Nhance Wood Renewal

I am happy with the kitchen, I like the way the kitchen is, and I didn't want a new kitchen. I thought the price was wonderful for what we got.

Trying to provide all the details of this project, which at the end became complete failure, would take pages and pages. Mr. Raeder along with his crew were not able to complete the job using advertised staining method, tried several times and results seemed worse every time they returned. They were aggravated with our dissatisfaction, Bill was acting extremely rude and unprofessional, unwilling to solve the problem because of his complete lack of knowledge of N-hance proprietary staining process. After a month long ordeal, our cabinets ended up being painted, not stained, looking hideous, assembled back incorrectly (doors don't close as they did), paint is coming off with every wipe during cleaning and is already chipping away in certain spots (it's been only 5 moths!). This was a total nightmare and I feel we paid Bill for ruining our cabinets. I rated him "F" on the price as well, because originally we agreed on this price based on the proposal of staining the cabinets. For me painting cabinets is not worth the money we paid. Be aware and do your research before hiring contractors. Unfortunately I picked this company using Angie's list.

It went very well. They were very good. The went to extra effort to find the kind of hardware that we needed. I was very pleased with the results. They were very prompt.

The cabinets looked new. I was amazed how quickly it was done. He did it all in one day. I would recommend him with anyone who has good cabinets to begin with. I would say, " go ahead and try it". I was very pleased with it.

We got an estimate on cabinet refinishing and we are still considering them although we felt the price was a little high for the services that were to be performed.

This took about a week to a week and a half with some touch ups after. They did a good job with the work and clean up. They were professional and everything went according to the plan. I am considering them for another job.

After initial consultation and quote a deposit was paid and work scheduled. As the date approached I contacted the service provider to confirm and to confirm my responsibilities. Was told I did not have to worry about filling sanding etc as "That was their job." A final meeting with the provider gave me a chance to go over the color choice, This was white to cover the natural wood and holes left by the old hardware.and the new hardware that was to be installed on the cabinetry including new hinges door handles and drawer pulls. A revised date 1 day later than the original was given for starting work. Workers arrived late on the day scheduled and were in my house past 7 pm. Doors and drawers were taken away to the shop to be filled sanded and finished. I was told they would come back to do touch up and install the doors and drawers in 4 days. Again the new hardware was shown to the workers so they could see the difference from the old. When offered they refused the opportunity to take samples with them. Touch up was certainly needed as well as there were areas unfinished, areas with excessive finish, and areas with rough spots or debris in the finish. The day before installation of doors and drawers I got a call saying they had been delayed and would be in on the next business day which was after the holiday weekend. Workers did show up that morning but the doors and drawers were completely unacceptable. Holes where old handles and hinges had been were not filled level and outlines of old hardware were obvious even though this was the original finish and so these outlines were the result of not properly sanding the surfaces to remove accumulated grime. I called and said I would not allow installation of such poor workmanship. I was told the old holes etc would not be invisible and said that was fine, I just did not want them to be obvious and offered to show the workers how to properly fill the holes on on door and drawer. Using a putty knife and filling compound I demonstrated, and found out they had not used a knife but stuffed the filler in with their fingers. I also labeled a non invisible filled hole of acceptable workmanship as an example. The workers returned to the shop with the doors and drawers and example pieces of the new hardware. 2 phone calls, where there was a de facto admission that the work had been unacceptable, and 3 days later, they returned with much improved doors and drawers, but not all were done to the same level of quality and we ended up filling and sanding the bad areas again. I say "we" because I ended up helping with much of the installation. Particularly with refitting of the doors after the new hard ware was installed. Admittedly there is a cabinetmakers skill set required to do this. But had I not had those skills and the needed tools, (Router table and hand planes) I don't know how the job would have been finished. Because I did have these skills we were able to get all of the doors properly fitted during re installation. Final result is barely acceptable because it is inconsistent. Areas where the wood was not previously finished or was cut or planed are not fully coated. Sheen is very inconsistent especially in areas that were touched up. Many holes and other areas were missed and not filled. If you don't look closely the cabinetry looks good and the dura coat is very hard and will withstand wear. The guys doing the work were about as nice as anyone you will ever meet and have a good professional manner and great attitude, that made up for their lack of needed skills, so it was a pleasure to work with them. In defense of NHance I think they are far more experienced at doing frame and panel cabinets, not the flat doors and drawers I have. Also replacing the hardware was more than they were really prepared for. But this should have been realized up front. To be honest, while I was initially surprised by the original quote I quickly agreed to the price and would have paid more if it had been explained why my job was more difficult. I would also have been fine with doing most of the filling of holes and sanding before hand at the same price to get a better quality job. When you hire someone to do something you expect them to be able to do better than you can, or to explain what you need to do to get high quality work before they start. While I genuinely like the people I can only give them fair grades. I think they are honest and well meaning but just need to allow more time and improve their process and order of work, to achieve more consistent quality. .In the end I would consider using NHance again, but would anticipate doing more of the prep myself.

The job was done on time and within the quoted price. Bill and crew were professional. They cleaned up left no mess.I was very happy with the work and would recommend others to use his service. The refinishing freshened up the house and was more cost effective than replacing the cabinets and floors. John Ward