CGBS Residential, LLC - Custom Homes, & Remodels

Disappointing Experience – we had a good first meeting with CGBS and were confident at the start of the project, however, our confidence quickly deteriorated as communication and progress began to stall out. I believe they possibly took on too many projects and proved unable to competently manage them at once. Unfortunately, our project felt the brunt of this as we experienced major delays, incomplete and sloppy work, and a frustrating attitude from management who refused to ever recognize the project issues and take any ownership. 1)Poor Project Coordination & Communication A. Poor Vendor Management – there were several crucial instances where vendors were ready to complete their work but were left waiting on other progress to be made by CGBS (e.g. countertop template took several days longer than normal b/c cabinets were not set, painters were not able to complete rooms b/c they were waiting on trim or door installation, etc.) B. With our project already 4+ weeks behind schedule, CGBS decided to pull all of their workers from our site for several days in a row so that they could work on another internal project and leave ours to stall and miss yet another deadline. C. Late cabinet order – even after discussing on Day 1 that cabinets would be the bottleneck to this entire process, CGBS failed to make the cabinet order until a full month later than what was expected and discussed. 2)Incomplete Work A. Even with the project taking 5+ weeks longer than expected, CGBS still managed to blatantly skip project scope and leave our house incomplete. B. Some examples of this are listed below and pictures are provided: Unfinished stairs – did not stain or provide backers, completely ignored installing a kitchen backsplash, exterior doors were not painted – including the front door, incomplete cleaning – entire downstairs was not cleaned and construction garbage left on-site, improperly installed bath hardware, overflow missing in all tubs, shower head improperly installed and left spraying the ceiling, drain plugs were not properly connected in sinks, major divots in new wall and ceiling drywall, missing touch-up paint around light fixtures, no exterior touch-up paint was provided – there are several areas where new siding was installed or lights were installed but no top coat was ever added and it was just left as bare wood siding. 3)Poor Management A. Pricing lacks logic and CGBS could not provide back-up support i. When putting together a quote for finishing out a room, they could not come up with a price and instead just asked me what I think it should cost. ii. CGBS tried to charge us for some of the work above that was never delivered B. Uncooperative & Litigious at the end i. Mike became very angry and short while simply discussing the final costs as part of the project close out ii. Mike also threatened to sue me multiple times – including a threat to sue if I left a review of my experience. Recommendation….if you must work with CGBS, please protect yourself and do the following: -CGBS’ contract is lacking language in several critical areas. Have an attorney review / re-write so that each party is properly protected, or take a copy from a larger, more competent builder. -Ask about competing projects and staffing solutions -Input an expected completion date into the contract -Use actual costs of the project and require work invoices and other back-up -Document everything Good luck! Reply to Mr. Thorpe's rebuttal below: Scope: All items of scope were discussed on Day 1 and everything outside of the bunk room was included in the original estimate. A separate estimate for the bunk room was asked for but never received - even after multiple follow-ups. Cabinets: It took a month to get the initial mock-up. In fact, it wasn't received until I asked CGBS for an update - then they forwarded it to me that same day...leaving me to think that it was either lost in email or forgotten about. Regardless, I made small changes and sent back to them on the same day. Countertops: This was not my responsibility - I took a larger role in communication with the vendor (whom you suggested to me as a preferred vendor) because progress was lacking with it being left to CGBS. The installation was delayed because templating could not be completed due to the lack of progress made in the bathrooms by CGBS. Tubs: The incorrect tub purchase (right-hand instead of left-hand) was the fault of CGBS. To avoid further delay, my wife was the one who exchanged the tubs to make things right.

I don't know where to start in my praise of CGBS! Even before we awarded the contract, Mike Thorpe was working for us - getting approvals, permits, and answering every silly question we could come up with. The building process was smooth and very professional. They were very responsive to our needs and our desired style, seeming to read our minds when decisions in decoration or implementation arose. The work was of the highest quality with amazing attention to detail. Andy Banks, who supervised the construction, was nothing short of amazing; on-site constantly and a great listener, he was the source of some really amazing solutions to our specific (and not-too-specific) building ideas. On top of that, they were extremely value oriented, keeping tightly to the budget and offering suggestions to save us money without sacrificing quality. I would, without hesitation, recommend CGBS for any job!

