Construction Artz

TLDR: Buyer beware - we got ghosted two months in! We are planning a major kitchen remodel, initially targeting April 2025. I found Said on Consumers Checkbook and had really high hopes for him based on the 7 positive reviews he had here at the time. He came over on Jan 11. He was pleasant, seemed very knowledgeable and, like one of those other reviews said, started drafting a quote for us right then and there, without me even asking for it. It was an extremely low ball quote - 15K for an entire kitchen remodel, including knocking down two walls, moving a window, and moving all appliances. One of the reasons it was so low is that he suggested that we forgo permits and inspections. We were uneasy with that idea, because of the large scope of the project, and in the end we settled on the option where we’d pull the plumbing and electrical permits as homeowners, and he’d only pull the building permit. He has a GC license, but not plumbing or electrical, which is why he can’t pull those two permits and seems reluctant to work with permits in general. Side note: He was also trying to talk us out of using IKEA cabinets and being condescending about it. He was not alone in that - a few other contractors had similar reactions. For anyone still reading, IKEA kitchens are very different from IKEA closets or other furniture. They have a 25 year warranty on their kitchen cabinets and use Blum hardware, which is the best cabinet hardware worldwide. That’s why their kitchen drawers are so amazingly smooth. And that’s why a lot of high-end designers use IKEA cabinets but just replace the doors and drawer fronts with a different style that they are looking for. So don’t be discouraged if a contractor tells you that IKEA cabinets are garbage. They just don’t know and mainly just don’t want to deal with a slightly different installation process. And yes, their assembly is a pain in the you-know-what, but you can just assemble them yourself, which is what we are doing. Unless you are going with custom cabinets, and that’s obviously a completely different scenario. Back to our saga with Said. We were collecting multiple quotes, but the other 6 quotes came in significantly higher. So by Jan 17 I was happy to inform Said that we’d chosen him. I was really excited to work with him, based on the low price, the great reviews and the positive first impression he gave us. We spoke on the phone and agreed to meet at his place, so that we could take a look at some of his carpentry work before we sign the official proposal. We were also toying with the idea of having him make the drawer fronts for all our base cabinets, to have them be made of solid wood. We went over to his place on Jan 19. The visit was lovely, we got to see his workshop and his home, and met his wife and two adorable little children. We printed out and brought over the permit forms that the town of Herndon requires and went over them with Said. Everything seemed good. He recommended a countertop fabricator - wonderful. After we got back home I sent him an email asking for the official proposal. This was Jan 19. For the next two weeks it was radio silence. Since his initial paper quote was so much lower than we had expected, in those two weeks I started thinking of what else we could do to improve the kitchen with the freed up budget, and realized that we can significantly widen the window over the future sink. I found the window that I wanted, but it would not arrive in the US till April, which means that we’d need to postpone the kitchen remodel till May. On Feb 4 I called him and told him about that idea. He said he could not move us to May since he already had someone else scheduled, but offered us June instead. Cool. He did not seem too thrilled about installing European tilt-and-turn windows though, since apparently he hadn’t worked with those before. Another side note: European windows. If you’ve ever experienced one I don’t need to convince you of anything. If you haven’t though… It’s not just about the tilting and the turning; that part is nice but is not a must-have for me. But the strength, smoothness and overall quality of European windows is not just “superior” to any American window; it’s in a different league altogether. Your quality of experience operating that window vs. any regular Andersen, Pella, or what have you, American window is the same as the difference between operating a buttery smooth IKEA kitchen drawer vs. an old rickety wooden drawer that you may have encountered at your grandparents’ somewhere… If you haven't tried European windows it’s something that is very difficult to explain; you just have to experience it. Back to Said again. I could tell from that phone call on Feb 4 that he didn’t want to deal with the European window, but overall he still wanted to work with us; otherwise he wouldn’t have offered to move us to June, right? If he had told me in that conversation that he could only work with us in April and no other month, I would have abandoned the whole European window idea. But alas, he did