RUSTA REMODELING

Peter was referred by Lowes and he did a very good job. We did the demo ourselves to save a few bucks and donated the old cabinets and the stove to Habitat for Humanity (his suggestion) so we didn't have to pay him to haul away (which he really didn't want to deal with). He removed a non load bearing wall, built a knee wall, relocated a hvac return, build an island and installed cabinets. He used an electrician sub that did a good job as well. Some of the work, including the wall removal, was not part of the Lowes contract and he made sure to charge us for every nail and roll of tape. Although he complained and could be argumentative at times, they overall did a very good job.

We were referred to Mr. Rusta by our neighbors after they had a new kitchen remodel through Lowe's Ordnance Road who sent him. We had been told by our neighbors that he could be hard to get a hold of and didn't return calls quickly, but overall they were satisfied with his work. The job he did for us was a total kitchen remodel we gave my in-laws that took THREE MONTHS to complete. I can't blame Mr. Rusta for all this, some of the delay was due to the fact that Lowe's Kitchen Dept in Catonsville Md., which Mr. Rusta directed us to use, ordered wrong sized cabinets or didn't order all the pieces needed. (I will be leaving a report about Lowe's). But it certainly wasn't the real reason for the delay. We learned through this experience (as did the neighbors who gave us the referral who decided to use Mr. Rusta to do a basement remodeling the same time our in-laws were having their kitchen done) that Mr. Rusta's bread and butter is his kitchen installation work through Lowe's and as we both hired him via his Rusta Remodeling business. We were left for weeks at a time with no word and no work being done. Per his helper, who was the majority of the time on the job alone, Mr. Rusta had seven jobs going at one time. Mr. Rusta stood up my mother-in-law, after he had emailed her saying he was coming out. (I talked with him the afternoon of that same day when he stopped over at our neighbors home, and he bragged about the district manager of Lowe's seeking him out to install his kitchen, while my mother-in-law sat waiting with no call and sat waiting for her kitchen to be completed). On one occasion he e mailed my mother-in-law at 10:00PM - yes, 10:00PM one night to check if it was OK if he came out the next day. Mr. Rusta's MO is that he comes off at first as a very congenial and friendly guy. He'll quickly become your best friend and will promise you the world, which for some can make confronting him about issues and problems more difficult. We were also very disillusioned when a brand new refrigerator was delivered by Lowes with a large dent. When the refrigerator was plugged in it made a horrible noise. Mr. Rusta told us that Lowe's would not replace this brand new refrigerator, they had to come out and try to repair it three times. My husband called Lowe's and insisted the refrigerator be replaced, and it was. Mr. Rusta never mentioned to my in-laws that if they kept the dented refrigerator they could get several hundred dollars off the price. Mr. Rusta had paid for the refrigerator on our behalf (you can come to your own conclusion). In the end my very patient in-laws were happy with the end result and the job ended up costing close to the estimate. If you decide to use this contractor make sure you have plenty of time to wait for the job to be completed and that you ask Mr. Rusta to keep detailed receipts along the way. He doesn't give detailed information with his billing.

We were hooked up with him through Lowe's of Catonsville. We bought shower door there and paid for installation and they assigned Peter Rusta to install it-he does other services as well. Peter was very professional and handled a difficult situation well. The first shower door was poorly packaged when shipped from the manufacturer, so it was bent and could not be used, so that was a trip to the house where he really couldn't do anything. Thankfully the second door was undamaged. Peter spent a few hours installing it and it looks great. We really appreciate how careful he was to put so much caulk on to make sure the door doesn't leak. We're going to consider him for future work.