Knockout Renovation Svcs., Inc.

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See my response to Dos and Don'ts

The end result was attractive and impressive. The job was completed 140 days late. Knockout blames their vendors for the delay. That didn't make me feel any better about hiring Knockout. Gory details about the delay follow below. Three years later, the bathrooms are still attractive and impressive. If you look closely, you can see problems such as cracks have developed among the tile, a toilet roll holder has fallen off the wall, and the wiring for the audio wasn't run properly -- if you open the pocket door the right way, it pulls on the wires and can short out the audio system. One of the legs of the sink is loose, and one of our mirrors never arrived and we got a somewhat random one instead. Aside from those things we are happy with the renovation. UPDATE: Knockout contacted me shortly after writing this review, offering to take a look at the problems I mentioned. We haven't had the time to have them over to fix it yet, but I appreciate the offer and their general professionalism in addressing the problems I've mentioned. ======== details about the delays alex is the project manager from knockout. david is me. jan 27, alex says: I will be over on tuesday w/ the mirror, the robe hook, towel bar and the two faucets for the master bath and the two saddles for the shower. The plumber will be by on tuesday afternoon to put in the faucets. The glass guy is calling me monday to let me know when he will have the shower stall ready. I will have the carpenter in on wed. or thurs. to put in the remaining accesories and touchups. Talk to you soon. Have a good weekend. feb 6, david notes from phone call with alex: the glass guy hasnt given alex a date yet. alex is going to speak with him personally today and get to the bottom of it. i told alex about how i'd be happy to visit the guy myself and make him take a bath every morning until the job is done. feb 14, david says: Hello Alex, what's happening? You said you were coming Monday, you didn't show up, didn't call and didn't reschedule. When will the job be complete? I think it's fair for me to ask for a real completion schedule, what would you say? feb 14, alex replies: I will be there on thurs. to put on the box for the speaker wire. The new bi-fold door is on the way they called me yesterday to tell me it was shipping out. Sorry I did not call the last two fays have been realy crazy. I will see you on Thurs. feb 20, alex says: Hi, The carpenter will be there today to finish up his odds and ends. As far as the glass I am going to have to give the work to an other vendor, because the current one keeps giving me excuses. The new is one I trust and have used in the past. He said he can have it done with in the week. I apologize for the extended delay, it is unfortunate that every once and a while you run into this problem in this industry. I hope this doesn't diminish all the good work and effort put forth by the rest of us. Again I apoligize. Talk to you later. mar 9 alex says: Hi, I just got off the phone w/the architect he said that the DOB has the paper work and it should be in the system in about 2-3 days. The glass guy has the glass all cut and finished tempered. He should have the hardware by monday then he can install tues/wed. I will come by the same day and put up your lights, door towel bar and light trim. Have a good weekend. april 2, david says: Hello Keith, it's now April and our project is not complete. As you can imagine, I'm very frustrated. Furthermore, I have no schedule for completion which makes it worse. april 17, david says: Hello Alex, what's the schedule for completion of the rest of the project? april 17, alex replies: Hi David, Please correct me if I am wrong the two remaining items left are: putting finish piece on 1 light in master bath, hang bi-fold door on track that is all ready installed and exchange and hang 1 towel bar. I am just waiting for the towel bar to come in it should be here Tues 4/24 and I will come and take care of those 3 items in one day. april 27, alex says: Hi, How is wed the 2nd to come by and do the light trim, towel bar and bifold. may 8, michele says: Alex- the towel bar I ordered came today. So, when you are here next for the door, maybe you could do the towel bar as well. may 30, alex says: I will be there thurs I am bringing one of the other guys with me to help with the door. june 6, job completed.

My experience with them was not great. They walked into my house, looked at each other and immediately started talking to each other about what should be done in my house and ignored the customer. They clearly knew what they were doing, but I just thought that their customer relations were horrible.

They had pretty good custom service. They are still in the running as a contractor for my kitchen remodel.

Overall, I love my new kitchen and bathrooms, but the experience was a somewhat difficult one from start to finish. Unfortunately, the project manager assigned to me left the company right before the work was to begin, which meant that my new project manager knew nothing about my project and had to scramble to learn about my plans and materials. I worked with a designer provided by Knockout, who was very nice and tried her best, but was inexperienced and was learning as she went along. I have to say that in retrospect, Keith Steier, the owner of the business, did his best to make sure that everything was done properly, but his employees at the time did not make his job easier. Everything took longer than predicted and cost more as well, which I understand is frequently the case with renovation projects. I don't think that all materials were ordered in a timely fashion, even though everything was supposed to be ordered and available before the work began. A project that was supposed to take about 4 or 5 months was not fully completed until 9 months had elapsed. There were delays due to materials as well as delays due to the fact that the crews were working on multiple jobs at once, including my project manager who was completely overcommitted, causing errors and delays in my work. I do realize that I started my project at a difficult time for all businesses and both Knockout and their vendors were, no doubt, stretched. While the company was committed to making me satisfied, there were a number of things that had to be redone because they were not done properly the first time. It was a frustrating experience and I don't think that the crews hired by Knockout were all of the skill and experience level I would have expected. They also did not take enough precautions with protecting my non-renovated spaces, and there was minor damage to walls, moldings, and doors as well as more than the usual dust everywhere. They fixed some of the damage, but told me that most of it was just what you had to expect in a renovation process. Bottom line, I have a very nice kitchen and bathrooms. If you are considering Knockout, make sure the project manager you meet will be around to do your project. I have also learned that even with a project manager, you need to provide a great deal of supervision and oversight to avoid problems. I am updating this report in October of 2010 to comment on Knockout's commitment to its two-year guarantee of its work. There have been a few minor things that needed to be repaired and I have found Keith Steier completely responsive and committed to fixing whatever is needed. That kind of responsiveness, particularly with a client who was not always the happiest and therefore not always the easiest to deal with, is very commendable and says a lot about a company.

I was disappointed that they would not do the job. I am also planning to remodel the full kitchen in the near future and now I will not bother to call them about it.

Everything was great. I am still pinching myself. The kitchen is beautiful and more functional now. The wine area was a hit too.

Amazing attention to detail and incredibly responsive. Aside for a couple of minor hiccups (all projects of this scale will have them), they far exceeded all of our expectations and would immediately turn to them if we were to have any additional renovation needs. These guys are full service; from creating the design/blueprints to following through in making it exactly as it was planned. Everyone at this company, from the person answering the phone to the owner care and work hard to make one's renovations go smoothly.

Completely satisfied with all phases of Knockout's contract. Designer understood our taste and requirements. Project manager on the job every day, supervised all facets of installation activities, brought in contract within budget, including several substantial change orders. Completed project ahead of schedule.