COUNTER PRODUCTIONS

it went well. provider was prompt, diligent and very personable. He accommodated my special requests cheerfully and did a good job scheduling subcontracted plumber.

Was excellent with communication- returning phone calls and emails. Timely. Cleaned up any mess created by project. True perfectionist!

John responded promptly when I called him. He came over and gave me an estimate. He left me with some samples - explained about some of the newer, more scratch-resistant countertops, and we decided upon a general time frame for the work. He gave us the option of doing the simple plumbing work ourselves (unhook the sink and reattached the sink) or have his plumber do it, which we appreciated. My husband said he could work from home the day of the install and would do the sink work. Jon told us it would likely be 1-2 days, and that our tenant would be without a kitchen for one night. I called him with the sample that I chose. We arranged for the date for him to come over and the time. He arrived promptly at 8:00 on that day, and got a great deal done. He came the 2nd day, again promptly at 8:00 and worked most of the day finishing the job. The counters look great, and my tenant is happy as well. I have a 1920's duplex, so it is a bit of a putzy job, fitting the countertop tightly around the original cabinets on the window-side wall of the kitchen. As he did upstairs, John did a meticulous job of fitting the countertop into all the corners and around the windowsill. There are drawers that pull out right over the countertop, and he made sure there was no problem opening the drawers with the new (higher) countertop. There are a few minor details for us to attend to (reattacing a few pieces of moulding near the window, a little spackling in the corner of the sink countertop and some minor paint touchups,) but that didn't bother me because the countertops are great, and I think the work took a little longer than Jon expected. Bottomline, I would recommend Jon highly. I was really glad he was willing to do such a small job, because I knew the quality of his work from the previous job he did. Thanks Jon!

We had Jon replace our old Formica kitchen counters in September and they turned out great!!! Not long after Jon called and said he still had some extra material if we wanted to go ahead and do the bathroom counter as well. We called him up and the price was right (after all what's he gonna do with the leftover material) so we went ahead and set up a date that worked well with a surgery I had scheduled (so I would be home). As before Jon was on time and very attentive to detail. He recommended that it might be a good time to install a new sink as long as we were doing the counter so we went with his advice. Jon knew I was unable to shop for the sink so he offered to take care of everything. He came in as before, took a few measurements, picked up a really nice sink that matched the rest of our fixtures, had his plumber (who is also very nice) take care of the installation details and the whole job was done in a single day. I probably could have asked them to replace the mirror but I figured there's still a few things that I can do - LOL!!! I'm not sure where the lady before me is coming from but both my wife and I totally got along with Jon and felt very comfortable with his work. He's a good guy, does excellent work, and will go the extra mile if you ask him......BTW, the bathroom turned out just as nice as the kitchen!!!

