SPARTA TRADES KITCHENS & BATHS

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It went fine.

Sparta Trades did an excellent job in remodeling our master bath. The entire bathroom was redone with a large walk-in shower, vanity, tiled floors and walls, you name it, they did it. The workers were professional, cleaned after themselves and I even had help in choosing the perfect wall color. Chet and Robin kept in touch with us during the entire project and if we needed to speak to them, they were quick to respond. This project was the best investment we made. I will defintely use them again and will recommend Sparta Trades Kitchen and Baths.

The provider required $300 up front to complete the estimate. We agreed, and they provided a design and cost which we accepted. During the design phase, the provider had full access to the area to be remodeled, including the area beneath the kitchen in the basement. Work began on time. Demolition was done promptly. Installation was performed as planned. A minor issue that occurred during installation was that the plumber used by the provider did not clean up the basement area from which he was installing some piping. There were some issues after completion, especially minor trim and cabinet adjustment issues. These were promptly addressed to our satisfaction. However, one issue occurred, starting a month or so after completion. We noticed that the ceramic tile floor grout began to fail, cracking and lifting. This process continued. The provider had a repair person come over several times and did minor repairs, including new grout for the affected areas and spot tile reinstallation at one point. These repairs did not last and the grout continued to crack. At one point, we replaced the grout ourselves. The problem continued, until a few months after completion of the installation, we noticed movement in some of the tiles after we walked on the floor. This movement became more pronounced as time went on with more tiles all through the floor area loosening. Eventually a tile cracked. Finally about seven months after completion of the installation, we contacted the provider to ask for the floor to be replaced. The provider indicated that the problem was a fault of the house itself, and that they would charge us "a lot of money" to make the repair. Note that as stated above, the structure of the floor can easily be examined from the basement, which has a drop ceiling with full access from below. About five months later we called the provider and told them that the floor had to be replaced. We also emailed photographs of some of the defects. One of the provider representatives came over and agreed that there was a problem in one area of the floor. He left and never contacted us again. No one from the provider ever responded from that time on to any of our communications. We contacted an independent professional floor installer not associated with the provider. Upon removal of most of the floor (except for the tiles under the cabinet which would have been prohibitively expensive for us to replace because we would have to remove the base cabinetry), we found that the sub flooring that the provider installed had not been glued to the foundation plywood, contrary the sub flooring (duraboard) manufacturer's procedures. In addition, the adhesive used to hold the tile to the duraboard had not significantly adhered to the subfloor, mostly to the tile itself. The replacement floor was installed promptly and on budget. After six months, the floor is in excellent shape with no evidence of any problems. The total for a third party to come in and properly install a new floor was significantly in excess of $3000. We requested this amount from the original provider due to faulty installation, but we never received a response. In addition, after less than two years, the cabinet hardware (hinges, door stops, drawer slides) is beginning to loosen, also requiring repair work.

Very good customer service. Cost $300 up front for estimate. Spent time planning. Happy with result but very very expensive considering time spent on job.Next job on other full bathroom will be a competitive bid.

Everything went well, had a few bumps in the road with unexpected repairs but ended up with a great new bathroom!

I would recommend Sparta Trades, giving them a A rating.

We wanted to hire someone who would do the master bathroom renovation from design to execution and act as general contractor for this job. We knew we were going to pay a premium for this "complete package" service. Since I had to juggle my folks (A couple between 75 and 80 and one with Parkinson's) in this project who are actually living in the apartment, I needed someone who I could trust and would be responsible for aspects of the job. I knew I had to move them out while the work was going on. Chet and Robin were wonderful in the beginning as we explained what we wanted to do and explained the degree of involvement we needed them to have. Without picking out specifics (cabinet color and doors/hardware/tile etc.) and speaking in generalities, we had conversations that increased the scope of the project (raised the counter height of the vanity, eliminated a closet and painted) and rose from $28,000 to a final price of $38,000. The lynchpin in the whole plan was the design of and clarification of materials for the wheelchair accessible floor. We were, and still are, determined to have a zero threshold on this shower. Because the floor in the condo is a concrete slab, the design of this shower floor had to be just right to give us the lowest possible threshold. Everything else in the bathroom would fall into place once this was finalized. Chet was convinced that we could not accomplish this feat and that in the end we would have a threshold. His only options to us were tile. He was not interested in investigating other materials or designs. Unfortunately for Chet, we had consulted an engineer about the shower floor and knew that if designed correctly, it could be done. Chet was not up to do the design. Chet did explain to us that he has a limited selection of tiles, cabinets and accessories because that way he can keep a tighter handle on getting materials in getting the job done in the end in a timely fashion. We settled on the cabinets and other design elements like tile, but they were not blown away by the selection. If the shower floor could be accomplished, then we were a go. We signed a contract and handed over $18,000. The contract did stipulate that we had three days to cancel and we would get everything back, but $300. Chet contacted the condo association and the town for permits and ordinances. We set dates and made arrangements to move the folks out. But in the back of our minds were we're still not 100% satisfied with the shower floor. We canceled our contract and got our money back, except for the $300. I do have to say that I think they were surprised that we did cancel on the second day. Our reasons were:1. We were the ones who were putting way more effort into coming up with a satisfactory zero threshold handicapped accessible shower than they were. And with the deposit in place, we were still not given a satisfactory solution to this issue. 2. The selection of cabinets, tile and accessories was extremely limited. They were really not interested in us getting material from outside vendors. The selection available is mid-range and small. An example of this is the lighted, heated exhaust fan. The model presented to us was small and adequate, but we wanted a glass over over the light, not plastic and wanted LED bulbs instead. They couldn't locate one. I found one down the street and the electrical supply. 3. For the $38,000 that we were spending on this room, we were never presented with accurate, detailed renderings or floor plans. An engineer friend supplied those to us in the end. I believe we parted on good terms and, like I said before, we did get everything back except for $300. I was told they had lost monies on this venture, which I kind of understand, but I totally disagree with Chet's statement that they put in over 100 hours on this project. We had probably 15 hours of conversations in person with them and I'll throw them another 15 in behind the scenes stuff.