I'd like to begin by saying that we had hired Nathan as project manager once before to remodel our…read moremaster bathroom. Because we were so happy with the entire process of that job, we wanted him to handle our kitchen remodel as well. The kitchen turned out great and we are very happy with the result but there were a few problems along the way.
Ours was a pretty straightforward remodel, we wanted to paint our kitchen cabinets which were original to the home built in 1969, place new porcelain countertops with a waterfall at two ends, replace the vinyl flooring with porcelain planks, and repaint the walls and ceiling. Our kitchen is a rather small galley type kitchen, so the project wasn't huge, and was expected to be completed within 5-6 weeks.
Things got off to a slow start, the installation of the floor took 5 days, and didn't include the grouting which was accomplished by a different employee on a separate day, so it actually took 6 days. The installer did a nice job, but was exceedingly slow. The flooring was covered with construction paper to protect it before the grout had been cleaned off, so when it did come time to clean it, the grout had completely dried, and was difficult to remove, and took an additional full day to complete.
It was estimated that 3 slabs of porcelain would be needed for the counters, but we wanted to buy an extra slab because the veining on the porcelain we had selected was complex, and we wanted the sections to flow as perfectly as possible. After the countertops were installed, which turned out amazingly well, a crack developed in one section that ran from the front of the counter all the way to the wall. Nathan was great about the whole thing and agreed to obtain another slab in order to replace it, which he did. Almost immediately, the replaced section developed a crack in exactly the same spot as the first. It was at this point that it was realized that our counters weren't perfectly flat and level, nor were they sufficiently rigid, which is a must for porcelain slabs as they are somewhat fragile. After some adjustments which included the addition of an underlayer of Hardie board and some reinforcement of the counters structure to increase the rigidity, a 3rd section was placed. The matching of the veining was not as perfect as the first installation. This was disappointing, but we would have accepted that, however, because the height of the counter had been raised due to the installation of the Hardie board underneath, the waterfall end was no longer long enough to reach the floor. Without consulting us, the fabricator spliced on a narrow strip at the floor level which did not match the veining at all and noticeably stood out. I messaged Nathan right away, and he agreed that this was not an acceptable solution, and agreed to obtain even more counter material to replace the waterfall section. At this point I was becoming slightly annoyed and asked that two slabs be obtained so that the entire section of countertop, the waterfall as well as the next section which adjoined the piece that had cracked twice could once again be matched to the level that the original installation had obtained, and without hesitation, Nathan agreed, and much to his credit, and the craftsmanship of the fabricator, the 4th attempt came out beautifully, and we are delighted with the way it now looks.
The project ended up taking a little more than 9 weeks instead of 6, however, because the installation took longer than expected, we had to halt progress for 4 days for a previously planned vacation, and an additional 2 days when we had another pressing matter to attend to that was originally scheduled to be beyond the expected completion date, so that six days was on us but only necessary because the project ran longer than anticipated.
I was going to rate the job as 4 stars because of the problems with the porcelain installation, but because Nathan was so understanding and easy to work with, and went the extra mile to ensure a quality job in the end, we decided to give True Builders the full 5 stars.
To sum up, we are delighted with our new kitchen, but we think that a lot of the delay and frustration could have been avoided if someone had checked to ensure that our cabinets were suitable for the installation of porcelain slabs prior to the actual installation. Despite that, the work was completed to our satisfaction, and Nathan was terrific throughout the entire process, we couldn't be happier with the end result.