This was the scary part. We've heard the nightmares—workers that take the money and disappear; work left half done; work done poorly; projects taking months to finish instead of weeks; unforeseen delays... We were going to turn our kitchen over to strangers to be destroyed, and it's not like we had a spare!
We started with a list of priorities. We planned to give this to every prospective contractor so they would all be on the same page. Based on our goals (see previous post), they were as follows:
Remove or modify the soffits
Replace/redesign lighting
Upgrade cabinets
Install granite countertops
Replace peninsula with island
Hardwood floor
and so on...
The first place we contacted had a beautiful showroom. In fact, that's where I discovered the Medallion brand of cabinets and fell in love (more on that later). They assured us they were a full-service remodeling company and did it all, including laying floor, etc. Two guys came to the house and took some measurements and they had some great ideas. I was so excited after their visit I was about to burst!
About a week later they presented preliminary drawings and a proposal. Only it wasn't so much a proposal as a simple list of things they would do. The list specified “modify soffits to new layout,” but the drawings showed the soffits still there! They did not paint or remove wallpaper (so much for being full-service), and though they dealt in Medallion cabinets, they wanted us to go with a more expensive custom brand because it “fit” better in the plan. The overall budget was great but we left the meeting very underwhelmed.
Next we looked at the professional remodelers' association for members. One in particular had been featured in a 2007 remodeling magazine and I liked the writeup on them and the pictures of the featured project. A phone call later and the company's principal came out to talk to us, take preliminary measurements, and show us his company's brochure and what they could do. A week or so later he came back with his proposal, and boy what a difference! It was professional, detailed, understandable, and seemed to include all that we were looking for. He gave us a price range, to be determined by what they found inside the soffits. In other words, he addressed our main priority with a high level of attention to detail, and made no promises but suggested various solutions.
Their cost, range or no range, was well outside of our budget. It did not include the appliances or decorative light fixtures, for a major thing, and they charged an extra design fee (in case we went through the whole design process and then decided against doing the work). Trust and confidence being vastly more important than budget, however, we gave a nod toward the “you can't take it with you” philosophy and signed the agreement to proceed.
We were on our way! And in case you think we were exceptionally foolish to trust this company without checking their references, we have since talked to their competitors who praised them, the principal is a member of the board of the BBB, and their work up to this point has been without peer. If that weren't enough, the guy's favorite TV show is “Holmes on Homes” (HGTV), a program about remodeling nightmares and the guy who fixes them. So...here's hoping it all works for the best!
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