CMC REMODELING

(continued from above) On March 18th, over the phone, contractor suggested going to Kraftmade.com as a resource to look at vanity cabinets and that his cabinetmaker could do any of these. On April 19th, I sent an e-mail to contractor letting him know that we would not want a Kraftmade type vanity (we installed oak custom made kitchen cabinets, vanity and library in a previous house), I asked about who his cabinetmaker was to get a sense of his quality. On April 25th we met contractor. I had the list of plumbing items from his bath and plumbing supplier. I mentioned that the retail prices seemed rather high and showed him examples of price difference that I saw online. I asked if he received any kind of contractor discount. He did not answer the question. I gave the contractor the spec sheets for two corner bathtubs choices, each in air-bath or soaker. I showed him the manufactures suggested price on the back of these spec sheets along with price of any options for each. I asked if he could determine if either tub would work for our space and a ballpark price for each tub. I asked again who he uses to build his cabinets, that I would want to see some of his work, raised panels, if any veneer is used, drawer joints, etc. The contractor said the name of the company under his breath, no other information nor even the persons name. On April 29th we paid an additional $400 to contractor for planning and design as per contract. I googled the name of the cabinet company in Lee's Summit, called and left two messages over two weeks. Finally at the end of the second week he called back and said he would be out of town for the weekend and would call when he returned. He didn't call back that week. I called the third week and we set up an appt. for a short meeting on May 23rd, more than four months into the project. We waited for 45 minutes at his shop. He did not show up. Two hours later he called to say he was sick and forgot about the appt. I let him know that we would find another cabinetmaker. I also checked the faucet list against a quote for the exact same items from Faucets Direct. The difference between contractors supplier and this was $745. I had no intention of stiffing his supplier of one hour of work putting together this list, but $745 an hour seemed too high for our budget. On May 27th, one month after asking for pricing on tub options, the contractor sent a scan of the exact spec sheet I had shown him on April 25th with the manufacturer prices. This was the price he would charge us. (The soaking tub we had since chosen, without options, was $500 less thru Lowe's). By this time we clearly determined that 1) contractor was not interested in passing along any contractor pricing from his suppliers or finding a reasonable price for components, 2) we knew that the contractor was hiding something about his cabinetmaker, 3) the contractor would not offer a bid until all items needed were presented to him, which meant finding another cabinetmaker (which we subsequently did), 4) some items we would have to get ourselves and at a known and reasonable price (tub,vanity, vanity top, medicine cabinets, shower pan, lighting, toilets and all accent tile) On May 30, we paid $100 to contractor for a total of $900. On May 31st we gave contractor our final list of Bathroom Item Choices. Each update of this list including this final one clearly listed which items we would provide and which ones he agreed to provide. Of the items we would provide or had already purchased were: accent tile, soaking bathtub, vanity, medicine cabinets, mirror frame, vanity lights, three toilets- for a total of $5,000. The other components were not extravagant items. They included : a 54x36 semi-frameless shower with by-pass door (not frameless), 1/4" glass, and Onyx Collection shower pan, 91 s.f. of total tileable area at a cost of $3.73 per s.f., a flat edge Onyx vanity top, Delta faucets, and a 55x55 corner soaking bathtub. The contractor asked to have a phone conference with us "regarding the contract and moving ahead." So on June 6th he called. He told us that "I need to have a Come-to-Jesus meeting with you if we are to move forward." He said he did not at all like the fact that we contacted his cabinetmaker, that we did so without notifying him and that we chose a different cabinetmaker. He talked at length from as he said "prepared remarks", about as a contractor he needed to have control over the project. He mentioned that his new lead carpenter was "untested". He said that he would have to think it through if he wanted to go forward with our project. We were stunned. As we listened, my wife wrote in big letters on a piece of paper to me "he does not want to do this job'. I wrote back "we have $900 in and nothing to show for it" We tried to collect ourselves and asked if we could call him back on Monday, June 8th. On June 8th we called him and he agreed to move forward to offer a contract. .On June 15th we met to go over the contract/bid. He gave us a simple sketch of the bathroom with no dimensions (shown in this complaint) Just that week he had contacted Hayes Insulation to determine the need for insulation above new ceiling., he said it would add $500 more than his earlier estimate of $2,500 for ceiling and doorway. The contractors bid was $33,870 !! We were just shocked! I told him that this was much, much more than his estimate from March. He said that was only an estimate. The estimate was $18,300. When you pull out the $5,000 in items we would provide, this left an amount we anticipated to be around $13,300. This means that his bid was $20,700 more than his estimate!! It was immediately clear to us that he grossly overbid our project because he did not want to do it. That he never got over us wanting to use a different cabinetmaker. He explained to scope of the project but we were in too much of a daze to respond to any of it. He left. The next day, June 16th, I called the contractor and told him that we would not accept his bid. I told him that it was clearly apparent that he placed so much importance on taking care of his suppliers that we as the homeowner existed only as a means to provide unreasonable profit to these suppliers and that when we balked at using all of his suppliers, he took our $900 and wanted out. I told him that we were prepared to use: 1) his supplier for tile, 2) his tile person, 3) his plumber, 4)his shower door supplier, 5)him for the Onyx shower pan and vanity top, 6) his electrician, and 7) his crew, just not his cabinetmaker for the vanity. I told him that from the beginning flags were raised regarding his secrecy about his cabinetmaker, that we knew he was hiding something. I told him that I did not feel we needed to know everything about each component of the project, but that we did not think it was unreasonable to know something about one of three things 1) the person or company doing the component, 2 )the material or product involved and and its quality, 3) an estimate of its cost. I told him that with his cabinet maker we knew nothing about any of these and that he did not want us to. I told him that he grossly over-inflated his bid on the project because he had decided that he did not want to do it, and that he never got over us wanting to use a different cabinetmaker. He responded by saying that I was jumping to conclusions, that he did not inflate the bid. When I told him that was just not believable he told me this. "You asked too many questions of my suppliers" (meaning the plumbing supplier and the cabinetmaker), "You tried to get access to my suppliers without asking me", "You went around me to check on my cabinetmaker", "(Name withheld) is hard to communicate with." I asked him why he wasn't upfront about this and he said "because you didn't ask." I asked him when he would have given us information about his cabinetmaker. He said "When it was appropriate." I told him that if his bid of $33,870 was added to the $5,000 of items we were going to provide, this amounted to $39,000 vs. his estimate of $18,300. I asked about the difference in the estimate and bid price of $20,700, that he had been in business long enough to provide a reasonable bid relative to the estimate. He said "the original bid was divided into pieces, not the final product. You did not ask for an overall price estimate in March." I was just dumbfounded by this remark!! I told him that I had taken very accurate notes during the entire process. I told him that was just a ridiculous statement, that we would never have moved past the first $400. I asked him why any potential client would not want to know an overall cost estimate before proceeding. I told him that by conducting himself unprofessionally, he had strung us along for five months, that he had deceived us out of $900, and again, that he grossly over-inflated the bid by at least $20,700 because he had decided that he did not want to do the project. This contractor states on his literature and on his website that he is a NARI member. We certainly feel that he has violated the NARI Code of Ethics. Specifically, #2...avoiding those practices which tend to mislead or deceive the customer" and #5 ..."refraining from any act intended to restrain trade or suppress competition." And also Section B. Sales, "regarding basic principles that...shall apply to estimates, oral representations, and written contracts..." We have filed a formal complaint with the Kansas City NARI regarding this contractor. We also feel that this contractor clearly violated our Professional Services Agreement contract which states "The client will have control of design and product decisions to keep the cost withing their budget." We will also file a complaint against this contractor with the Kansas City Better Business Bureau.

