Granite Transformations

The good news: The product came out just beautiful. The kitchen countertops and backsplash are very attractive and, we hope, long lasting. Likewise, the two bathrooms we updated really pop. Some of their surfaces use recycled materials which is even better for the planet. Really nice job, except for…
The bad news: The speed of the job, and overall customer service, were simply atrocious. We signed our contract in late September, 2013. After about a dozen visits, revisits and reschedules, the product «fix it/​punch list» was finally done in March, 2014. That is nearly six months of hassles, re-do’s, screw ups and agony. Simply unbelievable that «old» work is given such low priority. The major problem seems to stem from a desire to get customers signed up (to help justify their massive marketing expenses?), and then, once they’re committed/​locked in, put them in a queue lasting literally months.
Then there was the work process. Despite their diligent work of vacuuming as they cut and sawed, the entire house ended up having every surface (including the walls/​doors/​etc.) covered in fine dust. After several days of this I began to investigate what was going on. I was shocked when they turned on their Shop-​Vac on day 3 or 4 – a huge cloud of dust came billowing out. Why? Because their Shop-Vac’s filter was both fully clogged and only partially installed, and they hadn’t bother to install a bag. Where did they find such amazingly unobservant and/​or uncaring staff? I was almost speechless that they didn’t notice this after days of work – they were breathing this stuff! I loaned them my Shop-​Vac (with an installed filter AND bag) to use.
Of greater concern, we fully trusted their estimator as we’d never done a remodel before. Bummer that he made major design errors with the master bathroom shower, which resulted in a far too-​small shower entry. Furthermore, the «cuts» left for the door installation were incorrect, in addition to other problems. Thus, we then added another few months of delays, plus a surprise upcharge of ~$ 1k on our $ 20k project, one that I feel was purely their fault, but that I paid simply to ensure that they’d come back and finish the other «re-do’s» and rework. (And this was after they had already billed my credit card for the full $ 20k; that was a shocker considering they had so much work yet to be done.) Which leads me to a…
Major tip: DO NOT SIGN ANY DOCUMENTS stating the project is «satisfactory» or complete until the project is 100% done. At the end of various stages it appears that you’re just signing something that suggests they were there for the day. NOT TRUE! Signing those documents somehow states that you’re satisfied with the project. Doing this appears to slide your project’s status to «we’ll get around to finishing the ‘re-do’s’ when it’s convenient» status. Perhaps that might explain the six months it took to finish this project? Even more of a surprise, on one of their return visits, one that had been scheduled for weeks, ended up with a «no show» that we weren’t told about until several hours after the appointment and after at least 4 phone calls to their office. (No answers. Then: «We’ll get back to you.» Then: «He’ll call you in 5 minutes.» Didn’t happen. Finally: «Our other project ran over.») How nice to let us know after pretty much another full day had been wasted. And there was an «attitude» that came with the excuses, as if it was too much to ask for them to show when promised, since, well, this is «construction» you know. .. .
Sorry to be so negative, but that’s what we endured.
In closing, the only reasons they didn’t get 1 star was because the products seem to be of high quality and they came out looking great, and they worked hard (but SLOWLY) to make it right. In the end, the service aspect was simply unacceptable by just about any standard. Perhaps they’ll get better? I sure hope so. In the interim, I’d get estimates from other contractors for comparison, and be sure to get some references as well (and ask those references «How long did you project take to complete?»).
Good luck!