Lakefront Developers

We hired Lakefront Developers to renovate our tiny high rise bathroom. They had said that our project would take two weeks. The bathroom was fairly functional after three weeks, but we have had continuous problems with the work since. We are now into month (not week) five of our bathroom renovation.
The former co-​owner of the company, Dave and a sub-​contractor did the bulk of the manual labor, but the quality did not meet our expectations. For example, they cut an opening in a wall to recess an old cabinet that was perhaps two feet tall and several inches wide. When that plan did not work out, Dave asked if he could place a different cabinet in front of the giant opening without repairing the wall. I, of course, told him he had to repair the wall. When I checked back, the new cabinet was up. I looked behind it, and the wall was simply plugged with a piece of sheet rock. Yet, the sheet rock was not flush with the wall, spackled, or painted. Another really big problem was that water came out of the showerhead and the tub spout at the same time. Dave and his employees claimed that this was normal. After three days of arguing about this, I finally called the manufacturer of the parts who was able to identify the problem. Dave bought a new part, and sure enough! The diverter suddenly worked properly.
Toward the end of the first two weeks, I put together daily punch lists of things that had not been completed and items that had been completed improperly. These lists were generally over twenty items long. Dave was not receptive to the lists, but Emily had a higher commitment to quality. This meant that Dave and Emily did not see eye-​to-​eye, and right in the middle of our project, Dave left the company.
This scared us. We did not know what was going to happen with our project, but Emily stayed on board. The one positive thing I can say about Lakefront Developers is that Emily was responsive. Things did not always work out very well, but she returned our texts, phone calls, and emails. She hired a couple of different subcontractors after Dave left to fix things such as the hot/​cold handle in the shower, which gave us plenty of cold but almost no hot water, and chipped laminate on the vanity. Recently, the towel rack was loose. It took several visits (I think nine.) to get it repaired. When they reinstalled a new version of the same towel rack, they placed it a bit higher on the wall. Therefore, they needed to repair the wall where the first towel rack had been attached, but in their attempt to do so, they actually made it worse. In addition, the paint job was shoddy. The subcontractor had bought a new paint roller, and I do not think he washed it before he used it. When I told Emily this, she sent me a series of text messages, which I deemed unprofessional, telling me that I was wasting my time by telling her what to do, that she knows her job, that she can handle her subcontractors, and that her work ethic is as high as they come. I was not impressed at all.
The contractors and subcontractors were also continuously late by 30, 60, 90 minutes or more, often without letting us know they were going to be late. Most recently, a subcontractor was supposed to come out to fix the drywall they damaged by moving the towel rack. At first, they were supposed to be here at 8:00 AM… then between 9:30 AM an 10:00 AM… and then 4:00 PM. After 3:30 PM, I was notified that Emily had been in a car accident. There was no word on the subcontractor, but he did not show up at 4:00 PM. It was quite a story, and unfortunately, we had a hard time believing it.
We paid on schedule and paid in full, but we have not received a detailed receipt that lists all of the products purchased on our behalf. We want this detailed receipt for warranty purposes. Lakefront Developers offers a warranty on their work for one year, but some of the parts probably have much longer manufacturer warranties. At first, Emily said she would provide a detailed receipt. Then, she said she would not because she does not know everything that was purchased, partially do to the breakup with her former partner. (I question this since she must need the receipts for accounting and tax purposes.) She actually told me to go on the website of a big box store to look up the products myself. When I brought the detailed receipt up again at a later date, she said she would get it to us, but this still has not happened.
For the enormous amount of money we paid to remodel a bathroom that is smaller than many walk-​in closets, we expected plumbing to work properly the first time around. We expected a beautiful room that would look nice enough to be in a magazine, and we expected expert professionalism with a smile. Lakefront Developers disappointed us. We are now pursuing other avenues to bring this remodel to a close, and we will not hire them again.

I worked with Dave in the past and was happy with his work. However, Dave is now retired. I asked them to paint my ceiling and it has taken over 2 weeks now and it’s still not done. The first time they painted, they didn’t use drop cloths everywhere so I have paint splatter all over my floors. Also, I could see every roller mark on the ceiling — it looked like crap. I emailed Emily about the issues I saw (after giving it a couple days to make sure I wasn’t seeing things) and the email back was rather accusatory — «I didn’t see any roller marks» and «we used drop cloths and I didn’t see spatter», as if I was lying. She came back to check it out and, sure enough, admitted they didn’t use drop cloths everywhere — just in most places. They were supposed to repaint the ceiling this past Monday around 9AM. I got a text around noon that they couldn’t do it that day any longer, how about Friday? Today is Friday and I just get a text that they ran out of paint so they have to finish on Monday. Very unprofessional — you should know how much paint you need to repaint the ceiling you already painted!