Hiring Christopher Hutchinson is the worst decision of our lives. He came to us as a referral, so we trusted him and thought he had integrity. It ended up being the opposite. Chris operated under multiple names (see the other negative reviews). We found out later that his license got revoked. He started demolishing our house on November 2020, thinking that he would get the permits soon thereafter. Permits were not approved until June 2021, so our house was left with NO activity for 6 months. And once activity started again it would only be for 2 weeks at a time, then there would be months and months of no activity in between. When he told us he was running for mayor of Chino, we asked if that would impact the timing of our project. His automatic canned response was "Absolutely not." The contract stated February 2021 completion date. While we made some changes to the plans, we agreed to an extension date of June 2021. As of JUNE 2022, our house is still down to the studs. We encountered delays after delays. He was barely on-site, lack of project management or time management skills, and often did not show up during City inspection. He did not supervise any of the workers or subcontractors he brought on to do the work. He essentially burned bridges with every worker/subcontractor that touched our project. We had people coming to us, asking to get paid because Chris did not pay them. Because Chris was not onsite to supervise, many of the work done was incorrect (framing, plumbing, HVAC, etc). So now we have to pay double the amount just to get it corrected. Chris went MIA often, he would overpromise and under deliver, and the only time we got his full attention is when he wanted to get money from us. He made us pay upfront for change orders such as materials and services that have not occurred yet and in the end - he DID NOT deliver on those materials or services. After 1.5 years of being strung along, we terminated with Chris. He said he would make things right by delivering the tiles, cabinets, and countertops in phases (items that we had paid for already via change orders). We even signed an agreement capturing the things he owed us. He said that we have his word and that he'll follow through. Guess what? He ended up disconnecting his cell phone number and a couple of his emails -- so now he's unreachable. He also even went behind our backs to try and collect a deposit from the City when HE HIMSELF said that he was giving that to us. Feel free to reach out if you want more information. I would not want another family to fall prey to this nightmare.

Shannen L.

*warning* do not hire this contractor. He is unlicensed and unprofessional. He gets workers off the street who don't know what they are doing. He caused damages and problems at our job. He took money from us for wood floors he refused to deliver. Basically stole money from us and he lied many times about many things. Do yourself a favor and do not hire this person. Feel free to contact me for further details of why hiring this person is the worst decision of your life. For reference I've renovated over a dozen homes and this is the worst of the worst contractors I've ever worked with.

Omid T.

Convincing my wife to remodel our house was a challenge in itself. We have a house built in the 70's which still had the original kitchen and flooring. The inside of the house needed a major facelift. By receiving the green light, I started the daunting task of choosing a contractor that would take on our project. My wife and I met with over ten contractors which varied in price, expertise, and communication style. We've heard the horror stories and wanted to make sure we completed our due diligence in making our final decision. Since we saw this relationship as a short term and long term play, we spent more time getting to know our narrowed down list of contractors as we refined the project. After narrowing it down, Jonathan from MKB Design met all of our needs. He was informative, knowledgeable, approachable, collaborative, and wasn't too pushy. I was also impressed that MKB had a set of core values that matched my inner concerns; teamwork, integrity, customer service, and quality. Our final project design included new concrete steps that led to the front door, raising the front door and replacing it with a modern one, raising our sunken living room, removing a load baring wall, new white kitchen that included a 10 foot by 5 foot kitchen island, a mini bar area with a dual wine fridge, bright lighting, new flooring, upgrading our stairs and upstairs hallway flooring, and brand new glass rails. Jonathan gave us a time window of 8 weeks to complete our remodel project. He was very responsive at all times of the day. His crew worked Monday though Saturday. I couldn't emphasize any more how that gave us a lot of reassurance of his commitment to excellence. He not only met his timelines but he provided regular updates and pictures of the transformation. He accommodated last minute changes and did it with a high level of maturity. His goal the whole time was to make our vision come to life. The finished product exceeded our expectations beyond what we had ever envisioned. Anyone who has seen the transformation describes it as an HGTV quality upgrade. #Modelhome I highly recommend that you give Jonathan a call for a future remodel. The pictures don't do his work justice. You will be blown away!!!

