Tristate Kitchens and Baths LLC

They took $5000 and never did the work. I understand that he has filed for bankruptcy. They're crooks. They tore my bathroom down to studs and cinder block and that is what I am living with until I find a new contractor. I could not get them to come out and do the job. There was no quality of work there at all.

Well I am not one to say bad things about a business or anyone but I feel people should know. What ever they would talk to you it would be a lie. It took three months to start and then they showed up maybe one or two times a week. They would agree on a product to get your business and then when it is time to bring over the product they would bring the cheapest thing they could get from home depot or lowes. I had pictures on my cell phone on what we agreed on. I called around and they didn't even deal with that company. They tried to get all the money for the job even thou they had two good days of work ahead of them . One day they asked four time for the rest of the money and the toilet and sink was still in my garage and they were only their because i demand they bring the goods here or give me the money I paid already back. Two word. STAY AWAY .

I have a very mixed review of these guys. We had our master-bathroom redone, and while it was, for us, a big job, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't all that big because we weren't changing the basic layout of the bathroom and kept our old cabinets. We did this renovation because we discovered that water from our shower was leaking into the garage below. Our house is a standard cookie-cutter type family home in the suburbs, built in the late 1990s by a builder with a national presence who has built many, many housing developments. It's the same as a LOT of houses in the area, which is to say that the builders used the lowest grade, crappiest materials that exist. It was no surprise to find that underneath the shower tiles, there was mold, and that the bench in the shower needed to be completely rebuilt and that our subfloor was terrible. Some of our floor had to be replaced entirely. I'll also preface this by saying that a few years ago we had our kitchen re-done, and that also was not as major of an undertaking as it was for some folks, it was big for us. We just replaced our countertops, floors, appliances, and backsplash. We had our center island tiled on all sides, but just like in our master bath, we did not change the cabinets or the footprint of the kitchen. We used a different company for the kitchen job, but I wasn't entirely happy with them for different reasons, so we did not use them for this project. I just want to put it out there, to indicate that I have some experience with a similar project. I'll start out with the positives. Ultimately, as far as I can tell at this point, they did very good work. In the end, that's really the most important thing. The materials they used seemed to be top quality and the work seems excellent. I'm happy with how the bathroom turned out, so the end result is positive. Similarly, my initial interactions with them were very positive, as well. They came out to our house very quickly when I first called them. They were very friendly and responsive and contacted me many times to come to their showroom to pick out the specific materials for the project. Before they had any of my money, they contacted me frequently. When I did go to the showroom, they were very helpful in selecting the tiles and counters I wanted. I really didn't have an idea beforehand about what sort of tiles I wanted, and they were very patient and gave helpful suggestions. After I picked everything out, they were very eager to get my deposit and for me to sign the contract. We signed the contract back in April, and gave them 1/3 of the estimated cost. They said that the project would take one to two weeks, and that they would begin in early to mid May. We were going away at the end of May, and they said that shouldn't be a problem - either they'd be done, or they could finish up soon thereafter. Well, May came and went. Knowing that we had told them we'd be away at the end of May, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and figured that they didn't want to start right before we left, and I wasn't too upset that nothing had happened. But I did want to know what was going on. I started emailing them but not getting a response. I started calling them and didn't get a response. Finally, I did get a response, saying that something was not in yet, and that she'd check on our status and let me know when we were scheduled. Then I waited and waited for a return call or email. I started calling again. Finally I got a call back saying that we were on the schedule for July 1. That wasn't much notice, but it was fine. I was a little annoyed that we weren't informed about what was happening and that it was so hard to get a response about when they would be starting the job. But I thought that the job was at least starting and by mid-July we'd have our bathroom back. That was not the case. They came on July 1 and took everything out of our bathroom -- the sinks, the toilet, etc. Then they didn't come back for another week. For the rest of the month, I never had any idea when they were coming to work. I would be told at the end of many days they were here that they wouldn't be back the next day and that they didn't know when they'd be back. I'd be told that they couldn't come one Friday because tiling had to be done on consecutive days, so leaving it over the weekend was too long. Okay. What did I know? Then they laid the tile Monday and didn't come back for two days. What happened to tiling needing consecutive days? I'd be told that they weren't coming because certain things weren't in. Huh? Why wasn't everything in before they started? I'd be told that they weren't coming back the next day because the company sent the wrong color faucets, but the faucets wouldn't be installed for many, many more weeks. What difference did it make if the faucets weren't in, when the guys were supposed to be working on the floors? Every day that the workers were coming I was told that they'd be here at 9:00. I think one day they showed up around 9:20. Every other day, they didn't show up until about 10:30. Many days I called the office asking about whether they were coming, and I'd get these exasperated assurances that they had left at 9 and should already be at my house. My house is not very far from their office -- it is less than 15 minutes away, and there are no traffic issues. On several of these days I had to leave to drive my son to camp and I drove by their office after 9:00 and got home well before they ever arrived. So I don't know why they bothered to constantly tell me that they'd be here at 9, or that they'd already left, because there was no way they'd already left, unless they stopped to have a leisurely breakfast somewhere before arriving to start work. One Monday, a couple weeks into the project, they told me that they wouldn't be back the rest of the week. What? Why not? I called the office. Rina told me, with a laugh, because apparently I was being so silly, that they JUST made the template for my granite that day and of course it takes a few days to cut the granite and polish it and get it ready to install. Okay, but why the heck had they not already done that? When I had my kitchen done, the first thing those workers did was make the template for the granite. Why wouldn't they have done it during these delays that were allegedly due to the faucets or whatnot not arriving? They could have even made the templates well before they started work back in April or May. In any case, it should have been done when they arrived in July. Now, the project was delayed more because we were away for two weeks in August. So to be fair, they MIGHT have finished earlier had we been home. But in my wildest dreams, I never expected that our vacations in August would have any effect whatsoever for this project that was supposed to take two weeks at the most, and was supposed to start in May. I had assumed back in April, that one to two weeks meant consecutive days. However, the weeks in between the times I was away, I sat and waited for them, and they did not work any of those days. One day, allegedly they broke my granite, but they told me I would not be charged for it. Well, no kidding. Of course I wouldn't be charged for granite they broke at their office. The week prior to Labor Day weekend, they did all of a sudden start to come most days, and arrived before 9:00. So, the work was finished a few days after Labor Day. (Which is something, given that when I signed the contract, I was expecting that it would be finished by Memorial Day.) The last thing that happened with them also illustrates my experience with them. Our bathroom has two sinks, with two vanities. Each vanity is a double-length vanity, meaning that it is the size that you'd see at a vanity that contained two sinks, but each vanity only contains one sink. One of the vanities has an area for a stool underneath it that is intended to have a stool where you might sit and put on make up. Each vanity had the standard, large sheet-mirror with no frame, that comes with pretty much every house. The mirrors ran the length of the vanities. We had said, and they had agreed that we would get new mirrors, and I wanted one with a silver-toned frame, since everything new in the bathroom was brushed nickel. They took away our old mirrors and we never saw them again fairly early on in the process of working on the bathroom. On the last day, they installed two mirrors that went over the sink portion of the vanity, and took up only about half the length of the vanity. I thought this was very strange. It had never occurred to me that they would give me a mirror that wasn't at least most of the length of the vanity. They told me that this was very common and typical and that a lot of people were doing this. They also told me that this was the largest mirror they could find, and that each mirror was $175, and they didn't know how much more I'd want to pay. (Well, first of all, they could have asked me.) But mostly, I was puzzled. Seriously? These were the largest mirrors they could find? And they're in the business of renovating bathrooms? Our double-sized vanities are a pretty standard size. I've seen lots of houses with sinks/counters this size and with mirrors that ran the length of them. I looked online and couldn't find any evidence that anyone had put only one mirror over their double-sized vanity, let alone any evidence that it was any sort of trend or at all common. I let it go, because we had nothing in the contract that specifically discussed the mirror, and I was afraid, with their sourcing, what they might come back with -- I saw plenty of mirrors the size they gave me that were significantly less than $175 each. I didn't want them coming back to me with mirrors that were $1000 apiece. I got mirrors made myself.

