Architectural Wood Designs

Our experience with Tony and Donna Roach 1. Process: The time factor, from first meeting to the end, was excruciatingly slow, and their communication was terrible. We were told they would focus on our project when it began and that it would take about a month to complete, but 2 1/2 months after demo, it was only halfway complete. 2. Budget: We met with Tony and Donna and had almost everything selected and they presented us with a complete budget for the entire project. We were comfortable proceeding with the numbers they presented. Every sub contractor invoice was over budget, several by thousands of dollars, not because of our changes, but because they did no homework or get bids prior to presenting us with the budget. When questioned, their response was that this was just an "estimate", and since we were paying each invoice, it did not seem to concern them. For example, regarding the electrical budget, the original plan included adding heaters, exhaust fan, lighting, a jetted tub requiring its own circuit, and a toilet requiring its own circuit, all of which were selected prior to the budget being done. When the electrician arrived, he was astounded at what was involved because Tony scheduled him for a "small job" he could do in a half day. The rough-in alone was three full days. The Roach's response was, "how were we supposed to know it would be a long run for the service from the box to the bathroom to run the new circuits and that with the additional electrical fixtures we would need a panel upgrade?" How could they not know that, with the planned additions to the room, that a lot of new electric would be needed? That is the contractor's job to have the work bid prior to doing the budget. This happened over and over again with each sub contractor. 3. Quality: Poor work. They, in addition to being the general contractor, are in the cabinet making business, and built the cabinets for the bathroom and did all of the carpentry work. One cabinet was a wide built-in dresser. When installed, the drawers did not close properly, and the explanation was that the drawers were too wide and should have been divided, and that they would never build drawers that wide again. No attempt to correct it for us was made. Tony rebuilt a shower wall that, when tile was installed, was discovered to be way out of plum, which caused major problems for the tile installation. He also installed new doors that do not open and close properly. The tile on the shower wall was chipped when the quartz installer placed quartz ledges inside the recessed niches. The holes were very visible, and Tony's solution was to go buy Super Glue and glue on pieces of tile to cover the holes. That was obviously unacceptable. 4. Professional conduct: Grade of F. Tony and Donna Roach literally walked off the job and left the bathroom halfway complete. By then, we were actually relieved for them to be out of our life, but their lack of professionalism was astounding. With the project halfway complete, on the day of the Super Glue chipped tile incident, they literally packed up all their "stuff" that had been here for two months, and, the next thing we knew, their truck was gone. They had always let us know when they were leaving, but on this day they just disappeared. We tried to communicate with them, but got no response. After about two weeks of unanswered phone calls and emails, we gave up and hired our own subcontractors to finish the bathroom. If, for whatever reason, they did not want to finish the job, they could have at least had the integrity to say so to us. Instead, they took the chicken way out and just walked off and did not communicate at all. Bottom line: The above listed problems are only a small sample of the real picture. It says a lot that we were actually thrilled to be out from under them, and we were able to complete the project without any further issues ourselves. The very same sub contractors that had begun each phase of the work came back and finished for us when we called them and told them that Tony and Donna had left without explanation. If we had been unreasonable, they would not have returned. Instead, after working with us while Tony and Donna were the contractors, they were all very helpful in assisting us to complete the job. We have had many experiences with builders and remodeling. We have custom built three of our homes and done a complete gut and remodel of a kitchen, and know that the process is not always easy and smooth. This was a nightmare from start to halfway finished because of this company. .

Owners Tony and Donna Roach did an outstanding, professional job from planning to installation with acute attention to details. They were truly a pleasure to work with.