Axis Custom Builders

After purchasing the service I contacted Axis Custom Builders. I was told that since I lived in Pacific that they could not look at my plans. I was willing to drive them up to them. He said that since I would not be using their building services that they wouldn't provide the kitchen design review. We are owner builders and he obviously only wanted the building work. His Groupon was for a kitchen design consultation only. And that is what I wanted. i did not need a builder.

I gave this Angie's List special offer to my daughter as a gift. She called the company in mid-October, and the owner came out promptly - within a week or two - took measurements, and said he would email her the plan in about two weeks. Late in November, she realized that she had never heard back from him, and had not received an email from him. She emailed him three times, with no response, and left a voice mail message, also with no response. Today (end of January 2013) she called him again, and this time he answered the phone. When she told him she had still not received the plans, he said that he thought he had sent all of the Angie's List plans out already. She explained that not only had she not received them, but that she had not had a reply to her three emails and one phone call, either. He promised to and quot;resendand quot; the plans. At this time, the plans have not been received.

The service provider complained about to many customers to deal with.

Information provided was useful and met needs

I have no direct experience with their services

Gottfried put me off when I first called him, and did not respond to an email inquiry. After several phone calls he did come to my house at a mutually agreed upon time, discussed what we were looking for, made some suggestions, and emailed me a rudimentary design. He was personable and seemed knowledgable, and I looked forward to working with him. However, I sent repeated emails to his 3 email addresses with comments and questions, expressing interest in proceding to the next step of the Big Deal, but never heard from him again. After several months of trying, I decided I wasn't interested in working with anyone who was so hard to communicate with, and gave up trying to have him complete the design. I can't comment on the quality of his workmanship. If you are willing to call him repeatedly every step of the way, he might be someone to consider. I wasn't willing to do that.

I bought the deal for a deck design to get more input on my current plans. They worked with me and gave me great ideas on the railing system and decking attachment. I will probalby use them when we build this spring.

Mr Tabert came out and we had a good discussion of numerous options, both about the deck and even gardening. A very pleasant and conversational individual and he spent plenty of time explaining different possibilities. There was a bit of mis-communication, however, because it felt like he was expecting me to know what I wanted (and which he would gladly speak to) and I was expecting him to offer some design possibilities of what would best fit the area. I'll admit I didn't provide a lot of guidance since I hadn't really thought about it and this was a first exploration of the concept. I was looking to his experience to tell me what was possible and what would best fit the house. Once I finally got across that I had no experience or fixed ideas, we did settle into a reasonable upgrade scenario, A short time later I got a PDF of the drawing and it was not what I had expected (again, that expectations thing). I had assumed it would be a formal perspective drawing that would give me a feel of what the proposed deck would look like in place. What I got was a pencil and ruler not-to-scale drawing of the deck only (not in relation to the house and setting) with only cursory detail. While it did give me a rough feel for the idea, it was nowhere near enough for me to consider approving a project. In Mr Tabert's favor, I've looked at the photos of his past projects on his website. The work looks very nice and has a very high quality feel. If I was closer to actually doing the remodel and knew more what I wanted then I'd ask him back in for a bid on specifics. I'd would, however, be more explicit about what I expected in the bid as goes to detail needed so that I could feel confident of what I was approving, should it come to that.

The contractor was very nice, and seemed to have several good ideas when he came over to survey my property. Unfortunately, I never recieved the plan I prepaid for as part if an AL coupon. Several emails and voicemails went unanswered. When I finally got ahold of him, he said to call back, leave an email address, and he'd send the plans. I did so but never heard back. Too bad, because he seemed like a nice guy.

He did come out to measure and look at the project but has never followed through with anything. He never gave us plans or a price. I paid him $50 or $60, whatever we bought on Angie's List, so he still owes me an estimate. I don't know if I would consider using him again. Maybe if he calls back an tells me why he hasn't got the plans and if it's a valid excuse.

He seemed to be professional and know what he was doing. We have such a small space for our and quot;masterand quot; bathroom, that we are still considering options.

overall experience was positive

It went very well. He came at evening after dinner which is very convenient for us. We talked for about 0.5 hr, and he gave us very good suggestion. A few days later, he sent in the bid by email.

Easy - great ideas, feedback, etc.

Since we have not done the remodel, I cannot fill in this area.

big waste of time and money for me. And while I did think highly of the contractors ideas, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing business due to the lack of communication, followup, and results etc. Very possible that I was just one of the rare customers who fell through the cracks.. but the culmination of all of the cracks I fell through removed much chance of confidence, personally.

We called Axis because we were interested in rebuilding our deck and wanted to get a design plan for that project. Gottfried responded to our call. He was able to fit us into his schedule and came to our house to inspect and measure. He looked at our existing structure and the surrounding areas and, after listening to all the things we liked and didn't like about our current deck situation, he left. Within a week, as promised, he came up with a plan that took all of that into consideration. He emailed it to us as promised. We did not go forward with the project but I still have the plans he drew. He was very pleasant, professional and a good listener.

He seems really honest and he will tell you exactly what the job needs. I would definitely consider using him if needed.

They came out on time to do the measurements and set up a design for the deck. We ended up not going with them for the final project because another company had a slightly lower bid and my husband liked a lot and he had a slightly different design that we liked better. We were very pleased with Axis, however, and would recommend them to other people.