As much as I would have liked, I'm afraid I have to give Jon and Counter Productions a mediocre overall rating at best due to the way in which some unfortunate circumstances were handled unprofessionally as part of the whole project. As a business owner of 25+ years myself, I am going to be as fair as possible in representing the issues by presenting the Pros and Cons of his service, workmanship and customer service. To me, customer service is paramount, and if you or your company cannot provide a high level of customer service, there are many companies who can- Pros: -Jon was punctual. He arrived every morning at 8am ready to start work -Jon is good at his trade and he knows his craft -Jon was good at responding to my email Cons: - Previous Reviews with similar issues: As stated in other reviews, Jon wasn't interested in coming to give an estimate until I had other companies give me a quote-once I had basically come down to him as my first choice, he then came out to give a formal quote and measure. This isn't critical as he probably feels he is wasting his time if people aren't serious, but in hindsight it may have been a red flag as to the customer service quality. I had also seen other reviews talking about the general mess of the job and Jon leaving the mess for the homeowners to clean up which I should have probably paid attention to before hiring him. - Ethics/Trust/Customer Service-Unfortunately, this along with customer service is the reason that I can't recommend Jon to others and is by far the biggest disappointment in this interaction. While removing the countertop from our master bathroom, Jon cracked a tile in multiple places of our shower that we had remodeled 4 years ago. He never mentioned the cracked tile that was shaling onto the floor and I was the one who found it-I would have much rather had him bring it to my attention rather than ignore the problem. I sent him an email immediately and in his email response he states "With any home improvement there is going to be some disruption. The tile guy should be able to fix the problem pretty easily." (Referring to the tile guy that I was paying to come in and complete the backsplash project on my kitchen-insinuation that this would be at my cost) I can't believe that this is how he thought he should handle this issue-no offer to take care of the problem. When he arrived on the last morning, he took a look at the tile and said, "I'm going to try to be a nice guy about this, but with any remodeling project there is always going to be collateral damage". REALLY?? If he thinks that breaking the tile on my recently remodeled master bathroom shower, scratching up newly painted walls in 4 separate areas that we had just hired to be done and that we had to have repaired, and leaving dust, residue and a general mess everywhere is collateral damage then I can't afford to have him in my home. He then went on to say "I have to remember to update my contract to say that I'm not responsible for damage as part of the remodeling". ( I have had many contractors in my home and NOT 1 damaged my property where they didn't remedy the situation immediately, and at their cost.) I informed him that I had checked with two tile installers and that they were quoting a trip fee and labor which was going to run between $125-$200. He looked at the broken tile, and then said "you can just put clear silicone on the tile to seal the cracks and it probably won't move in your lifetime or mine" as if patching an obviously broken and cracked tile with silicone would be appropriate. He then said he had a tile guy that would fix it for the price of a lunch and I told him that's fine if he had someone qualified that was willing to fix it. For me, if I am going to trust someone to come into my house, essentially rip apart my kitchen and two bathrooms and not have running water for 3 nights and 4 days which creates a whole new issue, then I'd BETTER be able to trust them to take care of my things and treat them with the utmost respect. What I would have liked to have had him say was "I'm really sorry, but as I was removing the countertop I accidentally cracked the adjoining tile, but don't worry; I will get my tile guy in here to replace that asap." He knew he had broken the tile, and he made the choice to not tell me about it which is unethical. THEN, once he realized that I was expecting him to fix the problem he brings me the invoice that we had agreed upon PRIOR to the work being done and he INCREASES the price by saying "well, I did these various things for you and you can attach a price to those", adding frivolous items like moving a stove and replacing a small piece of 4" X 6" sheetrock that I supplied when he offered to put it up on the wall to repair a hole if I had some extra sheetrock(He offered to do those at no charge previously). When we were discussing the job, he included moving the stove, etc. in the price as I SPECIFICALLY asked him about any extra charges, and during the job he discovered a piece of 4" X 6" sheetrock missing that he offered to replace if I got him a small piece of sheetrock by saying "I'm happy to throw the sheetrock in there if you can get me a piece). I got him the sheetrock and he put some screws in it in the wall and after the "tile" problem was discovered, he magically wanted to charge me $50 for moving the stove and putting in the sheetrock, stating "You didn't expect me to work for free did you?" And the kicker is that my husband helped him move the stove back! It was VERY obvious that he was trying to gouge me a few bucks so he could turn around and pay the tile guy to fix what he broke. - Care of property-Jon was not very respectful of our property in the fact that he leaned his products like wood, metal squares, old counters, wood materials, etc. against our newly painted walls from the previous week which ending up marking up the walls, and denting them in 4 places requiring us to patch and re-paint. We had spent a fair amount of money to have a professional painter paint our home and this was disappointing. His metal square actually slid at an angle at one point, leaving a 4.5 inch scratch down our wall. I ended up putting a towel between his equipment and wood leaning against the wall. --Clean-up-Jon as expected created a lot of dust in the home with the cutting of the countertops and tried to contain it as much as possible by dropping plastic in the doorways of the kitchen and putting a tarp partially over the table/stove, but it completely infiltrated all of our cabinets, requiring us to empty out our entire kitchen area to dust, wash, and clean all of the items including our food pantry. It would have been nice to have him let us know of this and give us some ideas to prevent this from happening. (Like maybe placing plastic over the cabinets that weren't directly affected by the counter top creation.) He also did extra cutting in the bathrooms without any tarp to contain it, etc. and that required us to completely remove and clean out all of our bathroom cabinets as well. The dust and mess wasn't bad enough on it's own to be a deal breaker; it's just that there were so many other options to make the mess so much less that weren't done that I believe would make a huge difference in the overall job. - length of time without kitchen or bathroom sinks: Originally Jon mentioned that he would work on one room at a time so that I would be without running water for the least amount of time; but what he didn't say was that he only wanted the plumber out on the first day and the last day of the job to reduce the cost and therefore we had no sinks in our kitchen or either of our two upstairs bathrooms from Tuesday to Friday. 3 nights and 4 days without either kitchen or bathroom sinks is a VERY long time-cooking dinners or other meals was impossible; brushing teeth, washing hands or faces, getting ready for work/school, filling dog dishes, drinking water, etc. was all reduced to a bathroom in the basement for a family of 4. I was evidentally under the incorrect impression from our meeting that as soon as the kitchen counters were done the sink would go in and he would work on one of the bathrooms, etc. If I had known that I would be without running water in our ENTIRE upstairs for 4 days I would have seriously considered having the job done in pieces with the kitchen being one job and then having the bathrooms done at a separate time. Jon originally stated that the job would take 2 - 2 1/2 days so at the time I didn't give it much thought-had I known it would take from 8am Tuesday to 4pm Friday I would have made different decsions for sure. Innapropriate behavior: John spent the week complaining about others he works with-his plumber and other contractors which made me uncomfortable, saying that "they all think they are better and more important than me". After our dispute over the increased charges, the broken tile and the unethical behavior, Jon chooses to immaturely call the plumber outside in our garage to whine and complain about the situation and inaccurately talk about items and things about me. (He should be careful what he says when others can hear him) This immediately made me wonder if I could then trust the guy who he hired to do his plumbing since I didn't know their relationship-but the plumber was wonderful. In the end, he told me he would contact his "tile guy" to remove and replace the tile (which he essentially already charged me for by increasing the bill) and he gave me the name of the guy. One week later, a completely different guy calls saying Jon asked him to come out and fix the tile but doesn't state he is an actual tile guy or has any experience-sounding like a friend of Jon's rather than a business. Then my final decision becomes whether or not I trust the guy that broke my trust in the original job or not, and will I be stuck paying for his damages in order to get the job done right?