Peter T.

We were looking to get our bathroom remodeled and stay within our budget. We did not want to get a prefabricated bathroom and wanted nice tile work. Chris was able keep within the quoted budget and also get us nice tiles and a nice countertop with the nice tile work we were looking for. His quote was for labor and tiles and very reasonable. We only needed to get the fixtures for the shower and sink. The bathroom came out very nice and is a great upgrade. Photo of our bathroom is attached.

Jessica S.

My husband and I just remolded our restroom and everything came out beautiful! Would totally recommend Chris and his team. His workers were super cleaning organized .Michael who was in charge of the restroom was very helpful and Detailed you can tell he really takes prides in his work. You don't really come across guys like him anymore, I love how he answered all my questions and I had a lot lol. He was very informative and explained everything to me and listened to what I wanted! He told told me you dream it we build it and that's exactly what he did! He explained to me how he does his work the "old school way",He hot mops his showers and floats them. He said they last a lifetime. Love that!!!He was honestly an amazing tile setter. Absolutely would recommend Chris and his team. Can't wait to do my other restrooms!

Jen P.

Warning: MKB Home (their license #1007360) is a scam, a continuation of Hutchinson Construction (Previous license #991675, check that Yelp page as well). There are various complaints submitted through the California State Licencing Board against Chris Hutchinson (Previous license #991675) and his previous license is suspended. His partner Jonathan Arid (who Chris will claim is no longer at the company) has also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, who is working with Chris Hutchinson under their new guise; MKB Home Design. We signed and started work with MKB Home Design in May 2020. The project was quoted to finish in Mid July 2020. It is almost November 2020. It started out with all great promises of amazing work. The project got progressively worse, and turned into a nightmare. Our project has been abandoned, incomplete and left in terrible quality after paying over $100,000 to MKB. We will be pursuing full legal action to ensure MKB cannot take advantage of other unknowing home owners and hope this review will help warn others who are looking for a quality and honest GC. Here is a list of things you can expect when working with MKB. 1. In the beginning, great attitude, customer communication and promises before signing the contract 2. Very quick work on the demolition phase of the project, done within a few days 3. Plumbing work not done by professional plumbers, not to code, poor quality you can't see until it causes huge problems a few years later (We vetted their work with 2 other professional plumbers) 4. Wood work such as doors, framing, baseboards and flooring are done at very low quality, you will see major issues with gaps, alignment and operation 5. MKB will rush you for payments ASAP with the promise of keeping your project on time (when it's already delayed), once they get the majority of your money, expect them to deprioritize you or disappear altogether 6. Not only do they scam you, they also take advantage of subcontractors, as they get them to come do work on your home, not pay them. (You run the risk of those subcontractors putting mechanical liens on your home) These guys are dripping with dishonesty, from their paid Yelp reviews (see the Yelp warning as you visit the page), fake photos they use, to other families sharing similar horror stories (also on Hutchinson Construction). They'll probably reply to this review as well saying how they sent a schedule and how we decided to not work with them. Feel free to PM us, we'll show you conversation records and proof. It absolutely puts me in a rage, just thinking about how MKB is cheating people, not just us, out of hard earned life savings. Savings meant for the family home, where we plan to live with our families and raise our children. We'll be taking full legal action and make sure justice is served, no matter what it takes. P.S Their GC photo on their profile page is not Jonathan or Chris, it was taken from here socaladvocates.com/2985/... which is a page on how to avoid getting their license taken away when frauding customers by taking their money and filing bankruptcy. The irony is, Jonathon Arid filed for bankruptcy right before signing a contract with us. They'll likely change the photo after seeing this review, we'll put up a screenshot of it for record. Update: ** Bankruptcy document public online: https://www.cacb.uscourts.gov/opinion/re-jonathan-andrew-arid-memorandum-decision-granting-debtor%E2%80%99s-motion-avoid-lien-under-11-usc Complaints and violations from CSLB: https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/CaseViolationDisclosure.aspx?LicType=LIC&LicNum=991675&LmfPre=&Region=N&FiscalYear=2018&SeqNbr=523&ActionCde=DPEN&Status=PENDING++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++4&LicName=HUTCHINSON+CONSTRUCTION+%26+DEVELOPMENT&StatusDt=08/25/2020&Complaints=PENDING%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%204

Richard R.

