TOTAL RENOVATIONS
A Summary of our experience
Susan & Stephen Brown
Allendale, NJ
April 24, 2014

Our project started well with the meeting in November 2013 with the sales person, Frank Sokalski who worked with us to keep the cost down. We talked about how if we had done both the bathroom & kitchen with them, we’d receive a discount. We agreed to that on the condition that the bathroom be done first followed by the work in the kitchen. “Absolutely” was the answer we received from Frank.

Our first small glitch was at the pre-construction meeting in December where we’d met Harry Leonard who was to be our Project Manager. Harry was especially hand-picked by Frank as the perfect match for our home project. The frustration Harry displayed over any design question was obvious; he wanted to discuss construction only- no design. We haven’t seen Harry since that meeting.

The next glitch in December was when Dean came to measure the bathroom. The measurement was okay until he asked for a deposit check. The bathroom was being financed- Frank S., Tara S. and I all conferred prior to Dean's arrival to verify that in fact it was to be financed and that no deposit was due. The only proof I could offer to Dean was the text sent to me from Frank that I needed to forward to Dean's phone. Dean also mentioned that with all the other orders, there was no way we would see our bathroom done in February, and possibly not even in March.

Our next issue was the fact that we were told the project would begin in early March (we were originally told February). This also was when we found that permits weren’t filed till February 7th. After many, many emails, and realizing they’d be in breach of contract (due to the 90 day clause in the contract), we finally received a start date of February 26th. Two things that stand out here; Maria Hargrove called us on Monday, February 24th to advise that work would begin on the 26thgiving us just 2 days’ notice, and second; she said that the demo work would commence in the bathroom AND the kitchen!! We’d set a condition with Frank that only one room would get done at a time and Maria said absolutely not, that’s now how they do it. Are you kidding me? Major inconvenience considering we were only prepared to move out of the bathroom, the kitchen was a totally different story. All this, even before they start the project!

Again, before the project started there was another issue. Dean measured our bathroom on 12/21/13. Less than 2 weeks later, my MasterCard was charged! This was to be financed; we’d already established this on the day he was here! And the contract clearly states GreenSky with an account number. Now I fully understand that people make mistakes, but the controller, Kristel Nivelo, had not even apologized for her error and only admitted to her error when I forced her hand. As a customer whose card was charged without authorization, an apology should have been the LEAST that was done. I was forced to contact the owner, Christopher Edwards, who admitted that an apology should have been made and apologized on behalf of Ms. Nivelo for her error.

So now we have the project beginning on February 26th with a dumpster in our driveway. When we came home from work, we met the foreman Brian Meneghin. Apparently, Harry was at another job and would not make it to the house. This was not the best way to start a project as it doesn’t give the customer much confidence in the project manager who can’t schedule himself accordingly to be in attendance for the very beginning of a project. Brian assured us that as this were a simple enough project (demo & replace), that he’d be able to handle it just fine without Harry. As I mentioned earlier, other than the original pre-construction meeting in December, we’d never seen Harry on the site and haven’t heard any mention of him visiting the site.

Brian did what he could, but it was very frustrating to all of us to have to explain the whole project to him in piecemeal, especially since we’d already done that with Frank & Harry. There were times when, we feel, the scheduling could’ve been done better. The reason for saying this is because in the beginning, there were days that nobody was at the house at all. But the workmanship and professionalism that Brian illustrated overshadowed that flaw.

We’d also had to guess at how much floor tile and backsplash to purchase because even after numerous emails to Harry, we’d not received any square footage figures. Frank assisted with the guess, but his estimates were off. This actually cost us in the end because we had to order more backsplash/trim which costs extra for the delivery charges plus we had 3 extra cases of the kitchen floor tile that was unreturnable because it went past the 30 days. We were told that we needed to have all items ready before the start of the project (that was supposed to start early February)…tile was not started till 3 ½ weeks into the project on 3/22/14.

We’d run into another glitch during the project – this time about the painting. When discussing paint with Frank, who asked what the color scheme was going to be back in November, had insinuated that the painting was included when in fact (and in very small print on the back of the contract), the painting was not included at all. When verifying with Frank, Harry and Maria on 1/28/14 regarding items we’d secured for the project, paint was on that list. Why weren’t we informed then that the paint wasn’t needed until we got our own painter?? Once again, this was a major disappointment on the part of Frank (a representative for Total Renovations) as well as yet another added cost to us!

And now as we come to a close with just 2-3 outstanding items left on the full project of kitchen & bath, there was one more major error on the part of the office. As mentioned prior, GreenSky was the financial institution that we held an account with. According to the signed contract, the charges on GreenSky needed to be used up before the end of March or it would expire. The charge went through for the final “complete” portion of the project before the project was complete and without our knowledge at all! (Isn’t this considered fraud??). I would think permission would need to be granted in order to charge the GreenSky account, no?? From what I’m told, Brian and Maria told Tara to go ahead and process the charge. From there, the controller Kristel put the charge through. When asked if she checked the contract, Kristel said “no, I was just doing what I was told to do”-- not a good choice of words from someone in charge of everyone’s accounts!

The project began February 26th and is now just finishing…April 23rd. That’s 8 weeks folks!! Nothing like the contract states for the bathroom of an average of 5 days. And the kitchen, we were told, just a few weeks- maybe 4-5.. really?? You should try giving real figures, real time frames.

One final note though would be to say that Brian did the best he could with what he had to work with. He was the one saving grace that Total has- VERY accommodating & went out of his way to get things done.