Mike & Co

The devil is in the details they say. Background: Our lower level family was damaged when our 13 yr old water heater went. The result was a partial flooding of our basement, damaging flooring areas of the family room, laundry room and bathroom. Square footage of the damage was the entire bathroom, laundry room and about a third of the family room. The damaged laminate flooring was removed by ServPro (water damage eradication company) per approval of our insurance co. The original flooring, including the laundry and bath, was laminate ("Uniclic" by Steps Flooring, similar to "Pergo"). To make things interesting, the prior homeowners had glued the toilet to the laminate flooring to secure it because they had purchased a 12" rough toilet for a plumbed 10" rough clearance. This in the cellar so a concrete floor was below. The former owners even cut into the sheetrock and wall studs to allow the toilet to literally sit into the wall 2". So we took this opportunity to repair the flooring and toilet situation at the same time. Identifying contractor: We knew we wouldn't be able to get Home Depot or a local flooring vendor to do this job (flooring, toilet, replumbing, etc.) so decided to stick with a general contractor. This is where our contractor search began after settling with the insurance. Mike Pace (DBA, Mike & Co) was local and recommended by 2 of my neighbors. He came one night for almost 2 hrs and went over a variety of options, scope of work, etc. He agreed to email the quote, which arrived a couple of days later. Initial Quote Process: Poor. Mike's initial quote via email was not formatted at all. It was 1 single big long paragraph. There was no clear breakdown of charges and estimates of materials was vague. It appeared as though a 12 year old had typed it (this should have been a big red flag but we chose to let it slide). Because I couldn't read it, I took the email, reformatted it into a Microsoft Excel sheet and tried to break it down as best I could to understand it and emailed it back to him to confirm we were understanding the scope of work correctly (in an Excel sheet and Adobe PDF document). In 2010, with the invention of the computer having been around for many years, I thought I'd get a real professional quote like others I had received, but that wasn't the case. It was very hard to decipher. Net result, very poor quoting process. Written Quote Process: Poor. The next day he dropped off his hand written quote (again, looking like a 12 year old had written it) which included all materials and labor and verbally estimated completion at 5 days. The quote included the written disclosure of "All work to be performed in a workman like manor and in accordance with standard practices" and therein lies the problem. Who dictates "standard practices"? In hindsite, this is a general clause that favors the contractors and doesn't do a homeowner any good because who defines "standard practices" or "workman like"? Homeowner beware. The written quote: included the following scope (simplified): - Remove old toilet, replace with owner supplied new one or put back. - Repair either concrete floor and relocation of waterline plumbing (by a licensed plumber), or move wall back 2" depending upon findings when toilet and wall were removed. In either case, new wall behind toilet to be covered in T&G knotty pine. - Replace laminate floor in family room and laundry room - Installation of new tile in bathroom. Tile and grout can be picked out by owner, etc. - Replace 2 upstairs hallway doors with 6 panel masonite, handles and hinges and retrim - Replace 1 bathroom door with 6 panel masonite, handles and hinges Original quote = $3582 Licensure Information: Good. He did provide upon asking, his state license numbers, comp and liability insurance information. We verified those on various Massachusetts.gov websites and no complaints were found. While we were not initially impressed by the quote process or his mannerisms, we also knew he came highly recommended and our job scope was peculiar. So we decided to move forward despite the poor quoting process. Work Initiation: Poor. Mike arrived in February, granted it was cold outside, but we do have a garage and he immediately insisted he had to setup his "work area" inside our family room and that was how he has done it for 30 years. That was a shock, afterall, other contactors had no problem (even in the cold winter) doing their cutting and masonry work, etc. in our garage so this was a surprise. Though I eventually dropped the issue because of his persistence and ensurance of proper cleanup, in the end, the basement was a disaster and it took my wife and I 2 days to clean up all the saw dust in the windows, curtains and air ducts, etc. The house was a filthy disaster day in and day out as well as upon completion. Work begins: Fair. Inacurate estimates in materials led to delays. Mike ordered the laminate flooring from a supplier that I (the customer) found. Turns out he didn't order enough. And he didn't order any edge or corner rounds for finish trim work. Mike had to make multiple trips to the supplier and fortunately we had enough left over pieces from the former owner to complete the job. Its alarming when a contractor struggles to calculate basic square footage and the homeowner has to identify and correct the mistakes. Work Staffing/Resources: Poor. During his work he had 2 different young helpers. Each with little to no experience with much of anything, so he ended up doing the work. As a result, it took longer to do than if he had trained help. Additionally on 3 days, his help left early due to other obligations. This left Mike with no help and resulted in the job taking 2.5 days to complete the work as well as myself having to pitch in and help when it was needed. Not terrible, but noticeable. Mike even left on 2 consecutive Fridays at 2pm to "go snowmobiling" . This, after starting his workday at 9am and taking 1 hour for lunch. Floor/Toilet Excavaction: Fair: This work proceeded smoothly. It was decided that we would move the toilet rather than the wall. This made sense, and a licensed plumber secured by Mike came to move the underground plumbing and that work was performed very well. The plumber was CHARLES A. CASHIN (BOXFORD, MA Master Plumber Ma License 10677) and he did a great job. However, it was very irritating that Mike set unreasonable expectations of the additional plumber cost - Initally the first visit was supposed to be $75 and it turned out to be $130. Second time plumber came to finish the job and place the toilet, again Mike indicated it would be $75 and it turned out to be $150. This was unacceptable and broke the trust. Also, Charlie never did send me a reciept upon asking. It figures, typical contractors. A funny, but serious note, neither the contractor nor plumber recognized the aparent out of place heavy copper line running adjacent to the toilet