TriState Kitchen And Bath

WORST experience with a contractor EVER!!!! One star is too much but cant post without at least choosing one. Please Google Yelps reviews, Angie's List and Better Business Bureau on this company and MIKE before you make a BIG mistake!!! Mike doesn't even work under his own contractor license (does he even have one?!?!) Botched my kitchen and Bathroom (ripped it out and never ordered the cabinets and left it undone!), insisted on the final payment before he finished and walked out in the middle of the job. Left TONS on mistakes (ei: microwave so low that a pot cant fit under it on the stove, ordered cabinets too large that he insisted I order the smallest fridge made to fit it, botched electrical work - circuit cuts off if I have micro on when I plug in my electric tea pot, AND SOOO MUCH MORE!!!!. Luckily, found a contractor that was willing to correct the botch job he did but am left with a horrible experience. Mike L is rude, arrogant, totally unprofessional. Had to close his business on New Dorp. Had laws suits against him and more!!! BEWARE!!!!!!!

Very poor workmanship. Starting with a floor that is not even close to level and was built upon. Sloppy, shoddy work. Workers walking in and out of my house at all different times of the day. They grouted over crooked and chipped tile and painted over unfinished walls. Not one single thing is finished. The walls are not square. Once when I questioned the work being done I was dismissed abruptly and then told "it's a work in progress - we will fix everything." I wonder why you should have to fix something that is in the process of being completely rebuilt? Additionally, there is a huge pile of trash in my yard. I never saw a dumpster. There was absolutely no attention to detail or quality. I'm not sure if they don't care or are not qualified. Either way my tiny 6 x 8 bathroom looks like a weekend DIY project gone bad and needs a complete renovation again. I am at the end of my budget and will have to try to save some of what I am left with. For someone like me the loss is financially devastating and heartbreaking. When the room was finally cleared of debris and I was able to see better the work that was done (in daylight because there are still no lights in the room) I literally cried. I have decided to not continue with Tri State and they, thankfully, complied without argument. They needed to be stopped! If they find this level of work acceptable they are certainly not the ones to "fix" it. I'm tearing it out starting with the floor. What a waste of time and money! Plus, Mike is rude.

