Austin Kitchen & Bath

Oh, how I wish this could have gone better!
Two stars only because our experience started off great. We were checking out different vendors for updates to a duplex we just purchased and randomly stopped by the store while driving down Burnet. Kenyon was very helpful at first and was very up front about telling us that we needed to think more about what design would be functional for us and what brands are the most cost efficient for what we needed.
After about a week or so, we went back to their office to place our order, and they directed us to go to a granite yard to pick out our countertops. That went well, and that is when we met Rick. That same day, we asked for a final quote, based on the countertop we picked and the cabinet style we wanted. Rick and Kenyon called back that day to make some adjustments based on the kitchen layout and promised to send out a quote that day or the next day. Our goal was to place our order on Monday in order to get the ball running as soon as possible.
It has been almost a week. We’ve called the office almost every day and have left multiple messages. We finally stopped by a few days ago, and the quote they provided somehow jumped by over 1k since the last time we spoke, with no explanation why. When we asked for a detailed layout, they requested that we sign a contract first before committing to do the drawing since «that takes up a lot of time.»
Kenyon, who we originally worked with, is now nowhere to be found. When we call, he is never there. We leave messages that never get returned. Rick is always in and out of the office, which is frustrating because he seems to be the big decision maker there and is rarely there to make a decision.
I’m giving them two stars for the decent experience we had in the beginning, but the follow through left a lot to be desired.
I really hate situations where I have to leave a negative review for a local business, but I think it’s pertinent for customers to be treated with at least a modicum of decency, especially when they can easily go to a bigger, probably cheaper company.

Where do I begin?! Rick Spears and his crew are amazing! After a terrible experience with a contractor with whom we had a great experience the first two jobs there was no way on earth he was going to be asked back to remodel our master bath. To say we suffered from Post Traumatic Remodel Disorder would be an understatement but the time had come and our postage stamp of a bathroom had to go. With some trepidation I called Austin Kitchen & Bath. I arranged a time for Rick to come and look at the project. He was amazing! He offered many suggestions and options I would never have thought of and many were ways to reduce some of our costs. His crew was timely, clean and went above and beyond. The best example of this was while we were out of town for my niece’s wedding. Thanks in part to our previous contractor, the water line to our refrigerator broke. Rick’s guy, Scott, was working back in the back of the house and started hearing a funny noise but couldn’t really identify it and assumed it was coming from outside. Thankfully, his curiosity got the best of his and he went to figure out what it was and saw water running out of the kitchen into the hallway on my new hardwood floors. Scott literally took off his shirt and whatever else he could to start mopping up the mess. He called Rick and he and his sweet wife came and started cleaning up the water, put big industrial fans out and did their best to mitigate any damage. Did I say this was on a Sunday! While we were out of town! He waited to call to tell me about it as to not ruin our trip to Hawaii but also to make sure I knew prior to arriving back at the house. We did have to replace some flooring because of water damage but had it not been for Scott and the fact that they wanted to work while we were gone to stay on schedule and lessen our disruption we would have been remodeling a remodeling job that was 6 months old!
All that aside… Our bathroom is MARVELOUS!!! And on budget to the penny! Not nickel and dimed to death like our previous contractor.
I will be using him again in the next few months to replace our front doors and any other project we ever need. We are customers for life!

I should have written this review months ago. Apologies for slowness. My quality… certainly can not say the same for Rick Sparks and Austin Kitchen and Bath. Once I emailed Rick about my remodeling needs, he responded immediately.
I was in the middle of remodeling 2 bathrooms, kitchen and various other upgrades in my home. When the contractor I was working with started on the baths, I was worried and less than confident that the job would be done correctly and professionally.
Rick came right over and assessed the situation frankly and provided great advice. He was able to work skillfully with the existing contractor and was sensitive to my needing him (current contractor) to stay happy and finish up projects already in the works.
I had Rick remove a bathtub and replace it with a walk-​in shower and re-​tile the 2^nd bath (the other contractor had done a sloppy job). His crew always arrived on time and Rick checked in on the work multiple times each day… except for one. Turns out he was hospitalized (emergency), but showed up the very next day when he probably should have been resting and recovering. Now that is dedication!
It was a pleasure working with Rick and his crew. They all went the extra mile to make sure the work was being done according to my wishes. Took the time to communicate thoroughly and left the site extremely clean each day.
I love my bathrooms and will certainly call on Austin Kitchen and Bath the next time I have a home upgrade project.
Thanks Austin Kitchen & Bath!

