Tallahassee Remodeling & Construction - My StoryWhen it comes to Tallahassee kitchen, bathroom and home remodeling we understand our customers.

The idea for our company began many years ago, as I watched contractors in Tallahassee work on my parent’s kitchen. My parents had saved for many years to build their dream kitchen and were more than excited to see their dreams finally progressing into reality.

At that time I had been working in the construction field for about a year. I was a very fast learner and had a firm grasp on many areas of remodeling basics such as plumbing, electrical, framing, dry wall, etc. My parents interviewed many contractors, some who claimed to be the best and others who claimed they had built hundreds of homes and explained that this job would be a walk in the park for them. Finally after much consideration they chose the contractor who they thought was the man for the job, this assumption could not have been farther from the truth.

The job started with the electrical work. The contractor had told my parents that his electrician (who of course was the best) would be there the following day. He did not show up. This scenario played out for the next week; until finally seven days later the electrician arrived, a week behind schedule and three hours later than he said he would be there. His assignment was simple, install three rows of can lights and additional outlets where needed. For a seasoned electrician, this task would take no more than two days. It took him nearly a month. He would arrive at his convenience, most days in the late afternoon. He would work, or appear to work for a few hours, then call it quits for the night. Meanwhile, my parent’s kitchen had no ceiling and no light for three weeks. To make matters worse we began to notice things that didn’t seem to be right (exposed wires, poorly secured boxes, etc). We eventually hired another electrician to come look over his work. He then had to fix all of his mistakes which wasted even more time.

This is also a good time to mention that the "contractor" who was responsible for supervising this work and honoring his promises had visited the job site all of two times during that month; staying for less than fifteen minutes during his visits. We began to have trouble comprehending how he was able to honor his guarantee and supervise his employees if he was never present. Not surprisingly, he appeared to visit when it was time for one of his contract “draws”; when it was time for him to receive payment according to his contract for work completed. When my parents would ask for explanation of these draws he would become very defensive; his common practice was to threaten to leave the job if he was not given his draws. Scared that the job would not get completed and that they would lose the large deposit they had already given him, my parents blindly continued to tolerate this behavior and hand their hard earned money over to this man.

The next phase of construction would be the framing and plumbing. By this point my parent’s kitchen was completely gutted. No cabinets, no appliances and a living room full of kitchen utensils, plates, etc and one week behind the scheduled completion date with nothing but a few new can lights and outlets to show for it. They were using the sink in their utility room to wash dishes; due to the lack of a kitchen however this was a rare occurrence. Instead  they were forced to spend their time and money eating out most nights. My parent’s goal was to open the kitchen up to the rest of the house. The solution for this was to cut and frame an opening in the wall between the kitchen and the living room. This was the one feature that they were most excited about, and the contractor told them it would be no problem. When the day finally arrived to begin the construction of the opening, to our surprise the electrician showed up. He reassured us that he was not only a master electrician, but also an expert at framing and structural aspects of construction. As it would turn out, he ended up being the expert on pretty much everything during this project and almost single handedly built my parents kitchen.

They started by removing the drywall where the opening into the living room was to be installed. To their surprise, a large drain pipe ran directly across the area where the opening was to be installed. This pipe could not be re-routed and more time was lost. The opening they were promised was not possible. If they had done their research before making this commitment, the contractors would have known that.

Time continued to march on and my parent’s kitchen continued to go unfinished. The job began in July, it was now November. My parents continued to pay the contractor, and continued to have more problems – poor quality workmanship, using the wrong types of materials, etc. The contractor and his workers began to come less and less frequently. Finally a meeting was arranged with the contractor. My parents were beginning to get fed up with the way everything had gone so far and wanted their normal home life back, kitchen included. They met with the contractor, who after requesting even more money promised them they would be eating Christmas dinner in their new kitchen in thirty days. Christmas came, the contractors did not. The job was finally completed in July; one year after the construction began, over budget, severely later then promised and with less than appealing flaws in the workmanship.

Nothing during the course of this remodel went as it should; poor planning, poor customer service, poor workmanship and most of all poor moral and ethical values on the side of the contractor. This horror story is not unique, more and more frequently these types of stories are becoming the norm, the common practice in the construction industry. I created my company to provide hard working folks with an alternative to this type of practice.

Although I wish my parents did not have to go through this, I am grateful that they did. I am grateful because it allowed me to see the errors in the ways of most contractors first hand and more importantly it gave me perspective not as a contractor, but as a homeowner and customer. Experiencing this allowed me to identify the problems that exist with most construction companies and provided me with the insight to create policies, procedures and solutions for my own company to make sure no one else has to suffer as my parents did.

Paul A. Adrianse
Owner