Beach

OK...I live in Va. I found a great house on the water at a steal and bought it about 150K behind assessment. Between selling the old house at the top of the market and some cash we are almost debt free in this house...

House needed a face lift bad...1979 throughout...nothing really done to it since new...4800sf...closed Jan 15th, moved in 1 Feb and painter arrived 5 Feb for an interior paint...

Kitchen was horrible...tiny for a house of its size,boxed in, non vented electric stove and years of neglect...decided to start here and in the spring move outside for a hardscape and pool refurb...

Got a very competent General Contractor, very dependable one-two man operation who has consistently delivered exceptional workmanship, on time and almost always on budget (LOL)...

We decided to take out an L shaped wall to open up the tiny formal dining room, the living room and kitchen into one big common area with the kitchen as the center piece...budget was estimated to be about $60K, we then consulted a kitchen designer and came up with a very nice layout and design.

Appliances were to be GE Monogram exclusively, 48" 6 burner range with grill, 30" double ovens, Trivection Microwave, 48" Built In Fridge, Warming drawer and Dishwasher...

Cabinets were to be of a Shaker/Mission style in Quarter Sawn Oak and stained a deep walnut...

Counter Tops were to be Granite...Seinna Bordeaux about 102 Sq Feet of counter top in all...Granite guy came highly recommended and he was also a one stop shop for cabinets as well...sounded like a win-win...during the bidding process he stated he could get a very nice imported "box" cabinet in all hardwoods (Portugal) for @ $12K OR he had an exceptional cabinet maker across the street he had been dealing with for years whom would make my kitchen cabinets a truly custom job for @ $15K...after some changes to the cabinets (options) the price rose to $17K and after some haggling we came back down to almost $16K...on March 6th 2009 a 50% deposit was made on the cabinets with a 4-6 week completion date...3rd week of April...Cool...I'd rather keep the money locally, a cabinet guy is slow due to the housing market and the economy...I'm patriotic...lets keep it local, hire a local guy, keep the $$$$ in the local economy vs over seas and get a better product too...Right?

Early April comes and due to some problems with a structural beam we tell them that we are behind a little...cabinet maker says that's good because he is too...set a date for cabinet set on 1 May...I walk into cabinet makers shop on 1 May to let him know I'm ready for cabinets...cabinet maker looks like he's seen a ghost...turns white, starts stuttering excuses and I look around and ask where are my cabinets...he had done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING...the Qtr Sawn Oak was still laying in a pile on his racks...I go BALLISTIC...go to my Stone Guy (whom I had the purchase order with, cab guy was a sub to him) I calm down and we have a meeting...comes out he's been taking small side jobs and getting some cash flow vs completing my job...I am assured he will expedite and he'll be working day and night to pump these cabinets out...2 weeks and I'll be happy...PERIOD...

Today is June 11th almost 6 weeks after our meeting...

I have 5 single spaced type written pages documenting the absolutely AMATEURISH job he has done on my cabinets...I have been so mad so long I'm almost over it...

BTW...once he installed the lowers, 5 weeks late I had the granite templated and installed...GRANITE IS NOTHING SHORT OF SUPERB....

Some of this professionals mistakes,

1. Mismatched stiles, some too low, some just the wrong damned size, 2.5" butted to next to 3" and mismatched as well.
2. Stain not even close, one cabinet blond butted up next to dark walnut. I have about 14 identifiable shades so far.
3. Cabinet doors bowed and warped.
4. Taking a sawsall to butcher the bracing so the sink would fit after he had the sink specs in hand and the sink to mock it up.
5. 48" Opening for range top inaccurately cut (he had specs to oven in hand)
6. When he finally brought lowers to set he set them in the wrong places and then proceeded to cut electrical outlet holes into the back of them with a jig saw and completely butchered them.
7. Lacquer finish is horrible on almost all panels (he blames humidity, Weather was beautiful back when he was supposed to be making them, hot and muggy now).
8. Horrible job installing kicks.
9. I still don't have a single drawer installed.
10. Of about 20 I have only 4 cabinet doors so far and 3 of them are (see #3)

I can go on AND ON AND ON...

