This is one of the worst managed companies we have come across. The firm, among a number of related ones, is owned/managed by Steven Sanford. The estimates are always too low, the costs are higher and delays are numerous. The following is a list of findings based on 2011 kitchen jobs.
1) An inordinate amount of time is spent on design with the owner playing with the design software and developing a design that he likes rather than what the customer wants.
2) If you order a cabinet from a certain manufacturer, you will get the cheapest version. In addition, cabinets smaller than the kitchen space would allow are likely to be installed and the extra space covered by fillers because fillers are cheaper.
3) Most work is sub-contracted out and you never know who will show up to do your work.
4) You may have to pay for dumping fees. None of these costs are mentioned at the contract signing. Call Habitat for Humanity who will demo a kitchen for re-use at no charge.
5) The firm?s subs are always doing multiple jobs and may be pulled off of your job at any time.
6) Ordering is sloppy. Items delivered may be of the wrong colour, unnecessary for the project or needed items may not be delivered at all. Multiple delivery times are common. This is one reason subs are pulled off of jobs to go elsewhere ? they run out of material. This seriously impacts the schedule and causes serious delays especially if both husband and wife work and cannot take a full day off to watch an installer work half a day.
7) Information provided to the customer is sketchy at best. The attitude of the owner is that the customer is not involved in decision-making and need not be concerned with details. This seriously affects the overall look of the kitchen.
8) The tendency of the owner is to talk down to customers.
9) Billing is highly front-loaded. That is, a large deposit is requested at signing and the majority of the remaining balance is due on delivery of materials. Delivery may take weeks. The installer may not show up for days. No one checks if the items, usually delivered at the firm, are correct when delivered to the home. There is therefore very little of the total cost left to pay even before the project starts. This means there is virtually no leverage for the customer in dealing with the firm in case the project is not on schedule or there are quality concerns.
The owner is an extreme micro manager who attempts to run multiple companies simultaneously: kitchen cabinets, flooring, granite counter tops, window treatments and general remodeling. He loves to argue and will spend hours on the phone trying to convince a dissatisfied customer that the customer is wrong and the owner is right. Communication up and down the chain of command is poor. Supervision is weak. If you are attracted only by price (and there may be better kitchen cabinet providers at the same or lower cost), are new to kitchen remodeling and can take a very high level of stress, go to other firms firs
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