not. He acted like it was no problem to move us to June, but he just didn’t want to deal with that window install. Ok, cool. I started looking for someone else to install the window ahead of the kitchen remodel. Found that contractor, ordered the window - no problem. Said went radio silence again though. No word from him for 10 days. I texted him Feb 14 to follow up and asked if we could talk on the phone - no response. Called him on Feb 18 and, almost to my surprise, he picked up. We proceeded to have a normal conversation (also somewhat surprising, because things were beginning to feel a little weird by then with his communication pattern); he said that we are good with June. I told him that we’ve ordered the cabinets and are about to start assembling them. I asked if he could build a custom vent hood. He said no problem, he’s built those before - I just had to send him the exact design I had in mind. I asked for the proposal again, for the Nth time. He said sure - just send me the hood design and all final details in an email. Great. I sent him the email as soon as we hung up on Feb 18, and then… you guessed it - crickets… I followed up by text again on Feb 26 - no response. My husband followed up by email Feb 27 - no response. On Feb 28 my husband called him; Said picked up, said sorry, he’s been really busy, he’ll try to have the proposal for us by Sunday (Mar 2). On Sunday of course there was no email from Said. We called him again from my husband’s phone on Monday, Mar 3, and the same story again - sorry, he’s been so busy, he’ll send it that evening. We asked - by tomorrow? He said - no, tonight. Cool. And… of course there was no email from him that night. But guess what? The following morning, Mar 4, he finally responded to my email from Feb 18, but not with a proposal, but instead saying that he doesn’t feel comfortable taking the job anymore. !?!?! We are now stuck with a basement full of half-assembled cabinets, a window install contract that we can no longer afford (since like I said the next quote up from Said was significantly higher), and we are back to square one in looking for a kitchen contractor. You may say I was stupid to order the cabinets and the window before I had a signed proposal with Said, and of course I was feeling uneasy about it; that’s why I kept bugging him for it. But I was also thinking - he couldn’t do that to us, not after we’ve been to his house and met his wife and kids, right?.. Wrong. He told us openly when we first met him on Jan 11 that he now has the luxury of choosing his projects and he doesn’t work with people he doesn’t like. Good for him. It’s so ironic though that he then proceeded to give us that super low ball hand-written quote. You’d think that if he didn’t like us he’d give us a really high quote or no quote at all. So, he liked us at first but then changed his mind? (First of all, are we back in high school here? It’s all about who “likes” you and who doesn’t?..) Even if he liked us at first and then changed his mind - is that the way for an adult to do that? To string us along for two months and not even have the spine to tell us. He literally could not even bring himself to say it to my husband to his face in that very last phone conversation on Mar 3. To the last minute he kept saying “I’ll send it tonight, tonight, sorry”. If you made it this far, I’m impressed. :) I guess the moral of the story with Said is - proceed with caution. Get on his good side, try not to upset him, and get the darn proposal from him in writing in the first week, before committing to anything. Don’t assume that just because he presents like such a class act and you know where he lives and met his kids that it will make an ounce of a difference. He can ghost you just as likely as your average flaky contractor out there. Good luck!

Said is very talented, personalible, and qulatiy oriented. Our home is 43 years old. He's been our go-to-guy for over a decade. He's completely remodeled our interior and has done major improvements to the exterior. Most recently he replied our 20'x 16' deck. Superb job while saving us big $$ on materials. He's a great negotiator. He stays very busy without any advertising. It's all recommedations from customers. While working on our deck a customer drove out to our home in Virginia with paperwork for Said to renew his license in DC so he could continue to work for them. He had decided to not work in DC anymore, but accommodated his customer.

Said did an amazing renovation of our bathroom, kitchen, and updated the look throughout our 1980's townhouse. His attention to detail was superior and if he encountered any unforeseen issues, his advice was spot-on with appropriate solutions. He was also very helpful with advice on the quality of specific fixtures he has had good experience with in the past and told us some to avoid. Said's pricing is reasonable and he was extremely dependable, arriving every morning on time and finished the job quickly. We love the new look of the house and would use him again for any future projects.