MKB just finished renovating my entire kitchen and I couldn't be happier. What had started as just an idea to install a farmhouse sink turned into a complete make over. From start to finish we maintained great communication and always had a clear timeline in mind. Thank you to Chris for taking on our project and many thanks to the homie Mike for always being present and ensuring things get done. Everything looks dope and my wife and I couldn't be happier.

Christy S.

Love this company, needed an estimate for a project and Kevin provided me with a great proposal in one day. Great job.

Shah S.

I contracted Mkb home design to do a complete home remodel from my ac system, roof, repipe, new panel, drywall, kitchen, bathrooms, and flooring. I selected them because Jonathon knew what he was talking about from the initial visit. I specifically requested him knowing that he is the owner and who everyone is talking about. If I had to break him down I would say he's very organized and has a creative side that most contractors I interview lacked. Mario did an awesome job project managing. Very cool down to earth helpful individual. The literally needs his own tv show with the amount of knowledge he posses. There is not one thing that man can't solve... Communication and respect for my time are huge, especially when working with contractors on such a big project. Jonathon and the mkb staff communicated with me through email, txt, and calls everyday. I always knew what the next step was and what was happening. Workmanship passed on all levels. Minor details that I was not happy with were fixed immediately with no questions asked or arguments. I do recommended educating yourself in remodeling of you decide to do a home remodel and understand that at this level of work things will not always be perfect or go smooth and as long as you have the right contractor and mindset to get the job complete the positives will beat the negatives. Pricing was actually better then most places I got bids from. I tried to save money and do minor things here and there but overall we stayed on budget and got some great discounts with there contractor account at Ferguson. I hope my review helps many of you and I know how hard it is to demo your house and see it in a state of distress but understand that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the end results with this particular company will be top level.

