I am very disappointed with the performance of Green Bay Remodeling (GB) on my bathroom remodel.
Fundamentally the problems were: poor workmanship, blatant errors, lack of attention to detail by work supervisors and project management, and an inability to recognize problems and/or report them to me in a timely manner. Some examples are described below. This impacted schedule, cost (for GB, not me), the end product, and my overall mental health.
There was a continuing pattern of doing poor quality work, assuming it was okay, and then fixing it when I complained. Mistakes (tile, grout, grab bar, temperature limit stop damage, cleanliness, etc.) were never admitted, and apparently it was hoped I did not notice them. This reduced my confidence in GB as the job progressed.
The estimate to complete was 3-4 weeks but ended up 11 weeks. A major issue on this project was that I had a poor work crew that was replaced after 5 ½ weeks. But there are, in my opinion, as you will see, other underlying issues that compounded problems and created problems of their own. Based on my experience, the problem Is not just one worker, or a single crew, or a single manager, but more systemic in nature.
Green Bay: I like their business model. You sign a contract and they commit to price before they see the complete design. I purchased and designed almost everything independently and GB installed it. They do have a large showroom from which you can purchase. They were no price-related issues throughout the contract. No hassle, no back and forth, etc. Plus you get a 1-year labor warranty for returning the completion survey!
After receiving the initial contract to sign I nearly quit and went elsewhere. This was because the contract was a nine-page “pilot” which was poorly written, with many typos, really not an enforceable document. It even had language that contradicted our initial discussions, in my favor. Scary. I spoke with one of their current clients and requested the same format, 2-page contract, and I was satisfied with it.
Some of the reasons for the delays were:
- Workers did not show up for entire days or only worked a couple hours a day
- Did not pass two city inspections, had to redo and await a total of two days for the inspectors to revisit
- Two holiday weekends
- The crew was changed after 5 ½ weeks, long after the problems starting occurring.
- It took 3 days for a new crew to come on board. It was then I learned I learned of critical issues with the first crew’s work. The workers apparently made mistakes early on, 3 weeks into the project, and the project manager (PM) either did not recognize them or did not identify them to me until after the new crew came on board some 3 weeks later. The mistakes were with the shower floor and surrounding tile. I did have questions about peaks and valleys in the floor, but these were dismissed. The concrete shower pan and tile had to be removed and redone, ordering extra tiles at a premium with express delivery.
- Damage to the temperature limit stop of the shower mixing valve during an unsuccessful attempt to diagnose a problem created by the installers. I needed to order a new part which took nearly a week to arrive.
At times, PM seemed inexperienced, over-confident, and not very knowledgeable about construction practices. I attribute some problems to being accustomed to doing things a particular way, but also to a lack of construction knowledge/experience. Your only interface is with the PM so it is important for them to be knowledgeable about the construction details of the project.
Recessed lighting is provided free by the contractor and I was told not to worry even though I complained that the selected lights were not appropriate. My bathroom is open to the bedroom. It has an 11 ft+ sloped ceiling. The proposed lights were wide angle (they would illuminate the high ceiling and not the room below) CONTINUED O PART 2 BECAUSE CHARACTER LIMIT EXCEEDED
