City:Wide Kitchens and Baths review: Remodel

City Wide Kitchens and Baths
Harper’s Station, 11377 Montgomery Rd.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45249
[protected]

Some of many Issues faced while remodeling 2 upstairs bathrooms- June 18-Sept. 18, 2008.

1. We feel that we had to provide constant on site supervision to identify mistakes and errors that contractors who are more professional would not have made or would have identified without our having to point them out.

2. By having both baths done at the same time we were promised a 2 – 2 ½ weeks completion. It took 3 months and we were without the use of any upstairs bath facilities for almost 2 months. We scheduled new hardwood floors installed downstairs for the week after City Wide’s work was to be finished so that toilets, tubs, etc. would not be brought in over our new floors. City Wide was not finished for an additional 2 months after the floor work began.

2. Both bathrooms were completely flooded on three separate occasions with water running through the ceiling into the lower level of our home. The upstairs hall carpet and pad were soaked and ripped up to contain one flood, requiring replacement at our expense. On another occasion, we had to call the plumber’s attention to a leak into the lower level as he was preparing to leave.

3. The master bath plumbing rough-ins and electrical outlet boxes were installed incorrectly. They were corrected only after owner identified errors. We had to repaint several time after work was supposedly finished, when corrections required additional wall or ceiling repairs.

4. The plumber put several holes through the bathroom wall into the hallway damaging the hall wallpaper beyond repair. Their insurance will cover replacement but we had to buy the wallpaper and hire someone to do the work – more hassle, more mess, more time.

5. The wrong hall bath base cabinet, hall marble sink top and medicine cabinets for both baths were delivered and installed. We ordered oval mirrors for both baths but got rectangular mirrors. We allowed the hall base cabinet to stay with the promise of a discount, the counter top and medicine cabinets were replaced but we had no choice about accepting the wrong mirrors.

6. Tile work in the Hall bath was not done to plans but we were forced to accept the finished product, although very unhappy. There were numerous other examples of poor communication, errors, omissions, and rework that should not have happened.

We met with the company representative a month into the project and went over many of the problems we incurred. She apologized profusely and promised a significant discount for all the problems and aggravation that we were experiencing. That discount of about 4%, coming only after questioning a final billing at full price, is about what one usually gets for paying cash. That did not even come close to covering replacing the hall carpet.

This 2 ½-week job lasted 3 MONTHS. We were not City Wide’s priority on this $25, 000 plus remodel! They rarely arrived on time – from 1 hour to 6 hours later than promised, often were gone after a an hour or two and frequently did not have the correct parts/tools and had to leave for Home Depot and lunch.
We had to make many calls asking when people were coming and there was definitely poor communications between the workers and the main office. The end job is nice but getting there was a major headache. We will gladly provide details of additional issues we experienced.

Dave and Janice Tirmenstein