Do your homework upfront just like you're doing right now. Go to the local stores like Lowes, Menards, and Home Depot to get an idea what you want and get quotes so you know what it will cost. The work may include some plumbing to remove and re-install the sink so make sure you have that covered in the quotes so there aren't any surprises. Make sure to bring home samples also. When you finally know what you want and what your budget can handle then give Jon a call. There are pluses and minuses for all the various counter materials (granite, man made, and Formica) but we finally settled on Formica because we felt it provided the best combination of durability, appearance, and cost. We also read the reviews by other members and pretty much knew exactly what to expect when we called Jon. I have a feeling he kind of likes to be the last guy to quote and like most contractors he is going to expect you to make a commitment and a deposit upfront (bear in mind he has to purchase the material and reserve a place for you in his schedule). When Jon came to give us his quote he brought out several samples and took a look at ours. I'm not sure if he works with materials other than Formica but he can order pretty much whatever Formica type you decide on. Jon was very laid back and easy to get along with. He told us up front that things would get dusty and that we would want to move as much as possible from the cupboards and area. He does everything possible to contain the dust by sealing off the area with plastic and by using protective floor covers throughout the work area and also from the entrance to the work area but things are still going to get a little dusty and you will need to do some clean up when everything is done. To avoid some of the dust Jon will also require a small work area in the garage but bear in mind that he's basically going to custom build the entire counter system on location and the required materials and techniques naturally create dust. The edging will be oak and you will have to stain it when he's done. This is because Jon doesn't buy the pre-made counter materials he manufactures everything from scratch. The staining part is easy and only requires a color of your choice and a rag, I haven't done mine yet but will this weekend. I think he does this because it's too hard for him maintain a full selection of every color that people may want and to take responsibility for a perfect match. In many cases homeowners like myself already have a stain that matches their current woodwork from previous projects. Like all semi do-it-yourself guys I been looking at it for a few days now trying to compare it to my own work and trust me there's no comparison. It's like hiring an artist to paint a picture. Like the other reviews state, Jon is a true craftsman. Follow his recommendations and you won't be disappointed!!!

I contacted Counter Productions barely two weeks before moving in to my new home. I explained the extent of the project and said it was important to me to have the work completed the first week in the home to coordinate with a whole-house interior paint job and time I'd taken off to unpack. Jon scheduled an appointment for the morning after our Friday move-in date, arrived on time, measured the kitchen and bath counters, reviewed my laminate selections, provided a written estimate, and agreed to complete the work within the move-in week. Jon arrived early Thursday morning. I was extremely impressed with the care he took to cover the floors and seal the work area with plastic sheeting to minimize the spread of any dust. Jon also arranged for a plumber to disconnect faucets and the garbage disposal. I felt that was a great value-added service as he took care of coordinating the schedule to reduce down-time and it was a plumber he knew and could vouch for which was helpful to me as I was new to the area. By mid-day Friday the counters were finished, the plumber arrived to install new faucets and a disposal, Jon cleaned the work areas, and the project was complete. This is my 7th home purchase and I've done mid to major remodeling projects in each one. I can say without hesitation that Jon is a true craftsman. I received a finished product that was meticulously measured, cut, and installed at a price that was competitive with the 'big box' cut-to-order stores. Based on this experience I've already contacted Jon regarding new laminate for the mud room, and will also secure his services for the wet bar planned in the lower level. Overall, Jon far exceeded my expectations with an exceptional level of customer service and expertise in his craft.

