This review would have been a 4 or even 4.5 star review through almost the entire project, but it kind of fell apart at the end. Let's start at the beginning.
Richard and Dallas Home Renovations is a solid contractor that can do a variety of projects to a perfectly acceptable level of quality. We hired them for a shower redo - this was a tile custom shower down to the studs. From early on, Richard came in with detailed email quotes that he regularly updated as we made decisions, and even as we progressed through the actual work and materials got locked in. From start to finish, the cost for labor never budged. I found his communication on pricing refreshing and comforting, especially as we opted for the strategy of purchasing our own plumbing and tile materials.
Richard is a very busy man. His company appears to have a great deal of business, which is good for him. That does mean that he tends to rush around - he would appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. One time I was literally talking to him about something and he turned to follow one of his contractors out the door to ask him a question, and after a minute I looked and his truck was gone. He's not being rude, he's just busy - I learned to be comfortable with this.
His workers did a very nice job on the project itself. As I work from home I was able to supervise much of the work and I could tell that they were doing a good job with an attention to detail. They handled problems efficiently and effectively and I've definitely seen worse tile work. In the course of the project they also installed a new recessed light fixture overhead and retrofitted an existing one to match, and did a great job at an excellent price.
Most of the time, I was able to communicate just fine with the workers in English. We rarely had challenges. Richard did a little belatedly offer to send a licensed plumber and a licensed electrician, but assured me that the work was very basic and that his men were experienced. They did indeed do the work just fine.
A couple of times the work was delayed or done out of order because we had a hard time coordinating with Richard to get the right supplies on hand at the right time. His workers occasionally had to re-do things. I chalk this up to Richard's busyness - he procrastinated picking up a contractor-grade accent tile that we had picked out, and then found it out of stock. It also took a while to meet him at a friend's place to get a remnant stone piece for a shelf, and so the guys had to cut a hole in their work when it finally showed up. In the end, I think these only delayed the finish of the project by a day, if even.
Things only went meaningfully downhill at the very end of the job. I have no personal experience with tile work, unlike some other areas, so I did not catch them making a mistake in the grouting. We picked out a single grout color for the entire shower, and they got it in unsanded for the walls and sanded for the floor. The floor grout appears to have ended up the wrong color (much too light) - a bit mixed in a couple of plastic cups indicated this after the fact. Plus, the guys failed to properly seal it. I have since learned that you have to let grout dry for 3 days before sealing it or using the shower - this appears to be standard industry practice. They put down the sealer after a little less than 24 hours and told us we could use the shower immediately. The floor grout then dried to a patchwork of different colors. They came back and scraped some of the spots and regrouted, but the patchwork of colors remained. The grout absorbs water and darkens substantially in patches, then slowly dries throughout the day, but never fully gets to the same color. We'd be okay with the wrong color if it just were all the same color, but we tried showering in the other bathroom two mornings in a row to see if we could get it to dry to a solid and it never did. It may be beyond salvaging now. After a couple of attempts, Richard has not made a move. We originally finished the job on 1/14, then brought up the grout on 1/20. He finally came on 2/3 to look at it. On 2/24 he finally came back to look at it again and scheduled his guys to come look at it, but cancelled the next day and today it's 3/16 and I haven't heard anything. I think this is a wrap for us - I'll probably pick up a dremel tool and re-do the entire floor grout myself.
In the end, I think that you could feel confident calling Richard to come in and look at a job and bid on it. Go in with your eyes open and knowing what to expect and I think you'll get solid quality at an excellent price. read more
