Millennium Kitchen & Bath

Obren Lazarevic and his company, Millennium Kitchen & Bath, have remodeled our entire home in a luxury high-​rise condominium on the lake front in downtown Chicago. His bid for the job was very reasonable and the results are beautiful.
Everyone who works for Millennium Kitchen & Bath is a specialized craftsman in some important phase of construction. Obren is a skilled craftsman in all phases of construction. He pays close attention to detail. He makes certain that each job is done right sot that no problem is buried as the work goes on.
In the past, we have worked with many construction contractors. In the end, hiring a contractor comes down to two things: the quality of the work and the character of the worker. Obren’s work is great and his word is good. Millennium Kitchen & Bath is the best.

Obren, the owner of «Millennium Kitchen & Bath» was recommended by an upscale kitchen and bath store on Milwaukee Ave. in Niles, IL. If I really told you the entire story, I would need to publish a book called «The Home Remodel From Hell.» But I’ll give you the gist of it.
Obren is very charming and professional when you first meet him and before the contract is signed. That’s his game. Bait and switch. I saw some of his work in person, did my due diligence. After the contract was signed, Obren was totally unresponsive, arrogant and lackadaisical. After a day or two says he’s going on vacation. Sure he is, with the 25K I put down for the initial deposit. There was no mention of a «family vacation» — which lasted two weeks — as we discussed his schedule before the work started. This would turn out to be the first of many bad omens.
Obren does not have a steady crew, he hires «day laborers» with absolutely no experience to do his work on the cheap. I found out he was paying them $ 10 an hour — for my $ 81,000 remodel job?! You know you’re in trouble when the same guy who throws the construction debris in the dumpster is the same guy installing your custom cabinets and painting your walls. (Hint, he had one guy paint the ceilings — streaks everywhere — had to have it totally redone.)
Obren also said I would be his only job. As it turned out he had a couple others on the side, some days he would not show up at all, or send of his his $ 10 per guys who usually didn’t know what to do without Obren’s direct supervision.
Once Obren had the whole place gutted, I commented that the mitering didn’t look right on the (very expensive) custom crown molding — there was a huge gap that was noticeable to everyone. Obren said, «I could just leave right now and never come back. I don’t need to put up with this, you’re too picky and if you try to sue me, trust me, the contractor always wins and the home owner always loses.» These were his exact words.
At this point he had his first and second payment already, so instead of losing my cool, I played to his inflated ego and said, oh, let’s not get into a fight, I just want my home to looks its best and I know you can do it, you’re so talented, yada, yada, yada. I laid it on thick and he bought it lock, stock and barrel. What was I to do? I was between a rock and brick wall.
There are so many things that were done either incorrectly or he took the easy way out. For instance, he painted my garage –floors included — but didn’t seal it. Of course the first time it got wet all the paint peeled off and it was like walking on an ice rink. When his worker said, «we need to seal this» Obren said, «Are you going to pay for it?» He would say that to his crew routinely when they would notice something that wasn’t right or that he was cutting the corners on…“Are you going to pay for it?” There were new people all the time because he would constantly fire people for not agreeing with him. His electrician didn’t speak a word of English and didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing. It literally took him a week to install a door bell!
Then there was the «everything you want is included» and we discussed every detail. But after the job started, this was extra, that was extra, EVERYTHING was EXTRA.
Obren wanted to be paid in full, before the job was complete. I said, no. He leaned on my granite counter-​top and said,” this counter top is mine, this kitchen is mine,” and other bizarre statements of that nature. I told him it’s my house and my things and when he’s finished with the job, he will get paid, but not a day before. He said he was behind paying his workers and that I should understand. Not my problem, I said. (Mind you, he bought a fancy new sports car a week or so after I gave him his second payment of 40K.) Then he said, fine, I quit. And I said, okay, there’s the door (90% of the work was complete at that point). He wouldn’t leave. I said, you just quit, leave. He just stood there giving me the death stare. «Leave or I’m calling 911.» I finally had to say. On his way out he was dilly dallying in my garage and when I went out there to see what he was up to, I saw he had my extension cord in his van claiming he was cleaning up on his way out. Cleaning up, indeed.
He also had his cabinet guy (Piotr– Wood & Art Furniture Corp) stop by to say he was fixing an imperfection in my door and would refinish the door and bring it back the next day. The door was «held hostage» for many months until we finally settled via an attorney.
Most people have no clue what they are getting into when they start a home remodel. In all honesty, it’s not worth it in most cases. Plan on it taking twice as long and twice as much as you wanted to spend. I *GUARANTEE* it.
If you’re brave enough, and do hire a GC, go over that contract with a fine tooth comb. Good luck, you will need it.