We were looking for someone who could do a relatively simple job at a reasonable price. After talking to a couple people I chose Jon (Counter Productions) because he seemed the easiest to work with, offered a reasonable price, and was local - so I felt I could rely on him a little more than someone from some anonymous chain home store. He was easy to work with and our countertop looks great.

What I liked about him is his wonderful personality. He is a true craftsman. There are not too many people that will build onsite to make sure that the work will fit. He is very professional, honest, and offers a fair price. He is extremely clean and punctual. He is also a perfectionist. He was respectful of my home. I didn’t have to worry about anything. I would definitely recommend him to anyone, including family and friends. He is a one man operation and does all of the work himself. He provides great one on one, personalized service.

He was punctual, which I appreciated and he went right ahead and started measuring all the areas that needed replacing. He was very friendly and even liked my cat. BUT, after he was finished measuring, he asked if I was ready to sign up. I said no, because I had other companies coming to get more estimates. He wouldn't give me a written estimate or even let me look at the counter top samples til I signed on the dotted line! When I said I wasn't ready to do that, he basically lost interest and packed up and left! Needless to say, I wasn't impressed! He did give me a verbal estimate, but it was the highest and based on that alone, I wouldn't have hired him.

I cannot begin to express how thrilled I am with the countertops Jon built for me. I don't like granite so he came out for an estimate and brought along laminate samples--more than I found at Home Depot. He also had a new line of laminates which I did not find in the stores. I went with that line since it was gorgeous. He also brought a sample piece of cabinet to give me an idea of what he could do with the edges and with putting wood trim on the sides instead of having laminate all around. To say I was impressed is putting it mildly. It only cost me $75 to upgrade all the edges (included in the $1670) which was more than worth it for the unique look it gave my kitchen. Without Jon telling me my options I would never have thought about the wood edges and would not have been as satisfied with the countertops. Everything was built on site; he does not just buy premade countertops and install them. The quality is exceptional! It is messier than just having them brought in and installed but so worth it. My kitchen looks fabulous now. He rounded all the edges and the look is so classy. I am doing the staining myself but that is very easy to do and only takes minutes per coat. It took 2 1/2 days to get everything done but so worth the time since the look is so gorgeous. Jon is also one of the nicest guys I have dealt with as is the plumber he used. He was fun and had a great sense of humor and was great with my grandson and two dogs--all of whom can be a bit rambunctious (? spelling). He even brought donuts for us the first day! Jon had to move the stove and brought along special sliders that did not damage either my laminate kitchen floors or wood floors. I would highly recommend Jon to anyone who needs new countertops. He was extremely reasonable in cost and off the charts in quality in my estimattion.

Very good. John came on a Sunday to bid on installing the counter top. He was right on time and spent a few minutes with us to explain how he does things and then he took measurements and provided a written bid right on the spot. We agreed on the price and he left us with samples to choose from. A few days later we called John with our choice of laminate color and he ordered the product and we set a date for installation. He was on time on the day of installation. He came in, set up his equipment, helped me move the stove and then he went to work. He finished at the end of the day. It was what we expected.

They did a great job. It was excellent. They were on time and the project was completed just as they said it would be. Their plumber hooked everything up. I was very happy and would definitely use them again.

It turned out very well. Their prices were good, and I was happy with their work.

It took me over a year to finally write a review, but better late than never. We are so happy with our counter tops. And 15 months later, they look just as good as the day Jon put them in. The removal of the old counter tops ended up being a lot more work than he expected (and it didn't help that it was one of the hottest weeks of the year, and we have no air conditioning). But we were not charged any extra for the added time and hassle Jon had to endure. He was very friendly and professional and the final product was fantastic. I highly recommend Counter Productions.

