J.M. Grove

DON'T DO IT!!!! They are horrendous. The solicited my neighborhood so I called them for an estimate. They provided me a list of references but I should have known when they were not on Angie's List. A neighbor of mine had them come in also to complete a deck and was also unhappy- she can tell her story. After signing a contract with them in May and giving them $1800.00 for a bathroom renovation it all went downhill. Sales guy Pat was really nice, he tells you he is "on the job daily" and "in communication with the workers", then he disappears. I tried calling Pat many many times, no reply. Some text message communication but not much. After contacting them over and over to just get them to START work, I had my attorney contact them. They were in breach of THEIR contract after not starting work after 6 weeks. They had one last shot "Russ" (who told me he was a job site foreman), told me he started with them because they wanted to build business and they hired him to help them pull things together. He sounded genuine and I believed him. He told me they'd be there Monday morning at 9am and prepared to start work. No Show, No Call. After my attorney called them again that afternoon, I received a call from Steve telling me they were sorry to tell me but after they discussed it, they decided they were "over committed" and were going to refund my money. AFTER LETTING THIS GO ON FOR 8 WEEKS! As thrilled as I was to hear we were going to avoid having to go to court to get money back, we are now 8 weeks later and back at square-one. DON'T USE THEM--- they wanted to break into the Mt. Airy area and have no business being in business anywhere. They will give you a good estimate, I promise but you will regret it.

We took J.M. Grove as the lowest bidder and did not check Angie's List before hiring them. Two mistakes that I will try not to repeat. To be fair, we worked with the supervisor to make the job as inexpensive as possible. They really wanted to be responsible for the entire job, from supplying the tile to all the fixtures. However, we had already picked out our tile and fixtures and wanted to stay with them. We also used our electrician as we have a long standing relationship with them. J.M. Grove was fast and prompt. The workers showed up on schedule and were very polite. The problems came up when interfacing with the contractor. My impression is that the contractor is there to ensure the quality of the work. In fact the supervisor said... That's why you hire us...we make sure it gets done right. My interactions with the supervisor were strange at best. The day I gave him the deposit is the last I saw of him.....everything was done by phone and email despite my asking him to come and take a look several times. - When you get your quote, make sure you have *everything* in place. You may think some things are included, but if they are not specifically detailed in the quote, you will pay later. I can't really fault J.M. Grove here. They are there to make a profit. However, in our case we specifically discussed several items in detail when he visited for the quote. This included two shower boxes. Naturally, we thought these were included in the quote. Apparently not. But, now you have signed and they have your deposit. Expect to pay for these omissions. - We provided the supervisor with drawings of the bathroom and eventually with the detailed designs of the tile. He insisted that he wanted to do his own measurements and would tell us what amounts of tile to purchase. We were impressed... But he never returned to do these. We asked him for the amount of tile and he gave us numbers. I was suspicious and checked. They were wildly off. Had we purchased as he suggested, not only would it have cost us lots of money, it would have delayed the job. In the end, no big deal...we caught it. - The workers showed up and did the demo. They did essentially nothing to control the dust. I checked with other people who had similar work done. The standard practice of putting up a plastic sheet was not followed. Also, they did not cover most of the floor to our bedroom... it was a mess that we had to clean up to avoid grinding rubble into our wood floors. I called the supervisor. He told me that *I* should be dealing with the workers on this topic. This was a bit surprising...but ok...I can talk to them. - The supervisor was told that we wanted wood behind where the sink and towel racks attach. After the demo we put tape where the wood was to go and a note reminding them. After the drywall was up, I could tell that the wood was not up. I asked them, they said...sure they put the wood there. I drilled a hole...no wood. They took it down and did it right. However, makes you wonder about what you did not catch. - After the tile was largely up, I called the supervisor wondering about some uneven tile gaps. I asked him to come and look. No way... He told me that industry standard was 1/8"... This means that with our 1/4" gaps, you should expect the gap to range from 1/8" to 3/8". Believe me, you would notice this! I also pointed out that by that criteria, if you only had 1/8" gap, then you might expect some tiles to be touching and others to have 1/4" gap. He said this was correct. That's crazy. In any case, I got the installer to fix the tile anyway. I consider the above to be par for the course when you go for a lower bidder. Below is more serious. - We made the serious mistake of signing off on the job before we lived with it for a few days. The worker was told not to leave w/o a check. My feeling is that the supervisor should have done a walk through with us. We made a big mistake. There were three problems we found right away. First, he grout was missing in many places. Second, the threshold entering the bathroom was not seated and was rocking. This made the grout crack and start to come out. Finally, the hole for the outlet was way off center. The supervisor agreed to fix the grout and the threshold (they didn't actually fix the threshold). The hole for the outlet was a different issue. He told me that caulk was the answer...or I should get a bigger outlet cover. I could not find an outlet cover that was big enough (to be fair...in brushed nickel). He dug his heals in and eventually I agreed to *pay* them to fix it. They sent a guy who ended up grouting over the gap. It looks better, but ...I am still not particularly happy. Here is what you should be very wary of.... The supervisor kept saying to me.. Well.. you supplied the outlet cover and the threshold...these are the two problem areas. The implication was that I had absolved them from doing it right. Again, this is strange reasoning at best. - The kicker came with the shower floor. I am not an expert and did not know what to look for. However, when I ran the water for the first time I found that the pitch in the floor was way off. The water pooled against the threshold in to the shower and on the other side. I went on line and found that this was pretty bad. You are supposed to have 1/4"/ft slope. Everywhere I looked the solution was that you *must* fix this. I called the supervisor. He said... no, the pan below would catch this water. Well, he is correct, but that does not mean it is right. Words on line refer to this as "shoddy" workmanship. I am told that this will cause soap scum buildup..mold/smell.. and could eventually lead to the tile installation failing. I am probably going to have to find another tile person to fix the job. My bad for not joining Angie's list first. One last thing. I asked to speak with the owner several times. The supervisor is the owner's son (!). I was refused. I was told the owner does not deal with issues like this. Quote from their website. "We've built our business on the belief that personalized service, a quality product, and professional installations are the key to satisfied customers." NOT! Stay away. I am almost embarrassed to write this. I should have been watching them better. But then again, that's why you hire a contractor!

J M Grove performed 95% of what they were hired to do. The work was of good quality at some spots and average to poor quality for some small parts. The small items that were left at the end of the job were: -left the electric service cable hanging off the house,-broke one roof tile, -used the wrong color fascia board for 5' section, -used wrong end units on some gutter guards, and -didn't properly attach gutter guards in some places. I contacted the company to complete the job and they said it was complete and wanted to remaining payment which was only $300 of a total $4300. They sued me for the remaining amount and lost in Small Claims Court. would suggest if you use them, please hold back 10% or 20% until the job is completely done to your satisfaction. Also, note they claim on website as of this date to be members of BBB and as of this date they are not, and in fact get a grade of F from BBB of NJ. Hope you home repairs go well. Thanks, John