CGBS builds high QUALITY homes! This is the 5th new home construction for me and the attention to detail and quality were head and shoulders above the first 4. In many respects this home was overbuilt and I couldn't be happier.

We bought a lot in Dataw Island in May of 2015. At that time we were living in the Pensacola, Fl. area and trying to sell our house which took a year. During that time, we came to Dataw Island and met with several builders. Mike Thorpe and Andy Banks with CGBS were the only ones who stayed in touch during that year. As with any relationship, communication is the key to success. They listened to our ideas and offered suggestions that made our new home better. They are without any reservation one the best custom home builders in the area. They did an excellent job, with good subs, stayed on top of every aspect of the building process and completed the house on time. We would build with them again! We highly recommend CGBS and encourage you to talk with them before making a decision on selecting a builder. You will be very glad that you did.

We had our home built by CGBS almost three years ago and have been living in and enjoying our home ever since. We interviewed 5 local builders and picked CGBS because they had an eye for detail. We were told by friends that building a home could get very tense and ruin a good marriage, happy to report that we never got to a boiling point not even a simmer and our marriage is still going strong at 35 years. In our opinion you could not make a better or wiser choice than building with CGBS.

Mike Thorpe and his crew at CGBS were initially contracted for emergency repairs to our house which had sustained severe structural and water damage from Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. They quickly secured and sealed the house from suffering further damage and then began the task of reconstructing and repairing the damage to return the house to new-like condition. These tasks included providing detailed repair and schedule estimates to our insurance company, effectively negotiating with them as necessary, to achieve complete restoration of the house. Mike and his team were very professional, respecting not only our home bur our personal needs through out the 3 month project. We are very pleased with the quality and workmanship of the repairs as well as their managing to a difficult schedule. We are very pleased with the results, and would highly recommend CGBS Residential for any home repairs and construction.

I have known and worked with Mike Thorpe and Andy Banks for many years. They are very professional and will work hand in hand with The client, The Residential Designer (Me) and themselves to make sure the final product is the "Dream & Desire" of the client. I have always been proud to call one of their constructed homes one of my designs. I have always heard words of praise from my clients. It always takes a Team effort throughout the project and I am always glad to be a part of their team.

Mr. Thorpe and CGBS are amazing to work with. I hired Mr. Thorpe for minor repairs to my home when purchased 2 years ago. He was extremely professional, the jobs were done promptly and precisely and to specifications. I would highly recommend Mr. Thorpe and CGBS for repairs, remodels and new builds. I have seen their homes around town and they are simply beautiful and built to last!

We hired CGBS Residential to help us with a complete "gut and renovation" project for our dream home on the water in Callawassie Island. We are so pleased with the level of professionalism by both Andy Banks and Mike Thorpe on this project. Andy was our Project Manager and he made us comfortable from the start. There are always delays in renovations, issues uncovered as you start tearing out plumbing and wiring, etc., but we were highly pleased with all of the work. Our home is stunning!

CGBS Residential completed a hurricane repair and remodel of my home. They were timely, professional and came at the estimated price. I highly recommend them!

Mike Thorpe is a very good builder- If you are looking for a person that is not only attentive to details, but can guide you through the minutia of plans to make your dream come true from paper to real products, then Mike should be your builder.

Mike Thorpe, CGBS Residential, built our house to our satisfaction. Mike had two additional challenges confronting the project: he built a brand new house on an empty lot in the city's historical district which required numerous presentations before the historic board as well as numerous modifications to comply with their requests. Additionally Mike had to work with us from afar since we were 1200 miles from the project. Mike was calm and steady as he guided us through the process. He was able to alleviate any concerns we had.