Working with Tri State was a NIGHTMARE!!! DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID BY CONTRACTING WITH TRI STATE! Calls are not returned. Workers are nasty and rude. Their mantra is, "if it's not in the contract, then it's not! " so the slightest thing will be a costly up-charge. The contract is written vaguely giving Tri State the ability to cut corners and and use inferior quality merchandise. The quality of the work is poor and many costly mistakes are made. Most workers are unskilled and leave a mess. The work is not completed in a timely manner. At the time of signing the contract, everyone is every agreeable but it all changes once they have your money. I signed a contract mid July explaining that I needed to have the job completed by the start of school since I am a teacher. Mike, who claims to be the owner but the license is under someone by the name of Yolanda Jompp, agreed, but did not begin the demolition until the week prior to the beginning of school. He claimed that he wanted to start the job so that he could have his men working on my home exclusively until it was completed without having to pull them out for any reason. The majority of the cabinets arrived the day I went back to school and had to have someone house sit while the work was being done. From that day on, my dealings with Mike and his worker, Cherylin, has been the worst experience of my life. Mike has lied to me, yelled at me, hung up on me numerous times, doesn't answer the phone and resorts to dealing only through email, had this project drawn out for over 2 month so far with no end in sight, and now he has stopped work on my house and left me with an incomplete kitchen and a barren bathroom. Workers have come to my house many times for only and 1 1/2 and then been pulled off to go to jobs. There is only 2 qualified, workers and the rest are all inexperienced workers that often do sloppy work and many costly mistakes. They have left my house for weeks without doing ANY work at all.There is no communication as to when workers would be back on the job, I had to practically beg to get them to work. Mike left me with no running water in my kitchen for over a month. He installed the wrong back splash and refuses change it to the one I ordered. His workers left a large gap in my tiles and Mike tried to fill it with grout. When I complained, he installed a hideous extraneous trim onto the floor to attempt to cover it up rather than repair it. Tri State also installed 5 damaged cabinet doors and 1 warped drawer, then claimed that the small print on his contract releases him from any liability for it. Most importantly, when signing the contract with Mike, he tells you (verbally) what he will do and deliberately does not include it in the contract so that he can include each item as an upcharge at an exaggerated cost. When designing my kitchen, he did not allow enough room for a standard size refrigerator and I had to order, at my expense, a smaller cabinet that would fit my fridge. He never ordered my bathroom cabinet and lied about it being damaged when it was due to come in. From the original date of my contract, Mike finally told me that the estimated date of arrival for my bathroom cabinet would be around November 2nd, almost four MONTHS after my original order date!!! Tri State just sent me an email stating that they refuse to complete the job due to "treatment and payment." He has also threatened to put a lien on my house. I have paid every dime required of me to the letter of the contract (almost $13,000.00 to date) but he claims he will be putting a $17,000 lien on my house. I now am in the process of hiring an attorney so that I can terminate our contract and hire another contractor to repair his mistakes and poor quality workmanship. I would not let Tri State back in my home under ANY circumstance! DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE i DID!! STAY AWAY!!!!!!! This is a list of 51 items that still need to be completed: 1. High hat over the pass through needs to be centered after window adjustment. 2. One of the high hats are not completely installed in bathroom, it is dangling. Antonio performed a quick fix but does not hold 3. Under-cabinet molding is not installed. 4. Molding around island needs to be installed. 5. Bottom of island is rough and needs repair. 6. Handles on cabinet need to be installed. I sent an email OK-ing prices on 10/11/12. 7. Four cabinet doors have defects (as per photos emailed to Tristate.) 8. Missing cabinet door with glass for the corner cabinet (it had a scratch on the wood). 9. Corner wall cabinet is warped. 10. Drawer to the right of the stove is bowing (warped?) 11. One lower cabinet is not hung evenly. 12. 12? cabinet needs to be delivered and installed over the refrigerator. (ETA 11/2) 13. Bathroom cabinet needs to be delivered and installed. (ETA 11/2) 14. Mirror needs to be framed and installed in bathroom. 15. Tile floor between the door and window was cut too short. Two tiles do not butt up against the wall. Grout is used as filler. Then additional molding was added to COVER THIS UP. 16. Grout needs to be touched up. It is uneven in many locations 17. Tile in front of bathroom has a hole/chip. 18. One tile to the left of the desk has a greyish glue on it. It isn?t washing off. 19. Floor molding needs to be installed in the closet. 20. Floor molding needs to be completed and repainted in the bathroom. 21. Molding near fridge needs to be completed. 22. Molding by the steps is not finished correctly. 23. Pass-through window needs repair. Metal is showing through on the left side. 24. Granite on the pass-through has paint on it. All molding needs to be repainted. The workers got the wall paint on it. 25. Touchups need to be made to the paint as the paint from the wall got onto the ceiling (near the pass-through for one, between soffit and cabinets are jagged and unsightly. 26. Closet needs to be painted. 27. Molding need to be installed in closet 28. Kitchen walls and ceiling need to be repainted. There are patches of white all over. 29. Dining room wall needs to be sanded and repainted. It was never primed around the window. Work looks patchy and unfinished. 30. Hallway Ceiling and wall need steps needs to be repaired and repainted from the nails made from the wood for the tarp. Still rough. 31. Bathroom door was not primed, wood grain shows through. 32. Bathroom door has white trim paint on it. 33. Soffit needs to be painted where repaired. 34. Need double-garbage pull-out for floor cabinet to the right of the dishwasher (not a swing open door but the door pulls out, too). I ordered a handle for this cabinet to be installed on the top of the door. 35. Need spice rack pull-out for cabinet to the right of the pass through window (not a swing open door but the door pulls out, too) 36. Need all pull-out draws in bottom cabinets. They should be the full size of the entire shelf. 37. Missing molding above the pass-through. Must first be APPROVED as I have yet to see it. 38. Wood filler on the right of the drawer near the window needs to be secured. 39. Kick plate was cut too small under cabinets. 40. Kick plate is missing around (not yet installed) bathroom cabinet. 41. Remove spackle/paint from bathroom floor. 42. Remove spackle/paint from the entrance floor and other areas. 43. Bathroom Towel and holder needs to be installed. 44. White, oval, ceramic under-mount sink needs to be installed in bathroom. 45. Bathroom faucet needs to be installed 46. Granite (tan/brown same as in kitchen) needs to be installed in bathroom. 47. Backsplash is not the Travertine Classic 2x6 tiles that I requested. The tiles are all beige. 48. Need to get 4 ? 5 floor tiles as extras that I paid for. 49. Ceiling was reopened for electrical work. Needs to be repaired and repainted. 50. New bathroom door has crack from handle installation. 51. Bathroom handle is loose on the inside (possibly from the crack!) . Please email me at BHargraves1@si.rr.com if you have any questions or would like me to send you pictures of the terrible workmanship and the way that he left my kitchen mid-job.

Phone calls about scheduling and work issues are often not returned. Communications about the scope of work and changes are managed very casually. Some of the workers are highly skilled, some are not. They do protect the room and clean up everyday.