Ken,

As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. You may have paid a lot, but contractors who work for big box stores tend to be those working for the lowest price and unable to book much work via other means.

That would be unacceptable to me.

@Charles Ross Homes i agree with your comments but from a pro perspective does the OP have a valid complaint

It seems to me that there are two issues. One is the workmanship of installer(s) and the other is the counter material, itself. I don’t know if there is negligence on the part of the installers, or if they were just working with the materials they were given - or a combination of the two. Either way, Lowes is responsible. I don’t think this is something that ruins the look of your counter or kitchen, and if your friends come by and start to examine your countertop that closely, I would just ask them to leave. 😂 But if you are very unhappy with it, it has to either be fixed or replaced. Lowes has to fix, replace or refund.

There is no doubt you didn't receive even a good installation. Contact both Lowe’s and the sub and file a formal complaint. Lowe’s may legally not be “responsible” but they have an obligation to, their customers.

"...but contractors who work for big box stores tend to be those working for the lowest price and unable to book much work via other means."

Absolutely false.

Lowe's wanted to award all of its countertop work to a single fabricator in Michigan. No such entity existed that was large enough to accommodate them, so my old boss, in conjunction with two other top fabricators in other areas of the state, formed a corporation to divide the Lowe's contract between them. All first rate fabricators with plenty of other work.

Ken:

Your seam is unacceptable. Not only did they apparently not use the manufacturer-specified color adhesive, the seam appears to be severely contaminated. That's a do-over.

Your cutout is very "janky". It appears they should have relieved the drywall, not the top. All of your bottom edges should be profiled and finished smooth per the manufacturer's specifications.

It appears you have a shim jammed between a steel countertop support and the bottom of the top. If so, the steel wasn't set on the proper plane. Overall, this job is a failure.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC,

My experience may be regional, but the big box stores in our area are not where you go to purchase anything other than tools, misc. supplies, and for homeowners to purchase a couple of 2 x 4's or a couple of sheets of drywall for a week-end project. Their going rate in our area attracts only the bottom of the barrel contractors and the results in the photos are, unfortunately, not uncommon. If you want stone or solid surface tops, get thee to a stone or solid surface fabricator and be prepared to pay for the level of quality you expect.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC - your story is specific to Michigan, but is not the case elsewhere. And you are the only one who reports this. From a pure economic and bottom-line point of view, if a fabricator is successful on his own, there is no reason for him to subcontract through a big box store. That leaves the contractors who cannot get repeat business or referral business on their own.

I think the first step is to contact Lowes but IMO a poor install. Was this actually templated properly? That usually is the first step to going wrong if not not done right. As for the actual finish on the underside of the counter counter that is just bad.

Shannon and Charles:

Y'all need to attend a Stone Fabricator's Alliance meeting. These are some of the top fabricators in the country. They do the work for the big boxes. You have to be a major player to be considered eligible for their big fat contracts.

While my example was specific to Michigan, my late buddy Mory had the contracts for the HDs in Omaha and he used to do all the work for Nebraska Furniture Mart. Great guy and a major player in the industry. There are plenty more.

The idea that the big boxes sub work out to lesser fabricators is pure myth. In fact, this works in consumer's favor many times. If a local guy does crap work, your just a onesie to him. If a customer complains to a big box, the big box calls the fabricator and tells him he'll eat the problematic top or his contract, the thing that makes the $5,000.00-a-month payment on that CNC machine that he bought to complete the contract, is in danger. He'll eat it, not risk it. I've seen this happen personally.

The big boxes do not take their low prices out of the hide of their fabricators, they take it out of the material suppliers with their buying power. You can choose to believe in local mom n' pop fabricators or you can choose to believe in capitalism.

Obviously the point of this original post is 'is this a bad job?' which has been answered. But I'd like to take a stab at the, "if the contractor is good they don't need to use a big box retailer to get work" theme. Why stratify contractors based on how they get their work? It's a way to cut your teeth in the business. It's a way to have a steady stream of work while you're building your portfolio through referrals. And ultimately if you're not good at the business development, but you're awesome at the technical aspect this is an honest way to carry out your business goals.

Obviously contracting for a Big Brand you're not going to be able to solicit work by handing out your business card (or you shouldn't be) but that doesn't mean you can't take the positive feedback for each job and use it for future work.

And let's not get started on customers who remodel their homes through Lowe's and Home Depot should expect subpar technical service or poor outcomes. It's elitist and insensitive. One person's $50 is as valuable as another person's $10k.

Hi, Jen,

There are a range of contractor competencies and quality levels in residential new construction and remodeling--just as there are in any profession. The trim carpenter installing interior trim in entry-level townhomes isn't the same guy who'll be hired to trim a high-end custom home with a lot of fancy custom millwork.