Charlie did a fantastic job. He and his crew were always on time and they always cleaned up at the end of the day. They were able to minimized the disruption and construction dust during the entire project. The project was completely on time and we always knew what and when things were going to happen. Charlie is easy to work with and very professional, as is his crew. We were completely satisfied with his work; so much so that we asked him to do additional work when the seal on the picture widow in the dining room failed and needed to be replaced. We knew exactly who we wanted to do the work.

We were super happy with the service and quality of our bathroom remodel. The people who Charles sent over were courteous and professional and thank goodness knowledgable. The previous owners had put the bathroom together and it was a very shoddy DYI job. After the shower walls were tore down you could see that the walls were held up with a few small boards lots of caulk and a lot of luck. CMC was able to get in there and put things together they way they are supposed to be all the while keeping us posted and informed on what needed to be done to fix the previous issues as well as showing us why. Even with all of the additional work needed to fix things not obvious before the estimate ( mentioned poor/un existing wall framing, incorrect lighting hook ups, toilet incorrectly placed) it was only approx 550 more than the original bid. Which was more than worth it to correct things and make them safe and functional. Would highly recommend them. In fact we have asked for a bid for a kitchen remodel we are so happy with their services.

It took several visits to repair all the damage the water created. They also attached the chimney with metal bands to prevent it from coming away from the house. I was very satisfied by their work and professionalism.