Positive comments were that their work was excellent, they were neat when working and cleaning up. The negative outweighed the positive in my opinion. I was originally told me that it would take three weeks to complete my master bath and took 3 months. Tri-State came the first day, demo'd my bathroom took their second check and disappeared for two weeks. They, in general, only showed up 1-2 days a week over the 3 month period. They never would tell you when they would return but they were always quick to show up when their next check was due. I would call every week to see when they were coming back and couldn't most of the time, get an answer. Make sure you get EVERYTHING IN WRITING. They kept changing the terms of the contract. First, when I reviewed the proposal, I was told all medicine cabinets/mirrors, towel racks etc. were included. This was confirmed by one of the owner's wives via e-mail. When it was close to the end of the job, I was told that I had to purchase them myself. Since I didn't insist that they specifically add those words to the contract, I had to buy them. Payment was outlined in the contract as 1/3 down, 1/3 when they started the job, and 1/3 when complete. They called and told me that they had made a mistake and they wanted 1/2 of the last 1/3 down. Since it wasn't part of the contract I refused, particularly since they had been so slow to show up since the beginning, I was told that the bathroom would be done in 5 days; therefore, I would give them the balance then. I didn't seem them again for another two weeks. I was starting to really worry that I was going to be stuck with a 1/2 done bathroom. I am sure they had other jobs they were working on but that the lack of communication as to what exactly was the status of my job was what really made me regret using them.

Workmanship was very good, especially with tile work, but cleanup was fair at times. Entire project took 4 months to complete, due to temporary unavailability of some materials and their scheduling of other jobs simultaneously. However, the final results were impressive. We were never left without a bathroom to use during the whole project.

Considering it took them 8 weeks to finish my kitchen, the service we received was very poor. There is 5 working days within a week, and I can honestly say that the only time I had workers for 5 days straight was the last week of completion. The first and second week they only showed up 2 days to work and if they did not show up by 11 A.M. we would need to contact them since no one bothered calling us. This went on up until my kitchen was complete. I was acutally excited w/my new kitchen and considering I would never have to deal with this company again. Well, just my luck, things did not go as planned. As of March 18th, 2013 I contacted the owner Sean Watson by phone to let him know that one of my cabinet drawer was warping and the door cracked. He asked that I send him pictures, which I did on March 19, 2013. I contacted the company back on April 9th to see what steps were being taken, and i was told that the pictures I sent were no good and I needed to send more. (3 weeks went by and no one contacted me requesting new pictures). I sent 3 more pictures on April 10 and contacted the company and was told the pictures were good. From April 10th to May 8th, I had numerous conversations with Rena and still nothing was done to get my drawer fixed. I sent one final email to Sean Watson in regards to the steps that are being placed and as of today June 12, 2013 I still have not heard from this company. They never once contacted me to let me know how the problem was getting fixed. I was always the one who initiated the calls and emails. I even contacted the cabinet maker to see if they would be able to assist me. They tried to contact Tri-State and they are still waiting on a returned call and that has been two weeks.

Everything went well from start to finish, from paperwork to actually starting and finishing the work that needed to be done. What we requested they were able to deliver it and much more. The floor looks great its truly a piece of art.