Too often folks expect their completed project to look like something in Architectural Digest Magazine, but hire a low-bid contractor who simply doesn't have the required competencies to produce that level of quality. The issue is one of aligning the customer's expectations and the contractor's capabilities. Keeping the differences in mind will help homeowners make more informed choices.

at first glance, its a 7 1/2 out of 10....... but, detail everything correctly and it will look great. its all about the relationship of materials and how things are trimmed / finished.

Ken, seems like you are getting a lot of responses about how you should not go through Lowe’s or Home Depot. Though it may be good information for the future, you’re asking about a job that is already done and it doesn’t change my opinion on the end product you received. They need to fix it! If you paid Lowe’s for the installation, regardless of who they subcontract to to perform the work, they need to make it right. You didn’t didn’t get a discount from Lowe’s in exchange for a poor quality job. You paid the same price but the installer gave you a poor quality job. The cutout and under edge finishing would be totally unacceptable to me and I’m guessing Lowe’s will have the same opinion. Someone needs to make it right. Even if you paid the installer separately, Lowe’s needs to know the kind of work their recommended contractors are performing. Someone needs to make this right, and they should assist you in resolving it.

Hi, thank you all for your responses, all of the comments have been really helpful figuring out how to work through it. It's agonizing to think that this will need to be redone and it's true it's not "awful" but it's not good (I'd say more of a 6 1/2 out of 10) .

I sent all this to my Lowe's rep this morning and he agreed it's a redo and is going to take it through their process, hopefully their coroporate office agrees. The issue i have to figure out now is this is the only installer they work with and i don't want the same installer redoing the job. Not sure how that will play out but at least Lowe's seems to be on the same page.

"The issue is one of aligning the customer's expectations and the contractor's capabilities. Keeping the differences in mind will help homeowners make more informed choices."

I agree, and clearly in this case the customer was not given the expectation that he would receive a badly visible seam, chipping, and unfinished edges. That is on the Lowes installer. It is not on the customer to know that just because of where they purchased the installation from.

@Jen K (7b, 8a),

Habitat for Humanity is one of my favorite charities. We built a home for them during their 2012 Builder Blitz which we donated. It was taken from foundation to move-in within 30 days--not our usual timeline, but with all our usual trade partners and built to a higher quality standard than they typically deliver to a homeowner.

I'll accept that you and I have different opinions of what you can expect from Lowes contractors. I do believe that most folks who choose Lowes to install anything in my local area have higher expectations for the installed quality than what they get.

Absolutely unaccunacceptable if i were you i would be in contact with lowes corporate office demanding a a complete removal and a new top to be installed properly

FYI, just as a follow up to this note, this is kind of going south at the moment with Lowes. They sent the same installer out to "fix" the job rather then redo it. Well the seam can't be fixed, the poor placement and caulk job against the wall can't be fixed. And even the things that supposedly can be fixed like the chips, they want to do with epoxy, why should i have to have an epoxy fixed counter on my brand new job?

Anyway, they've gone silent and aren't getting back to me now and i'm at the filing a claim with my credit card company stage. Awful.

Show your contractor and installer the above posts. I would also contact the manager of your Lowe’s store and have a talk with him about your issue. If need be, keep going up the chain of command at Lowe’s if necessary. Years ago I had purchased Pergo laminate flooring for my kitchen from Lowe’s. Their contracted Pergo installer was fantastic; he was quite experienced and did a super job. He even took a day to screw down all my floorboards prior to installing the Pergo. I couldn’t be more pleased. My flooring looks as good today as the day of my installation. the Pergo rep even called me to find out how satisfied I was with the installation❣️Great customer service. Maybe now things run differently at Lowe’s. I had my kitchen renovated a few years ago ( by an experienced carpenter that I thoroughly researched ) and kept my Pergo flooring, as it is flawless. I chose Silestone charcoal soap stone quartz; I also chose a very experienced kitchen designer who only used certain proven Silestone installers. They did a flawless fabrication and install of the Silestone: no chipping, no issues. I hope you get your Silestone issue resolved and fixed soon.

Call the vendor first and submit the photos and your concerns - they do not get paid by the big box store until you sign off - if they do not respond then call the sales associate you used to purchase the counter to let them know what is going on. Some big box vendors are not good and some are awesome.

OP, so sorry u are going through this, what a nightmare.

i hope Lowe's stands behind their work or you get for a refund... start asking your friends, co-workers, neighbors etc who they contracted with for their kitchen. its a good idea to use referrals when doing expensive renovations.

best of luck!

As i'm redoing my bathrooms now i was looking back at this old post. Sigh what a PITA that was. I just wanted to share a note to future customers, it took ALOT of work, first going to the Lowe's store manager which didn't get me far, then to Lowe's corporate which for whatever reason did. It was not a fast process but ultimately they replaced all my counters at no cost and the 2nd install was good (and no seams).