I *love* my new kitchen! Rick and his crew were professional, prompt, and skilled. They turned my old galley kitchen into a thing of beauty, and came in right on budget. Rick helped me with answers to many, many questions, and his crew were so polite and professional it was hard to believe they didn’t work for ME, personally. Rick himself pitched right in, as well. He took my ideas and made them into a dream come true. I’ll call him again for the bathroom remodel!

We’ve remodeled our house from top to bottom, using over 10 contractors, and the only one I recommend without hesitation is Rick at Austin Kitchen and Bath. He and his crew did a BEAUTIFUL job on our kitchen. They can do it all! They removed walls, helped us with the space planning, installed everything and made it all the centerpiece of the whole house. We had a tight timeline over the holidays and Rick and his guys worked diligently all through the holidays to make it happen. Not only is the work great, but what really sets Rick apart is that he finalizes all the details from the outset. He puts a tremendous amount of time into a bid, so you can work out all the details up front. This eliminates a lot of the confusion or drama that can happen with other contractors. Rick builds beautiful kitchens without all the drama that can come with a remodel. We ran into one scheduling issue when the granite supplier was closed between Christmas and New Years. Rick asked us if we wanted to get granite somewhere else, or wait until after the 1^st. We opted to get granite at another supplier in town, costing Rick much more, and he didn’t complain at all. He just wanted us to be happy with the result and the timeline. He also built a beautiful custom vanity for our guest bath for us. Excellent craftsmanship!

Almost a year after he finished, I called Rick because of 3 small issues, an electrical switch, some discolored grout on the shower floor, and an issue with the shower door. He had his people come back and fix all the problems, at no charge. Probably didn’t take 30 mins to fix all of them, but still… I consider that pretty great service!

After searching for more than a year for a contractor to redo our master bath, we found Austin Kitchen and Bath, among several others. The bid we received surprised us because the others had been so much higher. We looked at pictures of work Rick and his team had done and evaluated his responses to our questions and design.
Rick provided sound advice when we expressed concerned with safety issues of our design and made recommendations for changes that came within our budget allowance for the work.
We are MORE than pleased, delighted and satisfied with the beautiful work of Rick and his team. We are using him again for another project and have recommended Austin Kitchen & Bath to our neighbors and friends. If there were more stars available our recommendation would be even higher.

Yep, business must be booming, because like Tera, after unreturned emails and two voicemails, Rick never contacted me again. He came out promptly, listened to my ideas, took measurements, and even told me sometimes it can be hard to contact him, but this is ridiculous. I’ll find someone else to give my money to.

Apparently business is good, because I’m ready for project # 2 and 3 which we discussed during the first project and even took measurements for… but 1 online submission, 2 emails and 1 voicemail later, I still have no response. Bummer! Guess I start from scratch…

I did not think we would be calling Rick so soon, but…
We found that old lumpy carpet and wheelchairs/​walkers do not mix. We made the decision that the carpet had to come out in the master bedroom, so we called Rick and got a quote for a vinyl floating floor. This is not our first experience with this type of flooring. We had it installed in our own home after a flood ruined our engineered wood floor. Rick sent me to his supplier to order the flooring under his account (and at his price) then gave us a quote for the installation. We gave him the go ahead, and a few days later, the new floor was installed. It took a couple of days to finish as the bathroom had three closets and a small room for the toilet, which they took up and put back down as part of the job. The floor looks SUPER and both rooms were left debris free. We are all very pleased with the work AND the price. Rick will be the first call we make as soon as time and finances allow more work to be done! Another five star job!