Bocca Painting & Remodeling

Yesterday they didn't show or call and today they didn't show or call.

Our neighbors had given glowing reviews to Bocca and we saw how quickly the company was in and out of our neighbors' houses so we decided to go with them. We had gotten quotes from other contractors, and Bocca's was the most affordable but not cheap by any means. Valerie and her husband Merg are very nice, family-oriented people so it is difficult for me to write the following remarks about their services. STRENGTHS: Flexible Relatively low cost Work quickly Nice to deal with Laid back WEAKNESSES: Valerie often asked me to call workers directly and explain to them what I wanted - what was I paying her for??? Bocca has too many projects going on at the same time so details are overlooked or not even hammered out ahead of time then it is blamed on the customer No drafting, plans, etc. Literally sharpie marker plans on the wall with no paper trail except drawings I sketched with rough measurements. Details on cabinetry were worked out over the phone and I told Valerie I was extremely uncomfortable doing that. Cheap labor, there is cheap skilled labor with an eye for detail and this was just cheap labor (with exception of cabinetry and woodwork) Saying one thing then doing another then blaming it on the customer or saying one thing would be at no cost, then charging for it later anyway Cutting corners, but I think all contractors do this HOW THE PROJECT BEGAN: My husband and I went back and forth with Valerie (mainly via email) on the scope of the project and some details. All details were not hammered out ahead of time which turned out to be good and bad. Good because other contractors would charge for changes made after a project started, bad because the final planning of cabinetry was done over the PHONE!!! and any drawings of cabinetry were done by me on graph paper or by Valerie in sharpie marker on the walls. In our case, we had a specific time frame for the project to start and and finish (at least the wood floors had to be done in a two-week period). Despite a loss in the family, Valerie started demo on the stated date (8/26/09). However, since Valerie was not available on that date due to the loss in the family, I (with two small children) was left to manage the demo and communicate in Spanglish with the crew WHO HAD NO PLANS JUST ORAL INSTRUCTIONS AND WROTE DOWN WHAT I WANTED DONE WHEN I TOLD THEM THAT MORNING, and Valerie could not be reached by phone by me, only by her crew. It was, needless to say, unecessarily stressful and I did not have a good feeling on this first date. Overall, the amount of work done in such a short period of time was truly amazing and when you walk in the house, it has been transformed. So, if you are in the business of flipping houses and want to get a quick makeover with some good style advice from Valerie at a great price, go ahead and use Bocca. NOTE: SUBCONTRACT THE ELECTRICAL, DO NOT USE THEIR ELECTRICIAN, WE ARE HAVING REPAIRS DONE TO BOXES IN ATTIC THAT ARE NOT EVEN SCREWED INTO 2X4'S OR CAPPED OFF CORRECTLY. THEIR ELECTRICIAN IS VERY NICE, BUT AGAIN THE QUALITY OF WORK IS LACKING AND DEFINITELY NOT TO CODE. USE SOMEONE ELSE IF YOU WANT FINE CRAFTSMANSHIP WITH ATTENTION TO DETAIL, PARTICULARLY WITH REGARD TO THE TILING, GRANITE WORK, AND PAINTING. Initially, I was willing to overlook all the little details since the workers were in and out of the house in three weeks (8/26/09 to 9/14/09) which is what they said they would do, and the floors were done within the time frame we needed them done. Or so we thought (see below). MAJOR ISSUES: ELECTRICAL (PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED) FLOORING (SEE BELOW) PAINTING (SEE BELOW) OVERALL ATTENTION TO DETAIL SAFETY (SEE BELOW, SHELF FALLS ON CHILD'S HEAD) LAST GUY WHO COMES AND DOES TOUCH UP WORK IS SO UNSKILLED IT IS PAINFUL TO WATCH, HE MADE MORE WORK FOR ME THAN HELPED ME. STEPLADDER DISAPPEARED FROM OUR HOME, PHONE IS M.I.A. AS WELL Again, in the big picture we had a lot of work done at a low price. In terms of quality of work, however, corners were cut and I am a detail-oriented person so the details below still irritate me. Also, several times during the project I was told verbally not to worry about little electrical things I had added on, that there would be no cost, but in the end I was still charged. two-step ladder "disappeared" in the last few days of remodel, Valerie tried to replace it with an old ladder of theirs that was broken. I ended up buying a new one out of pocket. Our phone is missing as well, although that might be due to my error in packing when we moved in or