Our experience with Dave from Fixquisite was mixed. At the start, we appreciated his willingness to…read moretake on a unique project and help us stay within our budget. Parts of this remodel likely wouldn't have happened without his early collaboration, and we were hopeful based on those initial conversations.
However, as the project when on, we increasingly felt that our job was not a priority. We had made a unique agreement in which we would complete much of the labor ourselves with up to 40 hours of coaching from Dave, since we were newer homeowners and wanted to do things correctly. In practice, we ended up relying on YouTube and friends/family for guidance because Dave was often disengaged, distracted, or would send images of ideas without explaining how to implement them.
On days he scheduled to work with us -- days we rearranged our own busy schedules for -- he often arrived late, came unprepared, or left to attend to other customers. Site visits were either brief and repetitive or long but unfocused, and at times occurred before we confirmed he could stop by. Overall, we did not feel that our time (or his) was used efficiently.
We also encountered multiple instances of rushed or careless workmanship, which we were left to correct ourselves: protruding missed nails, uneven framing, and lack of attention to drywall details, among others. While his partner, Gary, was consistently helpful and professional, Dave himself occasionally shared unsolicited and inappropriate personal commentary (such as suggesting we research legal separation and/or a prenup based on his personal life experiences and telling me about women he found attractive at the bar or women he was interacting with on dating apps).
As the project neared final inspection, Dave became dismissive of our concerns about time management and increasingly insistent about being paid immediately. He sent invoices before gathering our final receipts and before the inspection was complete (the first inspection did not pass). Although we hadn't set a strict contractual timeline, we had verbally agreed on aiming for Thanksgiving. Despite this, he pressed for urgent payment during our workday, insisting it was due prior to the holiday. He claimed the payment was "past due" even though we paid him the same day the inspection passed. For receipt reconciliation, he had agreed to a specific deadline. Despite receiving receipts prior to that deadline, he delayed addressing the details of the receipts, suggested our expectation of the deadline being met was unreasonable, and completed the task late.
In the end, we are grateful for the improvements we made to our home and paid Dave (before Thanksgiving). However, the overall experience left us feeling disappointed and hesitant to enter into an arrangement like this again, and we will seek out a different team for future projects. We had hoped for a more professional and attentive process.
