Fine Design Fabrication

Let's start with the one good thing about my experience with Fine Design Fabrication. Aesthetically, the hood they built for us was quite nice, it looks like we wanted it to look so that's something I guess. Unfortunately that's where the good news ends, everything about this process was a complete nightmare. If you're considering working with these people, DON'T. Turn around and run the other way immediately. The customer service is just abysmal, the people managing the details of construction and delivery of the hood are completely incompetent and the management team is just as clueless, and dismissive of any issues you bring to them. And once they'd cashed the check they wanted nothing to do with us and ignored all communication. I could write a short novel on how badly they messed everything up on our order but they're not worth my time. I'll settle for a bullet list and some telling photos: 1)In the contract it states that you get a couple of revisions of the drawings/specs. We made just one revision to the original shop drawing and they repeatedly failed to communicate it to the fabricators or update the document in our contract. I'm talking fundamental things here, like dimensions, angles, color, finish. They'd keep sending us the wrong drawing (and to the shop guys) and they'd try to get us to sign off on it when it was wrong in about a dozen ways. Also every time there is a back and forth like this you lose a week. 2)They made it impossible to coordinate the install of the hood because of repeated delays. They'd give us a date then renege on it. Worse, they wouldn't even notify us of the delays! So after the second or third time this happens the installers are not much interested in working with you because you can't keep your appointments and they have to shuffle things around in their schedule. End result is that the hood sat in our garage for 2 months until we could get it installed. I understand delays are sometimes unavoidable (for example, a valid delay on this project was due to the California wildfires), but when you don't tell the customer and they have to find out for themselves it really causes problems. 3)They were supposed to provide an installation guide for our contractor to do the install. We asked for this a half dozen times, they never provided anything. As a result, the contractors were unable to identify the multiple design flaws in advance that made this install extremely difficult and wound up costing us much more than it should have. (see #4 below) 4)The actual design/construction of this hood was asinine and showed zero forethought for how it would actually be installed. The pictures attached will illustrate this. Note how the inside of the hood has a solid piece of metal in the center with just the duct hole in it...now imagine trying to install that over an island where you have to line up the duct-work perfectly...how do you even see it to tell if it's lined up? Also note the hole they have for the duct work to go thru, it's a circle that's squared off on the sides. How is a round duct supposed to go thru that? Answer: it doesn't. The installers had to cut that out themselves so it would fit. And in the other photo you can see the flimsy flange piece they provided to actually bolt this into the ceiling. The hood weighs almost 300 lbs and that's what they provided. The installers just laughed at this and had to modify it so we had something strong enough to actually support it properly. Finally, we discovered they wired it backwards, the light switch controls the fan and vice versa. If you're looking for a professional experience with a detail oriented fabricator, look elsewhere.

This company is amazing. They built us an incredible custom desk in record time and it is now the centerpiece in a modern technology and media center in our school. They helped us through every step of the way and their customer service was incredible. I cannot thank you enough for making sure our ribbon cutting for the center was a success. You really came through for us!

They are very helpful, professional and deliver high quality products. Both my client and I are very happy with the hood!

Very courteous and professional. Easy to work with when perfecting a design and really enjoyed the quality of the resulting furniture.

We purchased a custom reception desk with reclaimed wood in a post-industrial design. Fantastic job. Its the centerpiece of our lobby and gets rave reviews from our clients constantly.

Love, love the desk. Amazing craftsmanship and really transformed our entry space. Thank you for the beautiful piece you created for us!

Very professional company from start to finish. Excellent communication. They fabricated a stainless hood for my client; it was delivered in the time estimated and was exactly what they wanted. I will definitely work with them again.

After working with "Fine" Design Fabrication on a project that involved, one stainless counter, two zinc mirrors, two zinc sinks, a zinc bar top with integral sinks, and zinc restroom partitions....I would recommend that anyone considering FDF take extreme caution prior to working with them. I am a general contractor with over 15 years of experience and I can't recall a more frustrating relationship with a fabricator of anything. From the top down, their is no interest to serve the customer. Their fabrication durations are simply obscene and the general operation is unprofessional at best. I hope that anyone reading this can benefit from the amount of pain and cost that FDF caused for our project, and take caution prior to engaging in a working relationship.