I purchased a Big Deal coupon for services from this company to provide me with a complete bathroom remodel design. Unfortunately due to a family medial emergency, I was out of the state for three months, and when I returned I discovered that the coupon had expired. I called the company and left a voice mail, and I emailed the company the details of my predicament and asked if they would still honor the coupon. I received no response from the company, and was forced to seek a refund from Angie's List for the coupon. Not responding to my voice mail or email was highly unprofessional.

Gottfried was professional, punctual, and provided some good ideas during our initial meeting. But the drawings he sent us seemed to have been put together hurriedly and didn't include the details, etc., that we discussed.

Please don't get me wrong ... I have a beautiful bathroom even though everything wasn't finished ... 1) at first the towel rack wasn't hung and Tabbert came over and did it himself but now it falls off the wall whenever you put any weight on it, e.g., a towel; 2) shower head drips; 3) Cracks in shakes on the outside wall were not completely repaired and the shakes don't match what was already there; 4) In laundry room, repair of drywall is not complete and there are several points where you can see thru to the lath (I sure hope we don't have a very cold winter); 5) Door of breaker box was removed and was too heavy for me to lift and reattach; 6) scratch on white tile by shower frame. Also, additional plumbing work was recommended. 2 out of 3 estimates to complete the work say that most of the earlier work will have to be redone. When I talked to the plumber about the additional work needed, 1) I asked if he was a journeyman plumber (required in Washington), 2) whether a permit would be needed, and 3) who would be responsible to call and arrange for the location service to come out and note where additional utilities underground are. His answers: 1) he is a plumber, 2) he didn't think we should go thru the permitting process since they might see that the bathroom was just done, and 3) he thought he could remember where the utility lines were. Another gripe that I had was that Al (the staff person) assigned to my project would just disappear at times. In fact, one day he didn't come over at all and I found out later that he was on a scheduled vacation day. My advice ... get everything in writing. Hold your ground about any promised discounts, etc. or head for the hills.

He told me honestly that has no design training.

I contacted Gottfried the first week of August. We scheduled a time to meet the following week and then Gottfried needed to reshedule to 8.22.12 at 7pm. We met and he shared with us some ideas that we were in agreement with on a kitchen design. He let us know that he would have a drawing back to us in a week. Below is the series of emails that followed after we received the layout of the kitchen which he sent to us Sept. 3, 2012. Starting at the bottom on Sept. 4, 2012 Sept. 13, 2012 Just wondering if you looked at the design before you sent it. Once again the refrigerator is not near the main entrance as it is near the entrance that leads to the laundry room(this was your suggestion which we agreed was a good idea) and there is not two banks of cabinets in the island. We asked for 4 things to be included, looks as if 2 were after waiting an additional week. Marilyn Sept. 12, 2012 Hi Marilyn, The 3D design is being done for me by my cabinet manufacture. He told me he would have the changes done by this morning. I just called him and he was just finishing them up will send them to me today yet, then I will forward them to you Thanks Gottfried Tabert Sept 12.2012 Gottfried, Wednesday is mid-week( 6 days after my last email) and once again I have yet to see anything from you. Very disappointed. I truly think you should refund my $75 and I will make sure to respond to the request by Angie’s list and let them know how my experience turned out. If you did not want to do the design as you offered in your promotion, I should have been told that up front and had my fee returned. Marilyn Sept 6. 2012 Hi Carroll Sorry about the delay in responding to your last email. I will have the kitchen redrawn as we discussed. I'll have it to you early next week. Gottfried Tabert General Contractor 206-890-3084 www.axiscustombuilders.com Sept 6, 2012 Hi Gottfried, Angie’s List has requested that I write a review and share how my experience turned out. Needless to say it will not be a flattering review. I was hopeful that I would hear back from you as my message below states that the design you provided did not reflect what we talked about or the suggestions you made, nor did it take the plans and dimensions in to consideration. If I do not hear back from you, I will go ahead and express my disappointment on Angie’s List. Sincerely, Marilyn Hi Marilyn, Thank you for purchasing a Big Deal earlier this year. We'd love to know how the experience turned out. Please share your feedback by clicking the and quot;write a reviewand quot; button below. Writing a review only takes a few moments, and you'll be helping your fellow members find the right service providers on the list. Plus, you'll help us continue to find and promote the best offers out there. So thanks! Axis Custom Builders Deal Ends Today! $75 for Complete Custom Kitchen or Bathroom Design Services! Sept. 4, 2012 Hi Gottfried, We appreciated your ideas when we met, however, in the design sent I do not see them. For example, I understood that you thought it best to have a kitchen triangle and therefore move the refrigerator to the wall where the main entrance came in. Also, the recommendation was made to move the island over to align with the main entrance. In addition, the island is 5 ft. wide and I believe would be able to handle two banks of cabinets, one facing the stove and one under the bar area of the island. It looks that you have the opening for the microwave/advantium over the desk area, is that correct? Finally the ceiling height in the kitchen is 9ft 6 in. Would the design you have include cabinets that go to the ceiling as pictured? Thanks, Marilyn

They did a great job with getting back to me with their work. They were done within a couple of days. It was a good experience that was well worth it.