After looking for several months at the "big box" stores and a couple of local installers, I was very discouraged by the high cost. Additionally, I live on the fourth floor of a condo and they all wanted to tack on an extra $200 to $300 for their inconvenience. Since I am retired and on a fixed income, I didn't want to spend $5,000+ to get granite or quartz so reluctantly decided to consider laminate. I thought the quotes from Home Depot or Lowes were too high, so I joined Angie's List in the hope of finding a good installer. I was impressed with the review of Jon, so called him and he came over the next day with samples and a bid that was considerably less than any I had received. Since I was undecided on which laminate to choose, he gave me the name of his suppliers and I was able to look at larger samples at their showrooms. I was still not sure of my pattern choice, but Jon assured me that he had installed that pattern and it would look nice. I went ahead with that choice and am very pleased with it. He did a great job and I couldn't be happier. The plumber he works with was also very nice and also did a great job. I would highly recommend Counter Productions to anyone.

I never heard back from Jon, so I had to give them a poor report. But based on what others have said through Angie's List, I would be willing to give him another try.

It went well. Jon's work excellent. He can get a little gruff at times but really nice guy and does great work. I would highly recommend him for your counterwork. His strong suit is his work vs the selling of the products. His patience was thin on the selling, questions on the product,etc. but that was not the reason we hired him as we had done our homework previously. We also did not have a clear idea of the counter edges available as they ended up being different when the actual Cambria guy came out and brought the samples which was truly the way we needed to chose the edges vs a diagram of edges Jon provided. Again not a big deal but just something to keep in mind in your planning as you want to make sure the edge works for your kitchen. He made good recommendations for us when we asked his advice though not his preference to do so. Great job and again VERY happy with the end result, Cambria is a great product though expensive. Jon did a good job coordinating the installation and we did not have to worry about any of that. It would have been done in one day had the Cambria folks not gotten delayed with another job.

He was extremely responsive. He was friendly and easy to talk to. He did excellent work. he was on-time and was definitely worth the price we paid. He even came and did a follow-up and fixed a problem that I had caused with the counters. He gave great service.

Jon came out promptly after I contacted him, and showed me a book of projects and different options we had to choose from. He was very knowledgeable and we viewed his price as quite reasonable. I gave him a deposit and signed a contract for the job and he scheduled it on two consecutive days that were mutually convenient. His plumber and electrician subcontractors were also very timely, professional, and courteous. All told, the job looks great, and I would certainly recommend Jon to anyone considering new countertops.

Job scheduled about 4 weeks in advance. Start of job was delayed by a few days because of delay in receipt of laminate. Jon works alone. He worked steadily and at a good pace. The job took about 12 hours. The two seams were neatly done. The wood edge was beveled accurately and with a smooth finish. Plumbing work was subcontracted to Tony. He disconnected old sink and disposer and installed new ones. He was unable to install the stainless sink so that the corners were tightly flush to the laminate. He stated that this appeared to be because the sink was not constructed plumb. I took his word for it. This is the only aspect of the job that did not turn out as well as I wanted.

We contacted three companies from Angie's List. Two of the companies would have been good for our needs and we based our decision solely on the number of ratings on Angie's List. Jon responded very quickly to our phone call and came to our home to measure and give an estimate. The work was performed within a three week period of time and we are extremely satisfied with the finished product.

Very well. Jon offered probably more than 100 samples of laminate to choose from, explained in great detail how he would build the countertop at my house, explained how to take care of it and cleaned up afterward, cordoning off the kitchen with plastic sheeting to contain the dust. He also scheduled the work to be done on days that worked well with my schedule. The countertop looks great! The work was done about a month after initial contact, but that was at my request.

Jon gave me an estimate the same day based on my measurements and then arrived the next day to see my kitchen and write up the contract. He was able to schedule my project in two weeks. Jon arrived promptly on the scheduled day and kept me updated on his progress. The job took a little over a day and a half. Jon did his best to keep the sawdust to a minimum. As expected, there was still some clean-up involved including disposing of the old counters as there was no added cost of a dumpster. Jon did accommodate me by cutting the old counters into pieces to fit into my trash. Also as planned, I was responsible for staining the wood edges of the countertops that I chose. Jon has a limited number of edge types that he can provide but I am very happy with the edge I chose. I think it has more of a unique, custom look to it than the standard edges. My counters turned out beautiful and Jon was very personable to work with. I think his countertops are an excellent value for the money.

Things went well from start to finish. Jon returned my call for an estimate ASAP. We set up a time for Jon to provide a written estimate. He had to change the time, but let me know well in advance. Once we agreed on price, we scheduled a date for Jon to begin. Jon showed up on the day agreed and finished the same day. Jon did an excellent job and was great to deal with. He was upfront with the cost and asked all the right questions to be prepared to start and finish on time. I plan to use him for other homes I flip.