other contractors, in the end he was much more expensive considering where he ended the work.

Mel was hired to remodel three bathrooms, 2 full and one half. Mel sequentially addressed each bathroom to ensure that we would have full access to the other two. The work included removal of all fixtures including lights, vent-fans, vanities, toilets, tubs, demolition of the floor and partial wall (surrounding tub and toilet). He installed cement board as required around all potential wet area, had a plumber (excellent worker himself) install new pipes and valves for the tub, shower and sink. As it relates to the ceramic, Mel installed new porcelain on the floor, around the tub and along a half wall in the bathroom. In one bath, we added wainscoting to one long wall. He also added some great details like a deco tile on the half-wall and a built-in shelf in the shower wall. Mel installed new tub, vanities, sink, toilet, stabilizing bar, all towel fixtures, mirror, lights, etc… and provided a professional crew to complete the painting and finish work. While at the house, I also asked Mel to remodel a closet and add a pull-out desk, install new bifold doors, and a few other miscellaneous items. He completed these extra tasks quickly and with the usual high quality.

I liked Mel from the first. He started early and was prompt. I knew I wanted — and had the supplies for — a white ceramic tile wall with bands of translucent one-inch glass squares. I was undecided about where to put the bands and he came up with an excellent suggestion. After that good beginning things went downhill. The tiling was the incompetent work of an amateur. I can't imagine that he ever worked with glass tile before, although he said he had. Fortunately he had not put too many tiles in place before I saw first error. The beautiful blue and green translucent tiles were almost black. He explained that was the glue. When I said there must be white glue he got some out of his truck. Although I rescued that job in time, he did such a sloppy job applying the glue that some of it shows through as globs beneath the tiles. Also, the glass tiles have a rough texture and he failed to clean the grout off before it hardened. It will be many hours of tedious work to chip the white grout off the edges and ridges of the glass. It would have been a simple job taking only a few minutes if he had done it when the grout was wet. But the worst work was in making a tile shelf. It was not only sloppy, it was done with the tiles overhanging the edge because he didn’t bother to cut them to fit. Along the edges he had very wide grout separating two of the tiles, done instead of cutting them. The shelf was too bad to leave that way. One tile fell off in the first week and the others were sure to go. And they were so crooked and the grout so uneven that he managed to make the beautiful tiles ugly. He couldn’t deny that the job was poorly done. I gave him the option of removing the tile and putting a wood shelf there or refunding the $350 he charged for the shelf. I hoped he was better at carpentry than tiling. He opted to redo it rather than give me a refund. Mel says I insisted he replace the shelf and not fix it. Yet he also says he told me a tile shelf wasn't going to work. Of course he never told me that or I would not have done it and he would have been foolish to do it if he knew it wouldn't work. There is no reason a glass tile would not work on a shelf. He was just too lazy to cut the glass so it would fit. He was obviously incompetent at laying glass tiles, but I also didn't have enough tiles left for him to redo it. I hoped he was better as a carpenter, and he did a beautiful job of shaping the shelf. He says it was at his expense, but I paid for the piece of rosewood. He said he used polyurethane, but the handyman who fixed his botched installation said it was just a plain varnish. He sanded it off quite easily. The brush strokes and bubbles were still very visible. The water that dropped on the shelf was several days after it was varnished, not before it had dried. After he installed it, I sent him this message: “I just paid $225 to repair your work on the shelf. A single drop of water fell on the shelf. I wiped it up immediately, but it left a stain that couldn't be removed. My handyman explained that it should have been finished with polyurethane. Actually, after you left and I saw all the bubbles and brush strokes I realized the shelf should have been sent to a furniture finisher rather than being covered with a varnish. It was too late for that, but it was impossible to leave the varnish on there when it meant the shelf was that fragile and the brush strokes that prominent. “The cost of $225 included the wall. You said that wasn't included in your price, but I never heard of a contractor quoting a price for a job that involved damaging the existing wall and not repairing it. “My biggest disappointment is that I've relied on Angie's List in the past and never been disappointed. I was fooled by the A rating based on only one review [as of that date] and being impressed by your description of your work. I cannot accept as 'careful workmanship' the use of a black glue behind translucent tiles, making a single very wide grout line instead of cutting the tile, and doing a thoroughly sloppy job of laying the tile. I do agree that your design idea for the tile was good and your shaping of the shelf turned out well — except that the width of the strip under the shelf should have matched the width of the tiles the wood butted up to. You also left a space between the shelf and the wall that had to be grouted. Another repair was to put silicone along the juncture of the wall tile and the Corian. Would you prefer to refund the $225 or contact Angie's List about their mediation services?” He replied that he would refund the $225 as soon as he had the money. After giving him a week, during which I assumed he had time to earn at least that much, I sent him another message offering him the option of repaying me in installments. I received no reply. As you can see from the message I sent Mel, I did not threaten him with a bad review if he refused to return the cost of my having to redo his work. A friend told me Angie's List has a dispute resolution process, so I emailed him the suggestion that we use the process if he didn't want to refund the money. He never replied to that email, so I checked Angie's List to find out how to use that process. I learned that they require you to write a review before you can initiate it. The irony was that I didn't have my kitchen contractor do the tiling because I wanted to get a professional tiler. When an architect neighbor saw the shelf he said that job could not possibly have been done by a professional.

He did a terrific job. He was very explicit on what he was going to do. He showed us exactly how he wanted the installments on the front porch. He would come out very early in the morning and worked with another excellent fellow and they were both very polite and business like with wonderful results. They were wonderful and I would give them an excellent rating. He also carted off all the waste himself. He told me if I had any problems or concerns to just call him immediately.