Top Cat Construction

As far as the work, the project proceeded without complaint. As this was a small job, the work was performed by one person over about 3-4 weeks with periods of inactivity to allow for other trades (Electrician, Drywall/Plaster & Painter) to come in and perform work. I liked that I could always get Eric on the phone and find out what was going on. I am a manager at a large-scale general contractor and I cannot always get this type of response out of much larger firms. My wife and two young children were around the house all day and they were very comfortable with Top Cat's worker, who kept them informed about what was going to happen and his own comings and goings during the day for materials and such. Overall - I am happier than my wife with the execution of the work. She thinks the project took longer than expected (or at least expected by her). Myself, I realize that this is a small, remodel job and many times there are just too many unknowns until you get into the project and see what you have to deal with. The work took longer than we anticipated, but this was due to issues related to getting the cabinet repaired rather than replaced (for a cost savings). The delays were beyond the control of Top Cat, so I can't fault them. The cabinets were joined in an unexpected manner, causing delay in removing the cabinet. The cabinet was eventually removed, but only after some additional work by Top Cat, which we were not charged for. The exhaust duct was originally planned to be run through the ceiling, but a flat roof and false ceiling made this solution more difficult and Top Cat came up with a better solution of running a duct in the open space above the cabinets. Where the duct would penetrate the wall posed issues with stud location and down spout outside, but they were able to make it work. The cabinet had water damage to the back panel (easy fix) and visible side panel (more complicated). A couple of the cabinet firms Top Cat deals with did not want to tackle a repair project. Eric eventually found a local firm willing to tackle the repair. The first time the cabinet came back, the visible side panel had been matched to the opposite side panel. The problem was that this other side panel was adjacent to the other cabinets and therefore not exposed to the sun like the repaired panel. Top Cat identified this problem and gave us the option of accepting or having it fixed. We went with the fix and that added more time to the schedule. This I do not blame on Top Cat. In my business, you can only control what you do - not what another firm does. Some may argue that Top Cat is ultimately responsible (which is true), but I know you have very little influence on controlling other vendors, especially when your order/contract is small.