out of the house. However, since the ladder is gone, it leads me to believe our phone suffered a similar fate. FLOORING: 2-3 weeks after the floors were done, the dining room wood floor developed a bubble. Valerie came by quickly and said that portion would need to be removed and redone. Her floor guy, Sergio, came by and said THE WHOLE FLOOR WOULD HAVE TO BE REPLACED. He tried to blame it on using the incorrect sealer on the concrete slab, but in the end, it was because he cut corners, did not remove the glue that was underneath the preexisting linoleum and did not pour epoxy on the slab the first time around. On the plus side, Bocca and the floor guys honored the contract and came in and replaced the floor. On the down side, I again had to steer the project (while dealing with two kids under three years of age) and vacate the premises for a week while these guys ripped out the floor and reinstalled a new floor. And no follow up from Valerie to ensure I was satisfied with their work in the end. (Which I am, although everyone agrees that the polyurethane coating was not applied smoothly resulting in a few shiny 'puddled' areas. PAINTING: PAINT ON UPPER KITCHEN CABINETS NOT MATCHED EITHER IN COLOR OR IN FINISH to lower kitchen cabinets even though it was stated in the contract and I was told not to worry b/c matching the paint was their job. (especially painful since I personally sanded, primed and painted TWO coats of paint on the lower cabinets and Bocca did touch-ups in new color, so it looks like somebody touched up the lower cabinets with white-out) WHEN I ASKED WHAT THE COST WOULD BE TO HAVE LOWER CABINETS MATCHED TO UPPER CABINETS EVEN THOUGH IT WASN'T MY ERROR I WAS TOLD $550. AT THAT POINT I WAS SICK OF HEARING HOW THEIR MISTAKES WERE MY FAULT SO I WAS IN "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE' MODE and chose not to argue the point further all painting done WITHOUT removing hardware/drapery rods or using drop cloths (I have paint spatters on all lower knobs on cabs in kitchen) beautiful built-in entertainment center but with only one coat of paint so grain of wood shows through, not what I was going for and not what was stated in contract. nail holes not filled in on woodwork prior to painting one coat of paint in all rooms painted (there is a lighter band across top of all rooms, I assume b/c area that was cut-in first and is the only portion to have two-coats of paint. Paint looks uneven and I can see old color showing through. SAFETY We had adjustable shelves built, which to me meant evenly spaced holes going from top to bottom in the cabinets, but to Bocca means three holes per shelf, FYI. The holes drilled were too big, so Bocca provided 1/4" shelf pegs and told me to wrap them in painter's tape or shove some newspaper in each hole to make sure the shelves were properly supported. After one shelf in the entertainment center literally fell on my 2-year-old's head, my husband went to Rockler, found the largest size peg available and we replaced them ourselves. I let Valerie know this occurred, no reply. GRANITE/TILE: One crack and a chip in existing granite counter top. Crack was sealed (again sloppy job) with some black stuff so now I have a dull smear where the crack used to be. It is Uba Tuba, and this is a minor detail, but still it is irritating. Sloppy finishing on new granite that was installed (pieces not cut correctly, so there are uneven gaps between granite and wood. One piece even has a jagged edge on it.) AFTER I had made two round trips to Floor and Decor for the floor tiles, Valerie told me that she would have picked it up for me.

They were eager to get started and the price was very reasonable. The vanity was removed just fine. Supply line connections were damaged during demo, so new parts needed to be replaced. The people working on the job did not appear to know what they needed to get the supply lines working again. Lots of back and forth to the store and bringing back wrong parts. The new vanity was installed and they put in over carpet which should have been removed before installation. Faulty plumbing led to a leak that sprung overnight and by the time it was discovered had flooded a bathroom and bedroom. Our regular and very good plumbers from another company came out to fix the problem and were shocked at the carelessness of the plumbing done by Bocca. I contacted Bocca and while I was told she was sorry, she insisted that it was not their fault. She did agreed to pay to replace some of the carpet (despite the fact it all needed to be replaced). The money showed up 2 weeks late, $50 short.

EVERYONE WAS REALLY NICE. THEY DID A GREAT JOB.