My Kitchen Nightmare (and tips to avoid it)
At the risk of sounding completely overdramatic, I am totally, utterly, outstandingly devastated. The kitchen remodel that I have dreamed about for 4 years, diligently saved up for 2 years, and spent months planning has turned into a complete nightmare with very upsetting consequences. My ultimate dream of creating the children’s clothing line I have planned for, saved for, and begun will now have to be put to a stop because of a contractor who has literally destroyed my kitchen. In a matter or hours, this person was able to cause around $10,000 worth of damage and I the only thing getting me through this without crying is my sense of humor. The moment I realized I was wearing my “Measure Twice, Cut Once” shirt on the day of the disaster, I had to laugh. What else can you do but laugh?
(make sure to read my last paragraph to find the answer to some questions you might have and also what YOU should look out for during a major remodel).
Here is the thing. I have dealt with many contractors before and have always had good experiences. In fact, the person that did our basement last year really set the bar high. Gus was incredible. Unfortunately, Gus was busy and wasn’t able to do our kitchen. No problem. I did my research, got recommendations, and hired a new guy named “Worst Contractor Ever” (name changed to prevent me from a defamation suit haha). All seemed well. He assured me that he is licensed, bonded, insured, yada yada.
Blue prints were drawn up by Lowes (this is NOT Lowes’ fault at all), Kraftmaid cabinets were ordered, appliances delivered. Everything was going according to schedule. We sold our entire kitchen to a friend. She got the counters, cabinets, sink, appliances, everything, leaving us with a blank slate.
“Worst Contractor Ever” arrived and started laying it all out. I kept an eye on him the whole time because that is just what I do. I like to monitor and nothing seemed off to me. At the end of Day One, it was coming together.
Day Two there wasn’t much activity because “Worst Contractor Ever” was only there for about 4 hours for unknown reasons. Apparently “WCE” had other things to do that day. Upper cabinets had been hung and while I noticed a few things that were off, all was okay. We were hoping that Day Three would be the conclusion with finishing work, trims, etc.
Day Three arrives and he had a guy named “Worst Assistant Ever” with him. “Worst Assistant Ever” was responsible for installing the cabinets and drawer pulls. Clearly, “WAE” has no experience with this particular job. I mean… how does one do this SO poorly. I literally stood there after seeing this and cackled. I laughed like a maniac. A maniac on meth. Ainsley said “Mommy, I don’t think he put these in correctly.” hahaha.
Clearly, I am overreacting. Who on earth actually cares if the screws go ALL the way in. I mean, after all, there are people without door handles, so I should be thankful that I even HAVE door handles. No one REALLY needs the screws to go in ALL the way.
Let’s also remember that putting big huge holes in the backs of almost ALL cabinets is totally okay. It gives it character. No one really likes shiny new objects, am I right? We don’t want to seem pretentious, so the holes enable us to bring it down a notch.
And why would one NOT want giant holes in their sink cabinet? We could actually use that space for storage, right? I mean, we could possibly use it to store extra toilet paper or extra muffins. In fact, this could be the perfect place to store snacks that we don’t want the kids to eat. Right there…. in those holes. Genius!
Ahhhh, more of those “character holes”…. perfect. Another notch down on the pretentious meter.
This part might actually win the prize of a favorite. Not only did he apparently use a butter knife from 1972 to cut the panels, but he also knew that I would want half an outlet peeking out. Nothing says new kitchen like half an outlet.
This is where I just can’t even explain. It is one of those situations where you have to be here to get the full effect. See those teeth looking things at the top? Well, they aren’t supposed to be there. In fact, it is all wrong and he cut into all my trim moldings to create this fancy effect. I still can’t fathom what was going through his brain when he did this. The best part is that one of those cabinets is actually upside down.
It may be hard to tell in the photo, but the handle is completely off center. This is about 90% of the cabinets.
Well…. there are more pictures, but I won’t bore you. I think you get the idea??
As soon as we saw what happened in a few hours on Day Three, we kicked him off the job. As terrible as this is, thank goodness we realized it before he did any more damage to electrical, plumbing, etc.
About 90% of our brand new, custom cabinets have been damaged. (again, this isn’t Lowes’ fault, in fact, they have been great, even though they kept spelling my name wrong). We have given “Worst Contractor Ever” an ultimatum: He pays us for the replacement or we take it further and have to file claims. Obviously, I don’t want to deal with the claims, but it is what we will have to do, if he chooses not to be responsible. After all, this should never have happened.
There is no moral to this story, really. It is more just a “this sucks” type of post and I am really so sad that someone would do this to us. He was clearly in over his head, even though this should have been a very straight forward job. In fact, we could have done this job ourselves, but I thought it would be nice to give my husband the break.
This money came straight from my accounts. I have saved for it to not burden my family. And now, I am not sure what will happen if we don’t see the money from “Worst Contractor Ever” because in the meantime, I have to order the replacements out of pocket. My new business, the one I have spent many sleepless nights on, will be at a standstill.
To answer a few questions I am sure people have. Hopefully these will help you out during your remodel:
*He had insurance, but we are not sure it is even legit at this point. Even so, insurance only covers injuries or damage to an item from say, dropping a cabinet or scratching a floor…. not from crappy workmanship.
*We are investigating his license. We didn’t make sure it was legit prior to the start of the job. We took his word for it and regretting that.
*We called our homeowner’s insurance. There is absolutely nothing your homeowner’s insurance can do about this.
*Small claims court will handle any claim under $12,000, but there is no guarantee of it being paid in the end.
*We got recommendations and did our due diligence. No matter how diligent you are, these things can still happen.
*The Better Business Bureau should be one of the first phone calls you make before hiring anyone. Make sure there are no issues with the person. There are no issues claimed on our guy, but you better believe that we will be filing with the BBB to make sure no one else goes through this.
*During your remodel or renovation, try your best to make sure someone is home to monitor and keep an eye on the work. I was there the entire time to keep an eye on things and that is what saved us for even further damage. If I wasn’t there to stop the project, it could have been even worse.
*Keep a paper trail of EVERYTHING, including Facebook messages, text messages, etc. Print them out or screen shot them periodically. These will be super important if you ever need to file a claim.
*Communicate with your contractor and be overly explicit in your expectations. Even if you think he knows what it is you want, explain it anyway. I did that with this person and even though it was a disaster, I feel 100% confident that it wasn’t my fault.
*Before touching or removing anything, take photos. Lots and lots of photos.
*If you have any issues or feel that you have been scammed, contact a lawyer right away. They will guide you on your next steps. Most law firms will offer a free consultation to at least get you going. You do not want to misstep and cause yourself even more issues, so go slow and do your due diligence.
I hope the above tips help others in this situation. Sadly, this situation can happen to anyone, no matter how much you think you have prepared properly.
In the meantime, we are figuring out how to maintain our sanity. We have amazing friends and family that are getting us through and we remind ourselves daily how lucky we are. I am so blessed and so thankful for everything that has even gotten us to this point. While it is a total bummer that I am in this situation, I also know that I am incredibly grateful for everything that has come my way. I will be sure to update as this progresses and one day, I will be able to share my beautiful new kitchen with you.