Warning: DO NOT USE THIS CONTRACTOR.  Christopher Edward Hutchinson is a fraud and a true con-artist. No wonder there are so many lawsuits against this man and his license has been revoked and he has filed bankruptcy. This man is working illegally in the state of California luring innocent people by low balling on prices and then stealing their hard earned money and savings in the name of home improvement and construction.  It's a SHAME, A SCAM, and this has to end. We had just purchased our house in good condition in these difficult times when we started working with Chris. All we wanted was to modernize it, but not only that did not happen, we now have a house in poor condition with no functioning kitchen, cracked and incorrectly placed kitchen cabinets, no functioning bathrooms, a destabilized toilet drain which now has tiles around it, fundamental flaws based on inspection on plumbing, electric, wall insulations, a broken brand new spa as well as damaged dishwater, and more.  Unfortunately we have also realized that the entire project of our house has been done by unlicensed subcontractors and workers picked up from the streets with no work experience in the field of construction.  See the picture of the electric switch in one of the bedrooms attached. When we asked the electrician Chris had sent how come this switch was left like this while others not he responded that he couldn't figure it out so he left it like that. Chris took advantage of us. We have paid Chris over 126K all in Feb as he kept lying to us at the speed of the project and where the project was at.  He kept saying that he would finish quickly in the next 2 weeks and he is trying to help us move in by the end of Feb so we don't have to pay rent and for that he needed money ASAP so that he could assure everything moves forward smoothly. On Feb 22 (SEE PIC ATTACHED) he texted "I have the vanity's going tomorrow AM... the counters are being picked up today and start fabrication tomorrow am. The counter top payment is 15K" which we paid, and to this day we have no vanities as they were never ordered and no countertops. Chris also does not pay his subcontractors.  Despite us paying him so much upfront, his subcontractors kept asking us if we had seen Chris and if we knew when he would be going to pay them. This soon turned into harassment to the point that one of them was demanding us that someone has to pay him despite explaining to him that we have paid everything in full to Chris. Unfortunately, we had a big incident regarding this on our property. This is in March 2022 when Chris had picked up two random workers from Home Depot (which we had no idea back then and we thought they were part of "his team" he kept bragging about). After completion of one week of work, Chris did not pay them. As a result a big fight broke out on our property where the workers were demanding money and Chris refusing to pay. Per report Chris punched one of these workers in the face and the other one then started videotaping the incident.  They have sent us the video and we have it on file. Police were called and a report was also filed, though Chris was long gone and nowhere to be found. This incident not only embarrassed us among our neighbors as newcomers to the community,  we also started feeling unsafe knowing strangers from the streets who have worked on our house and not gotten paid, know where we live. After this incident, we had to turn on our security system to protect the house and expensive material we had bought which led to another incident worth mentioning.  Around May, we realized some expensive stuff had gone missing including RH valve, faucets, trims and some lights. While there was no communication between Chris and us for a long time and no one had showed up to our house for weeks, suddenly a stranger came to our house on a Sunday unannounced and used the keypad to get in. When our alarm system went off and the police showed up, Chris texted us that he was his electrician whom we had never seen or worked before, and this person told the police that he was sent up to our house to set up the Chandeliers!! This was never part of the plan, and in fact not even a one man's job, and this is besides the fact that our house was not even near the point for setting up Chandeliers! Chris Hutchinson is an impulsive liar and his business is a SCAM. Based on all these yelp reviews and lawsuits, he has been doing this for years and he keeps changing business names to keep it going.  DO NOT WORK WITH THIS MAN, or MKB HOME DESIGN, MONARCH KITCHEN AND BATH, CRYSTAL COVE CONSTRUCTION, HUTCHINSON CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT, and if you are stuck on a project with him, leave immediately and hire a licensed contractor who can first fix the damages he has done to your property and get your house back on track. PLEASE ALSO KNOW THAT HE GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND HIS WAY TO MAKE YOU PAY. Feel free to contact me for more information.

This is a horrible company run by a dishonest contractor. If YELP allowed a 0 star rating, that's what this rating would be. Christopher Hutchinson IS NOT everything that all these other "great reviews" are claiming he is. When my initial review was posted, Chris was quick to reach out and continuously asked for my review to be removed because it was 'hurting him and his family'. He assumed that the review was some tactic to get him to work when in reality we just wanted this to be completed, just like anyone else would. He finally told my husband that we should take it down as it would cause him to "attack our character which would only result in us going back and forth". Attack us--when we have waited patiently since fall 2020, with multiple changes to our deadlines, constant lying and dealing with not living in our home for a year?! Very professional. After constant HARASSMENT to remove it, we did...with the condition that he would FINISH THE PROJECT! During my initial review, several people reached out to me via DM which resulted in a FaceTime convo, who are in the same or even worse situation than us but are not speaking up in fear of Chris not completing their work. I posted back in October 2021, and the only things that were 'done' were, a few inspections were passed (mere luck), insulation was placed in the framing and kitchen cabinets were purchased. The kitchen cabinets were not built, we picked them up ourselves, we had to pay someone else to build them, and set them up. Beyond that, nothing was done on Chris' part and even though he swore he'd keep it moving, things moved at a snail's pace and died almost immediately. After not living in our home for over a year, my husband, who has a very busy profession himself, took over and our home has now made its biggest progress in these last 2 months because we saw no progress from Chris. As of then, Chris washed his hands of the project...doing next to nothing to get things done. If it were in his hands, we'd be in the same situation--our home would be an open floorplan with insulation exposed framing with a stack of drywall sitting in the middle of our living room...along with an un-drywalled bedroom, bathroom, and closet addition just like it had been for MONTHS. Chris is only worried about getting payments out of you to fund his 'lifestyle', the numerous vehicles he drives (we'd seen at least 6 different vehicles during our project), and oh! fund a failed attempt at becoming the Mayor of Chino. We started to pay workers directly because it became very clear that his workers were not being paid! So once we handled it, we saw progress they weren't making under MKB. However, Chris always blamed the worker for being a no show and constantly disrespected them by bad mouthing them calling them monkeys or claiming they were all the same with all their drama. The subcontractors never faltered with us when we dealt with them directly--and through the course of the project, we learned a lot about this 'company' and how many subcontractors went unpaid for work they completed. Various times, contractors attempted to collect payment from us when Chris was supposed to pay and yet they threatened to put a lien on our home and when our garage door was installed by a reputable business (which had excellent reviews on Yelp!) even they eventually had to text us letting us know that payment had been not been received weeks after the garage door had been installed. Contrary to what all these 'excellent reviews' state, he does not finish projects on time, does not meet deadlines, doesn't care to have inspections completed, doesn't pay his workers and won't finish your job altogether. Chris isn't looking for the next client, he's looking for the next victim--stating himself 'once people see more 5 star reviews, they forget all about the ones that are rated poorly.' How can such a successful business not have the funds to pay his subcontractors--or have their checks denied due to prior bounced checks? Business name changes to cover up-- MKB, Monarch Kustom Build, Monarch Kitchen & Bath, Crystal Cove Construction, Hutchinson Construction, Maxwell's or whatever name the company is going by these days. Remodeling your home is stressful enough, why deal with all this unnecessary drama? Take some time to do your research, the negative reviews are the harsh truth about this business-- *google is your friend*. Shame on those of you who are helping him by fabricating a review, what do you gain out of it? Meanwhile, he gains thousands of dollars from people who are victimized by him. Chris is a compulsive liar, immature and an overall fraud. I understand that these types of projects come with many bumps along the road, but I refuse to refer anyone to someone who is looking to take you for what you've got. Should you have any questions, please contact me as I will be more than happy to share our experience.