PVC underground. Both commented maybe it was an old radiant heat line.. The thing is, myself and my brother-in-law, who does water and sewer, immediately recognized it in 2 seconds as my house water main. Could you imagine? Scary if anything happened there. Bathroom wall work: Excellent. The new wall behind the toilet was installed and the new baseboards in the bathroom were installed (tricky corners and crooked walls), in preparation for tile. Tile Work Begins: Poor: This is when the "sh*t" hit the fan so to speak. We immediately went to Home Depot and per Mike's recommendations, chose 2" tiles for the bath floor because it was uneven and the walls were not straight. My wife wanted 1' tiles but as he indicated, those wouldn't work well in a small bath with both uneven and irregular surfaces and walls. We chose a beautiful Italian marble in those pre-set 12" sections (netting on back for easy lay). We were both skeptical regarding the smaller tile. Professionalism Breaks Down: Very Poor: Mike began the tiling process, including cutting the tile with a wet saw in our family room. Very unprofessional and very unreasonable. And it created a terrible mess. The tile looked ok intially while being laid. I did comment that I thought the tile "should be laid with whole tiles at threshold as you enter?" I was told no, and that he knew what he was doing. Mike continued. The next day he was begining to grout the tile. When I saw the grout go in, it looked black and nothing like the package sample. I told Mike this and he tried to tell me it would dry 3 shades lighter. I didn't believe him but he insisted. I was really worried because it looked terrible. Imagine, light colored small Italian marble tile with black grout! Horrendous? When my wife got home she really got upset. It looked like trash. She immediately called Mike to express our displeasure and ask how this could be rectified. The way he treated my wife on the phone was completely unacceptable and unprofessional. Complete, with calling her "honey", acting very condescending and telling her she doesn't know what she's talking about, swearing at her and threatening to quit the job despite the fact that we had just paid him the 2nd installment on the job and he wasn't even 2/3 of the way done yet. Granted, my wife was extremely assertive and upset, but there is no excuse for the way he acted. As a gentleman, I minded my manners in order to complete the job because in my line of work, I can't afford to get arrested and have that on my record as this would surely ruin my life and my career, which is surely not worth it over some stupid contractor. Eventually the situation settled, and Mike communicated that he would help remedy the situation and make it right. But by then, it was too late. My wife and I spent over 2 hours on out hands and knees and manually removed the disgusting grout. Then we went to Home Depot and bought some new "ultra white" grout. Mike regrouted the tile the next morning. He should never have allowed that to go to in and should have known it was wrong. He tried to use the excuse that "I just installed what you picked out" yet he has been doing this 30 years and he knows that he should have known better. It was wrong, and what we got was an "attitude." very poor. Laminate Floor Installation: Poor. Didn't order enough materials and while doing the job, didn't remove 2 other boards that were adjacent that were damaged on the edges (I strongly believe he accidentally damaged those 2 laminate pieces in his insistance to go back and forth over the old floor with his equipment). Because he didn't order enough flooring, I had to use old pieces I had left over (of a different brand) to finish the laundry room. In the end, we got new flooring and with 3 damaged areas (see pictures). When I pointed this out, he shrugged his shoulders and said he never thought he had to replace that board. Mike tried to tell me he would putty or fill in the chips with special stuff he knew about and I'd never notice it. He never did do that. Upstairs doors: Fair. He installed the doors and when I looked at them, one didn't close. Not that it didn't close right, it just didn't close. I told him and he asked "what's wrong with it" I said it doesn't close. He tried to tell me its ok and because of the frame. I said, No, fix it! Unbelieveable. He did eventually fix it. But only after I pushed him. Terrible customer service. Bathroom Door: Good. He did a fine job with that work. Completion & Clean up: Poor. House became a disaster - I ended up cleaning 90% of his mess myself with my own wet dry vac. He had dunkin donuts cups and 1/2 eaten muffins, etc in our family room thrown around. The house was totally covered in saw dust. I mean even the upstairs. The downstairs family room (while covered by his and our drop cloths, etc.) saw dust made its way upon our curtains, windows and blinds and created a total mess. It took us 2 days to clean the room and house. Settling the Bill (cost): Poor. Instead of finishing the job on a Friday, he left early, went snowmobiling and wanted to come back Monday to put a threshold in and fix the laminate chips. He put the threshold in, and didn't fix the chips. I was so sick of it at this point, I just wanted him gone. I settled the bill with him. To this day it is unclear how much the job was in materials versus labor. Guess i'm the sucker and the contractor won there. Almost $3800 for 7.5 days of work and little materials is a lot of money. And probably too much. When we went to settle the bill, he then states "I never charged you for regrouting the bath" ! The nerve! That's right. There was no need. Such nerve! And he never brings the "touch up" paint to repair the chiped laminate flooring. Unbelievable. General Feedback: Poor. Couldn't take any criticism or differing opionons on how a job should be done. "The customer is always right" is not the mantra for which this contractor follows. Never paid attention to the details. I wish you well in your search efforts. This is one contractor for which I would be unable to recommend. Additional footnote 1: Do your research. Toilet options came down to either moving the wall behind the toilet (risk of moving other plumbing or wiring, etc.), or moving the toilet (new rough plumbing under the concrete). I later learned (from a coworker) that toilet manufacturer Toto makes 10" clearance toilets for approx $250 retail-search "Toto cst704b10". However, even with a 10" clearance, we still would have needed to make major repairs to the wall behind the toilet. He never indicated this was an option. I had to tell him when the job was done that the option was available. I should have done more research. Additional footnote 2: When it comes to contractors, just because they say they have 30 years of experience, doesn't make them right. Perhaps some contractors need to consider if they have been doing it wrong for 30 years.