I've had two other cabinet makers come in to estimate what its going to take to "fix this mess" one says at least $8K for him to completely strip every face to original wood, replace any oak ply faces as they cant be stripped and then refinish to a consistent stain color and there's still some doubt as to the end product, no guarantees...the other says let him rip out ever cabinet and start over with new cabinets all while trying to salvage $12K worth of granite and re-install it

What should I do? Upon completion, when he finally does deliver all of the rest of it I contractually owe them the other 50%...

Should I lawyer up? WWYD? Would Would You Do?

I've got a $850K house with trailer park cabinets...

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"Get the US the Hell out of the UN, then get the UN the Hell out of the US"

cgrand

what does your contract say?

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RI Builder

What does your contract say - specifically around acceptance. Seems odd to me that these were installed, then the countertop templated and installed before this becam an issue.

The uppers should have gone in first, so any workmanship issues should have been noticable at that time.

Be prepared for the line of - "You let them be installed, therefore you accepted them"

Any pictures so we can see exactly how bad these are?

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Move along, nothing to see here.

Contractor

Like the others have said.....what does your contract say?

Any kind of termination clause in it?

I am also a little confused on who your contract is with. You mention a general contractor, but it seems as if you contracted with the cabinet guy direct.

Beach

I mentioned the GC because he is a awesome and GC sometimes get a bad rap...I contracted with the Stone Guy who "subbed" the cabinets out to the Pro he recommended on the premise that he would babysit the job and work hand in hand in getting me the best product for my $$$

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"Get the US the Hell out of the UN, then get the UN the Hell out of the US"

Jaime Lyn

Broom the cabinet guy, take the 8k you still owe him and hire someone who can meet your expectations and have them remedy the situation.
If you have photo/documented these issues, (in the event of a lawsuit) it should be easy to justify your actions. Sounds to me your contract for granite and cabinets is with the "stone guy". The buck should stop there.
Have you paid the stone dude in full for the granite?

billinstuart

I know every area is different, but almost no one shop builds quality cabinets here. My wife and I own a kitchen showroom. We have several lines (factories) that build custom/semi-custom and provide finishes that a small shop can't produce and comply with EPA requirements. The quality is far superior to what a small shop can provide.

Time for an attorney, and new cabinets from a major manufacturer.

BTW, I ALWAYS set the lowers first, so I can get the top templated and production begun as soon as possible.

Lemke

Did you hire an architect? How many bids did you get? Did you get any references?

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Kencraft 250 w/Optimax 225

"Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and I'll be gone all weekend!"

Garett

Of coarse this is all in hind-sight, why did you install the counter top when the lowers were so bad??? I hope for your sake the counter isn't fully installed with back splash. If your lowers need to be replaced there is always a good chance your counter top will get fried while trying to remove it.

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240 LTS

Simply put: Do you have installed what you agreed to IN WRITING?
Can you point to the difference between the drawings and scope and what you have installed. If the answer is a clear "Yes" then they did not deliver their end of the contract.
It is a good idea to keep relationships strictly professional when biding, during construction, up till acceptance and payment of the project. Then a personal relationship can take place.
35 years of commercial construction and I have seen very nice people change in a heart beat.

gf

Sorry to hear about your cabinets. I would start over from scratch.

However, you paid $12,000 for 102 square feet of granite? Not only did he not do you any favors by recommending the cabinet guy, but I would say the stone guy bent you over pretty bad too.

606zpx

I am really sorry to hear your troubles.

I am also a bit curious why the counter proceeded if you were unhappy with the lowers. I would not have allowed templating to go forward if I was not happy with the lowers.

Anyways.....hard to say the right course from here forward. If you truly had he countertop guy sub out the cabinet work then it seems like you need to be dealing directly with the countertop guy and put him on notice about your dissatisfaction and that you will not pay balance unless satisfied. No sense having them continue to work on the uppers (with further shoddy work) and surprise them.

I fear that you will end up terminating the contract, having another shop fix the wrongs and hopefully still salvage your countertop. So it sounds like you paid $120/sqft for the countertop which is on the upper end....I just hope you dont lose this while sorting out the lowers.

Hopefully in a couple few months you will look back and laugh.

606zpx

Also wondering about your $60k project cost

$17k cabinets
$12k counters
$10k++ appliances

Balance $15-20 which has not accounted for plumbing, flooring, construction costs, addition of venting, minor electric work, lighting, fixtures (sink, faucet, disposal, etc). Look out for running over budget.