DUCA TILE AND STONE

All calls and emails were returned quickly and professionally. I could not have asked for faster response times for calls, quotes, etc.. Donna couldn't have been more accommodating. She was right on time, courteous, and professional. If I were to base this review on these factors alone, I would recommend them without question or concern. They've been a vendor of an interior design team that I deal with from time to time who also trust their work and professionalism so I also trust their quality of work. I own 3 homes and a rental property and built or renovated them all. Never have I received this high level or service from a tile and stone vendor. Unfortunately, never have I encountered this level of pricing either. The quoted cost of materials (tile) was almost 75% above retail. Through the same retailer, I can walk in off the street and pay 75% less and if I am a contractor, I'll expect to pay 20% below retail. Additionally, the labor cost quoted was 50% higher than the next highest quote received (I received 4 quotes). I will state once again, none of the 3 other quotes were from companies as professional, punctual, or courteous as DUCA. I recognize the value in that service level and accept that a price premium may go along with it. But not a price premium to the degree that they were asking for. Ultimately I ended up paying 20% below retail for the tile and 40% less for the install. It wasn't as convenient but the savings was so significant, it was worth my trouble.

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Did not end up using but they were very professional

The tile installation was set for Dec. 11 at 8 am. I carefully planned and coordinated the time with Duca so that I could take off of work. At 8:45 am, I received a phone call that due to the roads, they were running late. At 10 am, I called the company and indicated that I needed to leave by 11 am to get to my luncheon for work. The conversation went like this: Me: "Just wondering when you plan to come out this morning, I need to leave by 11" Duca tile owner: "So, I just need to be there before 11?" Me: "I am leaving at 11 and I was not planning on leaving you in my home when nobody is here." Duca tile owner: "Well, I AM the owner of Duca tile." I left at 11. He had not arrived. I called the office to tell them I had left home and wanted to work out a deal to pay for the tile, but not have them do the install as I can't take time off work for them not to show up. The woman on the phone told me, "yes, I know he was trying to get out there, but he was tied up with some other clients this morning." (So much for the weather excuse...and I thought I was on the schedule for 8 am!) She took my information and said she would get back with me. I did not receive a phone call in return, but instead an email on December 20 (9 days later): "I was sorry to hear we weren?t able to help you with the installation of the tile. I credited you for the installation of the project and there is still a small balance open, if you can send a check when you get a chance, we would appreciate it. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!" The following email conversations provide a prime example for the very rushed/low priority customer service I received. Not once did anyone call me to apologize. I did receive my refund check...after some communication effort. Read the email thread below from the bottom up. -----Original Message----- From: D @ducatile.com] Sent: Friday, January 03, 2014 3:44 PM To: T Subject: RE: DUCA revised invoice Hi T, The check will be for $150. Yes, the tile is $5.98sf, and I have 3 boxes here with 6sf in each of them. 18sf @ $5.98 = $107.64. but you paid a total of $100 with the discount I extended you earlier. The check is being processed. D -----Original Message----- From: T Sent: Friday, January 03, 2014 8:56 AM To: D Subject: RE: DUCA revised invoice So, how much will the check be? What is the cost of the tile? Please still answer my question. Thank you. -----Original Message----- From: D@ducatile.com] Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2014 4:32 PM To: T Subject: RE: DUCA revised invoice It doesn't - I'm sorry, I forgot to credit you for the edging of the carpet that we obviously didn't do! I'll put in a credit for you with our book keeper and she will issue a check, you should see it in a 3-4 weeks in the mail. Again, sorry about this, we will get you your credit as soon as possible! Thanks for your patience, D. -----Original Message----- From: T Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2014 4:05 PM To: D Subject: RE: DUCA revised invoice D, would you please help me understand the tile cost that totals $250? I thought it was only $5.98sf. Thanks, T -----Original Message----- From: @ducatile.com] Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 2:31 PM To: T Subject: RE: DUCA revised invoice I'm sorry I didn't communicate it with you. Since we were installing it, I didn't think to mention the tile was not returnable. However, we won't charge you that extra $37 for that tile so you won't owe DUCA anything, we will have the tile here to pick up whenever is convenient for you. Thanks T. Hope that helps, D -----Original Message----- From: T Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 2:05 PM To: D Subject: Re: DUCA revised invoice That was an important part of the communication to me. Thanks. On Dec 20, 2013, at 1:04 PM, "D" <d@ducatile.com<mailto:d@ducatile.com>> wrote: I'm sorry for the confusion T! I invoiced you for the tile + the sealer. I credited all the labor to install. The tile is here and you can pick that up whenever is convenient for you. Unfortunately, it is not returnable. From: T Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 12:47 PM To: D Cc: @ducatile.com<mailto:@ducatile.com> Subject: RE: DUCA revised invoice Thanks. My understanding is that I only owe for the cleaner. I am confused on how the cleaner at 12.95 became $37. Would you please explain? From: @ducatile.com] Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 12:07 PM To: T Subject: DUCA revised invoice Hi , I was sorry to hear we weren't able to help you with the installation of the tile. I credited you for the installation of the project and there is still a small balance open, if you can send a check when you get a chance, we would appreciate it. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

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Initial plan was to have them replace grout in master shower, marble floor, master countertop and kitchen counter. Also had several cracked travertine tiles in foyer that needed to be replaced. Estimator sent to house lacked knowledge of the type of travertine used in foyer and provided an estimate containing multiple charges for same work. After the estimate was revised we settled on work in the shower and countertops. The young man sent to perform the work was polite, neat and the workmanship was very good.

This service occurred at our cottage in MI, so I was not there when they did it. However, they cleaned up their mess nicely.

From the beginning of the project they were professional and easy to work with. They visited our home at no charge and gave us some ideas of what they could do in the bathrooms we wanted remodelled. This ended up being the removal of a fiberglass shower in the master bath and replacing it with tile, removing and replacing the formica countertops in two bathrooms with granite, and cleaning and sealing the tile floors throughout. (Note: we had originally planned to only replace the master bath shower and clean/seal the tile floor, but the overall ideas they suggested for both bathrooms were so well aligned with what we were interested in doing long term, and the price for all services provided was very reasonable, we decided to just do everything at one time.) They were very responsive to our phone calls, office visits, and other forms of communication the entire project. They were also upfront with the timeline of when they would start the project, projections of how long it would take, and details of how the job would be performed (i.e. same workers from start to finish, working only on this job until completion). Additionally, when one aspect of our project caused some concern on how it would turn out in the end, Duca brought this to our attention and suggested an alternative solution that ended up giving us a better outcome! They were also flexible when we made some last minute changes to the project, simply working them into the timeline and minimally impacting ithe final schedule. We have used a lot of contractors to update our new home, and by far Duca has been the easiest and most pleasant to work with. We would definitely recommmend their services to anyone looking to conduct a project, big or small!

I thought that they were great. They have a nice supply to choose from. I was happy with their work.

DUCA THE DUTCH CARPENTER did a very good job. He was very creative. It took a little longer than I had hoped but they were very patient with us.