I hired MKB to remodel 2 bathrooms in our condo back in 2017. I worked with Brett and had quite a horrible experience. I was so angry and frustrated by the end of it that I just wanted to forget about the whole experience. However, I am back 4 years later to leave a review because surprise surprise... the quality of work is not up to par and it continues to plague me up to today. 1. A tiler named Dave was hired and he was fantastic- did a great job with our master bathroom. However, due to scheduling, Dave wasn't available to do the tiling for our guest bathroom. That's totally fine, as long as you get someone who is competent. When I came home after work and saw the bathroom, my heart sank. It looked like I had done it myself, and let's just say there's a reason I hired professionals in the first place. I had to make a big fuss about the tiles for Brett to fix it and even today, I still get irritated looking at the uneven tiles. Also the grout around the tiles are flaking off. See pictures. Pictures of tiles are AFTER I made Brett "fix" them. 2. The towel bar Brett installed fell off after 3 years. See picture. 3. The general attitude Brett had throughout the entire remodel process was horrific. 4 years on and I still recall him saying that he will never do a remodel in our apartment building ever again- our HOA is a nightmare to work with so I get it but still very unprofessional. I had to remind him constantly throughout the process that I am a paying customer because the way he handled any and all requests/questions was inappropriate (I.e. bemoaning extra work that I had agreed to pay extra for or extra work to fix mistakes his team had made like the tiling). He also forgot to let my cat out of our guest room multiple times after he left, which... well if you have a cat you'll know His Majesty was not pleased. Other things I remember include his team locking the wrong lock that I had specifically told him not to lock because only he and I had the key (my roommate wasn't able to get in after work), not replacing the keys in the lockbox, etc. 4. The finishing overall is poor everywhere. We also got them to remove a wet bar (apartment was built in the 70s), and they didn't bother smoothing out the ceiling. A bunch of outlets were left without covers, made holes in the wall and either didn't bother fixing it because it was "hidden" (inside the closet due to layout of apartment) or just put a cheap looking, poorly fitting plastic cover over. Just overall a pretty shit experience. Considering the fact that we paid close to $50K for everything, I can only say I am very disappointed and am now very apprehensive about doing any kind of remodeling. I would approach any project with this company with similar apprehension if I were you.